Imagine if you were driving along in your friend's new 206 GTi. He stops at the pump and fills up...He goes to pay.
It suddenly dawns on you with great distress....Your friends has just put 40 litres of DIESEL in his nice shiny new 206!
That was the situation that hit me when I wrote this opinion some 18 months ago.
But it was ok. It was not a GTi. It was a HDi.
This means that just because it looks like fish, swims like a fish, acts like a fish, does not mean its a fish!
The HDi comes with all of the added extras of the GTi such as bodykit, alloys, interior, creature comforts but lacks the out and out grunt of the powerful GTi.
Instead you have one of the grumbly, if excellently designed Diesel powerplants that are one of Peugeot's strong points.
Obviously the performance does not rival the GTi stinking Hot hatch but it is a luke warm equivalent.
Im not sure that peugeot should even have tried to bring out a car under the 20# genre after their exceedingly popular 205 model but, they did anyway and also brought their successful diesel along with it!
The Americans have a recipe for producing a car with decent performance and plenty of mid-range "VROOM". Give it loads of grunt and watch it fly!
They work on the principle of 'there is nothing like cubic inches for power' and drop in the biggest engine that will fit under the bonnet.
That approach has also been used to excellent effect by Peugeot here in Europe when creating the diesel versions of its small hatchbacks.
Back in the '80s, the French company developed a strongly performing 205 by substituting a
1.8 diesel for the existing petrol engine. When they added a turbocharger a few years later, the resulting 205
D Turbo was the closest you could get to a 'diesel
205 GTi'. They used this in the highly successful 306 too.
The 206, spiritual successor to the 205, has also had the BIG
DIESEL treatment.
When it was launched late in 1998, it was offered with only a 1.9-litre 70bhp normally-aspirated diesel which delivered excellent economy, around 50mpg . The problem was it was DOG SLOW! 0-60mph acceleration took 16.1 seconds and
top speed of 100mph .
Hence the need for a faster diesel, satisfied by the 2.0-litre HDi engine. The sporty D Turbo variant is a relly good car, but the same powerplant is also offered on a range of other three and five-door 206 models.
This is the same 90bhp
high pressure direct injection engine also used to good effect in the 306 and 406.
Thus equipped, a
206 HDi D Turbo has a matching performance to to rival the existing 1.6 XS petrol version.
0-60 can no be reached in 12 seconds on the way to a top speed of 112mph and there's enough mid-range urge to have the petrol 2.0 GTi watching its back.
Economy of this technically advanced two-litre engine is even better than the 1.9-litre diesel (which continues), so you can expect to average 56.5mpg.
Ride quality is excellent. My mate often tells me it is brilliant on the motorway but im yet to be convinced. The front dampers and anti-roll bar have been uprated to compensate for the diesel engine's slight extra weight and engine noise has been well suppressed by revised engine mountings and extra sound absorbing panels under the bonnet.
The extra stiffnes leads to a harder ride than the Petrol and of course, not as comfortable.
The sporting D Turbo comes only as a three-door with a generous specification.
The 206 GTi comes in both 3 and 5 door but, who wants a 5 door GTi?
The body kit comes with a deeper front spoiler with fog lamps, tasty side skirts and a boot spoiler. Inside you get sports front seats, air conditioning (or a sunroof), remote central locking with alarm and deadlocks plus power front windows, all for £13,000.
In the cockpit, the creature comforts include:
a driver's airbag,
a height-adjustable steering column,
power steering,
an RDS stereo with driver remote control,
engine immobiliser
tinted glass.
Some good safety features (particularly for carrying baby) include a switch to disable the front passenger airbag (where fitted) for
baby seats.
Then there's the front passenger
seat cushion, which flips forward to reveal a storage space within the seat's structure.
Alternatively, the seat's backrest can be folded flat for really long loads.
Remember it is only a Peugeot. I alway liken their interiors to the bland sight of my old Primera. Bland and plasticy.
The upholstery materials are colourful and attractive.
Rear seat accommodation isn't one of the
206's strongpoints. Being a 3 door, back seat drivers are not really catered for.
At least the boot is a reasonable size, thanks to compact rear suspension.
On the road, it's much as you might expect, given the impressive abilities of other
cars from the company's stable.
Unlike the 205, is it the kind of car that enthusiasts will not find excuses to drive.
You cannot beat that for pure class.
In summary, the HDi Peugeot 206 diesel Is a great car to drive if you want to be a pretender. I recommend it to kit car owners. After all, it is they who make pretend Porsches on old Beetle Chassis!
Oh yes its the great pretender 
