it is when the cars weigh 850kg. I watch a you tube video the other day where a honda integra DC2 type r with a 1.8 engine beat a modern golf r32 around a race track despite having around 50% of the bhp.
Awww, good old days, when 120 horsepower used to be a lot back then. Now it's all numbers and no fun in most cases. Thanks god we still do have cars like Fiesta ST and Abarth 595 and many more, that still offer fun first, performance second.
I´ve a 106 GTI and it´s from 1996. The car has almost 240000 Kms and performs like new. It reaches 210 kmh on straight line and handles like anything. I use only 98 octane fuel and the oil 10W40 is Sheel or BP. It´s a pocket rocket. I also have several magazines (Top Gear, Evo, Car magazine, Autocar) from 1996 and on handling test in Castle Combe, MIRA, Rockingham, Thruxton my car is one of the best in handling (beating Porshes, M3, Ferraris on gforce). Cheers
Amazing to think 120-130bhp was enough for small hot hatch once upon a time. 0-60 in 7.2 seconds is still decent today! But then of course small cars were actually small back then too and weighed about half as much as they do now. Also amazing to think that Clarkson was once an avid Peugeot fan, and that Top Gear featured normal affordable cars.....how times change!
My parents had a Citroën Saxo 1.4i form 2000 and drove it for 10 years. It was a amazing pocket rocket. Cheap, light weight, spacy and simple to work on if you did the maintains yourself. The Peugeot 106 is also a great car and shares the same technology. But after a long time, They started too rust, more than a Saxo ever does. So if you wanted to buy one, look for rust.. Engines are amazing thou, but the 1.1 and 1.0 have just not enough power.
I took my driving lessons in a Saxo 1.5D from 1999, it actually was a pretty nice car to drive despite being underpowered: nicely weighted power steering and a very precise gear shifter, unfortunately it's too small inside and me being 100 kg+, it wasn't particularly comfortable to sit in it for a longer period of time, but smaller people wouldn't have that problem. The car had 380.000 km (236.000 miles) on the clock and it still goes to this day, that engine is indestructible.
Had that same immobilizer keypad in my Xantia. It was a bloody nightmare tbh. Slow to respond and the buttons would get stuck. Still a good car for its time though. French cars were just better then.
Big Moncrief I know your struggle too well ! Haha I also used to have a keypad secured Xantia. At one point I ended up bypassing it. Otherwise it was such a great car ! As a frenchie, I confirm French cars were far better back in the days.
Funny thing is my mk2 Skoda fabia diesel has more power than a few of these hot hatchbacks and mine isn't even the hot hatch model haha. How times have changed
Dominic Zuk Didn't you see the historical reenactment on Top Gear where the board of directors at Peugeot decided they have made good cars for too long and now they must make terrible ones?
spavatch Well I wouldn't include the punto and the Polo thats in this but that era of hot hatches I mean, Like up to 2004ish after that they just get fat and heavy and too many electronics and less fun, in my opinion anyway
I didn't mean I disagree, I just see it as a good topic to discuss. I'd go even further, one of these cars has a purpose built engine instead of just borrowed from a bigger model, which I believe makes it more interesting than the others.
