I would use search but is not working. My girlfriend is looking at buying a Peugout 206 GTI. Anyone on here had any experiance with them? performance and reliabilty?

 

IMO they are not good. A few riends had / have them and build quality is typically peugeot and they are not really 'gti' ish. You will probably be dissapointed i fyou are expecting a revamp on the old 205gti. Clio 172 is much better, I had a mk1 a few years ago as a stop gap and was a hoot. build quality / reliability not the best, but i had no real issues and was good fun.

What kind of budget is she looking at, sure there are some other contenders...

You can get an early mini cooper for £5k now, great little car...we had the Cooper S and was very entertaining, although the cooper is a better all round package having driven both, all in my opinion of course...

 

The Gti has around 135bhp and is pretty poor, the Gti180 has around 180bhp and is apparantly not too bad but still not great (I've not driven one). Get a 306 Gti 6 instead!

 

Which one? there are 2 versions, i tried a mates a loongggg time ago 140BHP (IIRC) BHP and i hated just about everything with it.

 

It could be an early Alfa with the amount of electrical gremlins it's plagued with. Lass at work has one, it has more errors / issues than you can shake a crappy stick at.

Stuff is cheap for them and readily available but i'd not touch one with a barge pole personally.

Fabia VRS would be a much better bet.

 

I had a 206 GTI 180 for about 2 years.

It was pretty good IMO. The handling was extremely 'crashy' over bumps, largely due to the stupid low profile 17's.

The seats in the 180 are nice, full support up to the shoulders. The interior is quite plush actually with LCD climate control, leather dashboard trim, Blaupunkt CD Changer.

The reliability was slightly suspect, they have big problems with the OEM exhausts, which seem to last about as long as a 70's Lancia Beta! A simple cure is to buy a Scorpion exhaust or similar.

I took mine around Castle Combe, the grip was quite impressive, and it held its own against faster machines...

Dont go expecting fun levels up there with the 205 GTI or the even the 306 GTi6. It is a very safe handling car with 'little' to no lift off oversteer.

Of course none of this matters if the plan is just to use it to go shopping in! Oh, its worth mentioning that the 180 rear seats will not fold flat - and they are only suitable for very small people!

They are very cheap now, you can pick up a 180 for around £3.5 - £4k..

I've also owned a 306 GTi6 and still own a 1984 205 GTI 1.6!

 

Civic Type R - 197bhp - bomb proof & you will pick up a good one for £5 - £6k

 

I ran a 206 gti back in 2001 in a lovely burnt orange colour,
a great little car, not enough power to get you into trouble, but entertaining enough. The fact I sold it for an ATR 6 months later, tells its own story.

The 205 was/is a dog anyone who says otherwise clearly has a case of the rose tinted
I also had the ahem pleasure of accessing a 309gti - widley regsrded as a better handler than the 205 and that was whilst entertaining on the curvy stuff, completely shat in every other department. Along with the 205 GTi convertable (XS?) an ex used to run which was erm interesting.

So there you have it, french cars, some handle well, but ultimately they are all rizla paneled cheap piles of crap

 

Horrible, horrible cars. My wife had one for a few years and it was always had something wrong with it, most notably the exhaust which just kept dropping off despite being replaced on about 3 or 4 occasions. Felt tinny, was poorly made and I really didn't feel safe in it!!

I agree with the above - old shape Civic Type-R - awesome in comparison and relatively cheap nowadays.

 

Agree on the 306 GTI-6 being a better bet, if you can find a good, low mileage, unmolested example. Mind was excellent, not that fast... but it didn't matter as you barely needed to slow for corners!

I've been in a GTI and didn't like it, quite slow and tinny. I test drove a 180 it was OK but I am certain that there is better around for the same (or less) money... see above.