Peugeot 405 GLX, great car... until it blew up. (Peugeot 405)

Member Name: hert1137

Product:	Peugeot 405
Date:	17/02/07 (1497 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Comfort, powerful, cheap first car

Disadvantages: ... er, it ran out of oil

I paid £300 from a friend for this my first car. Brought in 2004 and I only replaced it when it failed 18 months later. The 405 GLX is a good powerful mid-sized car which is comfortable and hard wearing.


The car

I drove the 1.6 GLX model, and I would suggest choosing a fuel-injected model as it packs that extra punch. The saloon models have masses of space in both the back seat and especially in the boot, more than enough for a family holiday and too much for a weks shopping.

The GLX is the top of the range with lots of little extras; electric front-seat windows, driver air bag, dual breaking system, power steering, factory air conditioning, fuel injection, fold down rear seat, center arm rest and small covered opening into boot to store ski's extra. Also contains velvet-like seat covers, adjustable lumbar supports for both passenger and driver, adjustable steering wheel and seat. All this and metallic burgundy paint for £300. The 405 GLX's 1600 engine is a powerful little beast, especially seeing the considerable size of the car, it is able to put a lot of grunt under the acclerator pedal and cruises at any speed with minimal engine noise.


Comfort

The interior is hard wearing and comfortable, even on long journey of up to 5hours. Seat are comfortable and air conditioning is effective and demists very quickly. The list of equipment on my current 1.6 GLX M 95 is excellent. I paid very little for the car and it had Electric windows, sunroof, remote central locking/alarm. BARGAIN! I am 6foot 3inches and there was good leg room and I never felt confined in anyway, including headspace (which is often a problem with cars any smaller than this). The lack of noise inside is impressive, the car is definately a big step up in comfort from the pletora of hot hatches now on the schene.


Running costs

Economy is ok but the GLX model can be a bit thirsty and the massive 70L fuel tank puts a bit dent in the wallet when filling it up at the pump, however this does allows a massive range. A lot of the mileage was done with a roof-rack (and sometimes rowing boat) on top and this again further compromised fuel efficiency. The 1.6 is group 6 insurance, being around £450 for TPFT for a young driver with 0 years no claims. Service costs varied, but tended to be around £200, so certainly wan;t cheap but thats whatu get with an older used car.


Reliability

The 405 did me proud for 18months, running well and having only a few minor problems. One of these problems was the warning lights on the dash board being faulty, flashing on and off every few minutes. I tried to keep abreast of all possible problems, by regularly checking oil, water etc. After around 130k, the car started burning oil very fast and this in combination with the electrical problems on the dash board resulted in the 405 running out of Oil on the M40 and violently ceased. As you can imagine, that was the dramatic end of the engine. The AA guy who picked me up and tried to fix the car didn;t work out it was not a diesel until I was in the cab of his truck getting a lift home. The 1.6 engines are notoriously unreliable, with the peugeot engines often requiring frequent tuning and often fail.


Conclusions

In conclusion this car was a great bargain and ran well for 18months. The 405 GLX was comfortable and responsive, with ample space for carrying whatever u have. However it must be remembered that it was the little problems that led to a total falure.

Summary: All in all, a good drive at a great price but a couple of little problems led to it failing

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