Real Road Test: Peugeot 505 GR 8-seater estate Familiale 

I love the shape of old peugeot head lights, so unique.

That speedo 😂 Police officer- "Do you know what speed you were doing?" 505 Driver- "Yes, i do officer" Police Officer- "And what speed were you doing?" 505 Driver- "Something between 10 and 85".

Impressively practical: As Jay Leno is apt to say, the last of the old technology is always better than the first of the new.

Where I'm living in in Argentina, there are loads of these around, more the saloon than estate.....Most are in bad condition. There are lots of 504s too, and other old cars from the 70s and 80s....You'd love it Ian, a HubNut paradise! :D

There’s only 11 of these left on the uk roads, take care of them guys

i've got a 93 down here in aus, with the 2.2 zdjl engine. sadly the alternator has gone right now so it's off the road for a good while until i can get it fixed up. moved my whole house 1000km with it late last year, when you take the back seats out it's incredible the amount of stuff you can jam in there

One of the reasons you don’t see many on the road now is that the used ones were bought up and exported to Africa

You legend - I think I asked if you could find a 505 to film a few months ago. Sir, your channel is epic.

This brings back memories of a light blue 505 diesel estate that was used as a hack on the farm in Gloucestershire where I used to live. It never failed to start and went like a rocket even with tons of cargo and kids stuffed into it. Eventually, after over 200k miles it wouldn't pass the MOT and sat in a field for years until I sold it on eBay. The bloke turned up without a trailer, complaining that the battery was knackered, jump started it and drove it to Brighton!

I had an old 505 sedan for a few years in the mid 90s. Lovely road boat. Big, comfy, relaxing car. So much glass. Also had a few 504s... Should have kept them all. Still got a 306 paddock basher. Peugeot went downhill after the 306 and 405.

In France there was an entry-level GL sitting under this GR. The French have always been masters of wagons. Nice review.

I don't think I've ever seen one of these before. I should imagine the high ground clearance was partly designed with francophone African roads and desert bashing in mind.

I love these old big Peugeots, last week i was watching 24 Hour Party People where Steve Coogan as Tony Wilson was ferrying Joy Division and Happy Mondays around to gigs in a 505. My dad had an E Reg 505. My scout group used it a lot cos the back was so big they could put about 3 patrol tents inside. I even drove it to scout camps when I passed my test I used to drive it to venture scout camps myself by that time dad got a Mondeo estate and the 505 became a spare car. Great times one year me and 3 others drove the 505 from Glasgow to Denmark and back.

Thanks for doing this one. Want people to really appreciate this car. Love the gearbox whine, it gives character and a performance sound. The 2.3 injection had enormous torque

Those cars are still used in my country (Senegal) for travels we call it here 7 places

'' I feel enormous'' That's the most Hubnut comment said to date.

these were assembled in Australia ... very tough on bush roads. the last "real Peugeot

Wow, that speedometer drive cable seriously needs replacing, and I guess it should be called a "5+3" rather than a proper eight seater...still, I've always had a soft spot for big estates, they're pretty much a dead breed at this point.

Love this car, shame they’re so rare nowadays. Reminds me of a 405 estate, should review them. The 1.9 diesels run forever

Enough with the knee shame, they should get plenty of outing in NZ/Aus!

The jumping speedo is very familiar to me - I had the same issue on my 405. It is caused by the dried-out lubricant in the speedometer, making it very stiff and difficult to rotate. On the other hand, the speedo cable acts as a spring, and at slower speed it cannot move the speedo shaft at first (because of the high friction), untill it reaches the point when it will either break or finally move the speedo shaft, and then make the "burst" movement, releasing the accumulated spring energy, moving the needle to almost twice of the real speed. And then again... With some care and minor repairments, it can be a very nice car to own and drive. Speedo can be fixed with a bit of lubrication, some work on the exaust etc. Also such an old school engine with the carburettor is a good candidate for a cheap LPG conversion, so it can be economical too...

Great Car - but not as good as the last great Citroen - the CX Safari Estate

Peugeot 505 wagons were sold up to 1992 here in Australia now don’t see any alway thought the rear styling always looked similar to a Subaru DL Leone wagon of around the same era maybe it’s just me looking forward to your videos you do here in the Southern Hemisphere 😎

bon voyage Ian safe trip :)

This is a better offroader than most modern SUVs: More space, better fuel economy, more ground clearance and better payload...

Had one of these as well. Not 8 seater though. The only car where an 8x4 sheet of ply would lay flat in the back! Power steering packed up but it didn't matter much....

