Quote from tristancliffe :

No, the engines are built to the same standard. Most would say the 1.6 is the nicer engine to use, but of course doesn't have the outright punch of the 1.9. But I cannot claim to be an expert in the 205, so more than this I wouldn't know.

If you are after quick then you're life is now a lot easier. You'll have a lot less fun in it, and it won't make you smile as much, but fast/quick is far easier than fun.

So you say for the overall fun is the 1.6? Surely they should be as 'fun' is corners? But the 1.9 a little quicker on the straights?

I did do a quote for a 1990 MX5 as I've heard they are good fun to drive even though they are hairdressers cars, but when I got the quote back for the 1.6, that was that car out of the question!

Quote from pb32000 :

I heard 205 GTIs were really easy to insure at 17?

£1,108 for a GTI 1.6
£1,158 for a GTI 1.9

So they aren't bad at all. Especially really for the type of cars they are.

Quote from tristancliffe :

But it's very tricky to change an engine, change the suspension (to suit the new engine) and brace up the chassis without actually making a LOT less fun. Faster maybe (though still not a certainty), but fun is very tricky. If it was easy, modern hothatches would be fun, and no manufacturer would produce a dud sports car or hot hatch. The fact that the majority of production hot hatches are duds is a good reason not to mess with one that has "the magic" - like a 205 GTi.

This is even more true when you try to do it on a 17 year olds budget.

If you just want to go faster (at the expense of 'fun') as in a race or track day car, then that's relatively easy. But you'll quickly find that fast doesn't necessarily equal fun - in fact, in a lot of cases, the slower the car the more fun it is (although, of course, some cars are just too slow to be fun on a track day).

Thats what I was thinking, getting the right balance between the 2 if I was to change parts. I don't have enough knowledge yet to get the balance right as I'm 3 yrs away from Uni to even start understanding the right balance to make a well setup car (7yrs away in fact!) :| But there is someone down here who is very good with setting up cars, so might be worth a trip down to him.

Have you heard any of the rumours that the build quality is worse on the 1.9 than on the 1.6? In terms of the engine. I couldn't see it tbh though.

I want it to be quick on the straights and in corners. So getting that balance may be pretty difficult :S

Quote from tristancliffe :

Yes, I am a mechanic, and engineer and an enthusiast. However, that doesn't seem to stop people who know NOTHING from claiming I'm wrong.

Nowadays a 205 will be worth more standard than modified. It will also be more fun and nicer to drive. Why waste your money making it worth less and less fun?

See, if you was to prove a point, you are one to give an explanation about things. Yes I don't know loads at the moment but know a lot more than other 17 yr olds.

I woudn't just chuck any old stuff onto the engine etc... Keep either the original 1.9 engine in it and just do proper modifications to the internals, or put a MI16 in it at one stage. Standard suspension is yes, good. But if I had the money would put decent suspension kit on it, anti roll bars, strut braces etc... A standard what is apparently good fun to drive but I've only ever been in one with a mi16 in it.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Never driven a 205 GTi? They make most, no ALL modern 'hot hatches' look rubbish. A truly brilliant car from a time when the French knew how to do suspension. No, they're not the strongest or most well built car in the world, but they are perfectly acceptable on both counts.

Most will have been totally thrashed now though, so even a good one will be very tired.

Thats what is annoying me, all the good examples are a lot of money. But I wont want to buy a good example and then change all the parts on it for aftermarket as it'll no longer be a good example of one.

I'm not thinking of touching the exterior though, just performance goodies and making it into a good car that will also be good fun for track days.

I'm sure people on here think they're all mechanics and know everything about cars.

Just sound like a load of keyboard warriors to me HAHA.

Quote from BlueFlame :

It's a road car... that is french... how can it possibly put a smile on your face?

Have you ever been in a MI16 205, or just the GTI for that matter. It will put a smile on your face, the speeds the things can carry through corners is unreal. Especially with the right engine in them they'll eat scoobys/evos in the corners. A £2k 205 GTI with a MI16 in it beating a £6k+ car... Yes please.

There are just some cars that'll put a smile on your face.

We've all got to start some where.

Last edited by sam93, Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:19.

Quote from BlueFlame :

Sam, go away, a car isn't good just because people say it is. And besides ,you proved pearcy right. So ya best just jib from the thread or the hole will become bigger.

Haha... I've read loads of reviews about the 205 GTI and all comes back pretty good. I've also been in my mates MI16 205 and had a big grin on my face whilst in it. Yeah, I mostly likely wont get an MI16 one but still most likely have a 1.9.

I'm not digging no hole for myself. I research all the costs of cars before I set myself on getting one and the 205 GTI I can afford as it has same running costs as my van, just not on fuel.

