Peugeot in the '80s was trying to compete with Renault's 5 city car and came out with the 205 in 1983.
The standard 205 wasn't all that special- MacStrut front, torsion bar rear. Unvented discs front, drums rear. Choice of boring engines... unless you chose the Rallye or the GTi.
I'm ignoring the 205 GTi for now; it's fairly ubiquitous in the "hot hatch" rankings. I'm going to zero in on the 205 Rallye, specifically the Euro-spec 1.3L Rallye, not the anemic and unflared 1.4L UK-spec or the lard-ass 1.9L German-spec.
Why should you care? 1,750lb curb weight, 103hp 1.3L with sports camshaft and twin Webers, five-speed close-ratio gearbox, decontented interior, no sound deadening, special steel wheels, flared arches. It was a rally homologation model that was definitely not built for commuters.
It shared the 1.6GTi's front end and ran a drum version of the 1.6GTi's torsion rear. Chris Harris famously drove his 205 Rallye side-by-side with a 911R and the Rallye won the "fun to drive" award. Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfDHULZZjpQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GZgI6D1zEs You can auto-translate to English for this one.