The Peugeot 205, together with the Renault 5, was as important to automotive history as the arrival of Tesla was to the energy transition. He promoted the city car to full-fledged transport. Both for its manufacturer’s operating results and for the evolution of the small car The sacré numbero, as Peugeot called it, from 1983 to 1998 worth its welterweight in gold. The British car magazine Car proclaimed it Car of the Decade in 1990, and Peugeot built almost 5.3 million units. The 205 became one of the most popular compacts all time.
So he was a genius. It was so spacious that you sat comfortably in the front and back. And economical; 1 in 18 was achievable with the smallest petrol engines, with the diesels all the way. He won you over with his friendly presentation. You could park the 3 meter 70 long and 1 meter 56 wide car anywhere. The price was reasonable for what you got. It was not the cheapest in its class, but for less than 16,000 guilder did you have an Accent in 1985 with a roof spoiler, red trim all around, black antenna and ‘full-cover wheel plates’, read: hubcaps. Now you can even buy for 16,000 euros hardly any new cars anymore, and the cheapest electric car costs more than 20 grand in the Netherlands. The 205’s 40th anniversary is food for thought in more ways than one.
How did the buyer save costs at the time? By keeping his 205 as simple as possible. That was possible. The 34-year-old red 205 1.1 Accent of Deez Epskamp, 205 enthusiast in Groningen, is Dutch economy from the book. For example, half of the Netherlands once drove 205. Four gears, not five or six. No clock. Three toggle switches for next to nothing; hazard light, rear window defroster, fog lamp. Luxury versions with electrically operated windows were available, but the Netherlands was not keen on it. Even power steering is missing. No drama for such a light car.
Epskamp became a fan when he bought his first 205 for 100 euros after obtaining his driver’s license, including MOT. “It was fun and affordable, it was a Peugeot.” His parents drove Peugeot or Citroën and in Francophile circles the apples rarely fall far from the tree. This is his eighth 205, quite remarkable for a 23-year-old, and not his last. “You keep collecting 205s. There are so many, and there are so many versions.” The three-door and five-door variants, the convertible. The simple XE or Accent, the luxurious Roland Garros with green metallic paint and white leather, the fast XS. The manual gearboxes and automatics, the rough plucking diesels, later even a turbo diesel. And of course the groundbreaking Rallye and GTI that drove amateur drivers with sometimes fatally exuberant performances for less skilled drivers.
Epskamp would like to have such a fast 205 again. The prices are unfortunately shocking, rising to well over 20,000 euros for a GTI in top condition. Fortunately, with 54 hp, it can also handle its Accent very well. “It’s my favorite 205 model. Nice and bare, not even an interval mode for the wipers. The nice thing about old cars is: everything is self-explanatory.” Apart from the unaffordability, he has zero need for anything new with large computer screens and thick wheels. “It is the ailment of this time. Everything has to be more and bigger.” When he bought something bigger himself, a Citroën BX, he soon started to miss his 205.
Child’s play
It also suits a city person much better. We meander from alley to alley through the center of Groningen, where you feel like an elephant in a china shop with modern middle class cars. A 205 is small and narrow, the view all around is fantastic. We don’t drive faster than fifty anywhere. This is what the red one from Deez Epskamp is made for. “These are real city cars. This route has become somewhat of a permanent fixture for our group of friends.” Group of friends, yes – because there are more young Groningen people with his passion and Epskamp knows every 205 in the city. In the heart of Groningen we park it on the canal for a cup of coffee. Parking is child’s play, and how chic it is in all its simplicity with that politely smiling Peugeot nose.
“This is the most expensive 205 I’ve ever bought,” says Deez. He paid 1,500 euros for his cool red. “I have sometimes picked up a 205 for a case of beer.” Those times are unfortunately over. “You now also pay 1,250 euros for ordinary models in reasonable condition. Its status is now changing from a student box or welfare pastry to an enthusiast’s car, you will notice that. But he remains accessible to everyone.”
If only you could say that about new cars. The prices of smaller models have also skyrocketed in recent years. A Volkswagen Up! cost 19,000 euros on a bad day. There are hardly any real city minis in what used to be called the A and B segment. Stricter emission and safety requirements forced manufacturers to take costly technical measures that gradually made the cars inaccessible to their target groups. Electric cars threaten to become completely unaffordable for ordinary people who used to buy new 205s or a Panda. In recent years, car manufacturers have emphatically warned against this cost explosion. You wonder if they have been taken seriously enough. And now we have the unpleasant consequence that the large group of low-paid people cannot afford a fully-fledged plug-in car of family size, even with a wealth of subsidy, even in the longer term. It costs 30 grand and more.
Huge screens
That is why young people buy very old petrol cars, if they can afford them at all; at 8.1 percent, they represent only a small part of the buyer’s market, mainly for used cars. In 2017, the Knowledge Institute for Mobility Policy (KiM) found in a study that fewer than three in ten young adults in the age group of 18 to 35 own a car, compared to more than six in ten over-65s. They don’t need it because they live in the city, or simply can’t afford it. The fact that this will change when they get older and leave with their family for a countryside with little public transport is of later concern.
That’s why they still drive 205. And is Le Sacre Numero now also a symbol for the inaccessibility of the current car market. Time and time again you are shocked by the prices as a car test person. Don’t tell me that electric cars are so cheap to maintain. Bottleneck remains the purchase price. The average new EV costs more than 51 grand in the Netherlands.
Really cheaper plug-in cars are coming. Only you still don’t have a Volkswagen car for 25 mille. That costs what ten years ago a Volkswagen Up! whether Fiat Panda, small Korean or Japanese cost; half, a maximum of 12,000 euros. You only have opportunities for that now.
It would already help enormously if the manufacturers would take a closer look at Epskamp’s Peugeootje. Are those huge rims and screens really necessary? Maybe cars can get by with less for a lot less money. Otherwise, older young people will also continue to drive very old second-hand cars.
That is why the 205 remains an unparalleled good example for a while. On modern small Peugeots, it has one thing going for it: you can also sit in the back. Try that in a new Peugeot 208. It pampers the driver with impressive screens and a spacious seating position, but adults can hardly sit in the back. “That’s what strikes me about today’s cars,” says Epskamp. “Everything is focused on the driver and no longer on the rest of the world. When my friends get into the back of my car, they always say: that’s nice.”
And charm too.
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