YES PLEASE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fB5WsqLvMc

Quote from pearcy_2k7 :

lol just the other day you laid into my car because it was French, now your buying an old French car, you are priceless. I'd advise you to go into sales/retail.

jak, i was just questioning your knowledge

I'm sure I said the only French car I like are 205s! It's an iconic car and its the only french car I actually like.

Quote from pearcy_2k7 :

1. You owe nathan £100
2. I thought you were keeping it to be "different" i.e special needs different
3. where were you going to find the £2-3k you need to do it with no job?
4. You've just proved me right, you are full of shit.

I was going to keep the van, but I've started to get bored of it. Else it was all going to get done!

I owe Nathan jack shit. If I was to keep the van, it would get done.

I would rather get a 205 GTI 1.6 and make a track slag out of it, atleast those cars are worth a bit to start off with and brilliant cars in my eyes. Yeah, you have to deal with french build quality, but still :/

Quote from pearcy_2k7 :

Don't question Jak's knowledge, he studies them for years before he buys anything.

Lol. I reckon all it is though is the map.

Quote from brt900 :

and you own a vauxhall and your calling a rover

And... I don't like Rovers, personal opinions and all that. I would class them as Marmite cars, either you love them, or you hate them.

I probably wont own the Vauxhall for much longer if I get a job.

Quote from Jakg :

Nope, has the same M47R engine in both cars, originally from a 320D. Slightly detuned to 115 BHP, though, which they later boosted up slightly to 135 BHP as a factory option.



Steering rack is also different, as are the trim levels while I remember...

If yours in the 115bhp version, surely you can get it remapped to 135bhp?

Quote from Jakg :

...for the last time, it's not a Rover.

I can get a body kit for my car but it really looks out of place. Only mod i'd ever consider would be a Laguna diffuser as per here or the OEM spoiler like this if I ever found one cheap. That and paint the calipers a nice trophy blue...

That bodykit looks well out of place. Lagune front splitter looks good on any car really.

Oh, and it is a Rover 75. MG have just took it and tarted it up a little.

Quote from Jakg :

My point was if you have a shit car, you can change bits of it and give it a little more power, a little more grip etc, but at the end of the day without a stupid amount of money you'll never get away from it's underpinnings.

Yes i'm "pimping" my car up because I dare to try to improve it (:really but I am not trying to escape the basics of the car, like Sam is trying to pimp out a Van...

Good luck. If you do pick everything you do to the outside with a fine tooth cone,a lot of people mess Rovers up when trying to make them look better. At the end of the day though, they are stereotyped as old people cars.

Best Rover I've seen is this... Only Rover I actually like.
Pic1
Pic2
Pic3
Pic4
Pic5

Thats if you are thinking of doing anything to the outside, but his engine iirc isnt standardish.

My van I'm thinking of getting rid of. Ran a few insurance quotes and I can insure a 205 GTI 1.6/9, BMW 316i Coupe, 106 GTI or some Vag diesels. Just getting some money saved up and which one to get. I have a big soft spot for a 205 and although they can get bad lift off oversteer, they still handle very well.

Quote from BlueFlame :

There's no guarantee that it is four wheel drive. All you see is pixels on a screen.

Wont exactly be hard to see when you went to see it as there will be a bloody calibra 4x4 floor pan in it which is totally different to the astra one... It's higher up etc... be all running gear at the back.

He isn't going to advertise all that to waste people time.

Oh... And the people who didn't believe about the 4x4 van: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MK3-ASTR ... MSfp=TL100303195001r35259

Quote from pearcy_2k7 :

I have a 206, it's the the bodyshop, i'll post pictures when it's done. I paid for the car actually and i admit i didn't pay for the lessons but i have to pay the insurance too. Say my car's worth 2k, what would you say if i wanted to spend 20k on it which is 10x the value of the car. Your spending 10x the amount your van is worth, that's how rediculous it is.

Instead of throwing loads of money at something that will at the end of the day still be a van is pointless just like chucking 20k at a 206 would be. Your just being an idiot and all the stuff you want to do to it will never happen, you just bullshit constantly.

How the **** do you know anything about me? I don't bullshit at all!

You have a 206? I would rather have a van, atleast it's not ****ing french. Only french car worth having is a 205 1.9 GTI.

I will only probably keep this van until I'm 18... If I can afford £300 a month on insurance next year... I will just buy a S13. But as I'll be in college then I doubt I'll have that money lying around.

I pay for my own insurance, van, petrol, lessons and test. So out of the money I had, you can see why I've got a £400 van.

Idealy I would want something jap or german (BMW or Audi) but funds just dont allow atm.

Quote from Jakg :

But that doesn't make it worthwhile - I do like modifying cars (especially my new one) but I would never dream of spending much money on it - if you spend a grand on your Van you've got a £450 Van thats barely worth that, that you've thrown a grand at, when you could of got something quite nice with the money...


