To understand the Peugeot 206, you gotta have a clear view of its background. 

In 1983, Peugeot launched a beautiful mini car called 205. Not only winning the European Car Of The Year award, it also broke any sales records of the company. The 205 GTi is even regarded as the all-time greatest GTi. Since 1991, Peugeot splitted 205 into two models - The supermini 106 which is smallest and cheapest in the model lineup, the Golf-size 306 which compete in the biggest market segment. However, the 205 was still surviving because the market said, 'we want cars in this size and this price !" Therefore, Peugeot finally went back to the old track and created the 206 as the direct successor of the mighty 205. 

As the 106 is always smaller than the average of its class ( B-segment ), the 206 could be made considerably larger than its little brother but still competes directly with other superminis like Renault Clio, Fiat Punto, VW Polo etc. Although having dimensions fractionally bigger than its rivals, inefficiently packaging makes the interior space quite average. The steeply sloping windscreen forces the front seats more to the rear of the cabin thus reduces leg room of rear seat passengers. Beautiful styling often conflicts with practicality. Anyway, the front passengers have plenty of space. 

At launch, 206 hasn't yet got the planned 16-valves engine family. Therefore you have to put up with the existing single-cam four cylinders, from 60 hp 1.1-litre, 75 hp 1.4-litre to 90 hp 1.6-litre, among which the 1.6 is likely to be chosen by the majority customers. At low and mid range speed, they produce useful torque, but their limitation is seen at high speed. For example, the 1.6-litre engine becomes coarse and noisy at above 5,500 rpm. What a ridiculous that the F1 engine builder still relies heavily on the old-tech engines in its production models. (Update: now added an eager 110 hp 1.6 with 16v) 

What separate the Peugeot supermini from others is the handling and ride. Driving a 206 is a real entertainment. Sharp steering, excellent body control, grippy tyres, adjustable cornering behaviour are what you'd expect from the successor of 205. In addition, Peugeot once again managed to combine suppleness ride with the taut dampers that required by the excellent handling. 
 

206 S16 (GTi)

I heard this slogan times and times. Every time Volkswagen said it, a more refined, less exciting and heavier Golf GTi was born. It made me hate of hearing this slogan.  

Finally, our King of Handling, Peugeot, has to say it. From the very beginning, even months before the launch, Peugeot was telling the journalists not to expect a come back of the mighty 205GTi. It said the hot hatch 206, called S16 in France and GTi in elsewhere, would provide the refinement and comfort that today’s buyers want rather than concentrating solely on driving fun. Well, it sounds to be another boring Golf IV GTi .... 

Thanks God ! it isn’t. It is actually a wolf in sheep’s skin. All the driving excitement and involvement is retained at 106 GTi and 306 GTi’s level, although the 205 die-hard lovers are unlikely to be contented. To understand the latest Peugeot bend killer, you have to look from the outside : - 

One can hardly distinguish a 206 GTi from the lesser 206s. Apart from the marginally deeper chin spoiler and larger fog lamps, the GTi differs from the standard car by just the 15in alloy wheels. Yet 15 inches isn’t a big size, thus there is still considerable space left between the wheels and the fenders, making the GTi no more sportier than any ordinary 206s. This also indicate that Peugeot deliberately built more suspension travel, thus more ride comfort, into it. As you might expect to see the "wolf" under the bonnet, you’ll once again disappointed. The new GTi has got a new engine, but just the one already appeared in any standard 406 sedans, that is, a 1997c.c. dohc four cylinder inline with 16 valves. Just like the specifications, maximum output of 137hp and 140lbft makes no surprise. 

Compare with the older engine in 306GTi, it lost the variable length manifold and an amazing 30hp. Well, comments used to say the 306 seemed not to be so powerful. Perhaps this time PSA give the new engine a more honest appraisal. On road, the engine feels powerful and torquey enough, also smooth and linear.  Rev-happy is not its nature, as shown by the conservative 6500rpm red line. Undoubtedly, it’s not in the league of Alfa twin spark or Honda VTEC, but bearing in mind it is the standard mass production unit and you’ll accept it. Anyway, it cope well with the 1050kg weight, capable of launching the hot hatch to 62mph in 8.4sec, claimed Peugeot. The only real complain is the lack of characterful noise. 

