The Peugeot 205 special editions: the right numbers to stand out

The 205 Lacoste

Built from 1984 to 1986, this elegant version of the little car from Sochaux helped to attract a more female clientele. It was a successful synergy between a lively little car with active appeal and the elitist image of a brand present in sport, like Lacoste. At the time, it let you stand out from above, a sort of "showing off without showing off" that we call "class". Its presentation, its paint and its crocodile refer more to tennis than to Crocodile Dundee; its small 60 hp 1400 engine would not have been at ease in the Australian bush.

In its white livery bearing the famous green croc, you had "Dallas-style class". Then as now, you felt upgraded behind the wheel of this refined 205, with its bumpers and mirrors painted in body colour and its green carpet. An interior with velour seats, a sports steering wheel, tinted electric windows, a large sliding sunroof, central locking. Outside, the 205 Lacoste sported white-tinted wheel trims and sat on 165/70 x 13 tyres.

The 205 Lacoste is the very type of special edition that acts as an image locomotive for the range it comes from; or when a single step lights up a whole staircase. With 24,000 units sold over three years (in France and Europe), you could say that the 205 Lacoste won in 3 sets.

The 205 Green

Launched in 1989, the Green is white outside and green inside: it could have been called Lacoste!

Its name refers to the other fashionable sport of the "upper class": golf. Offered in 1989, in 3 and 5 doors (and 18 holes?) with a 70 hp 1,400. An elegant turf-green interior, "golf trousers" seats in a tartan-style fabric, a 50/50 folding rear bench (no need to call on a friend) and a car radio (optional) to swing along to music once your green belt is buckled and your sports steering wheel gripped.

This preppy 205 has tinted electric windows, the large sliding sunroof that marks out the top-of-the-range 205 and 309 models, central locking and white wheels (like its bumpers) in ABS plastic …

Peugeot could have put a white golf ball on the gear lever; afraid of making the golf-themed 205 look like a Golf (GTI)?! 6,000 Greens were sold; a fine success for a car whose name did not give the game away.

The 205 Open

An opportune 205, born of a need for a smooth transition during 1988, for the facelift Peugeot carried out on its reference lioness. Faced with a shortage of engines from the old generation, this special edition allowed the 305's 90 hp engine, coupled to a 5-speed gearbox, to be used up.

Despite an interior that also came from the previous version, the 205 OPEN sold very well, benefiting from the sporty character its powertrain gave it and from the image of the 205 Lacoste, discontinued a little earlier when dealers had run out of stock.

The 205 Roland-Garros

Tennis and refinement as the reference again! Even plusher than its predecessor, this "new ball" was the result of a partnership between Peugeot and the famous Parisian tournament.

When it came out in 1989, it aimed to win over a public keen on this sport and on all the positive images, even social positioning, it conveys. Based on the XT and its lively 85 hp 1,400 (then an 89 hp 1,600 at the "facelift"), it offered access to top-of-the-range equipment:

• Long-range driving lamps
• Alloy wheels
• Sliding glass sunroof and dark green metallic paint.

Its interior is luxurious, with enveloping white and grey semi-leather seats, taken from the 205 GTI, a white (then grey) leather sports steering wheel and red seat belts; central locking and tinted electric windows were part of the package.

In addition to the roughly 3,500 units built of this exceptional 205, in 3 doors, Peugeot quickly brought out an elegant Roland-Garros cabriolet, fitted with a white electric hood, until 1993.

The 205 Indiana

Yet another 205 to support sales or to clear stocks of parts before the end of production?

In 1992, probably, although a little premature, when it was offered in only one colour and with only one engine, the plucky 75 hp 1,400 petrol. (75 horses … that is already a fine ranch). This handsome Indiana dressed in Tropic beige is decorated in a way that makes you think more of John Wayne and the great outdoors than of Mr Jones and his hidden treasures.

Very well equipped, it received the luxurious sliding roof of the top-of-the-range 205s, tinted windows and electric central locking, the GTI's handsome bucket seats and saddlebags in place of cubby holes.

Apart from its rather ordinary wheels, doesn't it remind you of the 205 Roland-Garros?

It is meagrely shod with 13" steel wheels from the XS (those wheels again? A surplus, no doubt); we would have preferred to see it planted on GTI wheels, but what can you do, Indian horses are not shod.

The 205 Look

How sporty this little 205 is! Another partnership, in the field of another fashionable sport: skiing. With the equipment maker LOOK, Peugeot brought out one of its last limited editions in 1992.

It is a lightly equipped series, with a simple glass sunroof (you know, the one that leaks…), two colours are offered and they are two greys (Futura and Graphite); no shade of white for an "alpine" 205. The 205 was slowly coming to the end of its life and the writing was on the wall … with a 205 that seems to have been designed more to clear stocks than to climb back up the slope.

The 205 Junior

Based on the XE model (which was selling poorly), the first step of the 205 staircase. Peugeot created the 205 Junior by positioning it between the 205 XE and the next one up, the 205 XL. The 205 Junior wiped out its little sister and ate a little into the sales of its big sister, despite its small 1L engine of 45 hp.

No matter, since its success (equipment/image/price ratio) was such that this special edition became an unlimited series that joined the range. The interior is "trendy" and the seats are in Denim; it is a simple car with simple decor, but it appeals.

The 205 Zénith

One of the last economy versions of the 205, like the Junior. In 1992, having reached the summit (hence its name?), the 205 Zénith was offered in a sober manner with a small petrol engine (45 hp/4-speed gearbox) or as a Diesel with an economical 1,800 (60 hp/5-speed gearbox).

The Zénith has a basic glass sunroof, white wheel trims, sills painted in the main colour, either grey, white or blue. A chrome strip runs around the bumpers, which stayed black; inside it is green or blue with green seat belts.

The 205 Color Line

In 1991, this new special edition was (again) based on the 205 XL and GL, positioned at the lower end of the mid-range. The 4 colours allotted to it were red, black, white and grey. Nothing very flashy, stick-on stripes (striping) and a Color Line logo underline its lines.

It received the XR-GR seats with specific upholstery, a red or green carpet (we are not closed-minded on the choice) and the "wide" steel wheels of the XS version, powered by a small 55 hp 1,100 or a very frugal 1800 Diesel.

The 205 Océane

In Meije white (Albatross?) or Arabian blue (Whale?), with a blue interior (carpet and seat fabric), it smells of sea spray and iodine. Launched in 1992 (it too), it is a basic 205 that sways along to the sound of a standard car radio and thanks to its small 1L engine (1,000 cc) of 45 hp.

It has very light make-up for going to the beach: 4 white wheel trims (again), bumpers of the same colour, a rear wiper to sweep away the waves, and that's it.