REVIEW | Peugeot 205 GTI Tolman Edition
This is a heart over head restomod
Chris Tolman turned adversity into excellence when he came up with the Peugeot 205 GTI Tolman. The 205 TURBO GROUP B THING sparked his imagination at a young age after his father took him to see a rally - he decided he wanted to work in motorsport when he grew up. His career took him all over the place, eventually leading to the founding of his own company - Tolman Motorsport.
He made Lotus Elites go very fast, worked with McLaren, and even looks after a historic Lola, but the obsession with the tiny, quick Peugeot never left him. When the pandemic shut his business down he started playing with a 205 GTI he’d picked up for a song - restoring it down to bare metal, fitting motorsport grade parts, tweaking its 1.6-litre engine to make a mighty 134hp and 102lb ft, upgrading the brakes so they have proper stopping power, and giving the suspension just the right amount of a boost to make it the fun side of squidgy. He’d given cars a going over before, but the 205 struck a chord. A stellar showing in a Top Gear magazine feature and an appearance on the TV of the same name got the phones ringing, and a new strand was added to the Tolman Engineering business.
Aiming to capture the spirit of the original
The 205 GTI was an incredible car in its period. It wiped the floor with pretty much everything, and is remembered by people of a certain age as something of a second coming. For some, it is THE benchmark to be beaten, and thus far (according to them) it hasn’t been. That said, it’s still an old French hatch, and the world has moved on a fair bit since it came out. The Tolman car aims to capture the original’s spirit, but make it a little more 21st century appropriate.
With fewer than 900kgs to shift, it’s a light as they come for a ‘new’ car, so its modest power output isn’t anything to worry about. It’ll lose a game of Top Trumps, sure, but that’s not the idea here. The purpose of the car is exploitable fun. If you want lots of power, you can spec an ‘Evo’ trim that gives it 200hp and a silly small 0-62mph time, but the basic Tolman Edition will be more than enough for most.
Twist the key and wait for its dinky 1.6-litre motor to fire up with a glorious burble, and the car gently rumbles beneath you. There are no screens firing needless information at you - just a standard instrument binnacle with the usual stuff - speed, revs, oil pressure, fuel level, water temp, that kinda stuff. Look down and you’ll find a Blaupunkt stereo that looks right for the car, but will play DAB radio, and can link to your phone’s bluetooth so you can listen to your own music and not, thankfully, whichever patchy radio stations and FM transceiver can pick up.
Driving experience
Its gear lever is a big ‘ol stick, and clicks neatly into first. A smooth clutch means it’s easy to get going - the extra torque helps a slick escape without having to give the car a bootful, but if you do choose to poke some horses, you’re in for a treat. Jumping from gear to gear is easy and incredibly light. You can fire your way up and down the ‘box with just a finger if you want to, and you’ll have a blast doing it. Giving the throttle a tickle as you go for an easy rev match win makes you feel like a bit of a hero, too. The engine isn’t a highly strung, zippy Italian V12, so you can play with the rev range quite happily - it’ll hide a sloppy heel ‘n toe rather nicely.
Tolman doesn’t have a 0-62mph time for its 1.6-litre creation, it’s merely ‘quicker than the original,’ which is fair. It feels plenty quick though - throttle response is instant, and makes noise happen, which will make you happy. Probably. You sit low down on tiny (for today) wheels, and the glass around you is so big, so open, that you can see the world rushing around you - there’s no need to crane your neck around chunky A pillars to make sure you’re safe at a junction, and the rear window is a sensible size to actually see things out of. I wouldn’t want to have a crash in it, but being able to see other things on the road helps negate that no end.
While you’re playing with the gears and making noise, you’ll spot that you’re not breaking any speed limits. You FEEL as though you’re going a billion miles per hour, but actually… you’re not. You’re just making noise and having a ball.
When you get to a corner, you’ll also have LOTS of fun. Tolman’s tweaked steering has no play in it and gives great feedback. Tiny inputs have direct effects you can feel, elevating your confidence in the car. The suspension has enough give to make sure you’re having fun without being too serious - hard springs are great for the track, but woeful on b roads. The fact the car leans and moves about while you’re doing 45mph (which feels like 250mph) adds to the experience. It’s not a sloppy ride by any means. It’s perfect for the car. Tolman’s brakes are ace, too, though you won’t need them too much as you can carry a fair bit of speed into bends.
Expensive? Yes. Exceptional? Even more so
The car looks brilliant, drives amazingly, and feels right, but you’ll have to dig deep into your pocket and find £85,000 if you want one. For the Evo car with loads of power, you’re looking at double that. It’s a heart over head car, and one that those who want will really want. The real glory here lies in the fact that it looks so normal. There aren’t any wings, or things that scream ‘LOOK AT ME I’M AN EXPENSIVE RESTOMOD,’ it’s simply just a car. It just so happens that the Tolman Edition 205 GTI is an exceptionally good one. I’ll take one in purple, thanks.
words: Alex Goy
pictures: Henry Faulkner-Smith