Gearbox is less happy. It is exactly the same 5-speed manual as other 206s, gearchange is quite notchy and the throw is too long. Compare with the 306, it lost one ratio thus every gear ratio separates farther from each other. Of course this won’t help performance as well as driving pleasure.  

Climbed abroad, the wolf tail shows : aluminium gear knob, aluminium panel over console and drilled alloy pedals. Otherwise remain unchanged, this means the trip computer, automatic climate control, optional satellite navigation and other equipments are not mutually exclusive against driving fun. Now I understand the meaning of "We’ve built a modern GTi." Steering wheel is adequately sized and nice to touch, this undoubtedly aid the remarkable control to be mentioned later. On the down side, the front seats are not too supportive and they are positioned too high, the latter are the result of high bonnet line. 

Drive it around town, you’ll discover the steering is heavy while ride is much harder than other 206s. As speeds increase the steering comes alive, weighting is just a perfect balance between confidence and convenience. Enter the first bend and you’ll think of a 306GTi, no, the 306 has never been so nimble ! It is much more like a 106GTi, just has more punch on tap and far more ride comfort. 

In normal condition it steers neutrally, understeer won’t occur until the front wheels exceed their limits and spin, where back off the throttle could easily correct. Yes, few front-wheel-drive car has such a high level of throttle adjustability, not even its brothers. The secret is the communicative steering wheel helps the driver to feel precisely when to engage and disengage the throttle. When rubbers are gripping hard on road surface, the steering feels meaty and positive. When the car is reaching the cornering limit, that is, tyres are riding on their edge, the steering lightens. It is these information tells the whole picture. Besides, adequate amount of body roll also contributes to communication. 

Lighter front axle load is probably another secret. Normally, the lighter the front end, the less understeer generates (for a FF car). That’s why the new engine has aluminium alloy block.  

The suspensions engineers in Peugeot really worth praising. Who knows the art of suspension tuning more than them ? since the 205, we’ve seen 309, 405, 605, 106, 306 and 406 stormed the world with their handling. 206 GTi is the newest element of the list, not only handles fabulously, it simultaneously delivers refinement at Golf’s level. The suspensions and steering filter bump and shock effectively, straight line stability is also remarkable. Therefore we can say it is the best GTi in today. 

How does it compare with the mighty 205 ? It’s like comparing a road car with a race car. Tighten the suspensions, stripped out 150kg, the race car will be knife sharp, very alert to every little input. It won’t forgive your fault, too. 
 

206 CC (Coupe Cabriolet)

The aluminium roof is work of French coachbuilder Heuliez. Release two latches at the top of windscreen screen pillar and press a button, electric motors and 5 hydraulic jacks will fold the roof and rear window neatly under the boot lid in 20 seconds. The roof and mechanism weigh 33 and 37 kg respectively, plus the additional 50kg of strengthening to the chassis, CC weighs 120 kg in excess of the hatchback. 

Like SLK and Lexus SC430, you’ll find the roof is lower, windscreen is smaller and the boot is higher, all because there is not enough room in the boot to store a normal size roof. As a result, there is a little bit loss of headroom and visibility, the latter is made even worse by the thicker A-pillar which provide roll over protection. Moreover, the rear seats has become dog seats. 

Roof up, the 206 CC feels rigid and secure to handle, thanks to the additional strengthening to the chassis which include 2 braces from engine mounting to door sills, 2 braces from door sills to boot bottom and stronger tubes running from A-pillar to sills. However, with the roof down the chassis could feel less rigid - flex and shake. Therefore for safe reason Peugeot tuned the suspension softer than the GTi, thus slower its turn-in response and lower its cornering limit. Steering is still accurate and well weighed, body control is still deemed to be good, but compare with the GTi it is obviously less fun to handle. 