I never saw the appeal of this kind of car, to be honest. Not really fast (top speed), or quick (acceleration), either. Every one I've been in felt a bit "bouncy," like it was designed for roads that didn't have bumps, potholes, or railroad crossings. Or like they would have benefited greatly from having a longer wheelbase, IDK. If you own one, you can fold the back seats down in order to carry things - but then your vehicle is, in practical terms, a two-seater. And what good is its good handling (especially if that's actually "good handling for a front wheel drive vehicle that was probably originally designed to be an econobox") if it's greatly outclassed on the straights? In 1997, when this segment was being filmed, I'd recently purchased a 1986 Buick Regal T-Type. It was really quick, then, amazingly quick when new - and would still be considered to be pretty quick today. Less than $100US got it into the 12s. Admittedly, it handled like a 3,800-pound cinder block. After some minor suspension work (including adding the body bushings that the dipsh*ts at the factory neglected to), it handled like a... slightly better-handling 3,800-pound cinder block. However, on the dragstrip, handling was largely (but not completely) irrelevant. Hypothetical street racing in and around the city? No hairpin curves there. Backroads? Ditto, for the most part. There is one road that, unusually for a 55 MPH two-lane highway, has three curves with posted advisory speed signage stating 15 MPH - but it's so torn-up/bumpy that anyone trying to make up serious time on those curves would be on fire at the bottom of the ravine, wrapped around an oak tree, or in the river (depending on the specific curve). I've only been to ten track day events at local (not really, but...) "road course" tracks - but what I discovered was that it didn't help to be a little quicker through a curve when the other guy (me) has already accelerated away from it before you've even entered the curve. So, really, what is the big appeal? After installing 3,000 watts' worth of speakers, you don't have room to take your little brother to school? You've no difficulty parking it at your local ChinaMart, even when the guy in the next slot has stuck his F-350 dually partially in your space? After the wife barred you from building a "man cave" in the basement, you needed a car that's short enough to fit into the garage without having to remove the couch and television, lol? What? *Yes*, this is a serious question. And, yes, I'll accept "I can't really say; I just like the things" as a valid answer.
Drive on a British B road and you'll see why hot hatches are so popular over here and almost non-existent in North America. Our roads are very different, not all that smooth, but fast, small and flowing, plus a 60mph speed limit that's rarely monitored on the vast majority. It's all in the handling and ability to carry speed through corners. Similarly on a track day, you'll see stripped out Clio 172/182s terrorising much larger cars turbo cars with 300+bhp.
£400 for insurance for a 29 year-old to drive some crappy little FWD hatchback?! I wouldn't pay £400 for the car alone! I dread to think how much worse the price would be now!
Ahh yes this was when top gear actually reviewed cars the majority of its audience can afford.
This exact saxo was mine to it was stolen in 2008 and was never seen again, had no clue it was on top gear
lse stevens thats a shame that it got stolen..
Apparently there is ONE car thief who can read, I suppose...
Jokes aside, what a shame about your car!
did you leave the ignition code as "1111"
@@taz7264 That keypad was the best defense against drunk driving ever, because no one could ever remember the code after a few drinks.
I nicked it.
Mad hearing Clarkson say 120 hp is alot.
it is when the cars weigh 850kg. I watch a you tube video the other day where a honda integra DC2 type r with a 1.8 engine beat a modern golf r32 around a race track despite having around 50% of the bhp.
This music. THIS music was my teenage years, Sunday roast diner and a shandy courtesy of my dad. God how times were good a d we didn’t know it.
Always loved the Saxo VTS not easy to find a good one now. Rust and Barry boys have killed them all off.
Barry boys turned them into pimp and drug dealer mobiles
Awww, good old days, when 120 horsepower used to be a lot back then.
Now it's all numbers and no fun in most cases.
Thanks god we still do have cars like Fiesta ST and Abarth 595 and many more, that still offer fun first, performance second.
I agree !
The Fiesta ST is incredibly boring to drive and looks shit
Steve Wood the new one looks sick
@@garrett69 what do you drive i wonder
"Now 120 horse power is a lot" I wonder what Jezza would make of that statement now.
I just love their pop songs added
I have even heard "my milkshake" play during 1 episode
Great audio quality.
I´ve a 106 GTI and it´s from 1996. The car has almost 240000 Kms and performs like new. It reaches 210 kmh on straight line and handles like anything. I use only 98 octane fuel and the oil 10W40 is Sheel or BP. It´s a pocket rocket. I also have several magazines (Top Gear, Evo, Car magazine, Autocar) from 1996 and on handling test in Castle Combe, MIRA, Rockingham, Thruxton my car is one of the best in handling (beating Porshes, M3, Ferraris on gforce). Cheers
Amazing to think 120-130bhp was enough for small hot hatch once upon a time. 0-60 in 7.2 seconds is still decent today! But then of course small cars were actually small back then too and weighed about half as much as they do now. Also amazing to think that Clarkson was once an avid Peugeot fan, and that Top Gear featured normal affordable cars.....how times change!
The 205, 306, 405/406 etc were excellent looking, good handling cars. but soon after this era, Peugeot make some shockingly awful motors.