I'd give my back teeth for one again, I had an automatic and then a manual, most practical car I ever owned. Great to sleep in and wonderful on a long journey and for visits to builders merchants. Thanks for a great trip down memory lane.

Really really nice car, I would trade my Audi 100 Avant in for this I'm afraid.. One street away here lives a doctor who has one with aircon, also GR same color and estate. He used it in Africa, first owner, wanted to sell it a couple of years ago but for some reason he kept it. It lives in a garages, sometimes I see it on the road.

My uncle had a 504 and loved it to bits!....His interest in that led me to liking the 505 (I think it has an aggressive look to it!).....I only wanted the saloon 505 GTI though!

It's quite fascinating how some of these cars still exist, I am very glad they do though!

The dent in the door is standard on old French cars, in France that is. Nice find! Hope you will review a Renault 14 someday!

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="690">11:30</a> : what speed do you think you were going sir? I've no idea officer, somewhere between -20 and 60mph...

II had a Renault Savannah 7 seat estate H reg. and loved it.

Love the old pugs, not seen one of these for a long time Ian. I have a peugeot 306 hdi and I understand you had a 306 diesel in your younger days. You are always welcome to test drive my 306 any day matey 👍👍👍

An amazing practical and no nonsense car, pity manufacturers appear incapable of creating such a vehicle nowadays. I always admired these back in the day, yet another great review Ian! Good luck in New Zealand Ian, I was there back in the early 1970's but not sure you'll find many cars from this era, but who knows? safe journey.

Lovely car! Sat in third row of seats once driven around Ramallah, it was hot and very cramped - even claustrophobic I would say (I am 1,8 m tall). I do not understand why Clarkson and Co hates Peugeot?

The rear wiper looked to be in a different county, you did well to see it during the test 😂 Safe journey 👍

Peugeot 505s were quite popular here in New Jersey back in the '80s -- my neighbors had a pair of 505 turbo-diesels, a manual sedan and an automatic wagon. But when the 505 was discontinued, that was the end of Peugeot in the USA, because the 405 wasn't nearly as popular, and although the 205 was designed to meet U.S. regulations, it was never sold here.

Comedy speedo 😂, so french ! Have you seen Paul cowland’s 505 ? 😍👍🏼

So love Pugs with those sexy headlights ❤

Ian, that bought back a lot of memories. I had one of these in the late 1980's,to transport me and my wife and our 6 kids around in comfort. One of the best cars we ever had. LOVED that car.

Ah, the 505 wagon. We bought our first one in 2002 when our daughter's impending birth meant our family was too large to fit in a 5 seater. There was no way I was buying a Japanese people mover and I still had fond memories of my 604, which gracefully fell to pieces around me. A 1991 pushrod SR lasted a couple of years until my wife saw a 1992 OHC model with the 4 speed auto in the forecourt of our mechanic's yard. She went there with one for its service and came home with the other. Both were grey with the blue-grey interior and most people didn't notice the difference. 505 wagons were rare enough in Australia and that was the nail in the coffin for us as it was a 200km round trip from our home in Warragul to the mechanic in Melbourne. The 505 was replaced with a 1990 6 cylinder Ford Falcon wagon (if the 505 feels big, then try a Falcon wagon!) It was more than a decade until I picked up my next Peugeot, a 2005 206 GTI.

Okay, this car is getting closer to our American made, aircraft carrier/station wagons. This is cool.

I love wagons. I have a 1994 Chevy Caprice Classic Estate. Its also an 8 seater and it also feels much smaller than it is. The Chevy's doors definitely do not open that far, lol. One thing the Chev has that's nice is a dual action tailgate. The glass raises like a hatch and you can either swing the gate open, or drop it down like a pickup truck tailgate. Take care of it...big wagons are a rare sight nowadays (especially in the US).

It looks if somebody used his knee to close the door while holding the groceries in both hands.... pity..

A truly fine wagon, and I say that as an old Volvo man! Or 'tractor perv' as I believe Ian puts it.

I had a 505 v6 on a E reg loved it and still miss it

About 40 years ago had a Pug 504 Diesel. It is still the most comfortable car I have ever sat in. Never got a 505.

I had this car as a child in Argentina, we were a family of 8, my dad loved this car, we went all across the country and even to Uruguay and Chile. Lovely memories

That is a car that can survive west Africa! Power steering? Love this era for Pugs, in Devon you saw the odd one being driven by the bigger farming family (did they do a diesel?!?) rather than the Doctor/Architect/Rural accountant in the Volvo 240. Good luck in NZ fella !