Cruising, however, is satisfying. With the roof up it is nearly as quiet as the hatchback, while the torquey engine - either the GTi’s 137 hp 2-litre or a 110 hp 1.6-litre - provides abundance of mid-range punch to enable changing gears less frequently. All out, the 2-litre car can manage 0-60 mph in 8 second flat, which is very good. 

It’s ironic that you can’t have cabriolet pleasure without any trade-off. In 206 CC, that’s slower acceleration, less aggressive handling and less roomy cabin. However, it is well engineered such that the aforementioned disadvantages are not issues to many customers, especially the car looks so good and have a high-tech roof.  

206 CC is a cross-border car. It’s neither a roadster like MX-5 nor a cabriolet hatchback like its predecessor 205 CTi. It’s simply a kind of its own. 
 

206 RC (GTi 180)

More power was the number 1 job. Lotus Engineering was called to modify the original 2.0-litre 16V engine with a new cylinder head which incorporates a continuously variable valve timing at the intake side and a 2-stage intake manifolds. This increases torque throughout the rev range, ensuring 80% of maximum torque available from as low as 2000rpm. VVT also enables faster timing at high rev, in addition to the smooth-breathing intake and exhaust manifolds, the engine is noticeably stronger at top end, raises rev limit to 7400rpm and produces 180 horsepower. That's more than Clio RS (172hp) and Mini Cooper S (163hp), if still a long way behind Civic Type R (200hp), which has variable valve lift to achieve even higher power. 

Number 2 job was a better gearbox. The original GTI gearbox was not a lovely one, therefore Peugeot lowered the gear ratios to improve engine response, and then modified the shift mechanism to enable a shorter gear throw for faster shifting. Nevertheless, the request for 6th gear was unanswered, as Peugeot claimed there is no space under the bonnet for a 6-speeder. So, why didn't they contact Getrag, which already provided a solution to Mini Cooper S? money seems to be the reason. 

Number 3 job was sharper handling. The 206 RC is given a set of much bigger wheels, wider and lower profile tires measuring 205/40 VR17 instead of 185/55 VR15. They look smarter too. On the other hand, springs, dampers and anti-roll bars are stiffened to improve body control. The rear torsion-beam suspension is added with 2 tie rods to cope with higher cornering force. Without them, the passive steering of rear wheels would have induced severe lift-off oversteer and make handling tricky. 

Externally, the most obvious upgrade is the aforementioned 17-inch wheels and a roof spoiler which adds 25kg downforce. Inside, a pair of sporty chairs and a few mock alloy decoration failed to transform the cockpit - it still looks cheap and outdated. Worse still is the unchanged driving position - too high, steering wheel and pedals are placed unergonically. This is probably the least pleasing cabin among all hot hatches. 

Forget that, how does it drive?  

Performance-wise, the 206 RC is competent rather than outstanding. It has sufficient torque to counter its 50kg increase of weight and it can do 0-60 in 7 seconds flat. But Clio RS / Cup and Civic Type R are quicker, and more important, feel quicker, because their engines produce more exciting noise. The Civic, in particular, has the best gearbox in the class, slicker and more precise than the Peugeot's and has an advantage of one more gear.  

Handling is a similar story. 206 RC has good grip, braking and balance. It behaves friendly at the limit. Push it hard, it will understeer, but "lift-off oversteer" is still in its dictionary. The rear end is well under control and rarely feels nervous. However, the Peugeot seemed not going far enough in the transformation. It still places comfort and safety in a high priority, as you can feel from its refined ride and slow steering. Oh yes, the long list of luxury items are also an indication of what kind of drivers Peugeot is targeting. Standard equipment includes ABS, traction control, ESP, air conditioning, climate control, 6-disc CD changer, rain-sensing wipers, gloom-sensing headlamps and electric mirrors. If Peugeot sacrifice a bit comfort, it could sharpen the suspension and steering further. Right now, the RC is no match with Mini Cooper S for handling, no matter body control or steering response. Even the Clio and Civic can edge it out in most critical aspects. This is very strange, because RC is supposed to bridge the gap between the comfort-biased 206 GTI and the mighty, enthusiasts-adored 205 GTI. Unfortunately it is closer to the former.