It’s sad now that my mums car is a mpv and can go 0-60 in 7.2 secs stock. (Zafira VXR) 240bhp 2.0T
Zanzibar2Far the 207 gti isn’t that bad
My parents had a Citroën Saxo 1.4i form 2000 and drove it for 10 years. It was a amazing pocket rocket. Cheap, light weight, spacy and simple to work on if you did the maintains yourself. The Peugeot 106 is also a great car and shares the same technology. But after a long time, They started too rust, more than a Saxo ever does. So if you wanted to buy one, look for rust.. Engines are amazing thou, but the 1.1 and 1.0 have just not enough power.
I took my driving lessons in a Saxo 1.5D from 1999, it actually was a pretty nice car to drive despite being underpowered: nicely weighted power steering and a very precise gear shifter, unfortunately it's too small inside and me being 100 kg+, it wasn't particularly comfortable to sit in it for a longer period of time, but smaller people wouldn't have that problem. The car had 380.000 km (236.000 miles) on the clock and it still goes to this day, that engine is indestructible.
3:41 was that a cat! That keypad on the VTS was a great idea and wonder why something similar wasn't kept to stop modern car (theft).
Car theft is a lot easier now.,
a n o r a k b i t
coming up
Get your a n o r a k s o u t again
Funny fow the 106 had the reg say P 407!
That song is Thin Lizzy boys are back in town
William harris : A big thick slice of thin lizzy. Heard it to death, thanks radio 2 and toy story.
Hot hatches have obesitas these day, like all cars and occupants. 120BHP on 850kg was good.
Jurassic Coast Comics nope they r both over a tiny bit
The Saxo VTS and its PSA Group neighbour were great classic hot hatches of the 90's
Watching this.....we've gone to complex and joyless cars very quickly.
Had that same immobilizer keypad in my Xantia. It was a bloody nightmare tbh. Slow to respond and the buttons would get stuck. Still a good car for its time though. French cars were just better then.
Big Moncrief I know your struggle too well ! Haha
I also used to have a keypad secured Xantia. At one point I ended up bypassing it.
Otherwise it was such a great car !
As a frenchie, I confirm French cars were far better back in the days.
3:23...........................I really think this feature should be considered as a required anti-theft feature on all new cars here in America.
‘Now 120bhp is a lot.’
Lol nowadays dodge + chevy Make Crate engines with over 1000 hp. Lol even a 10 yr old hybrid has 120 or more electric hp + The ICE engine
Polo 6n GTi 1998 120hp
👏
3:40 meow
Insurance is ratherly Meow inexpensive.
Funny thing is my mk2 Skoda fabia diesel has more power than a few of these hot hatchbacks and mine isn't even the hot hatch model haha. How times have changed
LJTProductions Yea true but the Fabias are zero fun to drive, very wobbly in corners.
+Alan B that's true but that's why I've bought coilovers for mine. should handle much better
+Alan B you'd be surprised they can be quite fun with a bit of power and when making it go round corners better
LJTProductions Your Skoda would be happy heavier too ;)
+WAWE What Are We Eating about 200kg more but most cars these days are heavier still. Mines about 1150kg
I love how he is praising Peugeots in an old episode, now they're known for being overly terrible.
Dominic Zuk Didn't you see the historical reenactment on Top Gear where the board of directors at Peugeot decided they have made good cars for too long and now they must make terrible ones?
thats because they once were actually good. harf to believe right?
Hardocore I know. Now they're the national school run wagon and/or 40mph in the fast lane mobile.
You seem to be stuck in the past 5years because last I checked Peugeot have gotten their mojo back some time ago
Stef.. - Nowhere near the standards of old unfortunately.
бойз аре бекинтаун
last of the real hot hatches.
Lewis Hall renaultsport clio 182
Rhys Dew My mistake, don't know how I could forget about the clios 😕
Debatable
spavatch Well I wouldn't include the punto and the Polo thats in this but that era of hot hatches I mean, Like up to 2004ish after that they just get fat and heavy and too many electronics and less fun, in my opinion anyway
I didn't mean I disagree, I just see it as a good topic to discuss. I'd go even further, one of these cars has a purpose built engine instead of just borrowed from a bigger model, which I believe makes it more interesting than the others.
