GTP Cool Wall: Peugeot 306 GTI-6. Voting Closed

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joey D
  • 60 comments
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306 GTI-6?

  • Total voters
    91
  • Poll closed .
homeforsummer
Fail. Throughout the 90s, Peugeot's GTIs knocked the spots off any of VW's GTIs. In fact, the 205 GTI was always a better hot hatch than the Mk2 Golf GTI too as far as outright fun is to be considered. No magazine ever brings Mk2, Mk3 or Mk4 GTIs to "best hot hatch ever" comparisons, and when they bring Mk1 GTIs they're always a little disappointing. Everybody brings 205 GTIs and 306 Rallyes to them though. Go figure.
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Doesn't matter if it's better or not. It's still not the VW, which is the real GTI. And I wouldn't consider the MKIII and MKIV to be in the same league as the MKV, MKI and the MKII.
 
Sub zero for me,don't like French cars in general,but love the 306.
 
Philly
Doesn't matter if it's better or not. It's still not the VW, which is the real GTI.
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I don't understand this attitude. A real GTI is a car with a GTI badge on the back, regardless of who put the three letters in that order. If we're going to be anal about it then the German for "injection" is "einspritzung" so if you apply that logic then the Opel Astra GTE is the "real" GTI just because it used the correct terminology.

And I wouldn't consider the MKIII and MKIV to be in the same league as the MKV, MKI and the MKII.
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You'll note I also mentioned the MkI and MkII in my post and gave explanations. The MkI is a great car but one with a very rose-tinted reputation, and the MkII wasn't even close to performing or handling as well as the 205 GTI if you read any modern or contemporary test of the cars. Hence why modern magazines bring along Peugeots for hot hatch shoot-outs rather than VWs.

As for the MkV, it carries on with the same plus points as previous GTIs, but also has the same negatives, again if road tests are to be believed. In other words, there are several cars (in Europe, at least) that are both quicker and handle better.

Don't get me wrong, I like Volkswagen's numerous GTIs, but I'm not under any impressions that they're the best available, or that they ever have been.
 
Philly
Doesn't matter if it's better or not. It's still not the VW, which is the real GTI.
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The 306 has as more to do with the Mk I GTi than the Mark V/VI do.
 
Cool. Very very cool.

Reasons why:
1. WRC winning pedigree. To see their F2 cars kick the butts off all the turbo Group A cars in tarmac rallies back in the day was astonishing! That car was basically also the father of the 206WRC.

2. People who buy them know what it is and it's abilities and are enthusiasts of the brand. 0-100km/h in the 7's, heaps tall first gear then short ratios through the box, decent handling (sure it's no DC2R but it was still good!) and didn't cost the Earth (was around $30k brand new here, a DC2R was $40k.)

3. It's NOT a Honda Type R so you won't find the doof-doof crowd in them. :cool:
 
Euro hot hatches are automatically cool to me.
 
Philly
Seriously uncool. This is a GTI:

06.vw.gti.500.jpg
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For that money I'd rather have a Leon Cupra 310.. THAT is a cool car..

leon-cupra-310.jpg


And I voted seriously uncool. I never liked the designed of it, all those low life wannabees a driving one around here.. YUGH!
 
I was actually going to vote subzero... but I saw this:
TS
Cool

But I prefer a 106 rallye

106_698_1345109455dannis106rallye_1_08_large.jpg
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So I figured... maybe just cool...

Then I read this:

Leonidae
Uncool. Can't match 205 1.9 GTi.
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And I realized... that those are the only Pugs I'd vote subzero...

Gets an uncool... for not being dorky-cool or unbearably stylish.
 
Doesn't GTI just mean Gran Touring Injector or something?

Wait, I just looked it up, it means Gran Turismo Iniezione and the 1961 Maserati 3500 GTI seems to be the earliest to carry the badge.
 
how typical that Italians come up with great concept but someone else completes/makes it work perfectly. :lol:
 
homeforsummer
Fail. Throughout the 90s, Peugeot's GTIs knocked the spots off any of VW's GTIs.
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B-B-B-BUT the GTI came with V6 power. Not just any V6 power, but VR6 powwah! RARRR! And power seats! And air conditioning! A luxury for those socialist, cheese-eating Frenchies! Grumble Grumble Grumble!

But seriously...

