20 Sep 06
I had a great drive in my old Peugeot 205 GTi this morning.
The following sentiment might sound like a stuck record, but it is still the most engaging, most driver-intimate hot hatchback ever made, which is why I have one. The way its steering response and cornering attitude become extensions of your own synapses is extraordinary. No other hot hatchback has ever been like this.
That Peugeot failed to replicate this transparency and eagerness in the 206 GTi, even the hottish 180 version, is well established in hot-hatchback folklore. It felt clumsier, it rolled more in corners, there was a looseness and a vagueness to its demeanour and you had to rev the engine to death to get it to go. Not for the 206 the easy, smooth torque and razor throttle response of the 205, whether 1.6 or 1.9.
A few months ago, Peugeot launched the new 207. A bit bigger and heavier than the 206, in typical new-supermini fashion, it's a competent 'little' car but not a setter of standards.
There were, however, signs of driver-interface redemption - not in the 110bhp, turbodiesel GT HDi version (the ride too firm for that old 205 flow, the steering too artificial-feeling, with its obvious electric power, even if its precision was pleasing) but in a basic 1.4 version with skinnier tyres and less weight up front. This steered and handled really nicely, well enough to give hope for a future hot version if done the right way.