Mods dont add value to cars, thus why the Wira is totally standard again...

Also, if I was 20, with 3 years NCB i'd be paying £392 to insure my GF's T-Reg Ka.

I hear this all the time... You can buy a nicer car for your money. Yes you can, but still wont stop me lol. I might end up selling it in a yr.

Quote from Jakg :

Very very few people on this forum drive bog standard cars. It's just the mods that most people do aren't so utterly over the top - i'm sure adding a body kit will improve the looks a little (heck you can't make it worse) but at the end of the day it's still a van... most people wouldn't spend the value of their car modifying it.

Yes very true. But for example, I was going to be getting a Civic and just go down the JDM route. EG or EK civics aren't exactly expensive but modifying it down the JDM route is and will easily go over the value of the car with parts.

Quote from mcintyrej :

You can't get £1300 on an S13 at 19.

Its £2500 for me to insure something like a 1.2 ford ka at 20. Your doing it wrong.

Came up with that price when I did it a month ago. As at first I got a quote at 17 on my mums policy with an S13 I got £500 a yr but then realised I put my mums NCB on it which I couldn't use as she has her own car.

£1300 is me as policy holder with both parents as named drivers as they have full NCB and it brings the price down.

Quote from garph :

Not many people not having a taste for modifying cars? In a thread about cars, for people to post pictures and discuss their cars and the modifications they've made, on a forum for a driving game, on the internet jam packed with other games about driving, some with modifications as an actual point of the game and all the websites dedicated to nothing but modifying cars, just for people who do nothing but modify their car and then tell everyone else who modifies their car what they've done and how to do it........not to mention all the magazines and TV shows who's sole purpose for being is to please people who modify cars!

Yeah, not many people are into pimping their ride.

I mean their isn't a lot of people on here who seem to be insterested in it.

I've posted my ideas up to the modifying car club I'm part of which is the biggest in the southwest. Not one person has had a bad thing to say about what I'm doing and are looking forward to seeing it done...

Just a few people on here just don't seem to have the taste.

If I was a person who didn't like modifying and I seen someone on about modifying their car and then seeing the work, I wouldn't say it looks wank and is pointless. I would give credit to the work that has been done and see it from their point of view.

LOL! Dropping it on a calibra chassis is a dream that'll never happen. Engine will. Suspension will. Bodywork will. This is something different that is all.

I know not a lot of people have the taste of modifying cars, but I do.

These vans are cheap as chips to repair... Good for a first car. Are different and are bloody quick with a C20LET in it as there is **** all weight in it. Not the best handling car in the world, hence why suspension at the least will get done so it's more stable around corners and not like a boat.

I can get insured on an S13 at 19 for £1300... Thats with just putting a parent on the insurance. Could just do the bodywork and audio and then get an S13 at 19 which will kill my pocket on fuel but christ they are lush cars.

Pearcy what was your first car then? And I bet your parents bought it. Where as I paid for my driving test, the 7 driving lessons I needed and the van - All on a budget of £900.

I nearly bought an Audi A4 1.8T that needed the flywheel doing on it. I could get insured on it for £1200 a yr. Didn't get it though as Dual Mass Flywheels are stupidly expensive and I don't fancy replacing the suspension arms on them every year that always seems to go on them!

I wouldn't mind a golf or something similar and go all Euro on it. Euro is the best modifying scene for keeping standard parts but making them look different with smoothing.

Why don't you pearcy put a pic up of your car?

Pearcy... There are a load of Vans around but not a lot in the modifying scene.

Quote from zeugnimod :

LOL lol



How is it "being different" when "so many" people are doing it?

Not thousands... A lot of people just chuck the GSI kit on and use them for work. I've only ever seen a couple of them that are actually built to show.

Quote from pearcy_2k7 :

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1559413.htm Propa sik init bruv?

Yeah, good luck getting something like that worth £4k, you'd have to spend 15k on it.

That is ****ED! I don't like my van standard. WTF is wrong with you people, you cant see others peoples points. I think you should come back tbh when your heads aint shoved so far up your ****ing asses.

Quote from pearcy_2k7 :

How conveniant.

It was a black mk3 astra van, 4x4, calibra floor pan, C20LET. It was on there. You make me laugh!

Quote from Xaid0n :

£4,500.... you can get a tastier motor than a van for that price. Waste o' money imo

p.s. not having a go, just stating my opinion

Each to their own but if you got pissed all over by a van and not knowing it 4x4 with c20let running atleast 200bhp... You'll be like WTF if that happened. It's called being different. Theres a member on mig web with a 544bhp Zafira and runs 611bhp with a shot of NOS. People may think by why, it's so it suprises people.