Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

I had a 405 SRi for a while, same rear spoiler but only 2wd / 120 bhp. Nice car though. traded it in for a Rover 620ti

They are still reasonably common here in Aus. Not many in good condition though. I've very nearly bought a few over the years but I don't need another old French thing.

A little inspiration for you... Not an alltrack but you get the idea

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I think the 2.0 was introduced in 1992 and this one was registered in Oct '91 so may well be a series one. Been doing some reading over night and I do really like the idea of restoring it... that would mean figuring out who owns it and them agreeing to sell it to me for a reasonable amount.

There's no MOT information about it online which means the earliest it was last on the road was 15 years ago.

The drivers window was open so I'll stick my head in today to see if there any clues.

howmanyleft tells me there are only 7 of any variant of the 405 mi16 taxed and on the road.

My bro briefly had a boggo spec 405 and it was honestly the most horribly plasticy interior I've ever experienced, rancid!

My contemporaneous 205 was solid though, so it wasn't a blanket Peugeot thing

If you're lucky the interior isn't cracked to bits... Thats the big problem here, the UV destroyed the 80's plastic. If it has the all alloy engine they are the better drive but you need to wring their neck. The intake system is a bit complex so that needs to be perfect and all the suspension bushings would need doing. The dampers would be fine if they're original as they come from the era when Peugeot made their own units, and they were the best back then.

I thought I was meticulous with ownership, that guy was a another level. Love it. The diagram with commentary about the 10mph knock was the icing on the cake. The old adage 'buy the seller not the car' certainly comes to mind.

My father had an early Peugeot 405 SRi as a company car. His employer had a buy British policy, and of course the 405 was made in Ryton, Coventry. It was white, with a red pinstripe in the mouldings, and a rear spoiler. It had tweed seats, and keep fit back windows. But it was a very good looking thing, and the handling was supposed to be excellent.

The engine was the 1.9 injected 8 valve engine shared with the Citroen BX 19 GTi. Dad had one of those as his private car at the same time, and it was faster, lighter, very well equipped and superbly comfortable - all round a much nicer car. It also kept running at traffic lights, whereas the 405 spent much of its early life stalling the engine - an apparently common fault with them at the time.

Mine was also in white with the red stripe drifts off

Went to look at the 405 again this afternoon. Looks like it was last on the road in 2004 based on the tax disc and a peek inside shows its on 140k miles. I'm guessing theres a probably a (mechanical) reason why it was parked up in 2004 and doesn't look to have moved since.

Found a few clues as to who might own it so will see if I can get in touch to find out more.

Who are a good mobile tyre replacer/fitter in London?

I'll pm you my dude's number, el jefe

Apparently there's some rust up on my undercarriage. Nothing structural they say, but "ugly." I certainly don't want an ugly undercarriage. Is this something any old garage can sort out?

Most garages won't clean anything properly or charge well.

Dude engaged.

Thank you for the quick tip... de-stressing this is a good thing.

Also... I've no idea if my car has a spare... I'm looking in the manual :D

I know a chap in Birmingham who did this for my old C55

How bad was it? The amount I was quoted by the garage (sub £200) makes me think a trip to Birmingham is overkill, but maybe not?

Poor Ades...

TIL that if you have insanely large brakes on the front of the car that you don't have a spare wheel by default as none could be supplied that fitted all wheels.

The optional spare wheel only works on the rear wheels. Not that it matters, it's an option I didn't go for.

In strangely similar circumstances to @Dammit the start stop on my Passat hasn't worked since i bought it. It did work when i test drove it though

My rear subframe was crusty as was the floor, to the extent that I was advised to replace the subframe “soon”. Challenge there was that the subframe was NLA, so the existing one had to be stripped and refurbished.

The work cost £3,500 and took a couple of weeks. I imagine yours would be a fraction of that however, if parts are available.

If you put mine in “Sport” for a while and then back into “comfort” it tends to activate the stop/start a lot faster than if you leave it in “comfort” from the off.

Cheers. Sounds like a pretty big job. I think mine just needs to be brushed away, cleaned up a bit, and sealed. They said I can just leave it, but I'm hesitant. Maybe it's coming from a country where roads are essentially salt for half of the year. Lots of videos of people doing it themselves but I can't be bothered, I think.