Peugeot 205 XS

The XS was more subtly responsive than the 205 GTI

Peugeot 205? It’s almost impossible to mouth those words without adding ‘GTI’. As we often repeat, the 205 GTI is one of the finest hot hatches of all time, never mind the 1980s. It almost completely overshadows the excellence of the 205 itself.

When kitted with the softer, more pliant suspension fitted to every 205 bar the GTI and CTI cabriolet, this Peugeot reveals itself as distinctly French, and one of the last of a long-running Gallic breed designed to master its nation’s roads rather than being internationalised into blandness.

Before the 1990s, cars were more obviously engineered to suit the topography and mindsets of their nations. British cars reflected our nation’s tardy motorway construction with their breathless, engine-breaking cruises, and our class-obsessions via chrome and wood. Italian cars were taxed by engine size, unleashing a wave of high-revving, eager machines that sounded faster than they looked. Germany still makes cars for unfettered autobahn charging.

French cars needed the same high-speed stability for those fast and dangerous tree-lined Routes Nationale, but a ride pliant enough to cope with battered and sinuous minor roads. The result? Cars with loads of grip, unwavering stability, a pillow-soft ride and body roll worthy of a squallbesieged ship. The 205 had all this, although with less of the list that some found off-putting.

It was less extreme in its Frenchness elsewhere, too, being chicly styled and neatly furnished. After the almost wilfully ugly charm of the Citroën Ami, Renault 4, Citroën Visa and Renault 12, that was a pleasant surprise.

So was highly entertaining handling, even from the basic 954cc 205 XE. Narrow tyres, the feedback provided by a pliant ride and unassisted steering told you when grip was fading, a mere throttle-lift neatly re-angling the Peugeot’s nose, and without the threat of a Gti-like spin.

The best model to enjoy all this in was not the GTI, but the 1.4 XS. Firmer and faster than the XE, softer and more subtly responsive than the GTI, this was the quintessential 205.

It proved, and still proves, two things: that fat power, fat tyres and a fat price are not the only way to driving heaven, and that we need more national character in our cars.