205GTI buyer knowledge sought

O

Onslo

New member
Tadpole
Joined
Dec 24, 2017
Messages
9
Location
Tas
Hi there, I am not ready to buy just yet but am planning to buy after I reacquaint myself with my old favourite hatch with a view to buying in the next 6-12 months.

As part of my research I am interested in any suggestions, bewares, recommendations from those more familiar with these than I am.

My priority will be finding an unaltered, original as possible car that is solid and trim is in good condition, respray and some mechanicals less bothersome. For me finding hard to source worn or damaged parts is more of a turn off than a solid car with shabby paint.

Whats hard to find? Where is the must examine areas and what are the deal breakers.

Anecdotally it seems that prices went up pretty high during covid but recently seems to have contracted a bit. Hard to make accurate valuations on such a low turn over model I know.

All info is good info, thanks for replying Regards Craig
 
Sounds elusive, just like this girls chompers.......

hens teeth.jpg


Cheers

Justin
 
Hehehehe!

Join the club.

Maybe giving some budget figure would paint a better idea of what can be achieved.

If I were to buy another one I would go for solid tin work. Everything else is more or less possible to rectify even if costly.

Dash plastics are the most scarce so expect to pay serious money if you need any. Our RHD cars can only have these from a handful of places so it's a sellers' market.

Or you can go without. I found you can drive the car with a lot of its dash missing so why bother. If you want a show car, tough. You'll have to cough up.

I bought a lot of expensive parts from overseas only to find they were as brittle as ours so I just stopped replacing them. If I ever sell the car (unlikely) I will put them on. Until then I don't feel rattly, broken or missing parts of the dash detracts from driving pleasure.

Good luck with your quest.
 
If you are taller than say 6 ft 1 don’t get one with a sunroof. I would go a series 3, has speedlines, 4wd brakes and power steer.
 
schlitzaugen said:
Hehehehe!

Join the club.

Maybe giving some budget figure would paint a better idea of what can be achieved.

If I were to buy another one I would go for solid tin work. Everything else is more or less possible to rectify even if costly.

Dash plastics are the most scarce so expect to pay serious money if you need any. Our RHD cars can only have these from a handful of places so it's a sellers' market.

Or you can go without. I found you can drive the car with a lot of its dash missing so why bother. If you want a show car, tough. You'll have to cough up.

I bought a lot of expensive parts from overseas only to find they were as brittle as ours so I just stopped replacing them. If I ever sell the car (unlikely) I will put them on. Until then I don't feel rattly, broken or missing parts of the dash detracts from driving pleasure.

Good luck with your quest.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your reply Schlitzaugen. I am thinking that price will likely be in the early $20k range. I am not bothered either way by 3-5k for the better example as I have restored cars before and know that amount goes no where when you start buying 'minor' pieces.

Tidy trim I know will be a hard ask but its also the making of a tidy car if its good. Most cars at this age and value I would expect to have fairly poor paint so I expect a respray if I wanted it immaculate which I don't. I fully understand very low K stored examples are going to be thin on the ground and should be priced accordingly.
I have watched entry level cars in ordinary condition rise to too close a price to tidy examples since covid but expect that to retreat quickly, but expect good examples to hold value well.
 
Trent172 said:
If you are taller than say 6 ft 1 don’t get one with a sunroof. I would go a series 3, has speedlines, 4wd brakes and power steer.
Click to expand...
Thanks Trent, Unfortunately I wasn't endowed in the height department. I would prefer no sunroof too.
 
Amazingly, the inside looks tidier when you remove crappy plastics barely holding on by a thread. Mine doesn't have a centre console anymore (nothing wrong with that one, just a pain in the arse to get out when you need to get under the dash), bits of the dash (coin holder and such) and side panels in the footwell. Easy to clean. I was wondering if I really need the back seat the other day. Front passenger seat is redundant too. All that stuff collects dust and that weighs down the car.

For 20k you should be able to pick a car with good panels and no rust. I would prioritise that above mechanicals.

Check underneath that nobody tried to jack (or hoist) it under the floor. Most would have come across some numpty who put the hoist arms in the wrong place and pushed the floor up.

Don't worry too much about the engine. You can rebuild that completely with new OEM parts (not cheap, but good result).
 
Last edited:
I have had an 1987 S1 and a 1992 S3... and I think the S1 (with pepper pot wheels) was more fun because of it had a lower ratio gearing. However the disk/drum brake set up was pretty awful and stopping in a hurry was challenging. The S3 had the larger (and more attractive IMHO) Speedline wheels and four wheel disks which stopped a bit better. Both of my cars when I got them needed the driver's side seat mounts re welded as "enthusiastic" driving by previous owners seem to have torn the bolts from the floor.
And I agree with comments about the plastic dash. On my S1, the glovebox was missing (common issue) and rattles, broken coin tray etc. But always a pleasure to drive. The broken dash does not affect the driving fun.
 
One of the reasons I sold my '93 S3 in '99 after owning it for 3 years was because of the failing plastics. Sunroof surround broken, front plenum cover broken etc etc. The failing plastics aren't age related - they were like that from the factory ! I'm amazed any plastic in a 205 has survived, particularly in Aussie sun.

Cheers

Justin
 
I think you might be onto something there.

I bought a few plastics from cold countries and they cracked straight away.

Regarding brakes, my car has a disc/drum setup (early S1 car) but they work great. I can easily lock the front wheels in the dry with very grippy tyres.
 
schlitzaugen said:
I think you might be onto something there.

I bought a few plastics from cold countries and they cracked straight away.

Regarding brakes, my car has a disc/drum setup (early S1 car) but they work great. I can easily lock the front wheels in the dry with very grippy tyres.
Click to expand...
Is much being reproduced? I guess with rapid improvements in 3d printing this stuff may be available again.
 
Yeah, nah.

Dunno.

The problem is not 3D printing (even though it can be) but the design of these dash plastics. If you take a closer look you will see some evidence of poor design. Slender outriggers used to take fasteners, clips placed at the most strained point, and so on. Not to mention lots of stuff hanging off the dash panels or pushing against them from behind. Poor reinforcing of stress points, inappropriate fasteners, the list goes on.

That is part of the reason I gave up. You will just crack and break any new panel you find.

3D printing is also not excessively strong (materials are weak).

Moulding these in glassfibre or CF is a much better idea. Soon enough our cars will be expensive enough that somebody will create a mold to make panels in CF I hope.

It's not that hard (or expensive) but you need to know what you're doing and in Oz the materials won't be cheap and will have to come from overseas as well, but who knows? Maybe the guys with show cars will one day decide to have their plastics renewed so we can get something made locally. Overseas I see now CNC cut parts for the engine so there's definitely a market for one-off things. Silicone hoses have been on the market for a while now so things are going in the right direction.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top