peugeot 504D diesel wagon

[razmataz]

I am completely unfamilar with it, but am considering it. I am looking at Escort,Saturn,Subaru, and Camry wagons and found this.
Can anyone tell me about this car ? Good/bad what to look at.

1976 peugeot 504D diesel wagon

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/car/773431008.html

I would like to know what the MPG is rated comparing to those others as found on :
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/

Is there another site that could tell me ?
Thanks !

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by razmataz

I am completely unfamilar with it, but am considering it. I am looking at Escort,Saturn,Subaru, and Camry wagons and found this.
Can anyone tell me about this car ? Good/bad what to look at.

1976 peugeot 504D diesel wagon

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/car/773431008.html

I would like to know what the MPG is rated comparing to those others as found on :
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/

Is there another site that could tell me ?
Thanks !

All I have to say is "Only French men should buy French cars". I've heard this many times over the years. OTOH, its lasted this long. If its running well you problaly got a good one there. Personally if you are looking for a diesel wagon I'd recommend a Mercedes or Volvo.

-Jay

[Lug_Nut]

For that price I'd be looking for 1st and 2nd generation VW diesels. VW service is poor, but it exists, as do parts. Pug parts and qualified service is as scarce as Citroen's or Renault's.

[RoadWarrior]

Well I beat at the intarweb a few with the google stick to see what fell out, and saw claims around 29-30 mpg with one guy claiming 36-37.

They did have a poor reliability reputation here, mostly due to the automatic that most of everyone bought, but they are regarded as tanklike in their unstoppability elsewhere in the world. Particularly popular for desert and back-country use in Africa if that tells you anything.

IF you want parts you better bruch up on your french and be prepared to wait 2 months though, so for a daily driver it's gonna be impractical. However, they rebuild them on the side of the road in Africa when they need to, so if you're willing to personally re-condition stuff, rebuild worn stuff with weld etc, then it's doable that way.

It would be a cool old boat to tool around in though, many owners are diehard fans. If I saw one local+cheap I'd be tempted to do a whacko mini RV conversion to it. (They don't look soooo big in photos, but when you're standing next to one, they seem compact truck sized.)

[cems70]

My father bought a used Peugeot 505D sedan automatic in the late 70s or early 80s. Total dog...couldn't get out of its own way. I don't think he had any problems with it (until my underage brother wrapped it around a tree and totalled it), but it was my least favorite car that he owned when I was growing up. Some of his other cars included 1982 Maxima diesel, 1980 VW Dasher diesel, 1975 VW Rabbit gas, 1978 VW Rabbit diesel.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by cems70

couldn't get out of its own way.
my underage brother wrapped it around a tree

I guess it couldn't get out of the tree's way, either.

[hybriDatsun350]

You'd be crazy to buy a French car, lol! Definitely stick to companies that still sell cars here. Meaning Volvo, VW, and Mercedes. There is a reason those companies are still here and Peugeot is not.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by hybriDatsun350

You'd be crazy to buy a French car, lol! