Hot Hatch Heaven- an old Pug and a new Golf

[Exonian]

A colleague of mine had a 205 GTI about the same time as I did (around 1990) and he kept it for years and years. Flimsy built for sure but as you say, it didn’t ever seem to get worse! It was actually a paragon of reliability.
I had another colleague who bought a brand new black 309 GTI in about 1988 which you could see daylight through the door seals on (similar to a hired one I had back then)! But again, he kept it years and it never got worse, in fact the paint always had a lovely shine on it.


Lovely Scirocco Simon, a future classic I reckon.
Definitely a car of the age where it has ‘just enough’ tech rather than the current overkill, and the chassis on them is at least as good as anything else for road use.
I’d love a 177 or 184 TDI as a commuter car myself.


On the subject of semi-classics, I heard from an old friend this weekend with an update on my former Ibiza GTI which I kept for years and years.
It eventually got a bit old and needed more TLC than I had time for so my friend tidied it up and sold it to a lad who would give it the life it deserved. It’s even done a few recent track days!
It already had Bilstein/Eibach suspension on it and bigger uprated brakes and wheels from my ownership and now has been restored nicely and in better than ever condition. In fact it’s been joined in his family by another which is being tidied up nicely.

[WD-40]

Thanks Jason. yes, I'm very luck to have bought this car- the interior has been kept remarkably well. Other than some minor wear to the driver's seat bolster, I don't expect these seats would've looked much different when they left the factory.
I agree there is a progression as you get older- quality and refinement come higher up the list of priorities.
Oddly, I don't think I would've bought the 205 had I not bought the golf. In a way it reawakened an interest in hot hatches. I wouldn't mind a 106 rallye actually or a Clio 182 trophy. If only I had the garage space- or could convince the wife to keep the Alhambra outside!

I had a 106 Rallye back in the late 90's (an s2 - personally I preferred it to the s1 which I test drove before buying the s2 but didn't gel with it). Of all the cars I've owned, it's the one I look back on with the most nostalgia and a desire to own again. It was such a fun car, and definitely lives up to the hype. In some ways it inspired my purchase of the CS40, as after a few years of more grown up cars I wanted a return to a limited edition, hot hatch, that would put a smile on my face. They're even both white, but that's about where the similarities end as the CS40 is about a million times more refined than the 106 Rallye!

[Yusee]

Interesting that’s the one you want to own again, given your list of previous cars. Why did you not like the s1 out of interest?
They very rarely come to market now.
I think they were the last of the non airbag Peugeot hot hatches, i love the steering wheel and interior.
I wonder if there will ever be a market for more simple stripped out hot hatches, in the way Peugeot did with the 106 and 306 rallye.
I could write a long list of stuff I have in my golf which I don’t particularly need and which adds complexity cost and probably a fair amount of weight too. Ok, the safety stuff has to be there, the world has moved on. But I could lose quite a lot of it.
A golf gti should cost around £24-25k, going on historic prices ( by my reckoning), now £30k plus.
Id be happier with a lighter, more simple car- and an interior with a few basic dials (and one or two knobs)..

[Exonian]

That simple GTI actually does exist almost hidden in the brochures, you can still buy a Polo GTI stripped of most of the superfluous kit albeit in five door & DSG only.
I doubt many get sold as VW don’t market it well enough.
A special edition semi-stripped out Golf GTI would sell in limited numbers, they could call it a Clubsport!

[Yusee]

Really? What do they take out?
I would remove adaptive cruise control, heated seats, heated mirrors, everything in the performance monitor, start stop, think blue, everything involved with lighting customisation,, cornering lighting. Probably also automatic wipers.
Would be useful if they removed some of the sound insulation too!
Roughly how much do buyers save over the standard polo?

[Guzzle]

Up GTi?

Great fun, but sadly no longer the bargain it was 

[Yusee]

The Up Gti has always interested me, though not enough to prefer it over either of my two.
Haven't tried one, but doesn't have the pace or ability of the golf nor the feel or response of an old skool pug.

The Clubsport was more power and revised suspension rather than stripped, as I understand it ( and cost more than the standard cars), as opposed to the old Peugeot Rallyes, which were stripped, lighter and cheaper.

Yeah, you've convinced me- I can't do any better than what I have!

[Exonian]

The Clubsport was a lighthearted ironic add on suggestion because it cost quite a lot more than a regular GTI but the only weight savings were ambient lighting and front parking sensors (plus foglights).
It was a more driver focussed GTI though even discounting the S version.

The Polo GTI has quite a Spartan spec compared to the Golf GTI and Polo GTI+.
A friend of mine ran one as a company hack for a few months, he said it went really well and did 45mpg easily even driving fairly briskly. Very little weight savings but a bit of wallet saving!

The up! GTI is a bit too slow and wallowy to compete with the big boys. Good fun though.

[WD-40]

Interesting that’s the one you want to own again, given your list of previous cars. Why did you not like the s1 out of interest?
They very rarely come to market now.
I think they were the last of the non airbag Peugeot hot hatches, i love the steering wheel and interior.
I wonder if there will ever be a market for more simple stripped out hot hatches, in the way Peugeot did with the 106 and 306 rallye.
I could write a long list of stuff I have in my golf which I don’t particularly need and which adds complexity cost and probably a fair amount of weight too. Ok, the safety stuff has to be there, the world has moved on. But I could lose quite a lot of it.
A golf gti should cost around £24-25k, going on historic prices ( by my reckoning), now £30k plus.
Id be happier with a lighter, more simple car- and an interior with a few basic dials (and one or two knobs)..

I think it was just the lack of torque - as I understand it, you really had to thrash the s1 to get it moving at any pace and to be honest, on a short test drive, the wrong roads (I mainly remember a dual carriageway), and being quite an inexperienced driver at that time, I probably didn't drive it as hard as I should've, to find the rewards. I'm sure I'd appreciate it more nowadays.

There is a market for more simple stripped out hot hatches, it's just very small and niche - hence they are always limited edition and don't always sell very well (think Megane R.26's etc)

[vapourtee]

Yep another ex 205 GTi owner as well. I was a serial Pug hot hatch owner until Peugeot lost interest and stopped making decent hot hatches when the 206 and 307  came out.

Had a black 205 GT (5 door XS) followed by a white XS, red 1.6 Gti and then went on to 306s with an 8V XSi, lovely cherry red 306 Rallye and finally a Astor Grey GTi 6 - one of the last -a W reg - I did a holiday down to the South of France  in the Rallye and swore I'd get a GTI-6 because it had aircon (wuss) -  and the air con worked! The best of that lot was definitely the 306 Rallye - prob my favourite car of all - the induction noise at 7250 rpm of the engine was immense (I had no mods on mine).