French Connection.

"MultiplaOrgasms" (themightymultipla) 10/26/2019 at 11:08 • Filed to: Peugeot, 406, Coupe, PSA

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I may or may not have hinted at it, but -finally- I am on the road again. And in keeping with my reputation as a slightly insane person, I went for something that on paper sounds like the worst idea possible, a french car built by italians.

My family has a bit of a history with french cars. Way back in the 1970s my Grandfather drove a Renault 16, a large hatchback thing with different wheelbases left and right. Him being an engineer he obviously buys his cars based on their gimmicks. My dad would later continue the trend with not one but two Citroens. The first car I ever rode in was in fact his beloved Xantia Break.

To my knowledge the only suriving photograph of the legend that is STD-K8343

And, because french cars are way more reliable than their reputation it survived 530,ooo km (330,000 miles) until it was ultimately killed off by a prematurely failed timing belt. This means the Xantia was a constant entity during the first ten years or so of my life. After a short break from french engineering we bought a certain 2008 Renault Espace...

But you obviously didn’t come here to read about cars that no longer exist, you came to see the completion of the Circle. I bought a Peugeot.

So fresh she’s still rocking them temp plates

Those aware of fellow Oppo user Duurtlang will immediately recognize this as a Peugeot 406 Coupé, styled and built in Italy by Pininfarina, but built on the same underpinnings as the humble 406 Sedan and Citroen Xantia. This particular is a Series one, but it already has the newer 2.0L EW10 RFR code engine usually found in facelifted 406 and the Citroen C5. Americans, brace youselves, because this car has all of 135hp on tap to move 1460kg (3200lbs) of Car. The close ratio 5-speed manual transmission does what it can to keep it from being slow, but it doesn’t take long to realize the other engine options (a 2.2L Petrol with 158hp, a 131hp 2.2L Turbodiesel and a 207hp 3.0L V6) are far better suited to its weight.

Lets get things out of the way, this isn’t a sports car. Its front wheel drive, its equipped with leather upholstery, electric heated seats, air conditioning, cruise control, a CD/Cassette Stereo system and a full size spare tire. It is for all intents and purposes a european take on the Personal Luxury Car. Which is fine. How does it drive? Like a european take on the personal luxury car. Which is to say comfortable but not overtly soft. It has no issues keeping up with traffic, no issues overtaking Trucks on two lane country roads.

So how is it on the financial side? In short, not too bad. The reputation of french cars does wonders to their resale value. €2,100 for a very well equipped, attractive and slightly unusual car with reasonable mileage is a rather fair price. Sure, it has a few small areas that need attention but this is to be expected. Fuel economy appears to be reasonable, got it up to 38mpg highway already. Impressive for a heavy car with short gear ratios and only 5 gears. No exotic mechanicals keep repair cost reasonable, but I haven’t had to fix anything yet as every piece of equipment is currently working flawless.

Flying Buttresses!

Hat tip to our resident Peugeot expert Duurtlang for advising me on the purchase.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > MultiplaOrgasms 10/26/2019 at 11:17

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Thats looks very cool! You should autocross it :p

Nice odo too

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > MultiplaOrgasms 10/26/2019 at 11:19

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i do like those...pretty cars

lone_liberal > MultiplaOrgasms 10/26/2019 at 11:55

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That’s one handsome car, and the flying buttresses take it to another level.

Longtime Lurker > MultiplaOrgasms 10/26/2019 at 12:49

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These looks so nice. I want to own one someday.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > MultiplaOrgasms 10/26/2019 at 13:22

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Looks like you found a nice one!

duurtlang > MultiplaOrgasms 10/27/2019 at 04:06

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Did it come with a second set of wheels as well? If not, not that the offset of the 406 coupe is roughly 20mm different from the rest of the PSA cars (including the regular 406). However, with wheel spacers everything originally PSA (so no 108) with 4 lugnuts will fit just fine. From Peugeot 205 to 3008.

I use standard 15" 406 coupe ‘starfish’ wheels for winter tires, and have 17" Peugeot 307 CC so called ‘challenger’ wheels + 20 mm spacers (per wheel! ) for summer tires. Get spacers with Teilegutachten. For the wheels, I found a PDF called Peugeot 307 Teilegutachten PKW Sonderrrad from Peugeot itself. I think it lists all factory wheels for the 307. This document, tires with the correct outside diameter and ~ €90 was enough for the TÜ V to approve it.

MultiplaOrgasms > duurtlang 10/27/2019 at 17:10

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I have yet to acquire a set of winter wheels, which may be unnecessary considering how much of a joke winters in these parts have become, but I was considering a simple set of 15" Steelies for cheapness. My so far superficial google search has yet to deliver any substantial resources on Peugeot specific OEM equipment, but then again there is also the Citroen parts catalog available as well.

duurtlang > MultiplaOrgasms 10/27/2019 at 18:00

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The cheapest way to go is probably to get a set of worn original 406 coupe wheels, alu ones. Depending on if you go forward with getting winter wheels at all.

A alternative is a set of mk1 citroen C5 spare tire steelies, which look like steelies but turn out to be alu. Very popular among 205, 106 and the like enthusiasts.

As I am living in Munich I do not have much of a choice. Winter wheels are a must. 205 gti wheels are optically too small though, despite being 15" (I s old mine) .

MultiplaOrgasms > duurtlang 10/27/2019 at 18:18

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I was contemplating white steelies (106 Rallye style) for winter. But I am afraid this won’t complement   the silver paint. Monochrome black steelies usually look like garbage, however I think dog dish hubcaps will improve on that a LOT