@@jannevaatainen Yeah, I am big fan of 05 and 06 Peugeots. 07 generation was let down for me but things seem to be coming back with current gen cars such as 208 and 508
Excellent video! Just pulled up on my drive in my 1990 White Peugeot 309 1.6 GLX...Sitting in it's ultra comfortable drivers seat watching this video with my phone on the steering wheel. I got the notification while driving...Couldn't wait to watch it 😍 Parked in front of me is my White 1990 309 1.3 Look, to the left of me is my Red 1992 205 1.9 GTI. They are all Awesome cars! I wouldn't have a new computer on wheels if it was given to me. This video has made my day! Thank You!
Glad to see you still have all of them. I think when you search up "Peugeot 309" there is so little content your cold starts are like the first or second result.
@@GlamStacheessnostalgialounge Thanks! They are all still great! They just don't seem to age. They do their job without any complaints...So much fun to drive! Life is too busy at the moment...But I will make a video when the world calms down a bit :)
@@GlamStacheessnostalgialounge If you are looking for 309 TU 1.4 complete driveshafts and you are in the UK, there are new left and right for £26 each on eBay with free shipping. I would post a link, but RU-vid would probably block it. 1.4 TU's are stupidly fast! :)
@@juststuff8742 haha. Karl Hamilton is stupid enough to think his opinion is legally binding like that of a court magistrate. If he wasn't stupid he would have may have considered posting "I think this is false" in my opinion. Still it brings entertainment to think he thinks coz he said this he's correct 😂😂😂
I worked for a Peugeot Dealer in the early 90s and caught the tail end of the 309 before the 306 took over. As i remember they were very light and a bit tinny to be honest but they were galvanized and did not rust, we would regularly have the diesel models coming in for routine servicing with over 200,000 miles on the clock . Another great Video thank you (: Ps Have a great Christmas and New year!
106, 205, 309 they were all run mechanicly into the ground. They kept on going and ended at the scrapheap because they were wrecked or worn out till the last bolt but no due to rust.
Omg omg omg thank you so much for doing the 309 story!! An overlooked and under-rated car in my opinion! My 1992 diesel is still chugging along, barely run-in at 218,000 miles
india got the 309 in 1996, first with the tu3 and then the tud5. it wouldve been quite successful but a ton of management issues led them to pull the plug in ‘98. lots of people even lost their booking money. ive got one and almost nobody knows what it is. truly an underappreciated car
We had a 309 diesel (XUD of course)... Yes the interior was cheap and rattily, and was poverty spec without power steering, but it was by far the most reliable car we ever owned, and never left us at the side of the road. The corrosion resistance was also well ahead of it's time, and still ahead of fords to this day. Not a spot of rust anywhere. This was the golden age of diesels, and for PSA.
Iranian here, I was born in 80s, in my childhood days a middle class family had 2 choice when buying a car, Paykan(hillman hunter) and renault 5. We had the Renault and I loved that nice car. I remember that city streets were crowded by Paykans until late 90s.
Finally, a proper explanation as to how the 309 was a Peugeot but also was a Talbot and also perhaps a Simca. When the car came out in 1985, I always thought the rear lights looked like tri-colour toothpaste
Ah, memories of my old D-reg 309GL. Cracking car until its old 1.3 blew the timing belt on the M1 going past Milton Keynes Parkway one Boxing Day many years ago. Engine destroyed. Huge shame, was really proud of that car. Very comfortable, looked great, and surprisingly quick even for the shopping trolley versions.
My 309 timing belt went on me as well on the M25. There was a crack sound, and the engine just died. I got a lot of strokey-chins from the mechanics but got it fixed (at great cost to me at that time) Despite this incident, I owned two 309s, and I always thought they were great cars.
The 1.3 didn't have a timing belt. It was a Simca derived engine from the 60s first used in the Simca 1000. Used a timing chain. That, and the tappets always going out of adjustment was why the engine was so rattley. Only the XU 1.6 & 1.9 had a belt.
@@nigelglover3220 Hi, perhaps incorrect terminology from the mechanic. Whatever it was, it was a big bang, complete loss of timing on the engine, likely valve/piston collision. Mechanic tried a rock test with it in gear and actually believed it had snapped the *crankshaft*. In that respect, failure my have been big end somewhere. Either way, major engine failure, couldn't afford to replace engine, got it towed home, and eventually was either towed away or stolen. Bah - sweet car.
@@chrisbardell Yea - Mine was a 1.6. I think it was the cambelt that went on mine but I used your terminology. But as you said, whatever went, it knocked out the timing with valves with the pistons and the whole engine was f*****d.