Had a 1982 saloon auto 505 in the late nineties one . Lovely car for a casual family cruise round the west country . Had to sell it before the end of summer as the autochoke didnt work and you had to pump the throttle to keep it running when the engine was cold. Bit interesting in traffic as it was an auto. Yes i could have warmed it up if i allowed extra time for my journey but that never happens does it. Good cars that just suddenly were not about anymore. Same thing happened with the 405.

horn instead pass lights, it's so French and actually more suitable because whom are you gonna pass with this thing, tractors maybe?

I recon that Speedo needle has covered more miles than the engine😲

I’d happily have one of the oil burning variants. Proper solid old motors. I had it’s later descendant the 406. Arguably the last good Peugeot. I held onto mine for 10yrs, a record for me and sold it with 240k miles on it and still going strong.

I owned a 1966 Rambler with a torque tube. The rear axle was connected to the rear of the car by a Panhard (transverse locating) rod, two coil springs and shocks. All the forward thrust was carried up the torque tube to the front of the car through the engine mounts. Also, engine torque and vibration was carried mainly through the torque tube to the rear tires instead of through the body of the car. When the engine was at idle, you could hardly hear or feel it from the driver's seat.

Sadly the 505 was totally unloved in America and pretty much sealed their fate here. It's weird, Americans go oolala for French perfumes, purses, clothes, watches, food... etc and yet never wanted to be seen in French cars.

Peugeot 504 estates were well made, nice engine, comfortable and nice looking. Only weak spot was occasional damp affecting starting. The 505 squared lines and replaced 504.

Hi! I owned 505 2.5 diesel sedan 1986 and loved it very much. Good strong car. Greetings from Ukraine!

The one 505 I wish I could afford was the 1984 505 STi sedan with the bronze tinted glass (well at least in the US.). It was a shame Peugeot 505 never sold well in the US, although I still see the 505 wagon in the want ads every so often. The engine bay having all that room makes me wonder if Peugeot wanted to put in a V6, its certainly seems big enough for a small block V8. Another great car video, I hope you come across a Renault Feugo or a 504 Dangel 4wd that would be awesome.

That was in the trime befoe the people movers like Renault Espace, Mitshuibitsi spacewagon, nissan praire, and the next generations.

Hi Mister Gosh is so touching you tested this bulky machine. This was also assembled both in Uruguay and Argentine althought they weren't as good sellers as the saloons . To reveal you the true : 505 Estate never could reach the high quality reliability that won then its "grandmother" the Peugeot 504 , despite designed in a paleozoic style, still today the 504 Break Familiale Estates are best working tools than this cavernous 505 . Not always Pininfarina made a goal . Overall saying , THANKS mister Gosh for this stunning review of the venerable Peugeot 505 estate car .

Seeing you review french 80's cars is delightful

I remember the head of French at my school had one of these in the early 90s.... those were the days.

I really like the front end styling on these, they look 'frowny' . A little similar to some BL Wedges too. This was also the car of choice used by the Vicar in BBC Sitcom 'Keeping up Appearances'. Not sure if it was a 7/8 seater.

When Peugeot was great. That ended by the time the 405, 309, 205 ended. They're indicators, not repeaters, since this is English.

Many years ago we took a bush taxi from the Gambian border to Dakar in one of those ubiquitous African build 504 8-seaters. Great car, great driver, a fantastic trip. But had the 505-series the same quality? I remember especially that many complained about persistent brake issues 30 years ago. Warped disks and so on. And some rust problems. Still, a nice car!

Bloody hell, BuzzCut, are you still here⁉️🤨🤨🤨

Surprisingly these were the most popular of all Peugeot's imported into the United States. Most 505's were the wagon and the 8 seater was the most popular variant. That's not saying a lot since i think they only imported a couple thousand a year to the states but when you see a Peugeot driving around the countryside these days, this is the model it probably is.

Car seems ok, apart from silly speedo, ( needs to be fixed ) torquey engine seems to pull well.

I used to have a 504. Loved that car, comfortable, easy to work on, smooth ride and plenty of power (2L) for the time. Unfortunately it got stolen.

Grandad had a very elegant dark grey GTI one, wish we still had it.

It was the favourite cars of the northafrican travellers. In July you would see thousands and thousands of them in Spain on the road to Algeciras where the ferries to Morocco anchored!! Heavily loaded with luggage twice as high as the car itself on the roof. And that's where they probably ended: In Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. Of course also in Libya, Egypt, Syria and so on. Very tough work horses!

Ooh I had one of these in 1991, superb car!

