Ayrton

Fancy an old hatchback rocket for a bit of trackwork & some road fun for around the £2k mark + spending a bit on mods - suspension etc.
Must be fairly small/light with lots of power & a reasonable looker.
Must say 89/90 crx vtec import 160bhp + a few mods looks like a great car (if a bit overpriced) - 205s are all a bit flimsy & break down a lot don't they?
205 would be good but more common & most look like sheds now.
205 is supposed to be the ultimate handling hatch but I don't know how a crx would compare.

Other cars on the list are
Golf Mk2 16v - maybe overweight but quality
clio - build quality worse than Peugeot
or knock a project up myself eg mk2 golf + 1.8T !!

Any thoughts from like minded fools appreciated.
Ayrton

R1916v

Wouldn't say it was worse than the pug tbh.

One car that's not there which would be great and cheap is the clios big (and superior :P ) brother the 19 16 valve.

Used to have one and it was great, the williams used the suspension from the 19 and due to gearing/aerodynamics the 19 shifts as well as a clio.

Get a phase 1 saloon for best handling and fastest, phase 2 hatch for nicest looking, phase 1 hatch for a bit of inbetween (saloon beter handling by a whisker , phase 1 lighter than 2). Whack a 2 litre megane/williams engine in there, or tbs, strip it out and it'll be good.

Best thing is they are cheap as

Dream Weaver

The myth that 205's and/or Pugs in general are unreliable is just that, a myth.

Look after them and they are fine. My 205 is off the road because I bought it with a knackered engine, but thats it.

Other than that, i've had:

1989 205 1.6 GTi - thrashed it hard for from 66k miles to 100k miles and only needed a radiator.
1992 405 SRi - never missed a beat
1990 205 XS - in the family from 44k miles and now belongs to my cousing at about 110k miles. Never a problem with it.
1992 405 Mi16 - no issues

All the Pugs i've owned have been superb as I service them proerly and look after them. They have annoying issues such as dodgy earths, but once you learn about them they are great.

Our 91 Clio was a bit crap in comparison though.

Dream Weaver

And within our group back in the mid 90's we also had 2 more 205 GTi's, 1 405 Mi16, another 405 SRi and a couple of 306 XSi's. Apart from crashing they were always great

The Chief

My mate had a standard 205 1.6 gti and he had 120k on the clock and had absolutely f*** all go wrong with it. I had a blast and i have yet to drive a hatch that handled as well with so much feedback its untrue! i would imagine that the 1.9 is even better! lovely cars - just make sure you get a good 'un!

miles25

205 GTi

In the past mine have been thrashed around airfields, race tracks, country lanes and one even spent time being thrashed around a beach (still had sand in it when I sold it - sand really does get everywhere!!)

Treat the basics right and they will keep going and going. Parts are cheap and even in standard form with a suspension tweak, they are great cars. Even the front brakes with a simple uprating of pads will give good braking and little fade on track due to the cars overall lightness.

I can't deny the french build quality, but overall they are great cars for the money. Just get used to rattles as part of the course, I always worry that if I DON'T here any rattles then something must be wrong

ellisg

I'm gutted with the build and reliability of 205s. Mines just done 120k and has it first major rattle and gearstick is slightly notchy (new gear rods required).

You're find more 205 fans than CRX ones on this forum, both cars are equally capable though.

Mi powered 205s are just insane, a popular conversion, 165bhp in something that weighs 900kg and handles like a go-kart.
Have to be careful choosing 205s though, many are abused and will be unreliable, just pay extra and get well maintained ones or rebuilt Mi16s

Gutmann pug

Your asking in the wrong place asking people to compare the humble 205 against other similar cars on here. We are all very biased, but for the right reasons As with any car of its age or any of the others on your list it will have a degree of unreliability, after all its a 13 year old hot hatch which will have had a hard life.
I have been very happy with my 205 with only a new radiator being required, other than stuff ive done to her myself.
As for the other cars ive always had a soft spot for MK2 golf GTi 16v's. Good quality car with a great engine.

