The latest 405 nonsense

[carlo]

I seem to have had the honour of being zapped on the A38 by 500tops in his lazy spotters thread, so it would be rude not to make an introduction.

I thought my 405 mania had been cured by the blue one I've had for ten years now, a wonderful machine which has been relegated from daily driver duties to more special occasions, primarilly just to extend its life.  Trouble is, like an old pair of slippers its bodywork is getting pretty tatty and I was always unsure whether to just drive it into the ground or give it a full respray.  Whilst musing on this issue another 2.0 automatic turned up in Hampshire, seemingly in much better condition bodily and with the much prized factory sunroof, cruise and A/C (wouldn't consider one without these three now).

I did look at it early last year but couldn't make my mind up, mainly due to the fact the cruise or A/C wasn't functioning (unsurprisingly) and also because of the drab Sorrento green paintwork.  Not a fan of this colour at all, it needs sunlight to shine on it otherwise just looks a dirty brown/black.  However, the Peugeot Sun gods lined up a few weeks ago, the seller happened to be in Plymouth, with the car,  the day I texted seeing if he still had it.  A deal was struck despite me now having two 405s, a Picasso daily and Mrs Carlo's 206, and no off-street parking except a paid for garage.  Nonsense indeed.

It's a pretty good one.  Managed to sort the cruise myself with a new control unit, air con remarkably just needed a re-gas.  I've fixed lots of other little 405 foibles, well it helps having 20 years worth of spares accumulated. 

Now I've sorted the exhaust and put a fresh MOT on I think I'm going to stick it away in the garage for a few months and get some more usage out of the blue one, still prefer the colour. 

I find it that everytime I get another 405 I find it doesn't seem to drive quite as well as the one before; seeing as this seems to happen every time I think it must be down to being so accustomed to the way one drives, anything different seems multiplied.

 

[grogee]

Majesterial! Such a pretty car. I haven't been this jealous since I discovered someone on here has a BX with working air con (possibly Antipodean, I can't remember). FWIW I like the colour but maybe that's the carefully selected pictures. 

Have these got the weirdo vacuum sealed sunroof like the 205/309?

[egg]

Lovely. I'll never forget being 12 years old and being driven around Northern France in a hot 405 by a mad Frenchman (distant relative) who considered using the wrong side of the road to go round corners part of his 'liberté'.

[carlo]

3 minutes ago, grogee said:

Majesterial! Such a pretty car. I haven't been this jealous since I discovered someone on here has a BX with working air con (possibly Antipodean, I can't remember). FWIW I like the colour but maybe that's the carefully selected pictures. 

Have these got the weirdo vacuum sealed sunroof like the 205/309?

No these had proper integral tilt and slide.

I don't think we've had more than two days of sunshine since I bought it hence the drab pics. 

[loserone]

I feel like reading your posts about 405s was part of my motoring coming of age.  This one looks lovely.

[carlo]

Just now, loserone said:

I feel like reading your posts about 405s was part of my motoring coming of age.  This one looks lovely.

Ha ha, yes, the Grandad of Autoshite.  Feel like it too.

[Stinkwheel]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

Majesterial! Such a pretty car. I haven't been this jealous since I discovered someone on here has a BX with working air con (possibly Antipodean, I can't remember). FWIW I like the colour but maybe that's the carefully selected pictures. 

Have these got the weirdo vacuum sealed sunroof like the 205/309?

That'll be @mat_the_cat's BX estate then 

 

[HMC]

@Junkman

[mat_the_cat]

3 hours ago, Stinkwheel said:

That'll be @mat_the_cat's BX estate then 

 

That would have been correct, until a week ago I was heading down to the FoD, when I think the AC idler clutch bearing failed. And it wasn't blowing as cold as it used to last summer, so time for a bit of work on the system.

[mk2_craig]

Good to see youre still in 405s Carlo, I remember these being a forum staple back in the early days especially with XUD donk. Got to agree with you though, that blue is a belting colour. 

[stuboy]

very nice

[Matty]

Imagine if main stream manufacturers were still knocking out cars like 405s, cavaliers, early mondeos, xantias, mk1 lagunas and the like now. And to think we probably didn't realise how good we had it .

[Timewaster]

I saw a YT video yesterday on Suzuki SJ410s (stick with me, I'll get to the point eventually).

They pointed out that at the time the SJ ride was seen as appalling but "now everything is an SUV and hard riding, it doesn't seem so bad".

The 405 was definitely from the peak car era.

Enough tech and electronics to make it start every morning, but not so much that you need a PC to work on it. 

Enough pace, good handling and  comfort and rustproofed.

@matty is spot on.

[carlo]

Virtually everyone who is a passenger in mine remarks how comfortable it is.  I think the soft velour seats help, another timelapse from the 80s/90s.

[Macscrooge]

Cracking cars. My dad had three from new - a 1.9D and two TDs. Lovely ride and handling but comprised for me by the sunroof eating into the headroom. That aside, stupidly comfortable!

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

That’s a beautiful example. Well bought. Buy them all while you can! Nothing newer is as comfortable!

5 hours ago, HMC said:

@Junkman

Sadly now sans 405. His green one shat its autobox and went to the great car park in the sky. Since he’d had some trouble getting parts for the Peugeot, he decided they were getting a bit old to daily and replaced it with a Nissan Cube, which he has had trouble getting parts for. 

[Scruffy Bodger]

16 hours ago, carlo said:

Virtually everyone who is a passenger in mine remarks how comfortable it is.  I think the soft velour seats help, another timelapse from the 80s/90s.

My SRDT gets remarks like that too as it wafts you along. Good to see another one getting some love.

[Supernaut]

Oof, I do love a 405.

Never had one, but back in 2010 a friend at university had one, a turbo XUD. It was a weird pale green with purple velour interior! Utterly bonkers but so wafty. He even had a twin-tank system for running it on veg.

That's what persuaded me to buy my first car, a 306 with a turbo XUD in it. Not quite as wafty but not far off, and just as quick.