Vintage Thing No.143 - Peugeot 205 Sceptre (Michael Morpeugeot)

It looks so innocent

I bought this car with the intention of robbing its engine but during the drive home its fat torque curve endeared it to me and I couldn't kill it. I was looking for a replacement engine for Mighty Whitey (VT No.44) and through suddenly not having a van anymore buying a running car gave me the means of getting  said engine to the Boogie Wundaland workshop as well as the opportunity to see how it went.

I did not expect this little diesel Peugeot to go quite so well.

I changed my plans forthwith and bought a 1.9 turbo diesel Citroen Xantia to sacrifice instead to get my dear old van going again but that is another story.

1.7 litres of blown dieseasel

The engine in Michael Morpeugeot is very similar to the 1769cc unit in my Citroen C15D but comes with a turbo and a five speed box. The character is thus transformed. Instead of a frugal slogger, this powertrain takes this little car on a romp to the top of any hill and then wants another challenge and, as the hills got steeper on my way home on that first drive, its hill climbing ability became more and more apparent.

I hadn't looked so closely at the bodywork but when I got it home I was delighted to find how sound it was. I only had to patch the inner wings behind the headlamps on both sides and re-create some sections of the front cross member.

The interior in particular is very clean and matched the wear and tear one would expect after only 66,000 miles of use. However, there are lots of little dents and dings to its panels. The metallic blue/grey paintwork is very flat and worn down through the basecoat in some places.

Crunchy inner wings had to go

I've replaced the fuel lines, which leaked soon after its arrival, and the brake discs, which should have been vented - somebody had fitted lower spec parts to this little car. I hate downgrade rebuilds!

The cambelt has been replaced twice already according to the service history I got with the car but I gave it a full service. The steering became very stiff and I initially feared the worst and suspected ailments in the power steering system. However, my mate Adrian Booth, who built a petrol 2 litre trialler version of a 205, said to replace the lower steering column u/j and - sure enough - the steering was transformed.

Do I not like orange?

I broke a front spring setting out for home during one of my forays north and decided on some lower ones as replacements. For a while I drove it around with a rather bows down attitude but this stance only made me regard it as even more of a hot rod. Latterly, I had my local garage rotate the rear torsion bars to lower the rear as well. This took them a while. I gather the bolts took some shifting. Lowering the centre of gravity makes it feel a bit more chuckable but has made the ride very jiggly. I think adjustable rear dampers might help in due course. I have also invested in a strut brace and liked what I got so much I bought another strut brace to modify for Mighty Whitey.

Proud to be grey

I've always admired the Peugeot 205. The 1.9 GTis appealed to me, of course, but this understated pocket rocket is deliciously subversive. I would have preferred a 3 door shell but it's still a stylish motor and in my opinion looks so much better than the contemporary Citroen Visa. The build quality is streets ahead, too, but then my van is, er, a van and comparing commercial vehicles with private automobiles is unfair.

After producing thousands of normally aspirated diesels, Peugeot made a driver's turbo diesel and the 205 STDT has a small cult following. Based on a 3 door GTi shell, these had a 0-60 time of 12.2 seconds and in gear acceleration not much slower than a petrol 1.6 GTi.

The normally aspirated XUD7/K engine produced 59 bhp or 44kW from its 80 x 88mm bore and stroke but the 205 turbo XUD7/TK puts out 76bhp or 57kW.  Intercooled XUD7TE engines, as found in Peugeot 405s, Citroen BXs and Rover 200s(!) put out 88bhp (66kW).

All XUD engines use the same camshafts but the compression ratios are different. The XUD7 is higher at 23:1 but the turboes run at 22:1. From what I can understand, this comes from a different swirl chamber design and not different pistons but am happy to be corrected on this point.

Personally, I reckon it feels quicker than due to that great fat torque curve (180Nm or 133 lb ft) that comes in much lower down the rev range. You can tell when it's running out of puff, though, but all you have to do then is change up.

D Turbo 205s originally appeared in September 1990, with the D picked out in red as fair warning of the cars sporting ability, while 5 door versions were marketed as the GRDT .

These morphed into the 205 Sceptre from 1993 using names inherited by Peugeot when they took over Chrysler's ailing European wing.. Now as someone with long standing Rootes Group assocations (I am into Hillman Imps - didn't I mention that?) the fact that I now own a Sceptre (albeit a Peugeot Sceptre and not a Humber Sceptre) makes me like this car even more.

Sceptres have posh Richmond velour upholstery, a large sliding sunroof, central locking, vented discs and power steering.

The central locking is part time and not always inclusive. The interior clock is very noisy but fortunately the  diesel motor drowns it out on the move.

This is as low as it will go - it grounds out on the entrance to my garage

Power steering is really necessary as it's a heavy old lump up front. Compared to my Micra (VT No. 141) the steering lock is a lot worse but then the Micra's is so good. It feels bigger, heavier and older than the Micra, even though both are M reg. The Micra's direct competitor was probably the Peugeot 106.

Compared to the Visa Diesel, or my C15D, the front suspension is more akin to the Visa GTi and all the trim is better styled and of a noticeably higher quality.

The plan is to keep it largely stock for now but to gradually improve the way it goes without compromising reliability. Now that the brakes are vented again it stops well and feels chuckable with its lowered ride height. It doesn't like bumpy roads, though, and has lost some of that French suspension compliance.