I think to be honest the best thing to do is look at a multitude of cars and buy the best of the best. If you try to narrow it down too much you may be dissapointed with what you find.

Gary

Ayrton

Cheers for all the input - due to being much more common I think a 205 is on the cards.
Unfortunately no input on the crx - roughly 950kg 160 bhp standard, revs to 8500 & no frog build quality issues - what a riot - quite rare tho - nice one on ebay but might go for more than I want to pay.
Drove a 1.6i one years ago & that was fun so a higher powered one would be a hoot.

Ayrton

Gutmann pug

From your reply I would say you want a crx. Dont be swayed by what we say, if its the crx you want then find a crx forum, find out what they say about it and buy one.
You will only get 205 biased on here as the place is riddled with owners. PLus you were talking about an Mi16 and to do that properly it isnt cheap.

Gary

Andy Tang

iTrader: (3)

Maybe people should take off their 'Pug-tinted glasses'

Try driving a CRX. The one I had was only a 16v, but it was without doubt the best handling car I have EVER driven with a standard suspension!! Solid engines that easily see 150k. The 16v is good (and very cheap), but the VTEC will need to be thrashed to get the extra power (130bhp vs 150bhp).

Both are group 12 to insure.

If you look at imports the Si is the 16v and the SiR is the VTEC, both with power steering (and normally air con or climate) Some will have a full glass roof and others a full metal roof with no sunroof. No pas on the UK/Euro cars, and air con was an extra, although it does have a sunroof (which is prone to rust).

I would consider a metal roof SiR as my next fun car, and there are guys sticking turbos on them, but it's recommended to start with a VTEC (rather than a 16v which will chew through head gaskets with a turbo conversion)

Honda CRX UK

kammy

Hi,
I have owned and driven alot of 205 gti's including my MI16 wih got nicked very quickly. My last car was a CRX 16v and in my eyes it was much better. Very strong and handled very good, but the 205 comes with decent width rubber whereas the 16v CRX comes with skinny tyres- this lets down the CRX.

If you do go for a CRX weigh up whether you want/need a VTEC or 16v. The 16v are lot cheaper and the difference is minimal. Then again the 205 gti is a cracker.

If you can be arsed look at a GT Turbo for out and out perfromance, handle great to.

Whopps ment to say IF you can a decent MI16 you wont look back as they fly!
Kam

Dream Weaver

Kam, what happened to your 205, sorry to hear of it being nicked

I'm a bit naive these days and think that the 205 will never get nicked as they prefer newer cars, but it happens

Andy Tang

iTrader: (3)

I found the 16v picks up nicely (like the mk2 8v Golf) but at 4000 rpm you can feel the car pull harder. The 16v doesn't have to be worked so hard to get it pulling.

Price dictated my choice for the 16v, they sell for £500 to £2000 ( varying from project rust bucket to a mint low miler with full Honda history)

VTECs were £1500 to £4000 when I last looked, again varying from 'projects' to minters. With the SiR commanding a bigger premium due to lower miles (Japanese imports), power steering and climate control.

Modified VTEC/SiRs with turbo conversions, mappable ECUs, FMIC, etc will sell for around the £6k mark (as the conversion done well with labour costs will be in the region of £3-4k!! )

The 16v CRX comes with 14" wheels which handle fine, but I swapped mine for 15" (Civic VT) wheels, which are 7" wide, and there is lots of decent rubber in the 205/50/15 (IIRC) size!

The car was very nimble and weighing less than 1000kg, the power to weight is pretty good (and can still be improved, if you remove some bits) I found it would keep up with quite a few hot hatches. Not bad for a car that was 14 years old at the time!

Kam, sorry to hear about your car!

kammy

It was a while ago, me and me brothers found a minter which we were going to share every now and then. My brother woke up, went down stairs and it was gone. Very suspect as it was from an underground car park, with security and the car had a decent alarm. It was never found, so if you find a dodgy but mint K-reg, red, Mi16 engined with gutman body parts you may have my car! lol
You win some, you lose some I guess
Kam