Yep. I know Doug actually has more views on those, and thats why he caters more to that crowd, but it gets boring pretty fast, specially if it is just another Mclaren.
I'll be honest, I only ever watch the videos where Doug reviews strange, weird and oddball cars. The top of the line sports cars and beacons of modern luxury and power just don't interest me as much as an 8-seater Peugeot station wagon from back in the day. These kinds of videos will always be loved!
Agree. Most modern car all look and feel the same with their perfect technology, all packed with screens. Also, after a while the Nth variant of a 911 or the latest McLaren special edition with infinitesimal changes with respect to the standard version start to be boring.
The 505 was one of the worlds first multi fuel cars, they could run on gasoline, diesel, ethanol and even rapeseed oil , the service intervals were a staggering 30,000 miles and the whole engine could be removed and replaced in under 8 minutes , it was an engineering masterpiece :-)
@@rodinas4477 Yeah Peugeot from this era were pretty much bullet proof, they still are running all over Africa and south America beaten to death but still working. Peugeot's reliability like most French brands took a hit during the late 90's and 2000's because of extreme cost cutting strategies so its hard to believe but as a whole they have historically been very well engineered.
Do your research before talking out of your ass, none of that is true for the USA 505 model and I doubt it was true for any other 505 model. If it had a Diesel, it only ran on Diesel, Kerosene or Jet Fuel. It wasn't the White diesel engine that was put in Dueces and NO WAY, you were pulling a 505 engine in 8 mins ... I owned a bunch of 505s and you are full of it.
Doug, I will always prefer those videos with the weird and quirky cars over those modern cars. Million dollar supercars are ten a penny these days, and modern SUVs are completely over the top with their ridiculous size and equipment. Give me an old weird car any day.
This car is a legend in my country Nigeria. Very tough car, suspension is very strong and could go over potholes faster. Engine is so analog and so easy to fix. This car was part of my childhood from mid 80s to even early 2000s we still had them assembled here. Love this video. Good one.
My 1982 Peugeot 505 Wagon 5-speed was my daily driver for several years in the early 2000s. It was one of the sturdiest, most reliable, and most comfortable cars that I've ever owned. I enjoyed seeing one again in your fun video. Thank you!
My dad was dedicated to his 505 sedan and kept driving it in LA until 2004. The best part of driving it was chatting with people who had one back in their country. Weird cars bring so much more joy to the world than "good" cars. Thanks for the video!
THIS is why I watch Doug's reviews. Oddball classics thrown in with sports sedans, classic exotics, etc. Every once in a while is a Peugeot wagon, or a Dodge camper van. Brilliant!
Just with hed get out of the modern day mindset when reviewing these. Center window switches arent that inconvenient, and i cant believe it took him that long to realise that coin pouch icon meant money. Its kind of embarrassing really. He should do more of these because a lot of these weird features were pretty normal. And it would humble him a little more too lol.
This certainly isn't an oddball car in Europe (except for the funny US bumpers then..)they're getting kinda scarse now but they used to be on the roads here by the thousands.
@@ZerokillerOppel1 in the somewhat affluent suburb of NYC I lived in during the late 80’s/early 90’s these were a common sight as well until the soccer moms traded these and their Volvo wagons in for Cherokees, Explorers, etc. once the Peugeot dealers left the US and having an SUV was the car accessory of the moment.
In the 80's I got hooked on the brand. At the time I was living in Ft. Worth TX and the dealer sold Peugeot's. Nobody wanted to work on these cars. One day I had nothing to do, the shop manager came to me and said there was a Peugeot to work on if I wanted it. I figured, why not. Next thing I know, I'm working on all of them. I became the "Peugeot Guy". A few years later I moved to California and opened a repair shop in Costa Mesa. Once people found out that I worked on Peugeot's, I was busy. I did that all the way up until 2000. During all of that time I had a 403, 405 Mi16, 4 504's and 3 505's. As time went by, parts became difficult to get. As a result, the cars one by one ended up either in a wrecking yard or sold to someone who was looking for a parts car. Oct. 2021, my son told me about an 1975 504 GLD that was going up for sale at an auction. I got it for $350. Put a battery in it and it started right up. The people at the auction place couldn't believe that the car started up. They didn't know how to start it and had it listed as a "non runner". It's a manual transmission and one of the things that I'm noticing right now is that sometimes I can't get it to go into 2nd gear. It turns out that one of the shifter linkages has a worn out nylon socket at the ball socket. So when it wants to act up, I have to go from 1st into 3rd. I can see where a 3D printer would come in handy. I could just print up my own parts. The crazy thing it that back on July 3rd 2022, I was out at a remote desert town for their 3rd of July fireworks show and while driving around the town I passed a home where a car caught my eye. I said to my wife that it looked like there was a 505 in the backyard of the house that we just passed. I pulled over and said that I had to go back and check it out. Not only was it a 505, but 4 505's, a Citroen, possibly a DM, was next to them and in another part of the backyard were several 403's and 404's. Then up next to the house in a fenced area was another Citroen, possibly a CX??, a nice looking 504 and behind it a rally 505. Behind the home were a couple of mobile homes, but there was nobody around. As a Realtor there are ways to find out who the owner(s) are of a property. I'm not going to disclose where these cars are, because for me, finding these cars is like finding buried treasure. I've been in contact with the owner of the property who is also the owner of the cars. I want to know what the story is with the cars, how they came to have them and what are the future plans for the cars. I would hate to see these cars end up in a junkyard or sold off as scrap metal. My wife will divorce me if I even buy one of those old Peugeot's. But hey, how often do you find buried treasure?!
@@Mcfreddo They were no more difficulty to work on than any other car. They were a little quirky. Repair manuals a lot of times were in French. Translated manuals were terrible. Wiring diagrams were a science of their own in figuring out. In the US, parts availability was a huge issue. I had to get my parts from Grove Motors in San Louis Obispo, CA. Peugeot Renault Volvo (PRV), was that if you were not part of the dealer network, Peugeot didn't want to have anything to do with you. Once we had a 605, a model that was never sold in the US, that a French diplomat drove came into our shop. The 605 had a weird shock/leveling system setup. This car needed front shocks. We contacted the dealer first. They laughed and said that it wasn't possible to get them. We contacted PRV and their response was, "since the car was never imported/sold in the US, we're not going to provide you with the parts". They didn't even care that the car was driven by a French diplomat. It just so happened that my father was going to be traveling to Norway on business in a couple of days. So while he was there he was able to buy the shocks from a Peugeot dealer in Oslo, Norway and brought them back with him. That's how we got that car fixed. We never saw the car again because the diplomat went back to France and the car went with him.
@@JRMagoo Damn, there is an v6 3.0L 605 abandon in a backyard in front of my work, since i'm in 2nd floor i can watch the car everyday, the driver window is down 2 inches, I went two times to tell the owner to please lift the window, I literally can't see this anymore, the woman says is their son's car and she doesn't have the keys, this winter we had 2 foot of snow, I close my eyes and imagine how the interior is. It really hurts me watch this kind of jewel abandon.
@@DiegoOrtiz-nf9fk 605 or 604? 604, which was a fairly common car in the US, came with two options, a diesel engine or a V6. Which was the early PRV engine that was also in the Volvo and the DeLorean. The later PRV V6 engine was mechanically a better engine, but most of the time when problems came around, the people replaced them with either a Check or Ford V8. There was a company in Fountain Valley, CA that had the conversion kits. But either way, it's sad that the car is being left like that. You can be pretty sure that the interior is destroyed. My 75 504 GLD is occasionally used in films and videos. So it makes me a little bit of money.
On the contrary Dugg. This is one of your finest videos because it’s different. Everyone does Bugattis and lambos nowadays. This is why you differentiate from the norm! Enjoyed every minute of it! 👍
Yeah Doug knows that and feels the same way which is why he usually cannot wait to get his hands on something like this.. The supercars are just something that has to be done for relevance sakes
My daily commuter car for years, I loved the stereo and the smooth ride, slowly all the luxury features broke and I was left with a basic car that still ran for many, many years!
Here's the thing about Bugattis and cars of that sort. They're boring. Just more luxury, a knob more made of billet aluminium, a bit more power, a tweak here and there, but always the same. Just more of it. I mean, that's ok but it's really not all that interesting.
@@manoman0 I think it might be that everybody has seen expensive cars of that sort and there's so many cheaper quirky cars like this one that people haven't even heard of.
In Kenya we called this the ‘flying coffin’ along with its 504 predecessor. They saw widespread use as public passenger transport over mid- to long distances, and were driven like bats out of hell, with predictable results. Hence the name.
These are the exact sort of videos that made me start watching Doug's channel. This is so much more interesting than a new unobtainable hypercar or bland infotainment packed crossover. Everyone is reviewing new cars and supercars, I want to see people elevate obscure and overlooked cars.
I'd rather watch a video of this or some weird old Saab than the latest most limited edition $3M Lamboclarenarri. I love seeing reviews of cars I could potentially see on the road or even buy that are surprisingly quirky.
Doug's driving and reviewing style suits these sorts of cars. There's really no point in him reviewing supercars or other performance vehicles. It would be like asking my grandma to review a pair of boxing gloves or a nuclear warhead. Leave the fast cars to people like Chris Harris or Randy Pobst etc.
@@raytrace2014 We had these legendary cars in Jamaica as taxis both gas & diesel .One night 16 of us rode in one coming from a party & the damn thing runs like it's the driver alone in it. 😅😅😅. They were sooo good we nicknamed them " Steel Donkey"😅😅😅
I grew up in France. This was the "bourgeois" catholic family with many children's car. In France, the 3 brands are very different. Peugeot was "bourgeois", Citroën was futuristic, and Renault was popular. You still see a lot of 505 in Africa because they are easy to fix and impossible to kill. I loved that video! Thanks
I'm from Germany. For me Renault and Peugeot are "normal" cars with Peugeot being a little more luxurious and reliable. Citroens are strange and different cars, except from mid 90s onwards, where they became quite normal, at least for some years due to being pretty identical to the Peugeots of that era under the body.
A really good, reliable car. In France the car for conservative families. Like Mercedes. Space and comfort. Of they had More Money, some bought a Citroën Cx. The Renault 25 was for more progressive people.
My parents had the wagon version of the Peugeot 504 (the predecessor to the 505), and the stadium seating was amazing, as we kids could see out over the road. The suspension was these huge McPherson struts and it rode high, which is why they were popular in Africa. They felt indestructible.
@@GabagoolGaming I fully understand why, it seems that if kept in dry climate and properly serviced, they can go on virtually infinitly. The De Dion type rear suspension has been said to be a great part of the reason for why these cars have such a terrific ability to go where not many other road cars can, The original ancestor is the 404 line and for that part i remember riding in a sedan of that kind as a kid for a drive to a day out in a forrest - the last part of the road was rather a cattle trail but that car had no problem taking us all forth and back without even having to get out on the last stretch to relieve it of weight. It was also one of the last cars beside the russian LADA (Fiat 124/125 clone) to have a hole for a starting crank up front, just in case). And the diesel engines seems to run on most anything close to the dedicated fuel, common house warming oil the most usual substitute but home inventors are said to have a few running on used frying oil (needs some inventional work but it can be done) As an adult, i once loaned a 505 and was quite impressed by the stiffness of it and liked the very rugged feel of that car that you rarely get in something more modern, On the downside i discovered a leak on top of the the fuel tank when filling it up, due to rust... seems common. I´ve heard that the two reasons why you seldom see one anymore here in Sweden (it was a fairly common car back in its day) is for one that the reasonably fresh ones was bought cheap and exported to Africa where the sturdiness was more appriciated and second less because of their poor capability to withstand rust in our hard climate (as for most 70s cars, new and not very well tested sheet metal and paint was of poor quality - add some plastic foam insulation in empty body caviities to reduce noise and you have a recipe for self-destruction, Still i have spotted a couple of mighty fine station wagons in traffic this summer, no doubt though that these two has been hibernating through the winters. Might add that the 505 spawned the slightly more upmarket 604 series (but even more prone to rust!). The front and rear axles and in some versions their engines were also used in the ill-fated Talbot Tagora which was initally a Chrysler Europe project adopted by the PSA with their company overtake. An interesting side line of the 504/505 is that the wagons were also built as 4.wheel driven with the surname Dangel, relating to the company that made the conversion - except for the ones built on license in China where the last related models were built in ´99 according to Wikipedia.
I worked for a hi-fi speaker distributor in the 2000s and I’d do deliveries in a 505 diesel wagon. It was so slow, people hated me on the LA-area freeways. But it had enough room for full-size floor speakers for a multichannel system. Good fuel mileage too.
I’d much rather see the curious “ average “ cars like this than a Bugatti. Personally , I think the 505 has a great looking front end. I always liked the sculpting and the aggressive look.
Agreed, I dont care about the new super duper luxury 2 million dollar plus cars with all the screens and crazy overpriced optional extras. I just want a quirky average car with genuinely neat features.
@Steven g Stop it, you are poor yourself. I sure can't afford a Bugatti for million dollars but I don't drive cheap cars (plural, yes) and still these old cars or actually quirky cars are waaaay more interesting - especially the way Doug is showing them off.
Doug, please keep doing videos like this. These old, weird, forgotten vehicles are much more interesting to a lot of us than the hottest new crossover or supercar.
I’m gonna show this video to the next person who says that they “must” have a full-size SUV because they have 2 kids. This is a car from an era when people were more concerned about the function of their vehicle than how nice the material around the windshield defroster vents felt. The priorities in modern cars are very odd and unfortunate. The gear shift lever may not be pretty but it worked 30 years ago and it still works now. The overly complicated push buttons and rotary knob shift mechanisms (basically just sensor inputs) will definitely not last that long.
The seatbelt leaves me perplex. We had the same car in France and the seatbelt was like any car so I have no clue why they came up with this system here. Was due to different regulations, similar to the bumpers? In any case, this 505 is very well kept and I must say that the design aged quite well! I really wished Peugeot returned to the U.S. and Canada! Thanks for the great video!
It was an interim regulation (called passive seat belts, because it didn't require occupant action) pending the fitment of air bags when those seatbelts ceased.
You were supposed to leave the shoulder strap buckled Doug and slide in behind it when entering and leaving. Shoulder strap was only unbuckled in an emergency.