Aaaah, best company car I ever had - my metallic grey 309 GTI was nippier and more flighty than my colleague's Golf GTI of the same vintage (but did feel much more tinny!). The boss took it home one day for a service at his local garage, clearly scared himself on the drive and named it The Flying Rollerskate. It was so good, I bought myself another one after I left the job.
Very interesting as always. My dad bought a Mk.1 version, poverty spec five door model with the 1.3 engine. The ride was superb in the old French way, leaned on corners but very compliant and comfortable. Whatever happened to that? It was a really good car, I don't recall any build or quality issues and the only thing that let it down was the rather wheezy underpowered engine.
I absolutely love your documentaries. The level of knowledge, the old ads, and above all, YOU, turn every video into the most comprehensible video about a certain car worldwide-ever. PLEASE continue with your videos. They are inspiring, nostalgic, and just something special for me and many, many others. Every time I come across one of your videos, I end up watching three more or revisiting old ones. :) Thank you for all your hard work. PS: My 93 year old grandmother still has a more or less fully functional Peugeot 106 in her garage. That thing sounds like a tractor and occasionally the exhaust falls off. lol
i am from iran hunter was such affordable and loveable vehicle we called her PAYKAN which means arrow in english and it had alots of types but the best one was javanan
My Father had 2 English versions Hillman Hunter & Minx , I thought it was a lovely comfy car as a boy in the 80s ,even though was an old car by then , I'd Drive one now if there were any left!
Indeed.... These were everywhere on Iran. Paykan is one of the Farsi words for Arrow. The Hunter/Sceptre/Minx/Vogue ranges in question were known collectively as the Rootes Arrow, so the Paykan name makes perfect sense.
Whoever designed the taillights on the 309 deserves recognition, they really stood out from all other cars. Personally i think they look cool and weird at the same time.
@@baronvonjo1929 Reminds me of the 1985 Honda Integra, Back then it was unusual for taillights and body to look as if they had been designed together rather than just slapped on as an afterthought.
Hello from Iran! 🖐 although we had interaction before but I wanted to say thank you for your awesome videos. Iran has a weird automotive industry and a tendency to keep cars in production for decades. Although we have cars called “national car” but they are not completely designed by Iranian firms. Well, there is a long history...
Yeah, it was a very great market for PSA. Bottom question: why arabe or whatever persian, never built there own cars? As civilisation you ”choose” camel
@@augure2589 Iranians speak persian and arab countries speak arabic, two different languages, simple. There are Iranian car brands here but their platforms are from foreign manufacturers. Examples are Samand, Dena, Shahin..
I owned a 309 gr 1.6 in red and rate it as one of the best cars i have ever owned. Never let me down in 50,000 miles with loads of adventures along the way. Currently driving a Porsche and owned many cool cars too but always fond memories of the 309 going flat out down my favourite back roads to lugging fridge freezers with the seats folded down.
My mom had a hot red 205 GT, later followed by a 306 XT when I was a child ... always loved them. The local gas station owner had a dark red 309 though and even as a kid I sensed it was not really a proper match for the lineup - oh memory lane! Thank you so much for your videos!
We went on from the 309 to a Renault Megane. We got a call from the police about 3 months after we sold it to tell us that the car had been found burnt out after being used as a getaway car. Even though we weren’t the registered owners, they thought we should know just in case anything came our way. My mother was quite heartbroken as she really loved that car.
I have fond memories of my 1988 309 GTi which I owned in 1993 ish. Fast, brash, squeaky and fast fast. It was fast and no mistake. Handled like a dream and pre-ABS and traction control. Interior trim pieces would sometimes go on strike but.... oh, and the throttle stuck once, which was scary, but fixable.
Superb video! :D I always liked the look of the 309, the front light clusters seemed to give the car a happy appearance, as well as the fact it was a nicely proportioned machine. :)
It was great to see the faith that Peugeot put in this car, despite it being something of a lame duck at the beginning. It really is a smart looking little 80s car, I think better looking than the Talbot Arizona proposal.
Great video! I know Dutch leading car magazine Autovisie was always in love with the 309 GTI. And the doors-story is totally new. Can't unsee it anymore. How did I miss that?
My dad had a 1992 J reg GLD in Topaz Blue. Loved that car. Handled as if it was on rails, extremely comfortable ride and mechanically bomb proof. While the styling was out of line with other Peugeot cars of the era, it was a good looking car in its own right. The GTI actually has a better balanced chassis than the 205 GTI and that is saying something.
