Riding with Elegance Among the Dirty Masses (Peugeot 405)

Name: TheChocolateLady

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Product:	Peugeot 405
Date:	09.06.06 (1537 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Comfortable, Luxurious, Elegant Car

Disadvantages: Has a bit of a Drinking Problem

When our Skoda decided to give up the ghost, we were already in the market to replace it due to all the problems it had caused us. So, this small disaster wasn't too much of a change in plans. After much looking, it came down to a choice between two second-hand cars and when one owner decided not to accept our offer, we ended up with a 1995 Peugeot 405 GLX.

Some boss-man who traveled abroad frequently had apparently owned this little baby. In other words – it had low mileage (or kilometerage, as the case may be) but was a bit neglected. For instance, the passenger seat's electric window was somewhat sticky, and there were some loose things here and there - but nothing that a few pulls with a wrench couldn't handle.

The 405 GLX was considered to be the luxury model of this car for its model year. It has all those nice little extras like the electric front-seat windows, driver air bag, dual breaking system, power steering, factory air conditioning, special adjustable reading light that you can point to the driver's or the passenger's side (in addition to the regular cabin light), fuel injection, vanity mirror, fold-down rear-seat center arm rest (that also has a reach-through door to the boot), plush velvet-like seat covers, adjustable lumbar supports for both passenger and driver, adjustable steering wheel, and a driver's seat that adjusts up or down (in addition to the usual forward and back). It was therefore very appropriate that this car was a snazzy silver metallic colour, in addition to everything else.

Oh, yes, this is really was very fancy car for the year it was manufactured. You want to dress up to drive in it, you do. Why, when I get in and I've not put on make- up, well, I feel like I've cheated this car. And the main reason why it feels like that is because this car is very driver and passenger friendly. It is the absolutely most comfortable car I've ever had the privilege to drive or ride in. The seats seem to welcome you and almost conform to your body. I've even toyed with the idea that when this car died, perhaps I'd pull the seats out and put them in my salon - they're much more comfortable than my sofas were (at the time)!

The ride is so smooth that you feel like the asphalt has turned to clouds underneath your wheels. The gears (yes, this is a manual car) shift like a warm knife going through softened butter. The clutch has this spot near the bottom that seems to gently hold it so that if you're in stop-and-go traffic, your leg doesn't get tired from strong pushing to keep it engaged when you have to hold the clutch down often or for longer periods of time. The steering wheel is gently padded so that it’s easy to hold onto, even when the car's been standing out in the hot Israeli sun. There is practically no play in the wheel, either, so it responds quickly and efficiently to every turn - keeping your arms from getting tired when you need to maneuver the car into that small-ish parking space.

This car has a 1600 engine and although the body is fairly heavy, the fuel injection really helps give this car some zip and helps it pull on those steep hills up to Jerusalem. No more having those little bitty sporty cars pass me up – I was right out there, passing up the slow guys, with the best of them, I was!

And there's more, but... I bore you here, don't I?

I'm sure that you all want to know what's not so good with this car, as well. OK. I have to admit. All is not perfection in Peugeot-land. This car has a problem, well several, actually. To begin with, it’s a petrol-holic. Yes, my friends, my lovely silver chariot had a drinking problem, and I'm afraid that, eventually, this was part of the death of it. We are already considering letting this baby go because she was costing us so much at the fuel pumps. Very sad. But that's not all. Unfortunately, this car also has fairly expensive parts, so when something goes wrong or just goes in for a check-up, it’s not easy on your wallet either.

Now, you're saying, "oh, things have gone wrong with this car. Can't be a good car then, can it?" Well, in all honesty, the previous owner caused most of the problems by his neglect. Had he taken better care of it, most of the repairs I've had to do on this car wouldn't have been necessary. This is what my (very trusted) mechanic informed me. According to him, while the engine was basically in good order, there were things that shouldn't have needed to be done on this car. Even before we told him about the previous owner, he had guessed that this was the case. This was the first time we had bought a used car, so we were obviously learning the hard way of how to go about that. We know better now.