When you hear "GTI," what normally comes to mind first? That's what Phil and I were talking about. Of course, in Europe you had a few more models that carried that plate than we did here. *shrug*

So if this 306 GTI was supposed to be soft and supple like the MKIII (VW) GTI was, what are we so worried about? At least you chaps got the 16V model in that generation...

(For the record, I miss my MKIII Jetta dearly)
 
I always think "Galant GTi"... because that's what we had over here back in the 90's. :lol: Nice bantamweight body... revvy 4G63 engine... of course, the king of non-AWD Galants at the time was the quite rare AMG-tuned version.

I keep planning to buy one of those tacky faux-GTi logos to stick on the back of my car... but I never seem to... :lol:
 
YSSMAN
When you hear "GTI," what normally comes to mind first? That's what Phil and I were talking about. Of course, in Europe you had a few more models that carried that plate than we did here. *shrug*
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That's a difficult question to answer, because given this thread I'd likely think of both Peugeot and Volkswagen, now. But for most of Europe they'd probably think of the VW, as the GTI Peugeots are known as the "16S" models in mainland Europe (16S = 16 Soupapes = 16 Valves).

I'm not debating that GTI is a term that VW coined for their hot hatch but at the end of the day, it doesn't make the car "the real GTI". It's just a name, like SR, ST, Zetec or anything else. It doesn't matter what the badge is attached to, it matters whether the car they attached it to is any good in the first place. And the 306 was simply a better hot hatch than the VW at the time, so if anything it's more deserving of the badge than the VW is. Same goes for the 205.

So if this 306 GTI was supposed to be soft and supple like the MKIII (VW) GTI was, what are we so worried about? At least you chaps got the 16V model in that generation...
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The 306 wasn't soft and supple. Well, it was, but it beat the hell out of the wallowy MkIII around the corners as it wasn't just soft and supple. Throughout the 90s virtually no manufacturer, other than Ford perhaps, could touch Peugeot for ride/handling balance.

Oh, and my favourite Pug by far:

in_peugeot_106_rallye_05.jpg


106 Rallye S2. Pity they're not depreciating past a certain point as I'd be rather tempted by one otherwise.
 
Uncool... I can't see anything special about this car... It looks dull too :|
 
homeforsummer
Throughout the 90s virtually no manufacturer, other than Ford perhaps, could touch Peugeot for ride/handling balance.
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Peugeot said "I'm out" in 1992 here in the US. We missed, literally, all of it. Strange that most of the interesting European brands ran out of the US around the same time. Its no wonder that most Americans are left scratching their heads when headlines read "FIAT Buys Chrysler" and "Penske to Sell Renaults as Saturns," and so on.

Still, I'd love to see Peugeot and Citroen return to the market. Especially Citroen.
 
Irons
The only thing that saves it from being "Seriously Uncool" in my opinion is it is actually better looking than the '02 Prius or '04 Primera. Other than that, it's not too pretty to look at and it's... well... French.

The French cars, aren't too solid as far as cars go. I've only heard of one French car that was reliable and it was an '80s Peugeot owned by a friend of mine. That's about it.

For you French forum members, sorry, nothing personal.
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See, whenever French cars are mentioned, some American always comes in and says "French cars suck because they break down all the time", in spite of the fact that none of France's mainstream brands sell any cars in America at all,and haven't done for some years. All that these people are doing is reinforcing a prejudice that is usually unfounded in personal experience, or is decades out of date.

My experience is that vehicle reliability is as much down to the owner as it is the car. Cars which are well looked after are more reliable than those which are not, and the statistical significance of this outweighs that of the nation in which the car was made. That said, there does seem to be a correlation between US (i.e. Mexican) Ford Focuses being rubbish and European (i.e. Belgian/Spanish) Ford Focuses being good.

Nevertheless, the four French cars we've owned have all been reliable, but they've all been looked after. Driven hard, yes, but regularly maintained and checked.

The 306GTi is a French hatch with poke, and is therefore cool. I wanted one when they were new.
 
Un Cool, I guess I dont get the French style.
 
homeforsummer
I actually like the xx6 Pugs, but I wouldn't call any of them cool, particularly.

Part of the reason I like them is because they were from a time Peugeot bothered with motorsports other than diesel Le Mans cars that mean nothing to anybody. 106 and 206 super 1600? Cool. 306 F2? Cool. 206 WRC? Cool. 406 BTCC car? Cool. If they'd released road versions of any of these it would have been brilliant.
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what about the 306 touring car :dopey:
IMG_2706.jpg
 
The BTCC 306 was pretty quick, if I recall.