We had a couple of VW Rabbits that had this system. It was cheaper than the "motorized mouse" used on most cars. If left buckled, you couldn't help getting slapped in the forehead while getting in. Getting out with it buckled was asking to get your neck sliced by the hard and thick 80's nylon.@@michaelplunkett8059
My 1991 VW GTI had the exact same seatbelt setup. Being a German car guy, l’m surprised Doug never encountered one before. I thought it was a fine way of doing a three point belt…as the poster above says, you just left the shoulder belt attached at all times, and sit down like normal. On the plus side, l always found the belt a more convenient way to close the door than the armrest! Just grab it at your chest and pull the door closed.
Hey Doug, it's reviews like these that keep me coming back to your channel. I can get the Lamborghinis and Aston Martins everywhere.But it's the quirky and interesting cars that make you think. Like how the Citroen DS was so ahead of its time. Or how small FIATs basically are Italy in a nutshell. That's also what made Top Gear great once: Real enthusiasm for cars and their history.
yes, i am always also kinda disappointed when new Doug’s video is some boring supercar where is just carbon/alcantara/whale foreskin and otherwise … nothing cool. Is waste to watch: but these are interesting, especially while Doug tries to grasp european stuff of the time;)
No Doug, this review will get good views because it’s rare to find 505 reviews with such details as yours. Amazing review as always, shame it didn’t come with manual, this car is iconic, it was so popular in europe, africa and middle east. This car is so much more remembered than other cars more than you think.
My family had a couple of these 505s back in the day. The key was to buy the Turbo Diesel version. That thing would run on anything you dumped in the tank. Filled it with gas once by accident and the thing still ran great. Got a couple hundred thousand miles on it. Unstoppable.
2 little added bonus about the 505: The sedan version came with an independent rear suspension and a limited slip diff; while the wagon had a more classic solid axle to accommodate more weight. The sedans versions are known to handle better!
Peugeot is the "conservative" French brand, even more so at the time. When Citroën was always trying new technologies and Renault was looking to open new market segments no one had thought of, Peugeot was just making normal serious cars for serious people. So it makes sense it isn't very quirky or different from rivals: they were aiming at "tried and tested" solutions. Which is the reason why it was popular for so long in some markets, it had a very good reputation for sturdiness and reliability.
Alpine: French Porsche Brand disappeared in 1995, but returned in 2017 Citroën: "Art on wheels" Matra: Somehow sporty and the inventor of the European minivan (Renault Espace) It had the three seated Bagheera and Murena (labeled as Matra-Simca and Matra-Talbot) Brand disappeared in 1983 Peugeot: Conservative, sometimes compared to Mercedes-Benz Renault: Somehow between Peugeot and Citroën but also has pricey models Simca: Similar to Renault Brand disappeared in 1979 in favour of Talbot Talbot: French-British brand. It was more upmarket than Peugeot and Citroën. It had a strong precence in France and the UK. First disappeared in the late 30's It returned in 1979 to replace Simca Talbot disappeared for good in 1993
Renault is currently the conservative producer from France. Search the new 208 or 408. They look like space shuttle's in comparison to their competitors.
@@tonybooth4 I used to work for Jerry Hathaway at SM world in SoCal, who was renown as the world’s foremost expert on the SM. Jerry always said that the engine was loosely based on one of their V8 designs, but heavily altered. It was certainly originally planned to have a V8.
My grandpa had a 505 GTi (Euro model) and I'm surprised to see how different it is from this one. The centre console in the American car is completely different, so is the instrument cluster, looks like the one from the 405. The seatbelts were normal 3 point ones and they were attached to the B Pilar not the door so I'm guessing this is an American regulation thing, so are the bumpers which protude out much more than the Euro models. The seats are completely different, the American seats are much, uglier, thicker and have no head rests which is bizarre because it's a more modern car than my grandpa's (beautiful alcantara seats). The original Euro back door didn't have electric windows which I guess explains why they put them in centre for the US model (they could reuse the same door panels). The reliability of the car was exceptional, not only I drove this 20 year old car without any issues, but I thrashed it mercilessly (hey it had a GTi badge) and nothing broke down. We were so impressed in my family the next two cars we bought were Peugeot too (a 206 and a 607) and were not as good as this 505. In terms of power the Euro version had more power and with the stick shift it was a pretty fast car for the era. Unfortunately all the changes made to adapt it to the US market ruined it a bit and perhaps that's why it didn't sell well there while the rest of the world loved it.
The seatbelts are an American regulation thing. Doug has been told about them on other cars, he's kind of an idiot saying the same nonsense again. It's a cheap way of doing an 'automatic' belt, you're supposed to leave it buckled to the door all the time, that way it's buckled when you get in without you having to do anything. For a few years, car companies could do that idiocy instead of installing airbags, it was something they lobbied for (along with seatbelt laws) as a way of cheaping out.
My mother had an 1989 309 1.9 gld for years. It was good car and had a great engine. It done about 450000 miles with no major issue, just regular maintenance
I agree with you, and as you said, the x05 generation veeeery reliable (I'm talking about the whole line up, 205, 305, 309, 405, 505 and also the 605), the next generation was very ugly and waaaay less reliable, the worst in recent Peugeot history, they made it a bit more reliable in the x07 generation, but they were still a bit ugly IMO, the recent x08 look damn sharp and cool
What finished the French automakers is North America was the cost of maintenance vs Japanese automakers. Japanese cars in the 70’s and 80’s were well engineered, efficient and easy to work on. But even into the 80’s Peugeot and Renault were still using engineering from the 50’s and 60’s that automakers in the US and Japan had moved past. So the French cars were relatively harder to work on, which made for higher repair costs, which made it more expensive to run in comparison to say, a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry.
As a French i'm glad to see old FR cars sometimes in your channel, and i guess it's fun for US ppl to see this too because FR cars are rare in US and it's very "exotic" for you, American (like US old sedan cars are rare in France). This car was unbreakable, many got like 500 000 + kilometers (310 000 + in miles) on the odometer
Hey Doug, as soon as I saw this post for the 505 wagon I loudly exclaimed YES!! My wife asked me what? I excitedly said “Doug did the 505 wagon!” She then promptly left the room. This video truly made my day. I absolutely love station wagons, or estates as our cousins across the pond refer to them. When I was a boy living in central Indiana, this was probably 1984, one of my fathers friends visited us with his young family. This man and his young family pulled into our driveway in a strange station wagon. As they parked and came over to greet my family I ran to this large beautiful car. Circling it slowly in amazement I came to the back of the car to see the large badge “Peugeot” it read in big letters. I thought what is this? Pew-gēē-ought is how I heard it in my head. My phonetic education was failing me and left me more confused. I quickly ran to my father and asked “Dad, what is that car?” He said to me “That is a French car, it is a Peugeot”, saying it correctly to me I loved hearing it, the word was astounding to me. “Peugeot!” I said loudly and repeatedly, it was obvious I was fascinated by this car. So my fathers friend explained to me that Peugeot manufactures bicycles and that he owned a large cycling shop in northern Indianapolis, that’s why he loved the car. That’s when I was given a ride in my first French car. Long story but that is what your review of the 505 wagon gave me this Sunday morning. My fond childhood memories of my ride and learning about a Peugeot.
This car was very common here in Europe through the 80s, but in 1991 it was obviously outdatet, since it went into production in 1979. I'd really like to see more older cars, no matter if they are from the US, Europe or Japan.
Does it matter if a vehicle get outdated? People still own them, likely because they can't afford or don't want a newer car. You probably complain when all cars gets outdated. People only seem call a car "outdated" after years, but never call a tree "outdated" after centuries. Why do people start calling trees or people "outdated" as well?
@@automation7295 It might not matter if a car slowly gets outdatet while you own it, but you wouldn't buy a car as new at a point when there are more modern models available. The 505 had a very long production run, but in its last years sales went down.
Never in my life I thought I'd see Doug reviewing a Peugeot 505. The normal non-wagon version is still one of the (if not THE) comfiest cars I've ever driven. Extremely spacious interior for the time and those seats, man, it's like seating on your old comfy couch. The 504 was awesome too, it was so comfortable and reliable most taxi drivers chose it here in Argentina. The Argentinian 504 taxi is so iconic there's one in the official Peugeot archives in Sochaux, France.
As many already mentioned: the 505 - along with others - is still a working horse (esp. shared taxi) in many formerly french influenced countries in Africa.
This is like a breath of fresh air! My dad had a Peugeot 504 Saloon and a 404 pickup back in the day. These are still very much alive in Kenya 🇰🇪. I was WAITING for you to get in the back seat, lol!! Thanks for the video.
I love to see a consensus of people agreeing that they too love seeing weird, quirky and rare cars displayed on the channel. I do enjoy seeing the exuberantly expensive hypercars as well, but they're so profligate that I find myself skipping through the videos just to see the highlights of the car's design where aspects like quality of materials, speed, and handling are givens. But rare consumer vehicles, I'll absorb the content completely!
This car represents the end of the Peugeot which conquered Africa. The 504, 505 and 405 were built incredibly well and were uber reliable and easy to operate. And BTW Doug, this is exactly the kind of video I and many other love!
I had a 505 while I was a Junior/Senior in high school in 1995/1996. Mine was all white with burgundy interior and just a sedan turbo version. I can tell you from my experience that I truly loved that car, and it did turn some heads in the high school parking lot back in the late 90's. Unfortunately it got harder and harder to find someone to work on the car, and I had to move on. But, thank you Doug for this video!! It brought back so many memories for me! Keep up the amazing work!
If you didnt want to keep the car thats fine but its embarassing to say you couldnt find anyone to work on it. There are females that do their own work on their car pal.
*1992* was the last model year in the US, though they only sold ~2000 cars that year. I owned a 1992 SW8 that was documented as being both the last 505 SW8 sold in the US, and the only one with a manual transmission. Basic 2.2L non-turbo, fast it was not, but it was very willing. They also sold 405S and 405MI16s for model year 1992. I owned six Peugeots in total from the mid '90s to the early '00s. They were super bargains - I bought that 505 SW8 for $3500 with 90K on it at a time when an equivalent '92 Volvo 945 would have been $15K. And having owned a bunch of those too, the Peugeot was just as reliable and a LOT nicer to drive. But sadly once they got 10+ years old the parts situation became pretty dire and I moved over to Volvos and Saabs.
I'm so happy you reviewed a 505 Peugeot! This was my childhood family vehicle and I was really hoping that you would someday review this car. Ours was an '86 and white with blue leather interior. Ours didn't have the 3rd row but it did have heated front seats! This was also the first car I ever drove. Now it's so rare to even spot one in the road. Kudos!
I have driven thousands of kilometers in a 505 diesel (NA) with 75HP. It was called "Familiale" - with the bench seat in the boot - here in Europe and it had standard seatbelts. I love that you have the option to drive without - no annoying warning chimes (maybe it a French thing - still no seat belt warning chimes in my old SmartCar).
As a European I love how Doug always brings up the Toyota Camry as the cheap simple car example that everyone should know whilst a Toyota Camry probably deserves the same car review as the Peugeot for being weird and rare if a TH-camr came across one here in Europe.
@@AA-ti3nr Uh.... no... The Camry never discontiued. You can still buy it today in Europe. The Avensis replaced the Carina... and the Avensis was discontinued in 2018
The early 80s Camry in the UK, was regarded as the ultimate old farts car, even now in the UK, most Toyotas are driven by people over 70 and anyone who has no interest in driving!
Hey Doug, why don‘t you expect this video to be watched much? Me personally, I find it ten times more interesting and joyful to watch you review some bread-and-butter vehicle from back in the days than, say, an electric powered SUV that won‘t be sold before next year or a $ 2 million supercar that noone is ever going to see in real life. Please keep doing that funny oldschool stuff! 👍
Videos like this are the reason I subscribed to Doug in the first place. The oddities of regular cars are so much more interesting to me than some exotic supercar completely unattainable for a normal person.
I wouldn’t say “none” will be ever to buy a 2 million dollar car, but yes, the majority of people won’t be able to afford that type of price tag kind of car but you’d be surprised how many can, lol.
My dad had two 505 sedans, one 1983 petrol and one 1986 turbo diesel. Superb cars for long trips. Magnific in unpaved roads. I'll always remember traveling with them through Argentinian Patagonia listening The Beatles (on cassettes, of course).
Here, in Argentina, Peugeot 505 are still on the streets and you can buy spare parts of these cars very easy. We love french cars (Peugeot, Renault, Citroen). Excelent video!!!
This is amazing! The Peugeot was and still is an absolute icon here in Kenya... Virtually everyone had a Peugeot back then .. specifically the 504 ,.. 505s were also used as public transport vehicles back then... I actually never knew there was a turbo version... They disappeared in this market for most of the 2000s when demand shifted to the cheaper 2nd hand Japanese cars and are only making a slow comeback now. Thanks for this video doug!
I grew up in Norway in the 80’s where this Peugeot model was very popular. My father bought a second hand 81 model in 85 and we had it for almost ten years! But that seat belt configuration must have been a US special, cause our car had conventional 3 point belts.
The weird seat belt on the door is a 'automatic seat belt'. In 1983 the US mandated all passenger cars be equipped with passive restraints, that is a restraint requiring no action on the part of the car's passengers to operate. Passive restraint could be either airbags or automatic seat belts. With the automatic seat belt the shoulder belt was supposed to remain clipped into the door latch at all times and you just had to maneuver around it while entering or exiting the car. More advanced automatic seat belts would run forward in a track when you opened the door so at to get out of you way better, then run back to the B pillar when the door closed to strap you in.
Thanks so much for reviewing French cars! Actually, Peugeot planned to sell the 605 flagship in the US back in the early 90’s (the lighting situation shows the car was ready to be easily adapted with US regulation) but the Franc/Dollar exchange killed it along with the reliability issues of the US spec 405. Since then, many Peugeot projects were studied with a US version in mind (project codes ended with a Z like W2Z or D2Z). The 407 was initially aimed at the US (especially the coupe) but finally never made it, the front overhang was massive to accommodate with the US impact regulation. Then the first gen 508 was also aimed at the US (with a Mitsubishi version in mind), but never made it. So Peugeot saw no point in installing a V6 in the 508 for Europe, and the car never had a V6 because of the end of the US spec version at design phase. Back to your 505 sunroof, it looks quite aftermarket to me. Thanks again for reviewing French cars, I’m a huge fan of US spec versions of French cars!