I thought the 309 was a pretty little car. I hired one once in November 1991 in Helensborough Scotland where my brother & I saw the Aurora borealis while at Loch Lomond. I really liked it.
had this car in NZ in 1989 and sold it after 2 years (1991) when I left NZ. Good car with no issues in 50,000 miles then. I even remember the registration OB 4816.
I love a car with character like that! You have to slap the dashboard on a certain spot in my Proton to make the rev counter work! (I'm hopefully going to fix that soon...)
I've got a mint cherry red phase 2 309gti, I love the way it looks, it's 80s 3 box simplicity and pinstripe details. Superb visibility and airy cabin with tiny a pillars. Like to be revved and driven hard. On modern michelin tyres the handling is sublime and suspension compliant. I love thrashing it around b roads, and at 975kg it can surprise most bloated modern cars at the lights and round the twisties
That was very interesting! I always wondered about the number 309 but never knew about the Simca/Talbot origins. I never questioned it as a genuine Peugeot as it looked pretty much like a grown 205 - so the pre-launch makeover worked ...
I had a Peugeot 309GRi which was the 1990 facelift model. I gave it a few modifications inc a K&N induction kit. I had actually wanted a 309GTi but I wanted one with rear doors as I'd just had my second child. At the time I couldn't find what I wanted so got the GRi which had the same engine as the 1.6 205GTi and the same 'pepperpot' alloys. The 309 GRi was more of an executive spec than a sporty one. I absolutely loved the car and did a ridiculous amount of miles in it. After Afterwards I owned a 205 Junior, a 405 & a 406 estate which I loved too.
I always watch to the end, I have to see the out takes! Living in the U.S.A., we don't have many Euro cars other than the M-B, VW's and the like so it's nice to have some history on the other brands. Thanks for a job well done.
@@elbecko7969 Peugeot left the states in 89 the last car sold there being the 405 of all cars, although most Pugs you might find in older American movies will be a 305 or a 505.
@@Hipas_Account I'm sure that when Peugeot left in 89, they made it back to France, the diesel ones at least. Those engines were bulletproof. Another few years and the flair would take a serious nosedive.
I remember the first day I drove it, I treated it to a full tank of fuel but someone had unscrewed the fuel pump in the tank and left it like that so £20 worth ended up on the forecourt floor! Also it had a lack of power and a misfire so I had the Peugeot main dealer mechanics where I worked to look at it and they diagnosed it as a faulty mass air flow sensor at about £350. I couldn't afford a new one so went to a local tuning garage who laughed out loud (years before lol) and fixed it with a 20p o-ring that was missing from the inlet manifold. It also sometimes wouldn't start due to a problem with the immobilizer and many a time I had to bump start it, even 2 minutes after I'd sold it! I got it started again and got away from it as soon as possible!! Still a fab car though!
My dad had a 309 GTI 1.9 GTI 5 doors MK2. That car deleted all the 205 problems, better chassis, not as oversteering as the 205 and more stable at high speed. Amazing machine !
Drove one of the first diesels of these about a week before then went on official sale. Belonged to car leasing firm and they had to let me have it as my new Sierra was late. hated oil burners from that moment on.
Ok, shock horror time, I preferred my 309 GTI to my wife's 205 GTI, mainly because of the width of the driver seating position. But no matter what anyone else says, they should have done more with the Sunbeam, that was a car that had so much more to offer, great bodystyle, left the mk 3 Escort for dead and kept the rwd fun
I owned a D reg 309 gr profile in Wedgwood Blue in 2000. It was the most fun car I've owned! Dodgy carburettor, gear cable snapped, but it was a hoot. You never knew if you'd reach your destination without issue, but thats what made it fun. Only cost £500 too! :-)
I had one in the early 2000s - a 1986 5-door 1.3 GL in red, bought from the local car auction for £50. It lasted me 2 and a half years, once doing 1100 miles in 9 days on a holiday to Cornwall! It eventually died of rusty sills and some mechanical faults that weren't worth repairing. I didn't really get attached to it so I wasn't upset when I finally scrapped it, but it did the job and never broke down, even when something shot out of the side of the distributor leaving a neat rectangular hole in it.
Loved the 309, until the 306 came around it was a perfect runabout. One of my classmates had one and got our band of friends together for a road-trip to the beaches of Arcachon on the Atlantic coast at the end of the uni year in the late 90s. Great memories.
Hey it's my first car :) It was relatively nice to drive but had such weird design decisions that maintenance was bitch and man those auto choke carbs were just pain in the ass.
I had a 1.3 "style" version of the 309 back in the day. I really liked the car. It was very comfortable with soft compliant suspension. The engine was a bit underpowered, but was good enough for the day and reliable. Peugeot 205's and 309's also tended to be more resistant to rust. I really like your you tube channel it is both informative and very interesting. Thanks.
I would really like to see the Peugeot 206 story - it was the car of my university years back in the early 2000s and I toured half of Europe with it. - I still think that next to the second generation Fiat 500 the 206 was the biggest hit in the small car segment the last 20 years - especially design-wise. Unfortunately the 207 and other successors didn`t come close, in my view.
The only Rootes Group/Chrysler I owned was a 1966 Sunbeam Alpine, 1725 engine, overdrive, and wire wheels. It was a great car, and I think I paid a little under $2,000 for it brand new. I was looking as some online with the hopes I could pick up a cheap one, but now such luck. One needing a lot of work was going for $7,000, and fully restored models going for $25,000. So much for that idea!
My dad had a 2nd hand mk2 1.9 diesel which he taught me to drive in (as well as getting proper lessons in my instructor’s 306). The 1.9 straight diesel was fairly slow, but had a good bit of torque. I actually enjoyed driving it and didn’t know it was so closely related to the 205. The engine on my dad’s 309 would probably have lasted forever, but things kept going wrong with the rest of car as it aged, including having a hole in the footwell that let water leak in. After I bought myself a mk2 306 1.4 petrol my dad got himself a 306 1.9 diesel. Now while I loved driving my petrol 306, which I only reluctantly disposed of when enough things consistently went wrong, my dad’s diesel 306 really didn’t have the charm of the 309.
Thanks, a very entertaining video as usual. Believe it or not, but in early 90's Russia you could meet both Simca and Plymouth Horizon. As well as US Escort mk1/european Escort mk3. Those were strange times. As for Peugeot 309 - it was as rare as Austin Maestro. French cars generally were seen as unreliable and rust buckets.
Actually, the Hillman Hunter isn't even properly dead today; In Iran, much of the running gear can still be found under a local Peugeot 405 RWD variant (and the 405 Pickup), a true Frankenstein of a car.
@@AllonKirtchik I have seen a Samand even on Malta or in Greece when on holiday, I think they made it to several Southern European markets in small figures...
How the Chrysler Avenger ever did badly is beyond me. Good equipment levels, good engineering, willing engines, good chassis and all contained in a good looking package and it still struggled, madness! I also really liked the Tagora despite it tanking. My mum had a '77 Chrysler Alpine though and I remember she loved it after initially despising it as she preferred her old Morris Minor Traveller. The Alpine would do the do with aplomb until some mad old bat slammed into it at high speed in a tight country lane in her brand new MG Metro, bad times. The alpine was great though, a lovely place to sit! It made for a handy cross country mile muncher. As for the 309... I wanted a 1.9 GTi for the longest time! I missed that boat and any remaining cars are now light years ahead of my meagre budget! The GTi was a good looking car in either 3 or 5 door formats. Thanks for another excellent video! P.s. digging the Jeep build of the Lego Test Car behind you!
My taxi in the early 90 s 1.9 gld diesel five people in and it flew up hills in fifth gear .Had 405 after both ran for ever .Was the best diesel cars then every taxi used them .
Exactly, they stopped at x08, presumably to avoid re-using the 309 name. Though Wikipedia’s page on the 301 claims x01 is for emerging markets and x08 is for ‘traditional’ markets.
I had a Simca 1300. It was great. Comfortable, economic and absolutely reliable but rusty! In 2006 I had a Peugeot 309 I used it like a van. Lots of space and absolutely no rust.
The 309 Best Line was my first car, I really can't say something bad about this car. Thanks for this very interesting video, some memories came back. 😊
A 309 GTi was my first autocross/rallycross car and I had good success with it. Only just getting back to it now with a 205 and my dad is building an Avenger
First car my father had was a 309 graffic, dark grey. People always said it had amazing linghting in the dashboard for the time (all orange), unlike most cars of time and that price range, pretty dull. First memories on a car was that one. It was a good car with a reliable engine. Never failed until it was sold in 1998.
Thanks, well researched as always. This car seemed to have a long and convoluted birth. Never driven one, but my company adopted later 405 turbo diesels, and these were very good.
I owned a 309 SRi 4 door "E reg" in my youth and it was amazing , 20 years later its still one of the most fun cars ive ever driven even though you never knew if it was going to start up or not :)
My sister had one of these as one of her first cars. I don't remember much about it apart from it being red, and needing some sort of repair almost every month...
I had a 309 1.4 in pastel blue. Bought it in 1990 after my Metro fell to pieces. It was an ex rental car with over 100k on the clock but drove like a dream compared to my Metro.
At Mercury Comms, I had a white facelift 309GTI 3-door.... utterly superb to drive. Luckily I never discovered what crash survivability was! D309RGN, loved you x
Brilliant video as always! Always loved the 309. So thank you so much for doing a video on it! Could you do a video on the Horizon and Alpine too please 🚘🚗🚙
My mom drove gold '88 309 GL with 1.3 Simca engine from new. It was good for 64 hp but with weight of less than 900 kg it was quite nice to drive. It was first car in my family I drove after I got driving license. Little Peugeot find out to be really reliable and it was sold in 2002. After two years of sleeping on the street engine starts like new despite leaking fuel hoses - of course with new battery. It was clever engineered and well made. The only quality problem I remember was weak CV joints' covers. A few years ago I visited Madagascar and I found a lot of 309s over there. They buy trusted French cars only, 309 is underrated in Europe for sure but because of that cheap to purchase for them.
We had one of these growing up. My dad was a mechanic and this was one of the many ageing cars that customers decided to replace and leave with my dad or sell to him for scrap value. Ran it for a few years and loved it. Light and fun car. Shame about the interior trim quality though
One of my early memories is of my dad signing over the paperwork for the family's new Talbot Horizon GLS. It wasn't without flaws but a pretty good car nonetheless. After a few years, it was traded for a used Simca 1510, larger sister to the Horizon, which we kept for two years. S.I.M.C.A. stands for Société Industrielle de Mécanique et de Carrosserie Automobile (Industrial Company of Automotive Mechanic and Bodywork, roughly translated), which I believe started off assembling Fiat cars in France before taking a life of its own, thus rounding the loop in the Group PSA Fiat Chrysler merger of 2019 (known as Stellantis in trading). The 309 was effectively the last Talbot, and the 205 the car that saved Peugeot, but that's another story. I remember reading somewhere the Tagora started life with Chrysler and was finished off by Peugeot, using, if memory serves, the rear drivetrain from the Peugeot 604 to save cost, but it was too narrow for the Tagora. Probably one of the reasons the Tagora flopped, not to mention internal competition by then against the 604. I'd be curious to see the Tagora Story, although I'm not sure many people would be interested. I've always had a soft spot for Chrysler and anything related, so maybe I'm a little biased. ;-)
Horay, finally my car! I got a 91 with the 1.4 engine. Fantastic car, more comfortable than anything nowdays, handles superb, goes quick and burns less fuel than a lighter. Unfortunately she decided to snap an axle or something on me 2 months ago and I can not find any replacement parts, if it's even the axle, could be a number of things.
@@julienbee3467 Probably could but nobody bloody ships to this third world hell hole I live in. Which sucks because I can find all the parts new even, but I can't get them shipped.
Amazing inside documentary on car history your knowledge and expertise put some mainstream car shows to shame, thank you for your videos happy Christmas and New year, from Albania.
Oh my god! I am in general very sensitive and attentive with shared parts in different cars specially bodywork parts as they all clearly visible to all. Example: doors, windshield, bumper, grill, lights, signal lights, rear view mirrors etc. How come I didn't (or couldn't) figure out 30 something years that the 309 had the 205's doors! Can't believe myself that i have never spotted that! But then congrats to designers, they were still able pull out a car with 4 common doors that wasn't really looking alike.................... or unlike the the Tempra/155 or the 9000/thema/croma where it's spot on to see the common 4 doors............ I still can't believe and accept that I completely missed that one!!!
always loved the 309, We had two both 1.6 XU petrol's and my dad had a 1.9 NA diesel. They were great practical cars. One died when an astra ran into the back of it making it a foot shorter the other died when the head gasket went and I was moving 200 miles away so had no time to fix it. Since then we've had 205's, a 406, around 4 306's and now are on our second 307 which is 19 years old (my dad also has a 307)
Another brilliant piece. I once bought a 309 between cars for £200. I ran it without a problem for a year, then loaned it to a friend for six months and after that gave it away to someone who needed cheap transport. He had it for a couple of years before it gave up. You can’t do better than that. Happy Christmas, Andy,. Thanks for making 2020 more tolerable. You are the Anti-Shmee!
@@philiprodney7884 Yes I understand where you're coming from, HubNut is good on RU-vid too, don't get anymore quirky than that! Also with Shmee, he is a car nerd and do respect him for that, plus driving his cars at the ring. Horses for courses I guess. Big Car stories are fascinating too. All car geeks together :)