Think my next door neighbours had one of these when I was little in the 90s, was grey

love these old pugs, the pick up thay made from these is even coolers. rare as hens teeth now thow. cracking video

that looks just like our old one, same colour, same model same dent.

Another supurbly cool and great car!!

A mate's Mum had one of these in the 80s. She was French with three kids. It was perfect!

Thanks for the test drive! Enjoyed it, there used to be a 504 8 seater in town when I grew up, the big sized family used the old stripes matts as seat covers!

Not just Peugeot, my 1979 Chevrolet Camaro had electric windows and a Camaro badge was fitted over the keep fit holes.

I very much enjoy your quirky reviews of such interesting, and largely forgotten cars. Peugeot, Citroen & Renault used to make such fascinating, weird & stylish cars.

Wow, I've lived in France my whole life, been paying attention at every car I see in the streets but I've never seen one for some reason

One of the last great traditional "familiales", an estate car with 7 seats in 3 rows, a long time Citroen and Peugeot specialty. They were succeeded by minivans, then SUVs, though the latter ones are no more practical in normal driving.

I've had a couple of 505's, one was a 505 Sti the other was a 505 V6 with a lovely 2.9 litre engine which I dearly miss

So big! Makes my similarly-aged Volvo 740 estate seem like a small car in comparison :)

We had a 505 GRD for 15 years....Dad bought it new in 1988. Best car we ever had :)

My 505 GL estate was on a B plate, I don’t think it had 5 gears or electric windows but just hearing the whine of the engine brought it all back thank you.

The best car ever! I live in America and these sell for $500! Locally a turbo estate is for sale but they want $2k. A v6 for $800. I have 4 505s; 2 are turbos 1 single owner 90k miles... but no more room for more. I got rid of the pushrod models I had years ago, the NA sohc and v6 are the most reliable engines but n9t is best. In America I've never seen one without a tacho or automatic climate control on a series II. On those blanking plugs on the lower right a button with a skull appears on 88 and later turbos which would entertain me as a child to disable the abs in snow because of the torsen lsd not being good with snow.

We lived in England in the early 80s. As a young teen I was quite fond of the Peugeot 505. I thought they were angry looking.

Nice, I knew an old lady what had the GTI estate for years. We spent a lot of time in the 504 8 seater estate but the 505 was definitely bigger.

Oh man! These Peugeot 505's were so cool! The practicality of this estate is awesome; 3 rows of seats and ALL that luggage space still? Makes you think, why can't they make stuff like this to lug families around instead of SUV's? This has all the practicality you could ever want, reasonably palatial for the time, and you could go halfway across the country and take a Trans-Euro tour without it breaking a sweat. Absolute beast of a car. You have to get hold of the saloon model at some point to test, as I reckon it would've been a decent Ford Granada rival.

Nice I remember my uncle having a red orange ish Peugeot 504 pick up in the 90s he used it to pull his motorhome

My family had a white from 89 groing up and it has a very special place in my mind. I love it!

Some day I want to buy 80's or early 90's Peugeot. I love the front headlights so much for some reason

The taxi company that drove us to and from school in my childhood had a 505 with eight seats. I remember it as a very comfortable car.

Enough place to organize a classic ballroom dance festival, sweeeeeeeeet🤩. I remember the 4x4 Dangel....from my travels in Northen Africa. A real MPV avant la lettre!!!!

With the 'reaction engines' ID strap I was starting to wonder what would be under the bonnet. Nothing that special unfortunately.

Amazing to see another Peugeot 505 wagon still on the road.

The 505 is the biggest station wagon produced in Europe to that day. The boot with 2250 L is 100-150L bigger than Citroën CX, and Volvo 740/940, and 300-450 L bigger than actual Mercedes E class T or Skoda Superb Combi. Most of 505 disappeared from France and Europe mostly due to its high value in Africa. Like the 504 this car is able to go anywhere even where some 4WD vehicles can’t go, it runs cheap, is very comfortable even on modern standard and whatever the ground is made of, very reliable (especially 2.0 gasoline and all Diesel engines) and very easy to repair for locals. Contrary to 504 (except early 505 models) it has not that much rust issue. When used ones were bought in Europe in the late 90’s early 2000’s most of it were sold more than 10 time this price in Africa by the time. (It was exactly the same for 504, and 404). Too bad it is so rare to see nowadays on our roads.

Ian, before I knew you through 2CVBG, I had one of these with the 2.5 diesel. About the slowest thing on the road, but lovely comfort. I also had a TD saloon. Nostalgia. Thanks for finding one.