I have a 407, and those long overhang bumpers are exactly why I initially fell in love with it. I also really really loved the look of the elongated hood. The bumpers do make it a little difficult to move around though, not going to lie. I find it quite strange that the 508 never had a V6 option, considering that the Citroën C5 did.
When I was a kid, my dad had one of these, although his was a sedan with a manual transmission. I think that was his favorite car he ever owned. This really took me back; thank you for doing this video.
It absolutely makes my day when Doug review’s wagons of any kind, tbh the expensive exotic’s are amazing but I prefer his daily drivers and or his odd vehicle reviews .
Thanks for this review. My ex and I had a 1976 Peugeot 504 so this was far more interesting to me than any Bugatti or Mercedes super car. Our Peugeot gave us very reliable service, even in the harsh upstate NY winters, until some idiot totaled it in front of our house New Years Eve (what a cliche). Though under powered, the seats were far and away the best I've experienced to this day, as was the overall ride and handling. The French roads were known to be a lot less developed and paved than ours, and the suspension easily handled anything we ran across. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, good times...
I agree that "the seats were far and away the best I've experienced to this day." I think the French car interior people work closely with the suspension people when they designed these cars many moons ago. French cars on secondary roads always performed better than other European competitors. From 1977 until 1984, we lived in Europe and remember American ex-pat families having these MB and Volvo wagons.
That was a dream car back then here in Argentina. Either this or the Renault 21 were the best you could have back then, other than a Mercedes or BMW of course at a higher price. Loved to see this video, keep bringing the rear cars, I honestly enjoy them a lot more than the new cars
In the 70's with long gas lines and rationing according to odd even license plates - my dad said eff it - went and bought a diesel *Peugeot **_504_* - 30 miles to the gallon - price was about 35 cents a gallon - no lines - all we had to do was remember where the stations were that sold diesel. Easy enough as there were plenty - and the thing had a range of over 600 miles. The thing was so smooth - you could shift without the clutch when you felt the gears in the right place. We had it for years - and even bought another too.
Turbodiesels are quick AND fuel efficient. I have a Peugeot 407 with a 2-liter engine. The on-paper consumption is 6.0 liters per 100 km (39 mpg), but in the warmer half of the year, it usually hovers around 5.5 (43 mpg). On the highway, it easily goes down even to 4.6 (51 mpg). It gets a little rough during winter with a measly 6.5 (36 mpg). My overall fuel consumption is also higher than average because I live in the mountains, so my car battles with hills every day, but it does so effortlessly.
I grew up to meet almost all my uncles with one of it. Some had two. When our father passed away in 2008, he left two behind. Both Peugeot 505 SR trim level, having front power windows and rear manual windows. One of them came with double carburetor and is still in existence. The sound of the door when you open it is really nostalgic. -Nigeria.
22:00 these reviews of quirky/older non exotic cars keeps your subscribers around. Your channel was built on these types of cars. Don’t ever let them go 😊
When I was a kid, my father bought two 505s. He was a professional photographer and he used them for hauling equipment to shoots. He loved them for some reason. Probably because they were quirky. Thanks for the memories Doug!
Wow that is so amazingly and totally not interesting to anyone but you. Do you really think people came here to find out what Ian's dad had as a car when he grew up?
405, 504 and 505 were really common down here in Argentina, you can still see them from time to time, the new 208 is probably the favorite car for young people, I didn't knew that there weren't any french cars in the US, I find it really weird because here i'm really used to see lots Peugeot, Renault and Citroen cars every day.
I owned one of these (sedan 505 STI) in my youth. Incredibly comfortable car. The suspension was like waterbed. The downside was that it didn't have much "sportiness" and feel. But I really enjoyed the car. Actually I owned a 605 and 607 too but that's another story. Good cars, all of them.
For those born with a boney booty, French cars, especially Peugeot, offer more amazing seat bottoms than most cars. Even though the seats are small, they offer way better comfort. I have often thought if I built a mongrel, I would use seats from a Citroën, Renault, or Peugeot.
My grandfather used to LOVE Peugeots back in the 70s, 80s and 90s he used to have a Peugeot 404 saloon and pickup he then bought a Peugeot 505 SW8 which was fully decked out with all the options. This may sound absurd, but I remember being in his 505 when I was 3, but that same year he sadly passed away and my family sold his cars his legacy (well to me and my family) will be remembered forever.
In Egypt, this car and its predecessor, the Peugeot 504, were unrivaled. We had hundreds of thousands of them running all over the country. At least 50% of the taxis were 504 and it remained so until about the year 2000. They were rather expensive. More expensive than the Italian cars dominating the market back then because they were affordable. But anyone who could afford to buy one of them would not think twice.
It was similar here in Argentina. The 505 wasn't as common, but the 504 is one of the classic cars in our country's history, along with the likes of the Renault 12 and the Ford Falcon. All of them can still be seen on the streets.
Yes you’re spot on. I am Egyptian and this was the first car I remember my father owning and there are so many good childhood memories that get brought back every time i see one. Sometimes i wish I could buy one restore it and just keep it as a collectable.
@TheXxPSYCHO Yes, I do. Of course not as before, but they are still running. As for parts and maintenance, there are mechanics and shops in the older parts of Cairo who are specialized in the old Peugeot's only. They have been repairing them for decades.
This is great! As a kid born in the 80’s I remember seeing these 505s around in suburban Milwaukee (yes, I was a car guy practically from birth!). I always liked the tasteful conservative styling - clearly it’s aged well, though it’s definitely an 80s car. Pegging this as a Volvo/Saab/Acura competitor in it’s time also makes sense. Our family car was an ‘87 Volvo 240DL and this reminds me a little of that- simple, straightforward, everything you need and nothing you don’t. Plus, it always stood out because the Peugeot symbol is a lion - what kid wouldn’t love that. I love the reviews of the simple everyday cars because hardly anybody kept them. They were just the family car!
@@benkohlmann3473 Mequon! But we moved to Missouri in the mid-1990s. Not too many Peugeots in central Missouri. :) If you wanted to see anything made in Europe beyond a Volkswagen you had to be in Kansas City or St. Louis! Living in the KC area now.
I'm so glad to see you reviewing one of these - I bought one of these for $500 when I was in highschool and loved it, like any person loved their first car. One of the quirks with mine, which was admittedly a few years older and may have been absent from the one you reviewed was that the horn was on the end of the turning signal stock instead of the steering wheel. This meant that every time the horn was needed the driver would first mash the steering wheel, then when they remembered that the horn was on the stock, would first push the right-hand stock and wash their windows, and later remember it was on the left hand signal stock and honk the horn, this was usually well after any impending danger had long passed. I have a feeling a number of these cars were likely crashed with very clean windshields.
I still remember my friends dad who had a 505 back in Sweden. Probably around -82. I was so impressed how modern it was, electrical windows and all those buttons. Things has changed.
@@Landie_Man Yep, the Access version doesn't even have a radio. Ironically I live in a south american country where even the absolute cheapest car in the market comes with radio, AC, etc. Less airbags than any Dacia though...
@@Landie_Man The running costs will be fraction of that of a ten year old car, something Doug didn't seem to get in his controversial Mitsubishi Mirage video.
One of the best Car I ever owned in 5+ decades was the 405 MI16 with a 5 spd. A really great car, 158 hp, 2400 lbs and front wheel drive. I liked it so much I bought two (after the first one was totaled).
There is a high performance station wagon by Peugeot called the 508 PSE, which is exclusive to the UK, EU, EEA and Switzerland. It has a 1.6 litre turbo 4cyl, a PHEV system and AWD making a total of 355 horsepower and 384 pound feet of torque (520Nm), and can do 0-62 in 5.4 seconds. North America doesn’t get it for sure, but at least it’s sold here in the UK.
Yeh, that 508 PSE station wagon is probably one of my favourite sportswagons, mostly because of the design. It looks absolutely wonderful! So aggressive, stylish, smooth and well put together. Love it
@@Jehowy666 Imo it's a great car. It's no e63s or rs6 perfromance wise, but it looks visually better than both of them IMO. Car reviewers says it's a blast to drive, with a great chassis-balance, suspension setup and lots of confidence
Keep in mind it was a relatively expensive car back then. But yeah this was around the golden era for functional interiors designed with straight lines
@@Volker_GR Yes and hardly any Americans at all, even car lovers, know about the Trevi's dashboard. The press never covered that car here and it's a shame. I knew about it because I would buy CAR magazines from UK which were sold on the self here and they often talked about the Trevi. Beautiful dashboard
This IS THE review I wanted. THIS is the car that started my love for the sport sedan. My grandmother has a Black 505 Turbo. The interior sounds and ticks are Hella nostalgic for me.
My parents had a 505 GRi when I grew up in northern Norway. Only two row seating on the Euro spec models of course, but that meant we (mom being the shortest at 6ft1) could fit in it for a summer drive crisscrossing Europe. And in the winter it was a fekkin tractor, when icy almost all the neighbours (Volvos, Audis, Mercedes, Fords etc) had to park their cars down the road and walk up the last hill, but the Tractor never even slipped..
My Dad had one of these in the UK when we were kids about 20 years ago. Since then we've had several cars including a Jaguar F Pace but we all agree the 505 had the COMFIEST seats of any car we've ever had. I still remember them now, they were unreal!
The 505 was an almost unbreakable car, just like its predecessor, the 504. (Ironically, in Europe the estate models were designated ‘Break’.) I’ve had both a 504 Break Familiale (7 seater), an early 1969 model with manual column gearshift, and a 1987 (I believe it was) 505 Break which I drove around east Africa in. The 505 was an excellent touring car on bad roads, never once broke down and felt quite indestructible. No luxury fittings, as on the US versions though. It carried all my travelling and camping in that huge rear space. On many occasions I also slept back there, the rear space was certainly long enough.
I enjoyed this very much, and the 505 is so odd to me. We didn't get many of these in England, but the later 405 was extremely popular! If you get the chance to drive or review a 405 with a manual gearbox, especially a station wagon, jump at it. It was a big leap in quality and design, and you still see them on the road today
I believe that the sun roof (skylite) is an aftermarket piece on that car. Sun roofs were available but had better switches that were integrated into the other switchgear.
I really love this video, being from Europe and owning a 406 Coupe myself, I do remember the 505 being introduced, leaving a bit of a gap with the larger 604. The 604 was aimed to give the Mercedes 280 S a hardtime, though I didn't, though provided the French with a French car for its states men. So the 505 was regarded as the "Peugeot gave up" trying to beat Mercedes. It also was the successor of the very successful 504, which was famous for it reliability, hence it was THE car of choice in Africa for a very long time, because they had great ground clearance and despite being only 2 wheel drive where found more common than any Landrover at the time, while it was so reliable with its Diesel engine. So the 505 had to fill some "pretty big shoes" which it did ...a bit. The Turbo was the uncommon one (using a US made 2.0 ) here the 2.0 4 cylinder (by Peugeot) more and the diesels where the most sold, while it was Peugeot which had put a Diesel engine its 504 years ago and only Mercedes followed that example at first. Diesel engines were/are still way more full efficient, indeed lacking horse power though had way more torque which is useful when towing boats or caravans and being almost indestructable. At first the top model was the V6 when introduced, which had to win those over owing a 604 before. The STI was a more powerful 2.0 4 cilinder. The Turbo was the rare one introduced later to come closer to the performance of BMW and Mercedes at the time. Though Peugeot here by some being described as the more "ordinary" French brand, I do like to point out that it was Peugeot who already introduced complete independent rear and front suspension even in there smaller models in the 70's, providing them with best of class cornering performance and while most European roads were not paved with excellent comfort as well. I do remember road testing these against Audi's and Mercedes and on brick roads, those cars couldn't do more than 60 KM/H because the suspension couldn't cope with it, before shaking apart ;-) while all Peugeots could literally fly over it. It's a bit sad to see, they couldn't extend the reliability after the 504 with this 505, nor it had the "grandeur" of the 604. Peugeot recognised that and returned with a 605 and 607 later on, today the top model is the 508 leaving a bit of a gap once more. Until rather recent Peugeot was a family owned business being very successful in their many business undertaking, their pepper grinders were (around 1900) and still are world famous, its always had its own philosophic view, did not copy others, though created its own path, for which I do like them a lot.
Peugeot also used to sell bicycles. My dad had a powder blue Peugeot P8 road bike which he bought out of a flea market. Judging from the 27" (630 mm ISO) wheel size and paint livery on the frame, my best guess is it was from 1981. Which makes modernizing it with newer parts a headache, because the French famously, stubbornly stuck to their own screw thread standards until they "gave up" around 1985 and adopted metric screws.
604 was a hard sell and not that "elegant" in my opinion but extremely reliable. It is funny how they made the 405 as an entry level when it was a 505 "replacement" back in 87 leaving the gap for the 605 to fill it later. I guess that was because of the 505 size and the strange way that the U.S name the ,405s camrys accords as "compact" cars. Nowadays with all this company merging, every brand lost his "soul". Happened to Citroen when was bought by Peugeot and happened to Peugeot after the 206 wich i believe was their last big success. After that they all see pretty bland. The flair from olds 403, 404, 504 is gone
@@Nebulasecura Yeah I'm not a boomer myself as I do enjoy modern amenities, but all cars have the same shit. Android Auto, Apple Carplay, big screen, rear mirror camera blah blah whatever. It's getting boring but at least we have brands like Tesla who aren't afraid to switch it up, for better or worse.
Peugeot was considered the "Schwinn of France" for many years. I wonder if this person who purchased the 505 knew that Peugeot was part 1970's USA bike boom. Peugeot, Motobecane, and Raleigh were premium bikes at local bike shops.
I worked at an American Bike shop in that sold both Raleigh and Peugeot in the late 70's. My job was to take bikes out of the box and get them ready to ride. It was straight forward with the Peugeots. There were never quality problems. Not so, with Raleigh. Every single one needed to have its wheels trued and almost all needed at least one crimped cable replaced.
@@stonetrouble5053 even when I got my first full size bike, a Raleigh in the mid-00s, the bike shop had to do that after pulling it down from the ceiling display! Guess it never got better.
The video I was waiting for. My dad used to have a 505 sedan back when I was a kid, a "SR Injection" one. Here in Argentina are very popular cars, they still are around the streets, even with no maintenance at all. Really solid cars. Great video, Doug!
I love these older 80's - 90's Peugeot's. These are so incredibly rare here in the US but quite common in Europe. I'm sure that customers in Europe and England could get it with a manual transmission. If I could afford one and find one for sale, I'd love to own and drive one of these. This is by far one of the coolest cars you've reviewed yet. Thank you.
It’s a shame these don’t do as well views-wise as the modern ones, I find this way more interesting than yet another unattainable supercar with the exact same aero profile. I know they’re rare there but over here old Peugeots are really common. They were always the more conventional ones than Renault or Citroën - that’s probably why they bought Talbot (but the financial strain from that purchase contributed to exiting the US market).
My first car was an 1987 505! I loved it! It felt so futuristic and eons ahead of similar vintage American cars. I loved the coin storage! Doug missed the biggest quirk of the 505 - the horn is a tiny button at the end of the blinker stalk!
my citroen xsara had that same style horn. It was also my first car. Got it from my uncle, drove it for two days and in third day clutch got fucked. I sold it to junkyard and month later I bought new xsara but it was "exclusive" model with abs and air conditioning. I have owned it now maybe three months and it really is a nice car. Ofcourse I dream bout real american muscle but I gotta wait for few years.
I like when you do these kinds of reviews. Average older cars you used to see on the streets from the 70's, 80's and 90's. The bring you back to a time when things were very different. That's nice to see.
@Lurch7861 I drove an '87 Caprice Classic in high school and loved it. The thing was a tank and had those big bench seats. Probably the most comfortable car I ever owned. It was fun to drift it around, in the snow, as well.
I was actually excited when I saw that you reviewed a 505 in one of your intros. So when the video came I had to watch it. I don't know when was the last time I saw a 505 over here in France It was a long time ago. I'm not so into French cars but this one is pretty cool. In France, we got the 505 turbo with up to 200hp. A V6 with 170hp was also available. When it comes to hypercars you know that they are going to be expensive, fast, and stuff. You see them all over youtube. So it's nice to see more of the quirky and weird cars. Maybe not many people are going to watch it but I enjoyed it.
Seattle had quite a few of these on the streets. The 505 sedan had excellent ride quality and excellent handling. Rode like a much larger car. Very exceptional in many respects. My favorite car. 85 out of a hundred.
Hey Doug! I much prefer these types of reviews....I'm actually finding all the supercar and new car reviews quite boring to be honest. These older, quirky cars are just more interesting!
Cars for normal people are always more interesting in my opinion. It's interesting to know how many monthly salaries (average) were needed to buy these cars...
These were crazy popular in Argentina during the 80's and 90's. You can actually still see quite a few of them on the streets today. Also, since you're talking about weird french cars, how about a video on the Renault Fuego? Cheers from Patagonia!
I don't recall seeing 505's when I lived in Argentina during the 80s, although I remember seeing P 405, the Fuego, Ford Falcon, Sierra and XR4, Fiats, and a rare Volkswagen 1500.
I remember frequently seeing a Peugeot sedan, probably a 405 or 505, parked on the street in Uptown Minneapolis about 10 years ago. I always assumed that it was some sort of import, I had no idea that they used to sell these in the US.
Dont think the 405 ever made it to the US. I had a 1989 405 1.9 GR when they first came out. It was a great 4 door car. Amazing handling, almost sport car like. Only had about 115bhp, but as they didnt weigh much 0-60 was a fair 8.5 seconds.
@@dj_paultuk7052 no, they sold the 405 in America. I remember the 405 Mi-16 being comparison-tested by Motor Trend against the fifth-generation Mitsubishi Galant. This would be circa 1989 I believe.
@@TypeVertigo Thats cool. I think in the EU the Mi-16 was the most BHP per litre for a N/A engine at 1.9 at that time. Some dyno tests showed they were actually just over 170bhp.
You didn't get in the back seat! Also, I believe that the door mounted seatbelt was not supposed to be unlatched. You were supposed to slide in. That was due to US airbag regulations. At this point in time, cars were supposed to have airbags or automatic seatbelts. This was supposed to count as an automatic seatbelt. In practice, people did what you did and just unbuckled the belt.
My 1990 and '91 Corollas had those. I never liked them, but they were probably better than the ones on tracks. I can't believe Doug didn't figure that out or look in the owner's manual.
RE: Seatbelt. I was thinking the same. There were many cars with this setup in this era. It should extend far enough to not necessitate unbuckling the shoulder belt.
Good thing, all cars from this era never had automatic seatbelts or buckle on the front doors, at least in Europe. I never understood why US regulations were decades behind rest of the world, I guess US never signed UN's 1955 agreement?
@@automation7295 The US passed a law requiring the installation of "passive restraint systems" in vehicles starting with the 1990 model year. This was intended to require installation of airbags, but automakers got creative and realized that an automatic seatbelt was also a "passive restraint system." For the 1992 model year the law was rewritten to specifically require airbags. Cars prior to 1990 and after 1991 had traditional 3-point seatbelts. We weren't behind on regulations, we were ahead with requiring airbags; it was just unfortunate language in the regulation that allowed these "automatic" seatbelts for a couple of years.
@@stephenj4937 The irony is an airbag is pretty useless without a seatbelt to hold you in position...and I believe they won't fire if the seatbelt isn't buckled.
They made them really late even 1994 I think. They had steel bumpers and looked ancient. If I remember they stopped making the 405 but still made the 504 pick up.
@@chrishart8548 they made the 504 pickup from 1979 through 1996 and sold them elsewhere throughout the world up intil the 2010's I believe. I've got an 87 and it feels like a 60's car because it basically is 😂
I was wondering why there wasn't any review of Peugeot and other French car brands in America. Today, I got my answer. This car was pretty popular along with 404, 405 & 406 in Nigeria back in 70s, 80s and 90s. Even today, Peugeot is still popular with an assembly plant in Kaduna. Thank you Doug for bringing up this amazing memory.
I think '92 was the last year for Peugeot in the USA, but in '92 all you could get was a 505 wagon. You could get the turbo sedans with a 5-speed. The 505 came before the 405, the 405 was introduced to try to keep their USA market, but it failed. Peugeot did offer a 2.8 V6 in their 505 models towards the end, but the Turbo 2.2 was the top of the line. Don't step on that pedal or get into it too hard, you'll blow the trans or the head gasket ... i know from experience.
This kind of videos of cars like this is why I like Doug. I can watch a McLaren review anywhere but only Doug goes in depth with stuff like this. Thank you for keeping this going
505 was not the higher model at that time, but one of the oldest from late 70's (79). The top of the line was the 605 V6 turbo, started in 1989. The 505 GTi was the must in big family sport cars in the mid 80's, but was too big and expensive so the 205 GTi 1.9L and 1.6L was more successful. Technically, the 505 was the direct rival of the CX. Edit: but yes, in the USA, it was the highest model available.
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing from across the pond. The seat belts are very strange on this 505. I used to own two 505's, one after another, here in the UK, and I knew two other people that had them, and they all had normal 3-point seat belts. As for the two row of back seats on the wagon, here in the UK, they were only meant for families with say, four children, and never meant for transporting adults in the back.... Also here in the UK and Europe, we also had the much larger 604 and 605 models, which were the flagship models here, in the UK at least.... Many thanks again...
P.S. The 505 was never a luxury model here in the UK, it was just a base model family car. They may of been more luxurious to drive on the road for handling though compared to some other brands. The only luxury models of Peugeot I knew of in those days were the some of the 605's with mostly larger engines....
These are so so much more interesting than all those supercars
Yep. I know Doug actually has more views on those, and thats why he caters more to that crowd, but it gets boring pretty fast, specially if it is just another Mclaren.
Not really….
These are the words of a true car enthusiast.
You see, this is why the ice caps need to melt. Polar bears like yourself might finally lose internet access
@@user59371 yeah, really.
I'll be honest,
I only ever watch the videos where Doug reviews strange, weird and oddball cars. The top of the line sports cars and beacons of modern luxury and power just don't interest me as much as an 8-seater Peugeot station wagon from back in the day.
These kinds of videos will always be loved!
Agree. Most modern car all look and feel the same with their perfect technology, all packed with screens. Also, after a while the Nth variant of a 911 or the latest McLaren special edition with infinitesimal changes with respect to the standard version start to be boring.
100% agree
Same here...
We are the minority sadly.
...and it's more likely that I buy a 1991 Peugeot than a 2022 Bugatti! 😉
I don't care if this video isn't considered popular, I love this stuff! Keep it going Doug.
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Finally it's here
These obscure car reviews are my favorite ones
For real real.
@@Trainy2 "Good" car reviews are still great; I'll take any quirks and features I can get. But these "shitty" cars are in a league of their own.
@@hereisthefullvid8934 bruh
The 505 was one of the worlds first multi fuel cars, they could run on gasoline, diesel, ethanol and even rapeseed oil , the service intervals were a staggering 30,000 miles and the whole engine could be removed and replaced in under 8 minutes , it was an engineering masterpiece :-)
Did they?
@@rodinas4477 Yeah Peugeot from this era were pretty much bullet proof, they still are running all over Africa and south America beaten to death but still working. Peugeot's reliability like most French brands took a hit during the late 90's and 2000's because of extreme cost cutting strategies so its hard to believe but as a whole they have historically been very well engineered.
Do your research before talking out of your ass, none of that is true for the USA 505 model and I doubt it was true for any other 505 model. If it had a Diesel, it only ran on Diesel, Kerosene or Jet Fuel. It wasn't the White diesel engine that was put in Dueces and NO WAY, you were pulling a 505 engine in 8 mins ... I owned a bunch of 505s and you are full of it.
I see the ford freestyles idea chamber just by looking at this car 😅
@@redwithblackstripes Wrong !!!
Doug, I will always prefer those videos with the weird and quirky cars over those modern cars. Million dollar supercars are ten a penny these days, and modern SUVs are completely over the top with their ridiculous size and equipment. Give me an old weird car any day.
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Finally it's here
A crososver is so much more interesting than a supercar.
Doug: but the views 😤😤😤😤😤
I'm sick of SUVs and crossovers. They all look the same and they have no soul.
This car is a legend in my country Nigeria. Very tough car, suspension is very strong and could go over potholes faster. Engine is so analog and so easy to fix. This car was part of my childhood from mid 80s to even early 2000s we still had them assembled here. Love this video. Good one.
Gross
9ja! Kilonshele?!
Not enought reliabe for them!🤣
@@augure2589 Not even a 505 can take the beating a Nigerian can give to a car lmao...
It's much more interesting than another "limited" Mclaren review.I would be just happy to see more of these kind of cars.
Doug: but the views😤😤😡😠😠
I guess you hate people for like cars that you don't like?
Those are interesting as well imo because they are unique. Compare that to another Jeep video with a different power train...
Same!
A new exhaust, 20 more hp and a few extra carbon fiber details always seem so lame for a review.
My 1982 Peugeot 505 Wagon 5-speed was my daily driver for several years in the early 2000s. It was one of the sturdiest, most reliable, and most comfortable cars that I've ever owned. I enjoyed seeing one again in your fun video. Thank you!
My dad was dedicated to his 505 sedan and kept driving it in LA until 2004. The best part of driving it was chatting with people who had one back in their country. Weird cars bring so much more joy to the world than "good" cars. Thanks for the video!
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The 505 was an amazingly good car. Build quality, ride quality, reliability, ease of service.
My dad had a 505 until 92 when he got his E36 BMW 325i. Still his daily driver.
Amen I second that comment. I drive an old Saab and have ZERO interest in any new car laden in the technology but soulless as the devils innards!
@@adhamadoh2998 Getting parts in the US was the biggest problem.
THIS is why I watch Doug's reviews. Oddball classics thrown in with sports sedans, classic exotics, etc. Every once in a while is a Peugeot wagon, or a Dodge camper van. Brilliant!
it's not Peugeot, it's POOJOW
Just with hed get out of the modern day mindset when reviewing these. Center window switches arent that inconvenient, and i cant believe it took him that long to realise that coin pouch icon meant money. Its kind of embarrassing really. He should do more of these because a lot of these weird features were pretty normal. And it would humble him a little more too lol.
@@mihailhidler5400 😅😅😅
This certainly isn't an oddball car in Europe (except for the funny US bumpers then..)they're getting kinda scarse now but they used to be on the roads here by the thousands.
@@ZerokillerOppel1 in the somewhat affluent suburb of NYC I lived in during the late 80’s/early 90’s these were a common sight as well until the soccer moms traded these and their Volvo wagons in for Cherokees, Explorers, etc. once the Peugeot dealers left the US and having an SUV was the car accessory of the moment.
In the 80's I got hooked on the brand. At the time I was living in Ft. Worth TX and the dealer sold Peugeot's. Nobody wanted to work on these cars. One day I had nothing to do, the shop manager came to me and said there was a Peugeot to work on if I wanted it. I figured, why not. Next thing I know, I'm working on all of them. I became the "Peugeot Guy". A few years later I moved to California and opened a repair shop in Costa Mesa. Once people found out that I worked on Peugeot's, I was busy. I did that all the way up until 2000. During all of that time I had a 403, 405 Mi16, 4 504's and 3 505's. As time went by, parts became difficult to get. As a result, the cars one by one ended up either in a wrecking yard or sold to someone who was looking for a parts car. Oct. 2021, my son told me about an 1975 504 GLD that was going up for sale at an auction. I got it for $350. Put a battery in it and it started right up. The people at the auction place couldn't believe that the car started up. They didn't know how to start it and had it listed as a "non runner". It's a manual transmission and one of the things that I'm noticing right now is that sometimes I can't get it to go into 2nd gear. It turns out that one of the shifter linkages has a worn out nylon socket at the ball socket. So when it wants to act up, I have to go from 1st into 3rd. I can see where a 3D printer would come in handy. I could just print up my own parts.
