206 gti 180 handling

[matthewwoodward]

Hi Guys,
Bought myself a nice '05 gti 180 and overall very pleased with the car. You definitely get a lot of car for the money!
My main concern is its handling?!? It feels very light and floaty at relatively low speeds, such as 60 onwards. And throwing it into a corner is a very scary situation indeed, it doesn't so much as glide round bends more like I can hear it dragging itself round kicking and screaming.
I have got brand new tyres on her, and have even gone slightly wider 215/40/17 as my tyre fitter recommended it. He also checked all the bushes and did a full laser wheel alignment but the handling is still poor. I find myself driving very slow as I don't have confidence in her just yet.
She also tram lines and torque steers like a cow. And on full lock it feels as if the front wheels are hoping rather than making a continuous contact with the road.
Now, my question is which of these items is just usual for the gti and which are not?!???
Leading on from that, how do I fix the handling as I was lead to believe she is a tidy little handling car!
Please help guys
Matt

 

[T9 man]

Greetings and a Warm Welcome to our TorqueCars Forum my Friend!

I am unable to help you with your question directly, but hopefully somebody can point you in the right direction for the knowledge that you seek!

Good luck buddy!

 

[Yugguy]

Not much you can do about torque steer in a high power to weight fwd that doesn't have trick suspension.

Have you gone from big car to small, as that might make the 206 feel lighter than it is?

That said the missus had a gti, the 136 version, from new and it didn't feel like you describe so maybe there's something loose under there?