New Tat, 205 CTi

[Volksy]

With the departure of the Lancia, and the Audi off the road awaiting attention, I realised that I didn’t have a working vehicle. The Audi , whilst useful as a load lugger and general tool, isn’t exactly a ball of fire, nor does it provide any driving excitement whatsoever, it is, in the style of most VAG products from that era, inordinately dull. I only keep it because it cost absolutely bugger all to run, given that it’s LPG and my work sometimes dictates that I have furniture to shift etc.

 

I do miss the Lancia a lot. The grin factor was epic, however it was facing the need that the panelwork was going to need quite a bit of attention in the very near future, and once we had started to hack into it, I’m sure there would be quite a few horrors lurking from previous ‘restorations’. So it too would be off the road for quite an amount of time also.

So once it had departed, I umm’d and arr’d as to whether to either replace it with another vehicle or save the cash. I know full well that if I’d just banked the cash it would have slowly been frittered away, and I wouldn’t see anything for it. So a Vehicle it had to be. (That’s my justification anyway!)

 

Mr Imp already has a couple of projects waiting to be finished, so another joint vehicle wasn’t really an option, as the Sera and Lancia both delayed the completion of these. So I was on my own on this one. So looking around for something I found, as always, when I’ve got money waiting there’s never anything about, I considered both Retro’s Bluebird and DW’s Merc but neither, whilst within budget, really appealed. I’ve already got one slightly dull ‘practical’ vehicle, so really didn’t need another.

I trailed through here, RR, ebay and Car & Classic, but there really wasn’t much about that appealed either.  A lot of stuff I liked was just that little bit too pricey, a little bit too messed about with, or just not hitting the spot. Missing the fizziness and giggle that the Lancia was, I decided that I needed something small, light, nippy and planted. Which to be honest didn’t leave that many cars in the mix, Small Fiats sprang to mind, Cinq sportings I’ve had, but weren’t quick enough, there seems to be no Uno Turbos left that either haven’t been barried or a stupidly expensive, Punto GT’s are too new, Fiat Coupes whilst fantastic, unfortunately are over budget for one the is actually worth owning. VW’s are too dull and although I really liked my old Corolla, Jap stuff has never appealed, they’re just a bit ‘white goods’.

 

I then clocked an advert for a 205 GTi. I’ve had an early diesel 205 before, which, despite being a £50 dealer PX/Scrapper, was absolutely brilliant and even in GLD form was a hoot to drive.

 

The GTi’s command strong money for a good one, and they are now starting to climb in price. So I thought that whilst I had the chance I’d see what I could find. I didn’t fancy the lunatic 1.9GTi, as a mate of mine absolutely scared the living shit out of me in a manic cross country run in his a few years back.

 

I hear also that the 1.6 is the purer drive, not to mention cheaper to buy and run. So that’s what I decided to look for.

Sadly I was to be disappointed, my somewhat meagre budget wouldn’t get me one anywhere near as tidy as I’d like. I didn’t want one which had been messed about with, and those are the ones that seemed to be in my bracket. Then I saw an advert for a CTi, the soft top one. They command less money than their tin top siblings but I thought to myself, is that going to ruin it? Chopping the roof off any sort of ‘performance car’ usually does. However I realised that I would get a better, and more stock example for a lot less that I would have to pay for a GTi. They are a bit more ‘hairdressery’ but that doesn’t bother me to be honest!

 

So traiIing through the ads i spotted one, and called the guy up. The advert wasn’t very descriptive, but it was the cheapest one available at the time. Turns out the owner was emigrating to Australia the following morning! So he just needed rid.

He’d bought it a couple of months before as he’d finished his job and had to hand his company car back. Photos and emails went back and forth and it seemed like I’d stumbled on a good one!

 

It had 12 months MOT, a couple of months tax, more or less a full service history and only two owners. The first of which had it for the 80k of it’s 110k mileage and kept a detailed log of everything done to it, oil changes every 1000 miles, waxoiled every six months, a full set of stamps in the service book etc. He was going to leave the car at his brothers, and passed me his number to arrange a viewing. Sadly the number he gave was a digit wrong and the owner jumped on a plane bound for Australia an hour later!

 

Bugger I thought. I bet I miss it, but I sent the owner an email hoping he’s pick it up on his stopover. Thankfully he did, so managed to get in touch with his brother and Mr Imp kindly gave me a ride over to Flintshire that morning.

Looking round the car it seemed honest enough, it’s had bits of paint here and there, the most obvious being the rear arches, but nothing too unsightly. The drivers seat bolster is wrecked, but they all seem to be. On the flip side the hood is good with a new rear window, it’s had a recent full exhaust, and has obviously been well looked after.

 

It’s a bit of an odd spec, as the original owner insisted on some extras, the main one being power steering which Peugeot special tuning fitted for him before sale.

 

I took it for a spin round the block, and all seemed ok, no nasty noises, often the driveshaft click like buggery and the rear beams creak and groan, but there seemed to be none of that. So coupled with the wads of service history I decided to make an offer. There was no quibble or haggling, cash exchanged hands and within 10 mins we were on our way back to Leeds!

Initial impressions were good, all seemed tight, it’s quite a lot more grunty than I expected, and the removal of the tin lid doesn’t affect it hugely. There is a little scuttle shake, but nowhere near as bad as my old Saab 93, which was my last soft top.

I do like the engine note on these, a kind of tinny growl and the mid range punch is great!

 

We made it back to Leeds, with no events or dramas, although after a long blast over the M62 it did gain a low rev misfire when setting off from the lights. I’m pretty sure it just needs a set of leads, as a quick wiggle of them made it a lot better.

