I had a Pug 205 GTi 1.9 from new. It was a great car and generally rated as the best hot hatch of its time. It was better than the brilliant Golf GTi mk1. Successors to the 205 were too compromised to be as good.
I also have a copy of Car Magazine of September 1990 where 6 testers compared 10 hot hatches and one non-hatch. Overall the Pug came top. The Metro GTi 16v came 8th and the Fiesta RS Turbo came 10th and both were beaten by the non-hatch, the new Mini Cooper RSP at 7th. The Mini Cooper was voted 1st by two of the six testers, Gavin Green, the editor, and the legendary LJK Setright.
Mg Metro Turbo Vs 205Gti Vs Xr2
Started by
mab01uk
, Oct 14 2012 09:42 AM
17 replies to this topic
#17
and90cooper
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Mini Mad
Posted 16 October 2012 - 07:07 PM
one of the favourite cars ive onwned was a mk1 xr2 with a Burton 1700 engine in it-it looked a bit rough but it could certainly shift ,easily kept up with my mates astra gte-sold it for £200 quid!! another "wish i'd kept it" lol
it was also one of the thirstiest cars i've ever had -was on a par with my old xj6!!!
it was also one of the thirstiest cars i've ever had -was on a par with my old xj6!!!
#18
cradley-heathen
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Metro-Man
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Posted 16 October 2012 - 09:14 PM
i am a big fan of early metros, i cant say im fussed about it being a turbo or not, i just like them. but.......
as others have said they just arnt in the 1.2.3. with an xr2 or a 205gti. and also as someone else said poor austin were so far behind.
when i was 16, dreaming of having a car, a 1.9 gti was THE hatch to have, i thought it had it all, looks, handling, the biggest capacity (of most anyway)
sadly during our college years a good friend of mine had several pug gtis, and my god they were so fragile, they were always breaking, and the build quailty was just rubbish. compared to my 998 mini i had at the time it seemed truly rapid, until my brother got an xr3i which nailed his 205 into the ground. following that up i got an astra with a red top in and could see for myself that it had far more clout than the 205 could offer, even if the handlig wasnt so good.
anyway, being a bit older now, i would go for.......
the metro, despite it being the under dog, but its familiar teritory mechanically so it wouldnt cause many headaches. and i have welded up tons of them over the years too so im pretty familiar with that side of them too.
second would be the fiesta, much more hardy than the others in my experience, and well catered for with parts both original and performance.
third place is the 205, poor build quality and a back end that was keen to flip out always put me off, that and my old mates attitude towards "how great they are" grubby french cack. lol
as others have said they just arnt in the 1.2.3. with an xr2 or a 205gti. and also as someone else said poor austin were so far behind.
when i was 16, dreaming of having a car, a 1.9 gti was THE hatch to have, i thought it had it all, looks, handling, the biggest capacity (of most anyway)
sadly during our college years a good friend of mine had several pug gtis, and my god they were so fragile, they were always breaking, and the build quailty was just rubbish. compared to my 998 mini i had at the time it seemed truly rapid, until my brother got an xr3i which nailed his 205 into the ground. following that up i got an astra with a red top in and could see for myself that it had far more clout than the 205 could offer, even if the handlig wasnt so good.
anyway, being a bit older now, i would go for.......
the metro, despite it being the under dog, but its familiar teritory mechanically so it wouldnt cause many headaches. and i have welded up tons of them over the years too so im pretty familiar with that side of them too.
second would be the fiesta, much more hardy than the others in my experience, and well catered for with parts both original and performance.
third place is the 205, poor build quality and a back end that was keen to flip out always put me off, that and my old mates attitude towards "how great they are" grubby french cack. lol
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