The crazy thing it that back on July 3rd 2022, I was out at a remote desert town for their 3rd of July fireworks show and while driving around the town I passed a home where a car caught my eye. I said to my wife that it looked like there was a 505 in the backyard of the house that we just passed. I pulled over and said that I had to go back and check it out. Not only was it a 505, but 4 505's, a Citroen, possibly a DM, was next to them and in another part of the backyard were several 403's and 404's. Then up next to the house in a fenced area was another Citroen, possibly a CX??, a nice looking 504 and behind it a rally 505. Behind the home were a couple of mobile homes, but there was nobody around. As a Realtor there are ways to find out who the owner(s) are of a property. I'm not going to disclose where these cars are, because for me, finding these cars is like finding buried treasure. I've been in contact with the owner of the property who is also the owner of the cars. I want to know what the story is with the cars, how they came to have them and what are the future plans for the cars. I would hate to see these cars end up in a junkyard or sold off as scrap metal. My wife will divorce me if I even buy one of those old Peugeot's. But hey, how often do you find buried treasure?!
Why didn't people want to work on them tho- can't be that hard?
@@Mcfreddo They were no more difficulty to work on than any other car. They were a little quirky. Repair manuals a lot of times were in French. Translated manuals were terrible. Wiring diagrams were a science of their own in figuring out. In the US, parts availability was a huge issue. I had to get my parts from Grove Motors in San Louis Obispo, CA. Peugeot Renault Volvo (PRV), was that if you were not part of the dealer network, Peugeot didn't want to have anything to do with you. Once we had a 605, a model that was never sold in the US, that a French diplomat drove came into our shop. The 605 had a weird shock/leveling system setup. This car needed front shocks. We contacted the dealer first. They laughed and said that it wasn't possible to get them. We contacted PRV and their response was, "since the car was never imported/sold in the US, we're not going to provide you with the parts". They didn't even care that the car was driven by a French diplomat. It just so happened that my father was going to be traveling to Norway on business in a couple of days. So while he was there he was able to buy the shocks from a Peugeot dealer in Oslo, Norway and brought them back with him. That's how we got that car fixed. We never saw the car again because the diplomat went back to France and the car went with him.
@@JRMagoo I see. They didn't help themselves at all.
@@JRMagoo Damn, there is an v6 3.0L 605 abandon in a backyard in front of my work, since i'm in 2nd floor i can watch the car everyday, the driver window is down 2 inches, I went two times to tell the owner to please lift the window, I literally can't see this anymore, the woman says is their son's car and she doesn't have the keys, this winter we had 2 foot of snow, I close my eyes and imagine how the interior is. It really hurts me watch this kind of jewel abandon.
@@DiegoOrtiz-nf9fk 605 or 604? 604, which was a fairly common car in the US, came with two options, a diesel engine or a V6. Which was the early PRV engine that was also in the Volvo and the DeLorean. The later PRV V6 engine was mechanically a better engine, but most of the time when problems came around, the people replaced them with either a Check or Ford V8. There was a company in Fountain Valley, CA that had the conversion kits.
But either way, it's sad that the car is being left like that. You can be pretty sure that the interior is destroyed.
My 75 504 GLD is occasionally used in films and videos. So it makes me a little bit of money.
On the contrary Dugg. This is one of your finest videos because it’s different. Everyone does Bugattis and lambos nowadays. This is why you differentiate from the norm! Enjoyed every minute of it! 👍
Thanks, Doug! It's more interesting to watch cars like this, than watching another "new" McLaren model, which looks just the same as an "old" one.
Yeah Doug knows that and feels the same way which is why he usually cannot wait to get his hands on something like this.. The supercars are just something that has to be done for relevance sakes
What is the interesting of this cardbox?
seen more hypercars than I have these french shitboxes
@@julianc.6589 it's a classic from an old era
Hmm, интересно! Вы смотрите его? Молодец!:))
My daily commuter car for years, I loved the stereo and the smooth ride, slowly all the luxury features broke and I was left with a basic car that still ran for many, many years!
How many miles?
@@TouretteTV96 220,000 miles!! No engine work and original clutch!
@@TheBonsaiZone not bad. I’m shocked. Didn’t expect that from a French car.
@@Mabeylater293 The 505 is very reliable. They are still a common sight in Africa, running under extremely difficult conditions for decades.
I am watching this video and it´s about 2000% more interesting than another silly new Bugatti. Please keep doing these every once in a while, Doug!
Bugatti's are not silly shut your mouth
not alone there mate
Here's the thing about Bugattis and cars of that sort. They're boring. Just more luxury, a knob more made of billet aluminium, a bit more power, a tweak here and there, but always the same. Just more of it. I mean, that's ok but it's really not all that interesting.
@@manoman0 I think it might be that everybody has seen expensive cars of that sort and there's so many cheaper quirky cars like this one that people haven't even heard of.
+1
In Kenya we called this the ‘flying coffin’ along with its 504 predecessor. They saw widespread use as public passenger transport over mid- to long distances, and were driven like bats out of hell, with predictable results. Hence the name.
It doubles as a hearse .
These are the exact sort of videos that made me start watching Doug's channel. This is so much more interesting than a new unobtainable hypercar or bland infotainment packed crossover. Everyone is reviewing new cars and supercars, I want to see people elevate obscure and overlooked cars.
I'd rather watch a video of this or some weird old Saab than the latest most limited edition $3M Lamboclarenarri. I love seeing reviews of cars I could potentially see on the road or even buy that are surprisingly quirky.
Doug's driving and reviewing style suits these sorts of cars. There's really no point in him reviewing supercars or other performance vehicles. It would be like asking my grandma to review a pair of boxing gloves or a nuclear warhead. Leave the fast cars to people like Chris Harris or Randy Pobst etc.
@@raytrace2014 And then get to the Dougscore part of the and he gives some car with bonkers acceleration a "6" because reasons.
@@raytrace2014 We had these legendary cars in Jamaica as taxis both gas & diesel .One night 16 of us rode in one coming from a party & the damn thing runs like it's the driver alone in it. 😅😅😅. They were sooo good we nicknamed them " Steel Donkey"😅😅😅
I grew up in France. This was the "bourgeois" catholic family with many children's car. In France, the 3 brands are very different. Peugeot was "bourgeois", Citroën was futuristic, and Renault was popular. You still see a lot of 505 in Africa because they are easy to fix and impossible to kill. I loved that video! Thanks
That's really interesting to know. I grew up with Renaults in the family. Renault 16, 12, 9, 21, Laguna.
I'm from Germany. For me Renault and Peugeot are "normal" cars with Peugeot being a little more luxurious and reliable. Citroens are strange and different cars, except from mid 90s onwards, where they became quite normal, at least for some years due to being pretty identical to the Peugeots of that era under the body.
I really like the Peugeot line from 404 all the way to 505.
A really good, reliable car. In France the car for conservative families. Like Mercedes. Space and comfort. Of they had More Money, some bought a Citroën Cx. The Renault 25 was for more progressive people.
But Peugeot is a Protestant family
My parents had the wagon version of the Peugeot 504 (the predecessor to the 505), and the stadium seating was amazing, as we kids could see out over the road. The suspension was these huge McPherson struts and it rode high, which is why they were popular in Africa. They felt indestructible.
The 504s were famous for their overbuilt suspension and chassis. Probably why they were called the 'King of African roads'
I often see the pickup/ute version parked outside of a workshop in my area
The old 504SWs are more or less SUVs of the time with the high suspension and tough build, legendary vehicles.
@@GabagoolGaming I fully understand why, it seems that if kept in dry climate and properly serviced, they can go on virtually infinitly. The De Dion type rear suspension has been said to be a great part of the reason for why these cars have such a terrific ability to go where not many other road cars can, The original ancestor is the 404 line and for that part i remember riding in a sedan of that kind as a kid for a drive to a day out in a forrest - the last part of the road was rather a cattle trail but that car had no problem taking us all forth and back without even having to get out on the last stretch to relieve it of weight. It was also one of the last cars beside the russian LADA (Fiat 124/125 clone) to have a hole for a starting crank up front, just in case). And the diesel engines seems to run on most anything close to the dedicated fuel, common house warming oil the most usual substitute but home inventors are said to have a few running on used frying oil (needs some inventional work but it can be done) As an adult, i once loaned a 505 and was quite impressed by the stiffness of it and liked the very rugged feel of that car that you rarely get in something more modern, On the downside i discovered a leak on top of the the fuel tank when filling it up, due to rust... seems common. I´ve heard that the two reasons why you seldom see one anymore here in Sweden (it was a fairly common car back in its day) is for one that the reasonably fresh ones was bought cheap and exported to Africa where the sturdiness was more appriciated and second less because of their poor capability to withstand rust in our hard climate (as for most 70s cars, new and not very well tested sheet metal and paint was of poor quality - add some plastic foam insulation in empty body caviities to reduce noise and you have a recipe for self-destruction, Still i have spotted a couple of mighty fine station wagons in traffic this summer, no doubt though that these two has been hibernating through the winters. Might add that the 505 spawned the slightly more upmarket 604 series (but even more prone to rust!). The front and rear axles and in some versions their engines were also used in the ill-fated Talbot Tagora which was initally a Chrysler Europe project adopted by the PSA with their company overtake. An interesting side line of the 504/505 is that the wagons were also built as 4.wheel driven with the surname Dangel, relating to the company that made the conversion - except for the ones built on license in China where the last related models were built in ´99 according to Wikipedia.
did they own a Peugeot really or a POOJOW?
I worked for a hi-fi speaker distributor in the 2000s and I’d do deliveries in a 505 diesel wagon.
It was so slow, people hated me on the LA-area freeways. But it had enough room for full-size floor speakers for a multichannel system.
Good fuel mileage too.
I’d much rather see the curious “ average “ cars like this than a Bugatti. Personally , I think the 505 has a great looking front end. I always liked the sculpting and the aggressive look.
Agreed, I dont care about the new super duper luxury 2 million dollar plus cars with all the screens and crazy overpriced optional extras. I just want a quirky average car with genuinely neat features.
@@gaveintothedarkness With you, and both.
absolute facts
@Steven g Stop it, you are poor yourself. I sure can't afford a Bugatti for million dollars but I don't drive cheap cars (plural, yes) and still these old cars or actually quirky cars are waaaay more interesting - especially the way Doug is showing them off.
🤨👀👀 sorry I’m just looking around to see who asked, I can’t seem to find them
Doug, please keep doing videos like this. These old, weird, forgotten vehicles are much more interesting to a lot of us than the hottest new crossover or supercar.
Estoy de acuerdo contigo
Totally agree, I don't even care for modern cars anymore, all boring means of transportation with no character.
@@j.pietrcwb9141 Couldn't have said it better myself.
Agreed!
These were fairly common in Australia. Not so weird on another market.
I’m gonna show this video to the next person who says that they “must” have a full-size SUV because they have 2 kids.
This is a car from an era when people were more concerned about the function of their vehicle than how nice the material around the windshield defroster vents felt. The priorities in modern cars are very odd and unfortunate. The gear shift lever may not be pretty but it worked 30 years ago and it still works now. The overly complicated push buttons and rotary knob shift mechanisms (basically just sensor inputs) will definitely not last that long.
Wagons make even more sense these days due to the ongoing fuel crisis
Lots and lots of families cope just fine with a hatchback. 3 children in my family were fine with a hatchback for each parent.
th-cam.com/video/KFVDCSgQNwc/w-d-xo.html
because now we have the fake positive crap people / leberals crap of Instagram every thing fake every thing in 80 s 90s use to be genuine
I want more quirky cars like that! This kind of videos are more interesting than that ones with supercars.
The seatbelt leaves me perplex. We had the same car in France and the seatbelt was like any car so I have no clue why they came up with this system here. Was due to different regulations, similar to the bumpers? In any case, this 505 is very well kept and I must say that the design aged quite well! I really wished Peugeot returned to the U.S. and Canada! Thanks for the great video!
It was an interim regulation (called passive seat belts, because it didn't require occupant action) pending the fitment of air bags when those seatbelts ceased.
@@normanvingoe1368 Thanks for taking the time to explain, Norman.
You were supposed to leave the shoulder strap buckled Doug and slide in behind it when entering and leaving.
Shoulder strap was only unbuckled in an emergency.
We had a couple of VW Rabbits that had this system. It was cheaper than the "motorized mouse" used on most cars. If left buckled, you couldn't help getting slapped in the forehead while getting in. Getting out with it buckled was asking to get your neck sliced by the hard and thick 80's nylon.@@michaelplunkett8059
My 1991 VW GTI had the exact same seatbelt setup. Being a German car guy, l’m surprised Doug never encountered one before. I thought it was a fine way of doing a three point belt…as the poster above says, you just left the shoulder belt attached at all times, and sit down like normal. On the plus side, l always found the belt a more convenient way to close the door than the armrest! Just grab it at your chest and pull the door closed.
When he lifted the cargo hatch I was shocked at how much space there was still! They created a 4D multi dimensional wagon where the space never ends!
Thought the same thing. Compare this to three down mid-sized SUVs. This actually appears to have more room.
th-cam.com/video/KFVDCSgQNwc/w-d-xo.html
Well sure, easy to do when you make 6 rear seats that are all unusable by adults.
Le Tardis 🤣
@@alittlebitgone Depends. Doug is 6'3', he's very tall'. This car was probably designed for average 5'8'' or 5'9'' people
Hey Doug, it's reviews like these that keep me coming back to your channel. I can get the Lamborghinis and Aston Martins everywhere.But it's the quirky and interesting cars that make you think. Like how the Citroen DS was so ahead of its time. Or how small FIATs basically are Italy in a nutshell. That's also what made Top Gear great once: Real enthusiasm for cars and their history.
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Weird and quirky cars that are also rare are the best!
Totally agree and voice the same opinion
I was so excited to see he uploaded an old peugeot review, since I own a 1972 Peugeot 204, and my dream is Doug would review it one day...
yes, i am always also kinda disappointed when new Doug’s video is some boring supercar where is just carbon/alcantara/whale foreskin and otherwise … nothing cool. Is waste to watch: but these are interesting, especially while Doug tries to grasp european stuff of the time;)
No Doug, this review will get good views because it’s rare to find 505 reviews with such details as yours. Amazing review as always, shame it didn’t come with manual, this car is iconic, it was so popular in europe, africa and middle east. This car is so much more remembered than other cars more than you think.
