Rewind to the 80s

The 80s gets a bad rap as the decade of excess. Big hair, big shoulders, big spoilers on your car. But there's one 80s icon we've discovered that proves that in the era of bigger is better, less meant more.
We're talking about the Peugeot 205 GTI. Light and small with a minute 1600cc engine and pleasing lack of go-faster paraphernalia, we've just rediscovered how good the 205 GTI is. The Great Escape Classic Car Hire Peugeot has just returned from a few weeks of fettling that has returned the car to the B-road banzai it should be. Frankly, this is one heck of a car.
23 years since our 1988 car was built and we're not sure its combination of peppy, rev-happy acceleration and go-kart like handling precision have been bettered. Here is a front drive car that entertains along every inch of the road. The steering is super-direct, with plenty of feedback, and the handling is a delight. The 205 doesn't achieve handling greatness at the exclusion of driver input and skill, in the way that say a Mazda MX5 does. This is a car you have to drive, that has character and verve. And it will catch you out. The Peugeot's lift off oversteer is the stuff of legends - for good reason. Release the throttle mid-bend and chances are you're going to hit the greenery. But it's these flaws that make the MX5 great. There are plenty of faster cars that will get you from A to B more safely and with less effort, but that isn't the point of a driver's car.
Today the Peugeot 205 GTI has to be the ultimate classic car bargain. Good examples start at £1500. They're easy to fix, pretty reliable and economical too. And at that price, sacrilige it may be, but if it goes seriously wrong, scrap it. There are plenty about.
Having driven E Types, Jensens, Astons and Porsches that cost more to service than the Peugeot costs to buy, frankly I'm amazed more people haven't caught on to the Peugeot 205 GTI. We'd like to see more people hire this amazing little car - and at just £95 for 24 hours, including unlimited mileage, it must surely be the most enjoyable way for a classic fan to spend under £100.
The Peugeot5 205 GTI is available to hire from our Cotswolds site near Stratford Upon Avon. For more details call 01527 893733 or visit http://www.greatescapecars.co.uk/.

Great Escape cars at Silverstone Classic

The extremes of Great Escape Classic Car Hire's fleet took pride of place at the Silverstone Classic on the weekend of 23rd and 24th July. Our white 1972 Jaguar E Type V12 convertible, which also features on magazine covers this month, took part in the E Type 50th Anniversary parade lap in the hands of celebrity DJ Simon Hirst, while our 1988 Peugeot 205 GTI circuited the track with a customer on the Retro Run event.

"We are really pleased to see customers making use of our cars in this way," says Graham Eason of Great Escape. "Lapping Silverstone in a classic car has to be one of life's real achievements."

The Jaguar E Type convertible and the Peugeot 205 GTI are part of the UK's largest fleet of classic cars for hire. Prices start at just £95 for 24 hours, including unlimited mileage, comprehensive insurance and full UK breakdown cover.

For more information visit http://www.greatescapecars.co.uk/ or call 01527 893733.

Great Escape Classic Car Hire has introduced a new range of low cost 1980s classic cars for hire. Based at the company's Cotswolds HQ, the new cars are available to hire with the best value hire package on the market.
The range of new cars are from the 1980s and include a Saab 900 Turbo 16S, Peugeot 205 GTI, VW Golf GTI Mk1 and Rover SD1 Vitesse. Prices are just £95 for 24 hours use or £160 for a 48 hour weekend, including unlimited mileage, comprehensive insurance and full nationwide AA breakdown cover.
"Our customers want to drive the cars they remember from their youth and 1980s classic cars are the next thing in classic car hire," explains Graham Eason of Great Escape. "We've put together a range of iconic classic cars from the 1980s and by sheer chance, most of them are finished in period bright red.
"Some people are a little sniffy about 1980s classic cars but the Saab, Peugeot, VW and Rover are simply brilliant drivers cars. We can offer them so cheaply because they are more reliable than our older fleet - so they cost us less to run."
For more details on the new range of low cost classic cars to hire from Great Escape Classic Car Hire visit http://www.greatescapecars.co.uk/ or call 01527 893733.
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Red Hot Twins

Living on the edge of some beautiful countryside here at Great Escape HQ, I love great drivers cars. So our latest additions to the fleet are a bit of an indulgence really.

I've gone and added a couple of B-road banzis to the Great Escape Classic Car Hire fleet in the form of an early lightweight Peugeot 205 GTi and a late model Saab classic 900 Turbo 16 valve. From 1988 and 1989 respectively, these bright red 1980s motoring icons are just brilliant to drive and leave us all here grinning from ear to ear. So I've put them on hire and hope our customers love them too. Otherwise I'm stuck for excuses to tell my wife why we've got them. So come on, bag a drivers delight bargain - because these cars are available to hire at the lowest prices we've ever offered. Just £95 for a full 24 hours of unlimited mileage fun.

The Peugeot 205 GTI is a car I grew up with and the Great Escape version is the purist's delight. It's obviously red, with a nice red carpet inside, and features the peppy 1600cc 105 bhp motor that gives the nimble little Pug better balance and roadholding than the more powerful 1900cc lump. Performance is brisk rather than startling by modern standards but the 205's roadholding is frankly astonishing - the steering feel and handling make this car hugely entertaining at any speeds. Just watch out for the lift off oversteer!

The Saab 900 Turbo is an entirely different proposition. The Great Escape car is the full fat 175 bhp 16 valve turbo version in elegant three door form with red paintwork and in true 1980s style, plenty of black body cladding. Inside it's luxurious with full leather, electric sunroof and cruise control. For a front wheel drive car the Saab is superbly balanced with communicative steering, well spaced gear ratios and tonnes of power. We recently drove back to back with a 1980s 911 and the Saab easily cleaned its nose against the bigger engined, more powerful Porker.

Both of our new 1980s hot hatch hire cars are available to rent by the day, week or weekend. Prices are just £95 for either car for 24 hours or £16o for a 48 hour weekend. That includes unlimited mileage, insurance and full AA breakdown cover. For more details call 01527 893733 or visit http://www.greatescapecars.co.uk/