When my buddy drove a Peugeot 305 back in the 80’s I hated this car. Because sometimes pants could get wet inside it, because of all the rust in the car. It was under-powered, slow and boring and faster decaying than a frommage out in the sunlight.
But when I missed my train back to the airport because I couldn’t let go of my childhood room at parent’s house (or rather dad’s port wine), I quickly got myself a rental car and they gave me a Peugeot 407 instead of the tiny Nissan Micra I ordered. Next day, was sober of course.
I know someone on this Forum will vomit black liquid but I looooooved this car. It is big (4.69m) but does not have that much space inside. But it is a beauty and looks like a sports car basically. I had the sedan and to my surprise I first felt a bit constrained in the rather small cockpit, but then I found it to be fitting like soft leather glove. Everything was where it belongs, the interior was beautiful and comforting. The car responded immediately to all commands via pedals or steering wheel, never showed any adverse reaction. In fact I enjoyed the direct responses to the gas pedal and the find sound of the motor so much, I felt as if the French craft was caressing me with like a 12 times overpaid hook… ah never mind.
First I was speeding at 170 km/h on the Autobahn, it was 5.00am and I was still a wee bit tired and after all that Taiwan slow driving I didn’t want to go higher, but then snow was setting in and everybody was driving 70 km/h on the right lane, which was free of snow. I didn’t have that much time though, so I steered my French companion into the snow on the left lane and … overtook the slow SUVs and snow plows on the right lane. The Peugeot drove through the snow like that Gaul warrior Asterix through a mass of Roman soldiers, it was great. Never before I felt so comfy in a car like in the Peugeot.
Buying one on the rock here may be a bad idea, probably the local mechanics are not able to maintain such a European driving machine. But when I go back home I definitely want one.
Yeah OK, last year I wanted to buy a Corsa after driving one back home…
Thankfully mine had the steering wheel on the other side…
I drove a used company 305 in 86. The thing had trouble getting into first gear. Had a wonky drivers seat. The heater smelled of burning oil so couldnt use it. Nearly went off the road to Kukuan one time because i made the mistake of letting off the power mid-turn on a wet bend. Did a 360 and managed to not fall off the mountain. But thing was I rather liked the thing. IT rode beautifully and was fun to drive. It had such high ground clearance I put one rear wheel into a ditch while reversing without even noticing it.
Peugeot - never boring. And it never broke once in the year I drove that thing (covering bout 40,000km). The Taiwan dealers were giving away a free Rolex watch with every purchase. Course the Rolex will still be going long after the Peugeot isnt.
Until the recent Toyota debacle, I always wondered why on earth anyone would even contemplate buying a Peugeout car (bicycles OKk; my friend had a nice one when we were 16). Compared to Honda or Toyota, it seems/ed obvious a Peugeut would be much more likely to break down, much harder to find parts and qualified mechanics, and more expensive and slower to repair. When I see a Peugeot on the streets I wonder what on earth possessed them to buy it: surely an inexperienced car buyer who for some reason wanted something “different” or took a fancy to the looks, or something, and for that reason was willing to overlook common sense.
But I admit that’s just been my gut feeling; I really don’t know anything about Peugeots except that they’re French.
I was chatting with the managing director of the large Peugeot garage in Neihu a while back and we were having a laugh about Peugeots reliability. He did happen to mention though that some new models were borrowing components from Toyota and so were slightly more reliable than before.
Still he couldn’t use the phrase “Peugeots are reliable cars”. He fully understands why they don’t sell well here amongst the majority.
I have noted British sources always giving the Peugeot 407 very bad evaluations, even for driving experience, while German sources are giving it good or very good evaluations. According to this article, the 407 was the best car regarding realibility in the DEKRA test 2008 (it’s a 2004 model), milage was 50.000 km.
(middle class cars evaluation)
The article states the good quality would give a good basis for Peugeot’s plans to establish the 407 in the enterprise car fleet sector.
Ey, what are you Britons doing with the French cars? Using them as a tractor in Lower Gobblinshire to plow the fields?
However, I would not buy one in Taiwan. I much rather buy it than a 'Yota though, unless the electronics enigma has been cleared up.
EDIT: Another German article (FOCUS) stated the 307 had been a horrible car, breaking down very often and the company would target “German quality” for the 308 [for the German market?]. Seems they had to work hard on quality improvements. Well, I am getting a little insecure about buying a Peugeot now
[quote=“bob_honest”]I have noted British sources always giving the Peugeot 407 very bad evaluations, even for driving experience, while German sources are giving it good or very good evaluations. According to this article, the 407 was the best car regarding realibility in the DEKRA test 2008 (it’s a 2004 model), milage was 50.000 km.
(middle class cars evaluation)[/quote]
Firstly this only pertains to fleet vehicles as you said, which means that it doesn’t consider a majority of vehicle brands and models. Fleet cars will often be made up of the lowest purchase cost and lowest tax bracket vehicles much of the time, and in the Euro zone that will most often end up being Euro cars the vast majority of the time.
If comparing a Peugeot to a Mercedes then if you take a lookk at the bottom end of the customer JD power surveys, you will see it comprised of some of the types of vehicles you would expect to see in a company fleet in Europe.
I’m not surprised they came to such findings, but I neither think it makes a great statement that is valuable to a private user. Company car tax is not an issue for most individuals and there are other more important issues to consider.
50,000km is about 31,000miles only. In a fleet car that can equate to less than a year’s driving in the U.K.
[Regarding Sulavaca’s posting] Yes, see my edit above. They had some kind of quality initiative (at least for the German market), but… who knows. I’d investigate much more before actually buying one I have to admit. Ah… adieu ma belle…
[damned, a few years school French and not sure how to say even that]
EDIT: OK, there are some scary, scary, scary reports of German 407 SW drivers out there. Scary like all components breaking down once in a while. Buying a 407 is now somewhere on my list between getting the ROC citizenship and getting a voluntary root canal.
but I looooooved this car. It is big (4.69m) but does not have that much space inside. But it is a beauty and looks like a sports car basically. I had the sedan and to my surprise I first felt a bit constrained in the rather small cockpit, but then I found it to be fitting like soft leather glove. Everything was where it belongs, the interior was beautiful and comforting. The car responded immediately to all commands via pedals or steering wheel, never showed any adverse reaction. In fact I enjoyed the direct responses to the gas pedal and the find sound of the motor so much, I felt as if the French craft was caressing me with like a 12 times overpaid hook… ah never mind.