Even the basic 505's are extremely rare here 😦
The 504 takes the crown though. Doug should review it.
My family had a couple of these 505s back in the day. The key was to buy the Turbo Diesel version. That thing would run on anything you dumped in the tank. Filled it with gas once by accident and the thing still ran great. Got a couple hundred thousand miles on it. Unstoppable.
2 little added bonus about the 505: The sedan version came with an independent rear suspension and a limited slip diff; while the wagon had a more classic solid axle to accommodate more weight. The sedans versions are known to handle better!
A friend of mine had the sadan version in the 90s and I have to say I handled very well. A wonderful car.
Did it also come with Positraction and in mint green? Asking for a friend in jail in Alabama awaiting trial. Thanks.
The wagons all had LSD too.
Peugeot is the "conservative" French brand, even more so at the time. When Citroën was always trying new technologies and Renault was looking to open new market segments no one had thought of, Peugeot was just making normal serious cars for serious people. So it makes sense it isn't very quirky or different from rivals: they were aiming at "tried and tested" solutions. Which is the reason why it was popular for so long in some markets, it had a very good reputation for sturdiness and reliability.
Alpine:
French Porsche
Brand disappeared in 1995, but returned in 2017
Citroën:
"Art on wheels"
Matra:
Somehow sporty and the inventor of the European minivan (Renault Espace)
It had the three seated Bagheera and Murena (labeled as Matra-Simca and Matra-Talbot)
Brand disappeared in 1983
Peugeot:
Conservative, sometimes compared to Mercedes-Benz
Renault:
Somehow between Peugeot and Citroën but also has pricey models
Simca:
Similar to Renault
Brand disappeared in 1979 in favour of Talbot
Talbot:
French-British brand. It was more upmarket than Peugeot and Citroën. It had a strong precence in France and the UK.
First disappeared in the late 30's
It returned in 1979 to replace Simca
Talbot disappeared for good in 1993
Renault is currently the conservative producer from France. Search the new 208 or 408. They look like space shuttle's in comparison to their competitors.
I own a Citroën SM and I’ve tried to reach out to Doug to get him to review it but I live in the Southeast.
@@stoneylonesome4062 but we know Jay Leno loves his ,is it true that the V6 wa a cut down Maserati v8?
@@tonybooth4 I used to work for Jerry Hathaway at SM world in SoCal, who was renown as the world’s foremost expert on the SM. Jerry always said that the engine was loosely based on one of their V8 designs, but heavily altered. It was certainly originally planned to have a V8.
My grandpa had a 505 GTi (Euro model) and I'm surprised to see how different it is from this one. The centre console in the American car is completely different, so is the instrument cluster, looks like the one from the 405. The seatbelts were normal 3 point ones and they were attached to the B Pilar not the door so I'm guessing this is an American regulation thing, so are the bumpers which protude out much more than the Euro models. The seats are completely different, the American seats are much, uglier, thicker and have no head rests which is bizarre because it's a more modern car than my grandpa's (beautiful alcantara seats).
The original Euro back door didn't have electric windows which I guess explains why they put them in centre for the US model (they could reuse the same door panels).
The reliability of the car was exceptional, not only I drove this 20 year old car without any issues, but I thrashed it mercilessly (hey it had a GTi badge) and nothing broke down. We were so impressed in my family the next two cars we bought were Peugeot too (a 206 and a 607) and were not as good as this 505.
In terms of power the Euro version had more power and with the stick shift it was a pretty fast car for the era.
Unfortunately all the changes made to adapt it to the US market ruined it a bit and perhaps that's why it didn't sell well there while the rest of the world loved it.
The seatbelts are an American regulation thing. Doug has been told about them on other cars, he's kind of an idiot saying the same nonsense again. It's a cheap way of doing an 'automatic' belt, you're supposed to leave it buckled to the door all the time, that way it's buckled when you get in without you having to do anything. For a few years, car companies could do that idiocy instead of installing airbags, it was something they lobbied for (along with seatbelt laws) as a way of cheaping out.
My mother had an 1989 309 1.9 gld for years. It was good car and had a great engine. It done about 450000 miles with no major issue, just regular maintenance
I agree with you, and as you said, the x05 generation veeeery reliable (I'm talking about the whole line up, 205, 305, 309, 405, 505 and also the 605), the next generation was very ugly and waaaay less reliable, the worst in recent Peugeot history, they made it a bit more reliable in the x07 generation, but they were still a bit ugly IMO, the recent x08 look damn sharp and cool
@@ilyasovich very true. The newer ones are more flimsy. my uncle bought a white 205 gti brand new. Another brilliant car. Had that for ages too
What finished the French automakers is North America was the cost of maintenance vs Japanese automakers. Japanese cars in the 70’s and 80’s were well engineered, efficient and easy to work on. But even into the 80’s Peugeot and Renault were still using engineering from the 50’s and 60’s that automakers in the US and Japan had moved past. So the French cars were relatively harder to work on, which made for higher repair costs, which made it more expensive to run in comparison to say, a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry.
As a French i'm glad to see old FR cars sometimes in your channel, and i guess it's fun for US ppl to see this too because FR cars are rare in US and it's very "exotic" for you, American (like US old sedan cars are rare in France). This car was unbreakable, many got like 500 000 + kilometers (310 000 + in miles) on the odometer
Hey Doug, as soon as I saw this post for the 505 wagon I loudly exclaimed YES!! My wife asked me what? I excitedly said “Doug did the 505 wagon!” She then promptly left the room. This video truly made my day. I absolutely love station wagons, or estates as our cousins across the pond refer to them. When I was a boy living in central Indiana, this was probably 1984, one of my fathers friends visited us with his young family. This man and his young family pulled into our driveway in a strange station wagon. As they parked and came over to greet my family I ran to this large beautiful car. Circling it slowly in amazement I came to the back of the car to see the large badge “Peugeot” it read in big letters. I thought what is this? Pew-gēē-ought is how I heard it in my head. My phonetic education was failing me and left me more confused. I quickly ran to my father and asked “Dad, what is that car?” He said to me “That is a French car, it is a Peugeot”, saying it correctly to me I loved hearing it, the word was astounding to me. “Peugeot!” I said loudly and repeatedly, it was obvious I was fascinated by this car. So my fathers friend explained to me that Peugeot manufactures bicycles and that he owned a large cycling shop in northern Indianapolis, that’s why he loved the car. That’s when I was given a ride in my first French car. Long story but that is what your review of the 505 wagon gave me this Sunday morning. My fond childhood memories of my ride and learning about a Peugeot.
This car was very common here in Europe through the 80s, but in 1991 it was obviously outdatet, since it went into production in 1979.
I'd really like to see more older cars, no matter if they are from the US, Europe or Japan.
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Finally it's here
Not too bad considering they made the 504 from about 1967 until about 2006.
Does it matter if a vehicle get outdated? People still own them, likely because they can't afford or don't want a newer car. You probably complain when all cars gets outdated.
People only seem call a car "outdated" after years, but never call a tree "outdated" after centuries. Why do people start calling trees or people "outdated" as well?
@@automation7295 It might not matter if a car slowly gets outdatet while you own it, but you wouldn't buy a car as new at a point when there are more modern models available. The 505 had a very long production run, but in its last years sales went down.
@@automation7295 What are you on about?!?!
Never in my life I thought I'd see Doug reviewing a Peugeot 505. The normal non-wagon version is still one of the (if not THE) comfiest cars I've ever driven. Extremely spacious interior for the time and those seats, man, it's like seating on your old comfy couch. The 504 was awesome too, it was so comfortable and reliable most taxi drivers chose it here in Argentina. The Argentinian 504 taxi is so iconic there's one in the official Peugeot archives in Sochaux, France.
My grandpa had a 504, comfiest car I've ever travelled in.
The 504s were popular in your neighbour Brazil as well, both the sedan and the diesel pick-up truck.
you have obviously never owned a Yugo
@@jacknasty6940 Yugos and russian cars in general were never a thing in South America.
mi viejo tenía un 505 tambien, no rural, pero era una bestia ese auto
As many already mentioned: the 505 - along with others - is still a working horse (esp. shared taxi) in many formerly french influenced countries in Africa.
This is like a breath of fresh air!
My dad had a Peugeot 504 Saloon and a 404 pickup back in the day. These are still very much alive in Kenya 🇰🇪.
I was WAITING for you to get in the back seat, lol!!
Thanks for the video.
Still being used in Senegal 😂😂 as « travel taxi » called « 7 places »…pretty scary
504 wepesi...
I love to see a consensus of people agreeing that they too love seeing weird, quirky and rare cars displayed on the channel. I do enjoy seeing the exuberantly expensive hypercars as well, but they're so profligate that I find myself skipping through the videos just to see the highlights of the car's design where aspects like quality of materials, speed, and handling are givens. But rare consumer vehicles, I'll absorb the content completely!
Agreed! I like seeing these cars too. I'd like to see some random Alfa Romeos and how about the old Sterling!
This car represents the end of the Peugeot which conquered Africa. The 504, 505 and 405 were built incredibly well and were uber reliable and easy to operate. And BTW Doug, this is exactly the kind of video I and many other love!
lol 405 was uber unreliable car, very bad quality car
Do not forget the 1st Simba (Peugeot 404) then later was the Peugeot 504.
Huh?? The 406 was and is an incredible successor and very well-renowned.
@@sawleyram7405 406 is as bad as 405.
@@coltr7561 the 405 was a very reliable car and built very well, my dad had one when I was a kid and it had over 300k on it before he scrapped it lol
I had a 505 while I was a Junior/Senior in high school in 1995/1996. Mine was all white with burgundy interior and just a sedan turbo version. I can tell you from my experience that I truly loved that car, and it did turn some heads in the high school parking lot back in the late 90's. Unfortunately it got harder and harder to find someone to work on the car, and I had to move on. But, thank you Doug for this video!! It brought back so many memories for me! Keep up the amazing work!
YOU WORK ON IT TFYM "i couldnt find anybody to put my pants on" DO IT YOURSELF
If you didnt want to keep the car thats fine but its embarassing to say you couldnt find anyone to work on it. There are females that do their own work on their car pal.
*1992* was the last model year in the US, though they only sold ~2000 cars that year. I owned a 1992 SW8 that was documented as being both the last 505 SW8 sold in the US, and the only one with a manual transmission. Basic 2.2L non-turbo, fast it was not, but it was very willing. They also sold 405S and 405MI16s for model year 1992.
I owned six Peugeots in total from the mid '90s to the early '00s. They were super bargains - I bought that 505 SW8 for $3500 with 90K on it at a time when an equivalent '92 Volvo 945 would have been $15K. And having owned a bunch of those too, the Peugeot was just as reliable and a LOT nicer to drive. But sadly once they got 10+ years old the parts situation became pretty dire and I moved over to Volvos and Saabs.
I'm so happy you reviewed a 505 Peugeot! This was my childhood family vehicle and I was really hoping that you would someday review this car. Ours was an '86 and white with blue leather interior. Ours didn't have the 3rd row but it did have heated front seats! This was also the first car I ever drove. Now it's so rare to even spot one in the road. Kudos!
Love these European brand reviews. You should do a Euro-trip series to review exciting European cars in the continent! (Citroën CV, Renault RS, ...)
And a couple more TVR'S.
Don’t forget the vauxhall astra
The a trip go austialia and cover all the holdens and the ford falcon
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Finally it's here
@@pigpie4581 thanks for reminding me that the astra exists.
I have driven thousands of kilometers in a 505 diesel (NA) with 75HP. It was called "Familiale" - with the bench seat in the boot - here in Europe and it had standard seatbelts. I love that you have the option to drive without - no annoying warning chimes (maybe it a French thing - still no seat belt warning chimes in my old SmartCar).
As a European I love how Doug always brings up the Toyota Camry as the cheap simple car example that everyone should know whilst a Toyota Camry probably deserves the same car review as the Peugeot for being weird and rare if a TH-camr came across one here in Europe.
They sold them in Europe back in 80s but it got replaced by Avensis in 90s.
Camrys are the rarest thing in europe
@@AA-ti3nr Uh.... no... The Camry never discontiued. You can still buy it today in Europe. The Avensis replaced the Carina... and the Avensis was discontinued in 2018
A Camry is a big luxury Toyota in Europe :D
The early 80s Camry in the UK, was regarded as the ultimate old farts car, even now in the UK, most Toyotas are driven by people over 70 and anyone who has no interest in driving!
Hey Doug, why don‘t you expect this video to be watched much? Me personally, I find it ten times more interesting and joyful to watch you review some bread-and-butter vehicle from back in the days than, say, an electric powered SUV that won‘t be sold before next year or a $ 2 million supercar that noone is ever going to see in real life. Please keep doing that funny oldschool stuff! 👍
maybe i can help you here. soy slurping milennials do not care about cars of this era. and they make the vast majority of people on the internet.
I agree.
🚗🙂
Videos like this are the reason I subscribed to Doug in the first place. The oddities of regular cars are so much more interesting to me than some exotic supercar completely unattainable for a normal person.
I wouldn’t say “none” will be ever to buy a 2 million dollar car, but yes, the majority of people won’t be able to afford that type of price tag kind of car but you’d be surprised how many can, lol.
My dad had two 505 sedans, one 1983 petrol and one 1986 turbo diesel. Superb cars for long trips. Magnific in unpaved roads. I'll always remember traveling with them through Argentinian Patagonia listening The Beatles (on cassettes, of course).
Nosotros también, eramos varios hermanos, viajando por la patagonia, en los 90s, y con uno de estos 505 rural.
Here, in Argentina, Peugeot 505 are still on the streets and you can buy spare parts of these cars very easy. We love french cars (Peugeot, Renault, Citroen). Excelent video!!!
This is amazing! The Peugeot was and still is an absolute icon here in Kenya... Virtually everyone had a Peugeot back then .. specifically the 504 ,.. 505s were also used as public transport vehicles back then...
I actually never knew there was a turbo version...
They disappeared in this market for most of the 2000s when demand shifted to the cheaper 2nd hand Japanese cars and are only making a slow comeback now.
Thanks for this video doug!
Yo! The 504 was a Kenyan icon!
All this time I never imagined a 1991 wepesi could have auto transmission.
