My 24 year old 205 has a better ride than most of my mates modern cars. Grew up in a French car family, my old man had variously a Renault 4, Citroen Visa, GS, BXs, CX, a Clio, I had another Clio, a 306 and my Mrs drives a dacia (French via Romania and India). My brother had a xantia that pissed oil after he beached it on a bollard in morzine, but it still got us back to Brussels without any drama. The only lemon in that lot was a BX, a 4×4 version that was not very reliable. Every other one of them was great. By contrast, the least reliable car I ever had was a supposedly bombproof Mitsubishi shogun. The Mrs’ rover 25 was also a pile of turd from day one but that goes without saying.

It is bizarre. Brits would rather be seen to be doing better than they are. Why we are so anxious/in debt as a nation?

Had a Pug 205 GTi for two years. Amazing car.

After uni I bought a Pug 306 HDi Turbo. It was based on the GTi-6 but with a big ol’ 2.0 turbo diesel lump in it producing 90 bhp. The car was faultless and never missed a beat in the 9 years that I owned it. A brilliant, brilliant car that practically paid for itself.

I was told by many a trade person that it was a lovely car with what was regarded as THE best diesel engine.

I now own an expensive (to me) German sport estate with a 2.0 TD lump that produces 177bhp. Is more economical. More refined. More desirable. More comfortable, etc, etc. Yet in just one year of ownership it’s cost me about the same amount as the Pug did in 4 years 🙂

“At least the French still have a car industry……”

JLR?

Nissan assembly

Fordish

Totally true though when JLR moves production in a decades time. It will happen – Rolls Royce has already moved one model overseas. Itll be ‘British design’ rather than built.

It is bizarre. Brits would rather be seen to be doing better than they are. Why we are so anxious/in debt as a nation?

i buy cars on what I like and can afford a promotion meant I could get VAG cars which I like before that I choose cheaper ones. That said the VAG cars I’ve owned I’ve got on private lease which usually makes then very little more than a Pug due to huge price drop in PUGs.

I dont do new cars though

I work for a French company.

French people buy French products from French people, it’s been that way for years and they won’t change.

The car park is 95% full of French cars.

Although ALL of the directors and bosses drive BMW’s and my boss has an Audi

Not mush British owned though Hora that’s the point I was trying to make.

According to this months Car magazine the UK is currently second in Western Europe for car production:

1st Germany 2,952,341 (-4.2%)
2nd UK 2,264,737 (+10.8%)
3rd France 1,790,473 (-5.7%)
4th Italy 1,303,534 (-7.1%)
5th Spain 722,703 (+3.3%)

People think it is odd that I still drive 306’s. Still have one mum bought back in 1999 sitting out back used as a tool/bike rack shed. And it works when I need to tug something across the yard. My daily driver is a HDI estate which gets used for everything from towing sheep trailers to biking and lugging building stuff and then cleans up perfectly for daily use.

I quite fancy a 406 coupe as I think they still look brilliant today.

After that it all went pear shaped. Won’t touch renault and now wont touch Nissan because of Renault. It has got better though and for the new 308 Peugeot said they were going back to the 306 and they did and it looks much better. When everyone else was going to mini MPV designs BMW went back to a traditional hatchback and sold buckets and buckets of 1 series and now other makes are joining them.

The newer Citroen C5 is fantastic too. The Xantia suffered an old man image as the styling was horrible but it was a good car as long as the suspension was looked after. The C5 is much better and the C6 is fantastic but just has wacky citroen styling again. The DS3 and DS4 are nice cars though IMO.

I’d still buy german as my main car but us a cheap run around with a bit of style I’d go with a Citroen of Pug.

Not surprisingly, a French colleague got very defensive about French cars when we were rubbishing them in the office one day. Although she drove a Seat.

SIL lives in France. In rural France you drive french cars because they’re easier for spares and repair. The French keep cars running forever and second hand cars sell for unbelievable money compared to the UK.

I think Nissan are tied up with Renault so lots of Nissans about as well.

According to this months Car magazine the UK is currently second in Western Europe for car production

And what did we build?

Mostly other people’s cars, it seems…

I’ve driven loads of French cars, and owned a few too.

I think they’ve lost their way a bit, and gone too bland/normal – although maybe every manufacturer has?

Anyway, ones that were good, were very good:

Xantia TD (company car), 160k in 4 years – servicing/tyres plus one suspension unit

309GTI, 100k in 4 years – only real problem was having to replace the rear brake pipes

405Mi16, bought as a run-around with 90k on, sold at 160k and then it went past 200k before been totalled.

BX 16 valve (company car), bloody quick and no trouble at all

A few years back I found myself needing some cheap transport (budget £1.5K) and preferably diesel. I looked at all the usual (for me) cars, and then chanced on a Pug 206HDI (2 litre) SW.

Its honestly one of the best cars I’ve ever owned, and I miss it. Had done about 140K miles, and although the rear suspension was getting a bit aged, it still handled perfectly and was a hoot to drive, with just the right amount of power and grip. And I could get 2 MTBs in the back, back seats down, wheels off, upside down.

I’d gladly have another and drop in a new rear axle, the easiest way to sort the rear out. It looked good too.

One of my favourite cars I had was Pug 405 est non turbo diesel in bright red, no luxuries other than a heater. Only broke down once when the glow plugs went. It never did less than 50mpg regardless of how I drove it. I gave it a hard life but maintained it well too but then suddenly the body work started to rust away and lots of welding was done the heater matrix went and it was uneconomical to repair. On the back of that I bought a 406 which was one of most comfortable cars I had but was plagued with electrical problems. A botched major service by the dealers caused no end of problems that I ended up fixing myself and started me on servicing my own cars. The final straw was when the auto gearbox went and it became uneconomical to repair.
A Nissan Primera followed that was written off within days of owning when in stationery traffic a women driver ploughed into a car 3 vehicles back shunting everyone forward and me into oncoming traffic. Mondeo’s followed and have been 100% reliable and a favourite exceeding the Pug 405. I recently had a top spec 507 diesel estate courtesy car and it was the most awfull, dull car I have every driven and would never consider a Pug again on the back of that car.