698736-1.jpg
 
It also wasn't a proper BTCC car, but a BTC production car. That SEAT in the image above is probably flying past it at a fair rate of knots.

The 306 Maxi F2 car was a much more highly-developed bit of kit. Made around 280bhp instead of the circa 200-odd the BTC cars made.

306-6.jpg
 
Sorry, I didn't mean BTC, BTC were what they had pre-Super 2000. BTC made about 270bhp

The 306 was in the Super Production class that ran alongside the BTC cars from 2001 to about 2003 when they dropped it. These cars used to race in a separate series called the National Saloon Car Championship. The NSCC now exists once more I think, but at the time the two were combined.

I was wrong about the power though. They made nearer 250bhp. The 306 was competing against stuff like Honda Accord and Integra Type Rs, Alfa 156s etc. But still, it's not even close to how advanced the F2 cars were in rallying.
 
homeforsummer
That's a difficult question to answer, because given this thread I'd likely think of both Peugeot and Volkswagen, now. But for most of Europe they'd probably think of the VW, as the GTI Peugeots are known as the "16S" models in mainland Europe (16S = 16 Soupapes = 16 Valves).

I'm not debating that GTI is a term that VW coined for their hot hatch but at the end of the day, it doesn't make the car "the real GTI". It's just a name, like SR, ST, Zetec or anything else. It doesn't matter what the badge is attached to, it matters whether the car they attached it to is any good in the first place. And the 306 was simply a better hot hatch than the VW at the time, so if anything it's more deserving of the badge than the VW is. Same goes for the 205.
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Maybe the idea that the VW is the "real GTI" is sort of a VW thing. Because to me the GTI badge somehow means a little more than just the badge on a car. It sort of stands for something I guess (and I can't really grasp what), and the Pug just sort of seems like a fake of that or whatever.

It's not that the Peugeot is a bad car or anything (and you've said it was great), but I almost have an expectation when I see the 'GTI' badge and the Peugeot just isn't it. Maybe that's what makes me go "eh, lame" and I see that GTI badge on it.
 
Philly
Maybe the idea that the VW is the "real GTI" is sort of a VW thing. Because to me the GTI badge somehow means a little more than just the badge on a car. It sort of stands for something I guess (and I can't really grasp what), and the Pug just sort of seems like a fake of that or whatever.

It's not that the Peugeot is a bad car or anything (and you've said it was great), but I almost have an expectation when I see the 'GTI' badge and the Peugeot just isn't it. Maybe that's what makes me go "eh, lame" and I see that GTI badge on it.
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I think the trouble is that in the US, "GTI" stands for "hot hatch" - it's the one everyone thinks of. Heritage aside, in Europe we have so many more. RenaultSport. RS. ST. The aforementioned Rallye. Type R, which save for the Integra you've not had in the States. There are probably others. And whilst the MkV and MkVI GTIs are very good cars, the badge now stands for softer, more grown-up hatches than the competition. It's not even the pinnacle of what VW make, since they introduced the VR6 and more recently the R32 models.

Thus a hard, fast and precise Peugeot is perhaps more deserving of the badge.

Regardless, I still don't consider the Pug "cool", even though it's a very good car. And yet, all it needed was for someone to have nominated the 306 Rallye instead (the 106's big brother). Basically the same as the GTI-6, but lighter, noisier and even sharper. It's a bit like a 306 Type R...

2399.jpg


Rallyes are cool.

Holdenhsvgtsr
The ones ive seen have made 250-260.
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I tree'd you when I edited my post earlier. More powerful than I thought, but still not an F2 car.
 
homeforsummer
And yet, all it needed was for someone to have nominated the 306 Rallye instead (the 106's big brother). Basically the same as the GTI-6, but lighter, noisier and even sharper. It's a bit like a 306 Type R...
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I was umming and ahhing between the two when I nominated.

Horses for courses though, I guess.
 
As homeforsummer said.

I still voted cool though.
 
I think this may be the closest vote ever.
 
How did this car get uncool?? It's awesome. Anyone who lives in either UK or France and had this as their first car will know these things handle brilliantly, cheap to look after and strong in a crash (I've tested them a couple times, pretty safe). The 306 was, is and shall always be a legendary car and if that doesn't make it cool than god help the human race.
 
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