@@omondisamuel3649 iknow right!! Alafu turbo!
@@omondisamuel3649 hizo wepesi zilikuwa zinasonga kusonga Nairobi kisumu 4hours
saw this and just went straight to comments to look for hawa wakenya wa wepesi express
I grew up in Norway in the 80’s where this Peugeot model was very popular. My father bought a second hand 81 model in 85 and we had it for almost ten years!
But that seat belt configuration must have been a US special, cause our car had conventional 3 point belts.
The weird seat belt on the door is a 'automatic seat belt'. In 1983 the US mandated all passenger cars be equipped with passive restraints, that is a restraint requiring no action on the part of the car's passengers to operate. Passive restraint could be either airbags or automatic seat belts. With the automatic seat belt the shoulder belt was supposed to remain clipped into the door latch at all times and you just had to maneuver around it while entering or exiting the car. More advanced automatic seat belts would run forward in a track when you opened the door so at to get out of you way better, then run back to the B pillar when the door closed to strap you in.
@@evancourtney7746 thank you very much for the information! 👏👏
Thanks so much for reviewing French cars!
Actually, Peugeot planned to sell the 605 flagship in the US back in the early 90’s (the lighting situation shows the car was ready to be easily adapted with US regulation) but the Franc/Dollar exchange killed it along with the reliability issues of the US spec 405. Since then, many Peugeot projects were studied with a US version in mind (project codes ended with a Z like W2Z or D2Z). The 407 was initially aimed at the US (especially the coupe) but finally never made it, the front overhang was massive to accommodate with the US impact regulation. Then the first gen 508 was also aimed at the US (with a Mitsubishi version in mind), but never made it. So Peugeot saw no point in installing a V6 in the 508 for Europe, and the car never had a V6 because of the end of the US spec version at design phase.
Back to your 505 sunroof, it looks quite aftermarket to me.
Thanks again for reviewing French cars, I’m a huge fan of US spec versions of French cars!
I have a 407, and those long overhang bumpers are exactly why I initially fell in love with it. I also really really loved the look of the elongated hood. The bumpers do make it a little difficult to move around though, not going to lie.
I find it quite strange that the 508 never had a V6 option, considering that the Citroën C5 did.
When I was a kid, my dad had one of these, although his was a sedan with a manual transmission. I think that was his favorite car he ever owned. This really took me back; thank you for doing this video.
It absolutely makes my day when Doug review’s wagons of any kind, tbh the expensive exotic’s are amazing but I prefer his daily drivers and or his odd vehicle reviews .
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I love wagons. Shame you basically can't get any in the states. My all time favorite daily, money no issue is still an Audi RS6 estate.
Thanks for this review. My ex and I had a 1976 Peugeot 504 so this was far more interesting to me than any Bugatti or Mercedes super car. Our Peugeot gave us very reliable service, even in the harsh upstate NY winters, until some idiot totaled it in front of our house New Years Eve (what a cliche). Though under powered, the seats were far and away the best I've experienced to this day, as was the overall ride and handling. The French roads were known to be a lot less developed and paved than ours, and the suspension easily handled anything we ran across.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane, good times...
I agree that "the seats were far and away the best I've experienced to this day." I think the French car interior people work closely with the suspension people when they designed these cars many moons ago. French cars on secondary roads always performed better than other European competitors. From 1977 until 1984, we lived in Europe and remember American ex-pat families having these MB and Volvo wagons.
@@JohnMurrayOP Yes, I remember reading about Peugeot winning several East African road rallies, considering among the most strenuous in the world...
That was a dream car back then here in Argentina. Either this or the Renault 21 were the best you could have back then, other than a Mercedes or BMW of course at a higher price. Loved to see this video, keep bringing the rear cars, I honestly enjoy them a lot more than the new cars
Eso el 505... y si habremos viajado en taxis 504....
si juntás la cantidad de kilometros que los tacheros le hicieron a los 504.... llegas a la luna
Mi viejo tuvo dos sedanes 505, uno francés y uno argentino...eran un sueño los dos... Siempre estoy mirando si aparece alguna rural 505 impecable.
rare cars… 😉
@@alanboro con el 504 de mi viejo solo llegas a la luna, tenía arriba de 300.000 km antes de dejar de funcionar el odómetro.
In the 70's with long gas lines and rationing according to odd even license plates - my dad said eff it - went and bought a diesel *Peugeot **_504_* - 30 miles to the gallon - price was about 35 cents a gallon - no lines - all we had to do was remember where the stations were that sold diesel. Easy enough as there were plenty - and the thing had a range of over 600 miles. The thing was so smooth - you could shift without the clutch when you felt the gears in the right place. We had it for years - and even bought another too.
Turbodiesels are quick AND fuel efficient. I have a Peugeot 407 with a 2-liter engine. The on-paper consumption is 6.0 liters per 100 km (39 mpg), but in the warmer half of the year, it usually hovers around 5.5 (43 mpg). On the highway, it easily goes down even to 4.6 (51 mpg).
It gets a little rough during winter with a measly 6.5 (36 mpg). My overall fuel consumption is also higher than average because I live in the mountains, so my car battles with hills every day, but it does so effortlessly.
I grew up to meet almost all my uncles with one of it. Some had two. When our father passed away in 2008, he left two behind. Both Peugeot 505 SR trim level, having front power windows and rear manual windows. One of them came with double carburetor and is still in existence. The sound of the door when you open it is really nostalgic. -Nigeria.
22:00 these reviews of quirky/older non exotic cars keeps your subscribers around. Your channel was built on these types of cars. Don’t ever let them go 😊
When I was a kid, my father bought two 505s. He was a professional photographer and he used them for hauling equipment to shoots. He loved them for some reason. Probably because they were quirky. Thanks for the memories Doug!
And an excellent ride feeling. Suitable for on-the-go shots.
Wow that is so amazingly and totally not interesting to anyone but you. Do you really think people came here to find out what Ian's dad had as a car when he grew up?
@@slowery43 Apparently at least 41 people do. And maybe that includes you.
In your place, I’d find something else to waste my time on.
405, 504 and 505 were really common down here in Argentina, you can still see them from time to time, the new 208 is probably the favorite car for young people, I didn't knew that there weren't any french cars in the US, I find it really weird because here i'm really used to see lots Peugeot, Renault and Citroen cars every day.
Same!
I owned one of these (sedan 505 STI) in my youth. Incredibly comfortable car. The suspension was like waterbed. The downside was that it didn't have much "sportiness" and feel. But I really enjoyed the car. Actually I owned a 605 and 607 too but that's another story. Good cars, all of them.
what is best 605 or 607?
Yes amazing cars
@@raycroal Probably the 607. The 605 was notorious for electrical gremlins.
For those born with a boney booty, French cars, especially Peugeot, offer more amazing seat bottoms than most cars. Even though the seats are small, they offer way better comfort. I have often thought if I built a mongrel, I would use seats from a Citroën, Renault, or Peugeot.
@@nkt1 i saw an immaculate silver 605 v6 for sale with black leather it looked superb much better than 607 although i do like 607 too
My grandfather used to LOVE Peugeots back in the 70s, 80s and 90s he used to have a Peugeot 404 saloon and pickup he then bought a Peugeot 505 SW8 which was fully decked out with all the options. This may sound absurd, but I remember being in his 505 when I was 3, but that same year he sadly passed away and my family sold his cars his legacy (well to me and my family) will be remembered forever.
My father had a Peugeot 404 , he bought new in 1972, I guess was the last product year. The car was very reliable and nice
In Egypt, this car and its predecessor, the Peugeot 504, were unrivaled. We had hundreds of thousands of them running all over the country. At least 50% of the taxis were 504 and it remained so until about the year 2000.
They were rather expensive. More expensive than the Italian cars dominating the market back then because they were affordable. But anyone who could afford to buy one of them would not think twice.
Interesting...
It was similar here in Argentina. The 505 wasn't as common, but the 504 is one of the classic cars in our country's history, along with the likes of the Renault 12 and the Ford Falcon. All of them can still be seen on the streets.
Yes you’re spot on. I am Egyptian and this was the first car I remember my father owning and there are so many good childhood memories that get brought back every time i see one. Sometimes i wish I could buy one restore it and just keep it as a collectable.
Do you still see 504's in Egypt? I have one and wondering how available the parts are over there
@TheXxPSYCHO Yes, I do. Of course not as before, but they are still running. As for parts and maintenance, there are mechanics and shops in the older parts of Cairo who are specialized in the old Peugeot's only. They have been repairing them for decades.
Hi Doug I watched the video of the Peugeot 505 station wagon with a turbo and extremely practical for families and moving furniture from Kai.
This is great! As a kid born in the 80’s I remember seeing these 505s around in suburban Milwaukee (yes, I was a car guy practically from birth!). I always liked the tasteful conservative styling - clearly it’s aged well, though it’s definitely an 80s car. Pegging this as a Volvo/Saab/Acura competitor in it’s time also makes sense. Our family car was an ‘87 Volvo 240DL and this reminds me a little of that- simple, straightforward, everything you need and nothing you don’t. Plus, it always stood out because the Peugeot symbol is a lion - what kid wouldn’t love that. I love the reviews of the simple everyday cars because hardly anybody kept them. They were just the family car!
Where in suburban Milwaukee did you live? I grew up in Brookfield, but live in southern Waukesha now
@@benkohlmann3473 Mequon! But we moved to Missouri in the mid-1990s. Not too many Peugeots in central Missouri. :) If you wanted to see anything made in Europe beyond a Volkswagen you had to be in Kansas City or St. Louis! Living in the KC area now.
It’s boxy but you can see the aggressive styling breaking out
I'm so glad to see you reviewing one of these - I bought one of these for $500 when I was in highschool and loved it, like any person loved their first car. One of the quirks with mine, which was admittedly a few years older and may have been absent from the one you reviewed was that the horn was on the end of the turning signal stock instead of the steering wheel. This meant that every time the horn was needed the driver would first mash the steering wheel, then when they remembered that the horn was on the stock, would first push the right-hand stock and wash their windows, and later remember it was on the left hand signal stock and honk the horn, this was usually well after any impending danger had long passed. I have a feeling a number of these cars were likely crashed with very clean windshields.
My first car was the 205. It still had the horn on the left lever. LOL.
Having the horn on one of the stocks was normal for many European cars at that time. Even before airbags was default.
Most PSA cars did that with the horn
// I have a feeling a number of these cars were likely crashed with very clean windshields. //
🤣🤣🤣
306 has it aswel
I still remember my friends dad who had a 505 back in Sweden. Probably around -82. I was so impressed how modern it was, electrical windows and all those buttons.
Things has changed.
You can still buy a brand new Dacia with wind up windows, no AC and I think even no radio. In Western Europe!
@@Landie_Man Yep, the Access version doesn't even have a radio. Ironically I live in a south american country where even the absolute cheapest car in the market comes with radio, AC, etc. Less airbags than any Dacia though...
@@madelaki in the U.K., some cheap cars won’t have AC
@@Landie_Man The running costs will be fraction of that of a ten year old car, something Doug didn't seem to get in his controversial Mitsubishi Mirage video.
One of the best Car I ever owned in 5+ decades was the 405 MI16 with a 5 spd. A really great car, 158 hp, 2400 lbs and front wheel drive. I liked it so much I bought two (after the first one was totaled).
There is a high performance station wagon by Peugeot called the 508 PSE, which is exclusive to the UK, EU, EEA and Switzerland.
It has a 1.6 litre turbo 4cyl, a PHEV system and AWD making a total of 355 horsepower and 384 pound feet of torque (520Nm), and can do 0-62 in 5.4 seconds.
North America doesn’t get it for sure, but at least it’s sold here in the UK.
probably due to emissions regulations. or the fact that French car builders were sick of the regulations.
Yeh, that 508 PSE station wagon is probably one of my favourite sportswagons, mostly because of the design. It looks absolutely wonderful! So aggressive, stylish, smooth and well put together. Love it
It's an awful car and nobody wants it. Stellantis dealerships are flooded with this turd.
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Finally it's here
@@Jehowy666 Imo it's a great car. It's no e63s or rs6 perfromance wise, but it looks visually better than both of them IMO. Car reviewers says it's a blast to drive, with a great chassis-balance, suspension setup and lots of confidence
9:52 I can't be the only one that thinks the entire dash console just looks so cool. I love the right angles and boxi-ness to it.
Agreed! Alfa Romeo 164 and Milano (Alfa 75) did the right angles very cool too
Keep in mind it was a relatively expensive car back then. But yeah this was around the golden era for functional interiors designed with straight lines
In my opinion, the Lancia Trevi, built from 1980 to 1984, had the most bizarre dashboard of all 80s cars. It was called Swiss cheese.
@@Volker_GR Yes and hardly any Americans at all, even car lovers, know about the Trevi's dashboard. The press never covered that car here and it's a shame. I knew about it because I would buy CAR magazines from UK which were sold on the self here and they often talked about the Trevi. Beautiful dashboard
This IS THE review I wanted. THIS is the car that started my love for the sport sedan. My grandmother has a Black 505 Turbo. The interior sounds and ticks are Hella nostalgic for me.
My parents had a 505 GRi when I grew up in northern Norway. Only two row seating on the Euro spec models of course, but that meant we (mom being the shortest at 6ft1) could fit in it for a summer drive crisscrossing Europe. And in the winter it was a fekkin tractor, when icy almost all the neighbours (Volvos, Audis, Mercedes, Fords etc) had to park their cars down the road and walk up the last hill, but the Tractor never even slipped..
My Dad had one of these in the UK when we were kids about 20 years ago. Since then we've had several cars including a Jaguar F Pace but we all agree the 505 had the COMFIEST seats of any car we've ever had. I still remember them now, they were unreal!
The 505 was an almost unbreakable car, just like its predecessor, the 504. (Ironically, in Europe the estate models were designated ‘Break’.) I’ve had both a 504 Break Familiale (7 seater), an early 1969 model with manual column gearshift, and a 1987 (I believe it was) 505 Break which I drove around east Africa in. The 505 was an excellent touring car on bad roads, never once broke down and felt quite indestructible. No luxury fittings, as on the US versions though. It carried all my travelling and camping in that huge rear space. On many occasions I also slept back there, the rear space was certainly long enough.
