Peugeot Cars

[Teamedup]

I have been told that Peugeot cars are rather up market in the UK.

ie better to have a Peugeot than a Citroen, well according to the bloke in the Citroen garage, that is.

 

Is this true?

 

I can't ever remember anyone saying anything like this to me in France really.

[Clarkkent]

As a UK resident, this is the first time I have heard this. However, my own view is that a motor car is only a tin box on wheels which gets you conveniently (but inefficiently) from A to B.

Citroen is owned by Peugeot and some Citroens are rebadged Peugeots, and some Peugeot models are made in the UK. Could this be the source of this story?

I have never understood the social perception factor in car brands, it seems so irrational. A few years ago VW were considered technically better than other brands and yet their production plant at Wolfsberg was so outdated that about 60% of its product had to be reworked before it was fit to leave the factory gate. At the same time they were in a joint venture with Ford to produce people carriers in Spain: Ford Galaxcies, SEAT Alhambras and VW Sharans on the same production lines and Sharans and SEAT Alhambras were physically and functionally identical except for trim and badging. Yet people paid significantly more for the VW badge - illogical.

[Will]

I think it comes from the UK media, so blame that fat Clarkson bloke and his ilk. Citroens traditionally had a bit of a reputation in Britain for being innovative, quirky and complicated but a lot of things to go wrong whereas Peugeots were rather more conventional and dependable. So the reputation for Peugeots having better build quality hung on well after they became exactly the same under the tinware.

I remember long ago when I was choosing a company car in England I had a choice of many makes within a particular specification and it came down to a choice between a Peugeot 306 and Citroen ZX (I wanted the turbo diesel engine which both had, in common with just about all the major components, although the two looked totally different). I went for the Peugeot for no particular reason that I recall, and it proved excellent. The model I got was made in Coventry so perhaps that carried a bit of cachet compared with something 'thrown together by a load of Frogs' - it was about 12 years ago before the Rover fiasco. It was probably a good choice, for once. Here in France there are plenty of good 306s still around whereas most ZXs look decidedly past their use-by date.

[Nick Trollope]

I can't see where comparison comes from.

I've owned a string of Citroen's from GS/DS's through XM's and BX's to ZX (allegedly I had the first ZX Volcane 16V sold to the public in the UK). The "quirky" ones were stunningly reliable, never had a problem of any description with any of them. The 2 ZX's (peugeot inspired) I owned (from new) were a pile of crap. New engines. gearboxes, electronics etc etc, so I changed to Renault, which was a mistake.

Haven't had a French car since (apart from the Wife's Clio). Can't afford one now. So I drive a Fiat. B*gger.

 

[Alcazar]

<<So I drive a Fiat. B*gger.>>

A Fiat B*gger?  Not seen one of those.

Mind you, why shouldn't they call it that.......MR2 didn't do well in France, Nova didn't do well in Spanish speaking countries, and the Ford Pinto never sold in Brazil, IIRC. Why should Fiat think out their names any better?

Alcazar

[Anton Redman]

The only arguments I can see for Peugeot as a brand being upmarket are :

The 406 coupe which was almost enough to persuade me to forgo a hatchback or estate.  The 206 and 306 CC with the metal retractable roofs at the expense of very little rear leg room are also interesting. 

Since Citroen came within an inch of going broke and were taken over by Peugeot they have not had a fully loaded up market car. In moments of insanity I occasionally consider buying a late model DS or madder still a CM. 

Apart from the above they basically platform share ( AKA Badge engineering) in the same way most of the VAG group do. 

The 306 was built in the old Rootes factory south of Birmingham / near Croperdy but believe PSA are threatening to close it  

[Brilec]

Devaluation on Citroen cars is certainly higher than on the equivalent Peugeot model.  I can only think that this dates back to the days of the visa, which was paper thin, and rotted through at the first sight of rain.

Compare to this my old 305 estate, of 1985 vintage, which still has no rust according to the current owner, and it has only done about 500,000 miles on one gearbox. (More than one engine though).

[Val_2]

Well we have two Citroëns, one Peugeot,one Renault and one VW which is 20 years old and is the best made out of all of them with no rust whatsoever. I think its just media hype as there are good and bad in all makes and when you buy one,you takes your chance at how it will turn out.

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

Personally speaking, when I test drove the Citroen C3 and felt like I was driving a toy car. It was all plastic and felt like it would break at any moment. For looks and build quality I feel the Citroen is far inferior to the Peugeot. The Citroens in my opinion look more like bubbles than cars.

Which was one of the reasons I plumped for a Peugeot. It feels like a car and looks like a car, the doors are nice and heavy, there's little plastic in comparison and the handling is the best I've ever driven (and I've driven a few 4x4's and V6's in Australia).

Although there's not much room in the back (I bought a 206CC), for my lifestyle (just me, the wife and dog) it is absolutely perfect and the boot surprisingly has a heap of space too with the roof up.

But that's just my opinion and rightly or wrongly it's how I perceive it. At the end of the day it is just a tin box on wheels (just that my tin box happens to have tin roof that can come down).

[Alcazar]

We bought our present Xantia 2.0 HDi off my dad when he stopped driving, and it coincided with the wife writing off the older one we already had.

Later, when we wanted our eldest to learn to drive, we were shocked to be refused insurance for him as it's a group 13 car

Now I don't know if it's the same in France, but apparently, according to my insurers, a Peugeot 307 HDi was only a group 7 car, and we could have had insurance for him on that.

Quite why the Citroen is 6 groups higher, no-one seems to be able to explain. Especially as the Pug is faster.

Added to that, one of the front fogs on the Xantia needs a new bulb. Apparently, it's a bumper-off job, at a cost of £95 plus VAT plus the price of a bulb!!!

Citroen? Never again

Alcazar

[Quillan]

Don't know about Citroens but I have a Peugeot 307SW (thats the estate with the seats that come out and can be reconfigured rather like an Espace). It's the mid range diesel model, got a bit of a punch and does around 55 miles to the gallon. Loads of storage space, fridge in the glove compartment (not that you will need it that much in the UK)  and I love it. Considering what it came with I thought it was good value for money.

By the way they are made in Daventry not Coventry because I use to go past their factory on my canal boat.

[Bobdude]

In North Africa, Peugeot are historically supposed to be much more robust cars than Citroen. (They have plenty of potholes on the roads to testify to this!)