Junkman in French Farina Frenzy - Caution: Peugeot 405 content

[DVee8]

2 digit number plate DW will approve.

[Junkman]

You swine.

And damn proud of it.

 

Yours is Saxon blue, one of my favourite colours.  And please don't tell me it was one of the GTXs with cruise control fitted as I'll be badgering you to sell it to me forever.

Saxon blue, huh?

The daft colour names car manufacturers come up with would fill another thread.

I actually expected it to be called something like Midnight Orange or sum such.

 

Do not despair, auto pilot is sadly absent from my example as well.

[Junkman]

This one was French built;

I will sue them.

Where is Breadvan when you need him?

[Rusty_Rocket]

I wouldn't- you have the pinnacle of Peugeot manufacture!  Everything since (with the exception of some of the *06 range) was a compromise at best, as you well know.

[406V6]

My 406 is GTX trim although these letters don't appear anywhere on the car. Having driven a few 405s long distances I'd have to disagree and say that the 406 V6 auto is the most comfortable car to drive long distances thanks to the low level of engine noise.

[carlo]

My 406 is GTX trim although these letters don't appear anywhere on the car. Having driven a few 405s long distances I'd have to disagree and say that the 406 V6 auto is the most comfortable car to drive long distances thanks to the low level of engine noise.

 

That's true, the 406 is beautifully refined and comfortable, it's two best features arguably.  It's just not as chuckable and as much fun as a 405.  And just a tad too big for me.

[Junkman]

I suppose that 405s are a tried and tested solution for the Junkman family... is this one your fourth or fifth ?

Yes, we are serial 405 molesters. Exclusively 2.0 GTX bader examples, though.

 

 

 

 

[Ghosty]

You didn't happen to buy that white estate off a bloke in Chadderton by any chance JM?

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

My pictures, including the interior shot you've all been waiting for:

 

1994 Peugeot 405 GTX by cdconelrad, on Flickr

 

Businesslike.

Peugeot 405 by cdconelrad, on Flickr

 

Couldn't be bothered removing the white lines from this one.

1994 Peugeot 405 by cdconelrad, on Flickr

 

TO DO LIST:

1. Take GB sticker off front bumper (or go on reversing tour of France)

2. Every 3000 miles or 3 months, whichever occurs first: Check front bumper to ensure GB sticker is gone

[Junkman]

You didn't happen to buy that white estate off a bloke in Chadderton by any chance JM?

 

Yes I did.

[Skizzer]

(or go on reversing tour of France)

 

This option please.  I dare you.

 

Looks lovely.  Never even been in one of these, I don't think, except possibly a minicab whilst drunk.  It's always looked to me as though you have to crouch down to reach the door handles:  is this true?

[carlo]

Stop it now, I'm just getting insanely jealous.

 

Bet it's like getting back into a comfy old pair of slippers eh?

[Junkman]

 It's always looked to me as though you have to crouch down to reach the door handles:  is this true?

 

Not crouch down, no. It's more like a courtesy bow. Unless you're French, of course. The French have to get on their toes to reach them.

[Junkman]

Bet it's like getting back into a comfy old pair of slippers eh?

 

After having been relegated to Japanesish ware, it feels more like how I imagine what being released from prison must be like.

[Ghosty]

Yes I did.

 

Bloody hell! That was most likely my second cousin's old one then, somewhere along the line it's lost the original alloys - I distinctly remember it having them though any memories of it are fuzzy.

He moved on to the dizzy heights of an 05-plate Punto he probably still has.

[Junkman]

... somewhere along the line it's lost the original alloys

 

Two of them were badly curbed when I got the car, so I replaced all four with a set I got from Pug Spares.

[Junkman]

TO DO LIST:

1. Take GB sticker off front bumper (or go on reversing tour of France)

Take it off???

I shall rather complement it with a chromed horseshoe for the ultimate giffer score.

 

2. Every 3000 miles or 3 months, whichever occurs first: Ensure you miss another oil change interval.

FTFY

[dollywobbler]

Very nice. I really must get around to owning one before there aren't any left. Frustratingly, my only experience of 405s is a very brief drive of Warren T Claim's old 1.9 NA dizzler when he came to visit a few years back. 

[Junkman]

Never having driven one with such agrestic markedness, I still believe this wasn't an unpleasant experience, no?

[dollywobbler]

It was pretty decent, but wasn't behind the wheel long enough to form serious conclusions. While I like my BXs dizzler powered, I suspect a fuel injected petrol 405 would be the way to go.

[stuboy]

i used to drive mates gtx estate... lovely turbo whistle ...

[Shep Shepherd]

I've always liked 405s. To me, they still look modern

[fairkens]

Very nice, RW is a coventry registration?

[Junkman]

Yes, that is congruent with what I found out on Regarchive.

I looked through the paper trail, and as far as I can see, the gent who last owned the car had bought it in 1998 and registered it to his Surrey address.

The history prior to 1998 is unbeknown to me, apart from that I know that it was registered new in Coventry.

[mercedade]

Very nice, RW is a coventry registration?

 

Most 405s I saw around The South in my youth were RW reg'ed, including the 2.0 GRi I ended up with just shy of my 20th birthday. That was a superb car - insanely comfortable, significantly faster than I was equipped for at that time in my life and spoiled me rotten. I assumed every big car was going to be as well planted at speed.

 

It was eventually killed off by two relatively insignificant events - the death of its second heater matrix (4 years after its first replacement was carried out by my dad when it was his car), closely followed by the pathetic spindly clutch cable clip coming off the top of the pedal which I'm told heralds the death of the clutch.

 

I don't know - I never found out, having spent a fruitless day trying to get the clip back on myself I gave it to the local garage to sort. Which they did, for £50. And then it came off again two weeks later.

 

Great cars.

[Junkman]

In 90% of the cases it's not the matrix itself, but a series of O-rings sealing the pipe block to the matrix.

[Junkman]

This is the first one I own, that doesn't have the keypad in the centre console, and therein lies a problem.

 

When I lock it with the fob, it sets the alarm.

If I then use the fobless secondary key in the door lock to unlock it, the alarm goes off.

 

Do you guys know how this is supposed to work, or do I have to do the unthinkable and revert to the OMGOWNAZMANUEL?

[RobT]

The non-airbag steering wheel does it for me, but then I get excited by such minor details.

 

Let me know when you want rid...!

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

This is the first one I own, that doesn't have the keypad in the centre console, and therein lies a problem.

 

When I lock it with the fob, it sets the alarm.

If I then use the fobless secondary key in the door lock to unlock it, the alarm goes off.

 

Do you guys know how this is supposed to work, or do I have to do the unthinkable and revert to the OMGOWNAZMANUEL?

 

Both the Lagunas did this. If you lock it with the plip, you cannot open it with the key (even the one attached to the remote) without the alarm going off. I think you silence the alarm by turning the ignition on. 

[carlo]

You can turn the alarm off under the bonnet, there should be a smaller key supplied with the car, but that will only turn the siren off I believe.

 

I've had issues with my alarm flashing its lights on odd occasions so I just got my friendly local auto electrician to terminally disable the whole alarm system for £20.  I do have the keypad though.