It's the first car Doug reviewed which I have actually driven before . The 505 is very loved in Algeria
@@GarrishChristopherRobin777 Unless a pun was intended, that would be shooting brake not break.
I believe the 505 shares the chassis with the earlier 504...
You are very lucky to have owned these legendary cars
must be a good car, as there still are loads of them in africa.
I enjoyed this very much, and the 505 is so odd to me. We didn't get many of these in England, but the later 405 was extremely popular!
If you get the chance to drive or review a 405 with a manual gearbox, especially a station wagon, jump at it. It was a big leap in quality and design, and you still see them on the road today
OMG 505 way better in reliability and quality than 405, 405 was total crap
I believe that the sun roof (skylite) is an aftermarket piece on that car. Sun roofs were available but had better switches that were integrated into the other switchgear.
I really love this video, being from Europe and owning a 406 Coupe myself, I do remember the 505 being introduced, leaving a bit of a gap with the larger 604. The 604 was aimed to give the Mercedes 280 S a hardtime, though I didn't, though provided the French with a French car for its states men. So the 505 was regarded as the "Peugeot gave up" trying to beat Mercedes. It also was the successor of the very successful 504, which was famous for it reliability, hence it was THE car of choice in Africa for a very long time, because they had great ground clearance and despite being only 2 wheel drive where found more common than any Landrover at the time, while it was so reliable with its Diesel engine. So the 505 had to fill some "pretty big shoes" which it did ...a bit. The Turbo was the uncommon one (using a US made 2.0 ) here the 2.0 4 cylinder (by Peugeot) more and the diesels where the most sold, while it was Peugeot which had put a Diesel engine its 504 years ago and only Mercedes followed that example at first. Diesel engines were/are still way more full efficient, indeed lacking horse power though had way more torque which is useful when towing boats or caravans and being almost indestructable. At first the top model was the V6 when introduced, which had to win those over owing a 604 before. The STI was a more powerful 2.0 4 cilinder. The Turbo was the rare one introduced later to come closer to the performance of BMW and Mercedes at the time. Though Peugeot here by some being described as the more "ordinary" French brand, I do like to point out that it was Peugeot who already introduced complete independent rear and front suspension even in there smaller models in the 70's, providing them with best of class cornering performance and while most European roads were not paved with excellent comfort as well. I do remember road testing these against Audi's and Mercedes and on brick roads, those cars couldn't do more than 60 KM/H because the suspension couldn't cope with it, before shaking apart ;-) while all Peugeots could literally fly over it. It's a bit sad to see, they couldn't extend the reliability after the 504 with this 505, nor it had the "grandeur" of the 604. Peugeot recognised that and returned with a 605 and 607 later on, today the top model is the 508 leaving a bit of a gap once more. Until rather recent Peugeot was a family owned business being very successful in their many business undertaking, their pepper grinders were (around 1900) and still are world famous, its always had its own philosophic view, did not copy others, though created its own path, for which I do like them a lot.
I now want a 505 even more now
Peugeot also used to sell bicycles. My dad had a powder blue Peugeot P8 road bike which he bought out of a flea market. Judging from the 27" (630 mm ISO) wheel size and paint livery on the frame, my best guess is it was from 1981. Which makes modernizing it with newer parts a headache, because the French famously, stubbornly stuck to their own screw thread standards until they "gave up" around 1985 and adopted metric screws.
604 was a hard sell and not that "elegant" in my opinion but extremely reliable. It is funny how they made the 405 as an entry level when it was a 505 "replacement" back in 87 leaving the gap for the 605 to fill it later. I guess that was because of the 505 size and the strange way that the U.S name the ,405s camrys accords as "compact" cars. Nowadays with all this company merging, every brand lost his "soul". Happened to Citroen when was bought by Peugeot and happened to Peugeot after the 206 wich i believe was their last big success. After that they all see pretty bland. The flair from olds 403, 404, 504 is gone
@@TypeVertigo They also made garments
Daniel, don't forget the old 404. Those were impossible to kill, especially here in Africa
Nice to see some more old cars from Doug!
Agreed. I’m glad to see him doing these more, I’ve always been more into the classics than what comes out these days
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Finally it's here
@@Nebulasecura Yeah I'm not a boomer myself as I do enjoy modern amenities, but all cars have the same shit. Android Auto, Apple Carplay, big screen, rear mirror camera blah blah whatever. It's getting boring but at least we have brands like Tesla who aren't afraid to switch it up, for better or worse.
@@huzzzer6083 agreed.
Peugeot was considered the "Schwinn of France" for many years. I wonder if this person who purchased the 505 knew that Peugeot was part 1970's USA bike boom. Peugeot, Motobecane, and Raleigh were premium bikes at local bike shops.
I worked at an American Bike shop in that sold both Raleigh and Peugeot in the late 70's. My job was to take bikes out of the box and get them ready to ride. It was straight forward with the Peugeots. There were never quality problems. Not so, with Raleigh. Every single one needed to have its wheels trued and almost all needed at least one crimped cable replaced.
those vintage peugots are gorgeous bikes
@@stonetrouble5053 even when I got my first full size bike, a Raleigh in the mid-00s, the bike shop had to do that after pulling it down from the ceiling display! Guess it never got better.
@@masonreed6845 i m french and i still go to my work with my Peugeot bike of 30 years old...
Reviews on these kinds of cars are so much more interesting than those exotic expensive fast cars
The video I was waiting for. My dad used to have a 505 sedan back when I was a kid, a "SR Injection" one. Here in Argentina are very popular cars, they still are around the streets, even with no maintenance at all. Really solid cars. Great video, Doug!
Rule no. 1: never sell a Peugeot which works!
Great review, but the US bumper regulatations ruin the design of the car.
As for the headlights.
@@tomjoad1363 agree
I love these older 80's - 90's Peugeot's. These are so incredibly rare here in the US but quite common in Europe. I'm sure that customers in Europe and England could get it with a manual transmission. If I could afford one and find one for sale, I'd love to own and drive one of these. This is by far one of the coolest cars you've reviewed yet. Thank you.
Lol these are rare even in europe i haven't seen them in long time! I think these might be available in Africa and the middle east
I'm waiting for the first manual swap to sell on @carsandbids !
It’s a shame these don’t do as well views-wise as the modern ones, I find this way more interesting than yet another unattainable supercar with the exact same aero profile. I know they’re rare there but over here old Peugeots are really common. They were always the more conventional ones than Renault or Citroën - that’s probably why they bought Talbot (but the financial strain from that purchase contributed to exiting the US market).
My first car was an 1987 505! I loved it! It felt so futuristic and eons ahead of similar vintage American cars. I loved the coin storage! Doug missed the biggest quirk of the 505 - the horn is a tiny button at the end of the blinker stalk!
my citroen xsara had that same style horn. It was also my first car. Got it from my uncle, drove it for two days and in third day clutch got fucked. I sold it to junkyard and month later I bought new xsara but it was "exclusive" model with abs and air conditioning. I have owned it now maybe three months and it really is a nice car. Ofcourse I dream bout real american muscle but I gotta wait for few years.
I like when you do these kinds of reviews. Average older cars you used to see on the streets from the 70's, 80's and 90's.
The bring you back to a time when things were very different. That's nice to see.
@Lurch7861 I drove an '87 Caprice Classic in high school and loved it. The thing was a tank and had those big bench seats. Probably the most comfortable car I ever owned. It was fun to drift it around, in the snow, as well.
I was actually excited when I saw that you reviewed a 505 in one of your intros. So when the video came I had to watch it. I don't know when was the last time I saw a 505 over here in France It was a long time ago. I'm not so into French cars but this one is pretty cool. In France, we got the 505 turbo with up to 200hp. A V6 with 170hp was also available. When it comes to hypercars you know that they are going to be expensive, fast, and stuff. You see them all over youtube. So it's nice to see more of the quirky and weird cars. Maybe not many people are going to watch it but I enjoyed it.
Seattle had quite a few of these on the streets. The 505 sedan had excellent ride quality and excellent handling. Rode like a much larger car. Very exceptional in many respects. My favorite car. 85 out of a hundred.
Hey Doug! I much prefer these types of reviews....I'm actually finding all the supercar and new car reviews quite boring to be honest. These older, quirky cars are just more interesting!
Cars for normal people are always more interesting in my opinion. It's interesting to know how many monthly salaries (average) were needed to buy these cars...
These were crazy popular in Argentina during the 80's and 90's. You can actually still see quite a few of them on the streets today. Also, since you're talking about weird french cars, how about a video on the Renault Fuego? Cheers from Patagonia!
(insert mandatory JM Traverso reference here)
Those 505 SW I see here are all beaten
Lo chistoso es que cuando se hizo el restyling local del 505 (gamma 92) se usaron los paragolpes de la versión norteamericana
I don't recall seeing 505's when I lived in Argentina during the 80s, although I remember seeing P 405, the Fuego, Ford Falcon, Sierra and XR4, Fiats, and a rare Volkswagen 1500.
I remember frequently seeing a Peugeot sedan, probably a 405 or 505, parked on the street in Uptown Minneapolis about 10 years ago. I always assumed that it was some sort of import, I had no idea that they used to sell these in the US.
I was so excited to see he uploaded an old peugeot review, since I own a 1972 Peugeot 204, and my dream is Doug would review it one day...
Dont think the 405 ever made it to the US. I had a 1989 405 1.9 GR when they first came out. It was a great 4 door car. Amazing handling, almost sport car like. Only had about 115bhp, but as they didnt weigh much 0-60 was a fair 8.5 seconds.
@@dj_paultuk7052 no, they sold the 405 in America. I remember the 405 Mi-16 being comparison-tested by Motor Trend against the fifth-generation Mitsubishi Galant. This would be circa 1989 I believe.
@@TypeVertigo Thats cool. I think in the EU the Mi-16 was the most BHP per litre for a N/A engine at 1.9 at that time. Some dyno tests showed they were actually just over 170bhp.
A legend is always a legend still use today in 2023 in Nigeria 🇳🇬 from Abia state to Anambra state such a legend
You didn't get in the back seat!
Also, I believe that the door mounted seatbelt was not supposed to be unlatched. You were supposed to slide in. That was due to US airbag regulations. At this point in time, cars were supposed to have airbags or automatic seatbelts. This was supposed to count as an automatic seatbelt. In practice, people did what you did and just unbuckled the belt.
My 1990 and '91 Corollas had those. I never liked them, but they were probably better than the ones on tracks. I can't believe Doug didn't figure that out or look in the owner's manual.
RE: Seatbelt. I was thinking the same. There were many cars with this setup in this era. It should extend far enough to not necessitate unbuckling the shoulder belt.
Good thing, all cars from this era never had automatic seatbelts or buckle on the front doors, at least in Europe.
I never understood why US regulations were decades behind rest of the world, I guess US never signed UN's 1955 agreement?
@@automation7295 The US passed a law requiring the installation of "passive restraint systems" in vehicles starting with the 1990 model year. This was intended to require installation of airbags, but automakers got creative and realized that an automatic seatbelt was also a "passive restraint system." For the 1992 model year the law was rewritten to specifically require airbags. Cars prior to 1990 and after 1991 had traditional 3-point seatbelts.
We weren't behind on regulations, we were ahead with requiring airbags; it was just unfortunate language in the regulation that allowed these "automatic" seatbelts for a couple of years.
@@stephenj4937 The irony is an airbag is pretty useless without a seatbelt to hold you in position...and I believe they won't fire if the seatbelt isn't buckled.
The Peugeot 504 pickup, had a manual steering wheel, that LITERALLY made ones arms and shoulders strong.
th-cam.com/video/zL7ZQahY0ag/w-d-xo.html
Finally it's here
@@finalfight505 no its not
They made them really late even 1994 I think. They had steel bumpers and looked ancient. If I remember they stopped making the 405 but still made the 504 pick up.
@@chrishart8548 they made the 504 pickup from 1979 through 1996 and sold them elsewhere throughout the world up intil the 2010's I believe. I've got an 87 and it feels like a 60's car because it basically is 😂
It sure did
I was wondering why there wasn't any review of Peugeot and other French car brands in America. Today, I got my answer. This car was pretty popular along with 404, 405 & 406 in Nigeria back in 70s, 80s and 90s. Even today, Peugeot is still popular with an assembly plant in Kaduna. Thank you Doug for bringing up this amazing memory.
Yes, Peugeot has been labelled "The Lion of Africa".
I think '92 was the last year for Peugeot in the USA, but in '92 all you could get was a 505 wagon. You could get the turbo sedans with a 5-speed. The 505 came before the 405, the 405 was introduced to try to keep their USA market, but it failed. Peugeot did offer a 2.8 V6 in their 505 models towards the end, but the Turbo 2.2 was the top of the line.
Don't step on that pedal or get into it too hard, you'll blow the trans or the head gasket ... i know from experience.
Some OG Doug content. We love cars, bro, and we like watching you talk about them. Just review whatever and we’ll be there.
This kind of videos of cars like this is why I like Doug. I can watch a McLaren review anywhere but only Doug goes in depth with stuff like this. Thank you for keeping this going
505 was not the higher model at that time, but one of the oldest from late 70's (79). The top of the line was the 605 V6 turbo, started in 1989.
The 505 GTi was the must in big family sport cars in the mid 80's, but was too big and expensive so the 205 GTi 1.9L and 1.6L was more successful.
Technically, the 505 was the direct rival of the CX.
Edit: but yes, in the USA, it was the highest model available.
Right ! The 505 was replaced by both the 405 and the 605.
There was also the 604 which was peugeot flagship for a while.
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing from across the pond. The seat belts are very strange on this 505. I used to own two 505's, one after another, here in the UK, and I knew two other people that had them, and they all had normal 3-point seat belts. As for the two row of back seats on the wagon, here in the UK, they were only meant for families with say, four children, and never meant for transporting adults in the back.... Also here in the UK and Europe, we also had the much larger 604 and 605 models, which were the flagship models here, in the UK at least.... Many thanks again...
P.S. The 505 was never a luxury model here in the UK, it was just a base model family car. They may of been more luxurious to drive on the road for handling though compared to some other brands. The only luxury models of Peugeot I knew of in those days were the some of the 605's with mostly larger engines....