Later Saxos were cheapened and the price dropped, the interiors took a downward turn to target the young market and keep the price low, earlier cars were better and the very early grille was better imo, what was all that ****e they did with blue dials? load of crap. Mk1 vtr/vts took up where the 205 left off I reckon, yeah it did get picked up by the chav brigade later on once they fell into the affordable catagory. My VTR had superb depreciation paid £10,840 (how much!!!!) in 1997 sold 3.5 years later for £7000, could any fiat match that, no way. Of course the cracking 2 years free insurance deal was good value.
I reckon the 106GTI is much much rearer and had more conservative styling, didn't have the junior vtr model and price tag to match fewer people would spend £14k on a mini rocket so it never really sold in big numbers. Just a bit too conservative, the Saxo hit the nail on the head and filled a gap in the market.