Blast from the past NLC

[Clarkie]

https://www.pistonheads.com/regulars/ph ... tted/40678

Owned one of these once upon a time
Mega quick, lift off oversteer a plenty, but made from cheese

Used to live at the end of long straight, at night under braking the dash lights would go out headlights still on. After much head scratching found the wiring to the number plate light would drop down and short on the exhaust when hot. Only 86 left don’t make cars like they used too

[renmure]

There's a good article and review of them in this months Modern Classics magazine

[point n squirt]

My mates cousin had one as his wifes dad owned McDonald motors Motherwell he wrote it off, Preferred the 205 1.9 gti just looked better imo.

[smee]

Had a hankering for a Goodwood 309 for years.

[mik]

Always wanted a 309GTi. More than a 205. Awesome cars.

Had this instead as my first performance vehicle. So much cheaper due to grandad image, but surprisingly eager to lift-off-oversteer and had sone great adventures in it. Have always liked under-dog cars....

[robin]

A very long time ago I had a 205xs - absolutely loved that car - was fast enough compared to other bangers I had owned until then and handling was supreme and it looked cool, better than the 309 I think. Then much later in life (but still a very long time ago) I owned a 209 1.9 GTI. Never ever liked it as much as the 205xs - hardly drove it and sold it on quickly.

You can keep the Maestro - who would deliberately design a car to look like an Allegro?!? Probably worth a fortune today if you have one with a working dashboard (unlikely).

[Mikie711]

I used to buy and sell 1.6 205 gti's. Absolutely loved that little car. Had a couple of 1.9's but never liked it as much, 1.6 was just the perfect mix of engine and chassis where as the 1.9 was to much engine, spoiled the balance.
!.6's had an inherent issue in that they would throw their big end bearings at around 60-80k miles if they hadn't been looked after. In a garage it was an expensive repair as the engine was a pig to remove. Needless to say I got quite good at it and used to buy them with a knackered big end, repair them and sell them on. Must have done that with 8-10 cars back in the day.
Great drivers car but the build quality was typically french unfortunately.

[campbell]

Is that when they started calling you Big End Mikey?!

Never had a Pug of any sort and no hankering to I’m afraid. But know that the knowledgeable car journos loved em.

One exception. We very nearly bought a 106 Rallye (Mk2 ... I know I know ...!)

[Dark]

A very long time ago I had a 205xs - absolutely loved that car

I had one too! My first "performance" car and also dearly missed!

I had a 1.6 GTI for 2 weeks while the XS was having a warranty gearbox replacement and was lucky to hand it back in one piece, much to learn at age 20!

This video sums the XS up perfectly!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGJKvv9 ... dex=7&t=0s

[robin]

Nice! Might have to find an excuse to buy one