Our round-up of interesting cars rising in price by increments of £5000 starts with this 1998 Peugeot 106 GTi, with an entirely reasonable 81,000 miles.
Its service history starts well but peters out in 2005. From 2012, it was spoiled rotten. Remarkably, it has had no fewer than three timing belt changes. It’s had some welding under the front wheel arches, too. Supposedly, it’s rust-free.
On that point, it’s a shame that the underside has been undersealed, since we would liked to have seen it in its exposed state. The interior is described as immaculate, with seats that haven’t aged at all.
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The 205 GTi is the Peugeot hot hatch that everyone remembers, but the 106 GTi, launched in 1996, was great too. It weighed 950kg, but its 1.6-litre twin-cam engine developed 120bhp and 107lb ft – sufficient to hurl it from 0-62mph in 7.4sec on the way to a top speed of 130mph. Quick steering and a nimble chassis ensured it was never less than fun.
Our car is a Phase 1 with cloth seats (Phase 2s have Alcantara). Outside, it has wheel-arch extensions and sporty round foglights, both standard.
Many a 106 GTi later fell into the hands of the reversed-cap crowd, who tarted them up and ran them ragged. Miraculously, ours appears to have dodged them.
Only around 250 GTis remain in the UK and just 50 of them are taxed, so seeing one is cause for celebration.
Is £5100 a sensible price? It’s a little less than half what the very best go for at auction. Still, these are crazy times for modern classics. The best you can do is point out its faults, wave some cash and see what happens.
Jaguar XF 2.0d R-Sport, £10,000: No mere facelift, the Mk2 XF was a huge step forward from the already-impressive Mk1. We would have given it five stars but for its noisy engines (at least when cold). This car has done a solid 103,000 miles but, judging by the pictures, you would never know.