However, some of the problems were just age-induced. For instance, when we first got the car, the heater’s heating element didn’t work properly. Since winters here in Israel are hardly severe, we didn’t bother fixing it. But when the air conditioning started losing its gas and stopped cooling me off in the hot summers, I started to lose patience – especially after I’d added gas twice. It was after the second time that our mechanic said that there must be a crack somewhere causing the gas to escape – and I didn’t have the funds to replace the whole air conditioning.

Then the alternator went, and that was another huge expense. Then that sticky electric window went on the blink. Finally, it started to overheat since there was some sort of a blockage or crack in the radiator. Thankfully, my son got into a small accident with the car, which had crumpled the front fender and cracked a headlight. We ended up having the insurance fix these and for some reason they thought that the accident had caused the crack in the radiator and replaced that as well! (Hey, I didn’t cheat them, from what I understood from my insurance company, I could have had that fixed through them anyway, and would have paid the same deductible.)

But you know, I should mention that even with all the problems, the engine on this car purred like a contented cat, hummed quietly while on the road and when you turned the motor off, you’d hear a gentle, elegant sigh as it wound itself down. The dashboard has very clear indicators and there's both a speedometer and a revolution counter. There are both front and back fog lights (that I have had very little use for, but still, they're there), which can be activated separately. It also has nice flip-up covers for the radio and the ashtray, so that when they aren't in use, you flip the covers closed and no one can see what's behind them - making that area look clean and tidy. Finally, one thing that was really nice was that the signal indicators have a gentle clicking sound to them, so that if someone is sleeping in the seat next to you on a long drive, when you change lanes, they aren't rudely awakened by a horrid noisy clicking sound.

I should also mention that although I have an almost 6 foot tall son who has his own driver's license, he sometimes had to sit in the back seat. With this car he still had space for his knees when he was back there. The rear-seat space is truly one of this car's best features. It also has a boot that's practically cavernous, which easily holds shopping for a hungry family of five.

But seriously, what's the most important thing when you choose a car? In my mind, its safety, and this is where this car came up smelling of roses. The body of this car is very strong and it has stabilizer sidebars that protect the passengers in case of a side impact, and I think they also help prevent the car from flipping over. I've been in a couple of situations where someone has bumped us here or there (and yes, I did bump someone once), and my car seems to come away with little to no damage, where the other car sustains easily visible damage. Since the traffic accidents in this country are so very high, this is extremely important to me - especially since I have a beloved husband and three children I love dearly. So you can see that I'm not willing to risk my family's lives with just any old car. I turned down some newer used cars (such as Subaru) because I knew that their safety record wasn't nearly as good as the Peugeot.

All in all, I'm glad I had this car, and to my mind, the drawbacks far outweighed the advantages for quite some time. I'd say that prior to the overheating and air-conditioning problems, this was generally a 4 star car. I'd also say that someone who has to do long distance driving would find this car far more economical than someone who just drives around town, since the mileage was easily doubled when on the open roads. And since it’s so comfortable, it would make the longer journeys far more pleasant.

But of course, all good things must come to an end, and when this car started costing us more than we could afford, we traded it in for a Hyundai. Still, I do fondly recall putting on my lipstick here, touching up my hair, giving a quick brush on the sleeves of my designer suit, and going out for a little pleasure drive - during which I'd gently wave (Royalty-style) at the poor, dirty masses who were forced to drive lowly heaps of tin. “Ta-ta, my adoring public, ta-ta!”

Thanks, ever so, for reading this.

Davida Chazan © September 2002, updated June 2006.

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Technical Stuff:
While you may not be able to find this car easily to buy second hand, I’ve checked around and seen that prices for this are in the range of anywhere between £200 and £2000!
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Summary: An Elegant, comfortable, safe car, which is best for long-distance driving.

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