So I’m quite chuffed with it, jobs to do are to give it a service and a cambelt, it was last changed at 84k, but I like to err on the side of caution with those. I also need to try and source a better drivers seat, or see if I can get it repaired. And that’s about it!

Will I keep it? I dunno, I’ll see how it goes, I think I got it for a bargain price, so potentially could make a little bit when or if I come to sell.

 

Anyway, here’s some photos, let me know what you think!

 

 

 

 

[dollywobbler]

Tidy. I've also had thoughts about these - they seem totally devoid of scene tax, probably because the GTi boys get upset enough about a sunroof being fitted, let alone a full on roof chop. Therefore it's the Autoshite GTi of choice.

[michael t]

what a little beauty

[garycox]

Looks great, I can really see the appeal of these. I'd rather have a CTI than a GTI actually.

[Wilko220]

Looks V nice

[Volksy]

I quite agree, I also think that Pininfarina did a grand job of the design, as it doesn't look too mis-shapen with the roof up, unlike the Mk3 Golf for example.

[skoda_fan]

Another car I've never given any attention or thought to, but that's actually rather cool. Like

[Volksy]

Interior

 

 

Seats need a bit of work...

 

 

Rears are pretty good..

 

[HillmanImp]

Can I recommend these. Will add a touch of class to the car...

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LUXURY-BLACK-LEATHER-LOOK-FRONT-REAR-CAR-SEAT-COVERS-/300743700695

[Cavcraft]

Please tell me you didn't buy this from some geriatric sounding twat down south?

[Volksy]

Nope, It came from Flintshire, not far from the Duke of Lancaster.

[stuboy]

very nice

[jbz2079]

Good result, those old things go on and on with a bit of care.

The 1.6 GTI was a thing of great poise and fun to drive, my mate had a new one back in the day.

Used to really upset XR3I owners by leaving them wallowing around in the twisties.

[e287yba]

Very nice indeed; not jealous, oh no...

[Cavcraft]

Nope, It came from Flintshire, not far from the Duke of Lancaster.

 

Happy days. Let me if you want to offload it, my son is after one of those!

[DVee8]

Try these they are a breaker in the northeast they may have a seat

.http://www.citroenpeugeotspares.org.uk/index.html

They are only about 5mile away from me if they have one i may be able to pop up to take a look

[cort16]

It's a much more elegant conversion than a lot of the cobbled together stuff of that era. Are these all 1.6's?

Can you feel much flex when you're driving it? I wonder how much stuff they jammed underneath to stop it flexing? As you said the 9-3 is a right wobbly thing once it gets going and is definetely not sporty in any way.

[Volksy]

Cheers Mark-R I'll give them a bell and see if they have one.

 

Cort16, They're not bad at all, to be honest, hit a bump mid corner and you can feel it flex a little, but nothing in comparison to other convertibles, I think that the roll bar helps quite a bit.

They did do a 1.9 version, initially a Cheetah conversion by a dealer, then by Peugeot themselves, but to be honest, I think that the extra grunt wouldn't be beneficial to the chassis.

 

I took it down to Sheffield for a meeting today, and other than a low rev misfire when hot it all seems ok. I think that the plug leads are breaking down so I've ordered a set of those along with a dizzy cap, rotor arm and plugs, which will hopefully sort that out. I know these are prone to the AFM failing, which are quite pricey, so hoping it isn't that.

[trigger]

This is ace. Top puchurse!

[stilo_active]

Nice purchase

[Volksy]

The low rev miss it had is now cured, with a set of leads thankfully. The plug ends for No's 2 & 3 were buggered causing arcing all over the shop. I'm sure the fuel consumption is gonna go up now I can use all the performance

[Jon]

Hey, that looks great! I'm a big fan of my wife's 1.9 GTi despite its clonking rear beam but I'm hoping to get some bits sorted to repair when we come back to the UK soon for a visit. We'll mostly be staying in the north of England so if you've still got it in a couple of months, I'd love to come take a look. Our 205 is solid but I think I'm getting a bit complacent with all the things on the 'to do' list and it sounds like yours is a lot more sorted!

[Guest Breadvan72]

Foucanace!  Let me know if ever you decide to move it on.   My missus loves her little red 205 totally non GTi diesel, bought from garethj of this parish, but I may treat her to something a bit more sportificated in due course. 

[explosive-cabbage]

Good buy, that's a tidy one!

 

If you want to remove the power steering for any reason, you can just undo the pipes, fit a diy blanking plate and that's it.

 

On the other hand, if you want a non-pas steering rack, I have one. PM me if you want it.

 

I have a pair of GTi style front seats out of a XT, bolsters on the drivers one are a bit shot but if you want them to butcher/ re-cover, let me know. Its meant to be a fairly simple job to swap bolsters in these seats, with a little stitching up underneath neccesary.

 

Also, PM me if you can't work out how to get the front seats out, there's a technique!

[londonm]

Nice in this weather I bet....

[Jim Bell]

That looks saucey.

One of these is on my plausable cars to purchase.

Very well bought fella.

 

How "flimsy" does it feel shell-wise on the road?

[Volksy]

 

How "flimsy" does it feel shell-wise on the road?

 

It's not that bad at all, there is a noticeable difference with the hood down, as it appears quite a sturdy frame. But amazingly mine doesn't really squeak or rattle much, something that my mates hardtop one suffered from.

[Rocket88]

306 rag tops are also seriously cheap at the moment. Look lovely, go well. That 205 is very smart