Tell Me About: The Peugeot 205 XS.

Hi dude
The Pug XS is a good little car still plenty about...don't overlook a basic 1100 model. I used to have a 60 horse 1100 pug it was a right nail. but in first and second it would beat anything. They handle aswell, you can throw one into a bend an it will lift the inside rear wheel easily. Watch out for worn inner track control bushes as they can lead to entertaining handling.

Early ones have the XY engine - you need to go for the later TU 1360cc engine shared with the AX GT - F reg onwards.
The twin choke carb is amusing.
Lightweight and economical.
They can give a 1.6GTI a run for its money.

I loved mine so much i decided to turn it in to a full on trackcar ;D Used to be great on the b-roads when it was completly standard because no-one expected it to go well or handle good.

If you do buy one drop me a PM as i have some bits that you might be interested in to give it a bit more poke

Thanks guys. He's got it and has been singing its praises this morning, I'm going to view on Saturday morning. It's 1989 F reg - will it have the TU engine then?

Twin choke carb sounds like fun, can't wait to see what it's like.

*Gets insurance quote*

I have an 1400 XR, and even that's entertaining.

More power, c/r 'box and slightly stiffer suspension must be a lot of fun.

I own a 1.1 trio S and the 1.6 GTi. I am sorry to disagree with Piperfish, but the 1.1 is hideously slow. It might be rose tinted memories from back when traffic was a bit slower on your part, but my 1.1 really struggles, especially with hills. Also the suspension is extremely wallowy for such a light car. The steering and gearchange remain quite satisfying, but that's about it. Its not even particularly economical.

The 1.6 on the other hand is an absolute riot. It might only be a little faster than the XS, but its got a firmer still suspension, thicker anti roll bars, more equipment, injection and a short ratio 'box. As a result, 0-60 is almost on a par with the 1.9, but the engine is a lot happier to rev.

A well set up, i.e. decent rear beam, 1.6 is an absoulute joy on British B Roads. There are always thousands of parts on e-bay and lots of enthusiasts.

The 1.4 XS is very much in the same vein as the 1.6 GTi, slightly less focused, a bit lighter and slightly softer. It revs hungrily if you get the later model.

An interesting aside is although many of the GTi parts, such as the braking system, suspension, air filter, exhaust etc are incompatible with the GTi models, most of the Rallye bits will bolt straight on. So you could have the rallye suspension setup for quite cheap and there will be rally bits and bobs that you can bolt on.

Hope that I have got most of that factually correct!

Oh and I should mention the 205gtidrivers forum which has a section for the TU engine and a good few XS drivers. Plus more info than you can shake a stick at, buyers guides, people with amazing cars and thankfully very very few boy racer types.

I would definitely not describe my 1.1 205 as 'hideously slow'. As long as you are prepared to keep the engine revs up, so it's in its 'sweet spot', it'll keep up with most things on B roads. Addmittedly, it's not great going up hills, but as far as smiles per mile are concerned, it's great!

As for economy, my other half commutes 70 miles a day in it, and it averages about 45-50mpg, which is pretty damn good.

Finally - what's wrong with wallowy suspension? Give me a comfortable wallowy car over a modern with back breaking 'sports supension' any day!

I think you'll find that most of the parts are actually interchangeable between the XS and GTi, only the engine parts aren't (obviously.... different engine). The Rallye available in britain was a softer car than the XS, with a 75bhp single choke carb, thinner torsion bars etc. so you won't find any upgrades from them! The Euro rallye actually used a variety of parts from the GTi and XS, no new parts AFAIK.

Mr Swordfish runs full GTi suspension (including subframe) and brakes IIRC. I'm running GTi torsion bars and GTi front brake.

The only real design differences are the subframe (different gear linkage and TCAs/ARB instead of wishbones) and the engine/box!

if you think the 1.1 was slow, you wanted to try my 950cc xe model!!

that defined slow, i managed (once) to see 100mph out of it and that was on a steep downhill dual carriageway on the way to chester!!

thought bust alternators, driveshafts, CV joints, CV boots, exhausts and knackered valve seals i loved the thing