Thanks for the tips Exonian
The 205 was indeed pretty iconic in its days... the unmistakable alloy wheels, the little red 'GTI' on the back, the lack of power steering which made 3 point turns into double digits and gave you arms The Rock would be proud of!
But back onto my search, having had a brief trawl on the usual suspects (AT, EBay, FB Marketplace) I think my budget of 12k is aiming at the earlier models with higher mileage. That's okay because I know the 2.0 TFSI is a reliable unit so as long as the car has been looked after then I'm confident it will give me many years of joy. I understand wear & tear are all part and parcel of car-owning so as long as I budget for that, then I know what i'm letting myself in for.
Maybe an insensitive statement, but with the current climate I'm expecting alot more cars coming on to the market through redundancies, or simply people selling up and putting the money aside for security. As for dealers, well I think it's gonna be quite a lean couple of years ahead for them, and those sales targets will be tough to meet! So let's hope they too will soften their sticker price!!
