Bye Bye Baby (Peugeot 309)

Member Name: jammaker49

Product:	Peugeot 309
Date:	21/07/02 (314 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An old friend.

Disadvantages: Loads of mileage

Let me establish right from the start that I don't drive. I never have. I never want to! Both hubby and son drive, so I have a chauffeur if I need to get anywhere, so why should I worry about driving?

Anyway, I digress! Hubby passed his test first time in 1971, and since that date has only ever had 5 cars. The last two have both been Peugeot 309's. Our D registration Peugeot was red, and a very basic model. We only kept that for three years, having bought it new. We then traded that in, in 1990 for an H registration Peugeot 309 Look, a special edition, only available in blue and white. We have a white one.

It is a fairly basic model, with a sunroof, and radio casette player, but it has done us proud over the years. Hubby used it for getting to and from London to work. It runs on unleaded petrol, and does approximately 56 miles to the gallon. It has a 1.4 litre engine, and is pretty nippy on the motorway! We recently touched 100 mph on the motorway, but don't tell anyone!

The car is a 5 door model, with a spacious boot for a car of its size. The back seats fold down to give extra boot space, and during its years, it has transported such things as a freezer and beds, and even a wardrobe in the back. Many a time, it has been filled with black bags of rubbish destined for the tip! It has even had a pretty hefty pedal bike in the back when on the journey to and from Southampton, to say nothing of hamsters in cages, and a pretty hefty Labrador Cross Breed dog!

The car is now getting on for 12 years old. It has done over 130,000 miles in that time. It has carted belongings to both York and Southampton, when the children were at university, it has done the round trip from London to Penzance more times than I can remember, and many a trip to the Midlands. Our son learned to drive in it, and had his first knock in it

If I remember rightly, we paid about £7,000 for it back in 1990. It has had only one new exhaust, and o
ne new battery in the time we've had it, plus new brakes a couple of times. The drive shafts have been replaced, as has the suspension. The inside is still immaculate, apart from the glove compartment door, which no longer stays shut. The heating unit still works, although the fan which blows hot or cold air is now rather noisy.

Today, Hubby went out and bought a new car. Well, it's not a NEW car, but a new second hand car! So on Wednesday, we will be saying goodbye to our trusty old Peugeot. It's going to seem very strange being in a different sort of car. Including our last car, we've had a Peugeot 309 for nearly 16 years. We've always found them comfortable and reliable, and if they still made them, I'm pretty sure we would go for one again. However, Hubby doesn't like the 306 or the 307 as much as the 309, so it's goodbye to Peugeot, and hello Ford!

I suppose we will get used to our new car, but it's going to be a wrench at first. Some lucky person is going to get our trusty old girl for a song. I hope they enjoy her as much as we have.

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