0-60 don't matter, I want it to be satisfying to drive
Ellenor Malik Which is why IMO Clio sports will always be one of the best all founders in the hot hatch market, regardless of generation.
Me? I'm rather a fan of mid-range grunt rather than tripod handling if you know what I mean ;)
@@TheSkyfire117 Couldn't have said it better, N/A hot hatch with great throttle response and fun handling is what I'm after and the Clio does it best.
substantial, quality car. hahaha
Was hoping for the 158bhp Civic Vti
Compared to 100-130hp?
I never saw the appeal of this kind of car, to be honest. Not really fast (top speed), or quick (acceleration), either. Every one I've been in felt a bit "bouncy," like it was designed for roads that didn't have bumps, potholes, or railroad crossings. Or like they would have benefited greatly from having a longer wheelbase, IDK. If you own one, you can fold the back seats down in order to carry things - but then your vehicle is, in practical terms, a two-seater. And what good is its good handling (especially if that's actually "good handling for a front wheel drive vehicle that was probably originally designed to be an econobox") if it's greatly outclassed on the straights? In 1997, when this segment was being filmed, I'd recently purchased a 1986 Buick Regal T-Type. It was really quick, then, amazingly quick when new - and would still be considered to be pretty quick today. Less than $100US got it into the 12s. Admittedly, it handled like a 3,800-pound cinder block. After some minor suspension work (including adding the body bushings that the dipsh*ts at the factory neglected to), it handled like a... slightly better-handling 3,800-pound cinder block. However, on the dragstrip, handling was largely (but not completely) irrelevant. Hypothetical street racing in and around the city? No hairpin curves there. Backroads? Ditto, for the most part. There is one road that, unusually for a 55 MPH two-lane highway, has three curves with posted advisory speed signage stating 15 MPH - but it's so torn-up/bumpy that anyone trying to make up serious time on those curves would be on fire at the bottom of the ravine, wrapped around an oak tree, or in the river (depending on the specific curve). I've only been to ten track day events at local (not really, but...) "road course" tracks - but what I discovered was that it didn't help to be a little quicker through a curve when the other guy (me) has already accelerated away from it before you've even entered the curve.
So, really, what is the big appeal? After installing 3,000 watts' worth of speakers, you don't have room to take your little brother to school? You've no difficulty parking it at your local ChinaMart, even when the guy in the next slot has stuck his F-350 dually partially in your space? After the wife barred you from building a "man cave" in the basement, you needed a car that's short enough to fit into the garage without having to remove the couch and television, lol? What? *Yes*, this is a serious question. And, yes, I'll accept "I can't really say; I just like the things" as a valid answer.
Drive on a British B road and you'll see why hot hatches are so popular over here and almost non-existent in North America. Our roads are very different, not all that smooth, but fast, small and flowing, plus a 60mph speed limit that's rarely monitored on the vast majority. It's all in the handling and ability to carry speed through corners. Similarly on a track day, you'll see stripped out Clio 172/182s terrorising much larger cars turbo cars with 300+bhp.
So you used the top specs for the others but a mid range Polo. The Polo GTI would have won on speed alone -.-
Maybe they thought the price made them incomparable. I do agree with you though.
@@logan86123 agreed
The polo gti wasn’t around when this was made. The 100hp was the 6n generation and the gti was 6n2 only
I'd never ever own a french car ever again!! Especially Schitroen
That's strange, I'm the opposite, learned in a VW, then my first 2 cars were VW's, since then, Citroen all the way. Wouldn't get another VW.
A saxo a quality substantial car?? I dont think so. I know someone who hit a curb and bent the a pillar, wrote the car off!!
£400 for insurance for a 29 year-old to drive some crappy little FWD hatchback?! I wouldn't pay £400 for the car alone! I dread to think how much worse the price would be now!
Stop moaning prrrickkkk face
Matt Arnold 3k with black box for me 21 with a 105bhp a1
@@kjj8770 Instead of willy waving in an Audi that you'll probably write off, buy a cheaper car and save a fortune
@@garrett69it's a 12 plate A1 so hardly an ego trip to drive now is it? Cmon.
Saxo VTS, Pug 106GTi. Same turd, different polish