Peugeot 205

Peugeot 205 at a glance

Development and production history

The 205 is often said to have been styled by Pininfarina, but Gérard Welter of Peugeot has stated that the design was produced in-house; Pininfarina styled only the cabriolet. The car was presented on 25 February 1983, and the right-hand-drive version for the UK followed in September 1983. It narrowly missed the European Car of the Year title, which went to the Fiat Uno. But it won What Car? Car of the Year for 1984, and in 1990 CAR magazine declared it the "car of the decade".

The engine range changed in 1987–1988, when the early X-series petrol engines were replaced by the XU and TU families. Diesels were an important part of the range from the start, with the XUD7 of 1,769 cc, a turbodiesel version and the XUD9 of 1,905 cc. The 106 of September 1991 took over as Peugeot's smallest front-engined model, and the 206 of 1998 replaced the 205 directly.

Design and engineering

The 205 is a compact front-wheel-drive hatchback 3,705 mm long on a 2,420 mm wheelbase, 1,562–1,572 mm wide (1,589 mm for the GTI and CTI) and 1,350–1,376 mm high. Kerb weight ranges from 740 to 935 kg. The cabriolet, called CJ, CT or CTI depending on the version, was designed and partly assembled by Pininfarina.

The Turbo 16 is a different car under a similar shape. Its 1,775 cc turbocharged engine is mid-mounted and drives all four wheels; the road car is 3,820 mm long on a 2,540 mm wheelbase and 1,700 mm wide. Heuliez built the bodies at Cerizay.

Engines and drivetrain

Most 205s had a four- or five-speed manual gearbox; a four-speed ZF 4HP14 automatic was available. English Wikipedia gives a top speed of 174 km/h (108 mph) and 0–100 km/h in 12.2 seconds for the 205 STDT turbodiesel. Our fuel cost calculator shows what petrol and diesel versions of such a light car cost to run today.

Peugeot 205 specifications

Turbo 16 and the World Rally Championship

To compete in Group B, Peugeot had to build 200 road-going examples of the 205 Turbo 16, numbered P1 to P200. The rally car won the World Rally Championship constructors' and drivers' titles in 1985 with Timo Salonen and in 1986 with Juha Kankkunen. Another four-wheel-drive rally car of the early 1980s, the Audi Quattro, is covered in our Audi Quattro article.

Variants and derivatives

The range shows how widely one basic car could be stretched: from a small petrol hatchback weighing about 740 kg to a diesel hatchback that could reach 174 km/h, an open Pininfarina cabriolet and a mid-engined rally car with four-wheel drive. The diesels used the XUD engines of 1,769 and 1,905 cc, the smaller one also with a turbocharger.

The 205 in numbers

More than five million cars over sixteen years means an average of about 330,000 205s a year. The Rallye 1.3, with 76 kW (103 PS) and no more than 794 kg, had about 10.4 kg per kilowatt; about 30,111 were built. The Turbo 16 road car produced about 147 kW from 1,775 cc, or about 83 kW per litre, roughly twice the specific output of the GTI 1.9.

The step from GTI 1.6 to GTI 1.9 added about 22% more power (from 77 to 94 kW), and even with a catalytic converter the 1.9 kept 90 kW. When the 106 arrived in September 1991, the 205 still had seven years of production ahead of it, a long overlap between the two models. Our power-to-weight calculator compares such ratios with modern hot hatchbacks.

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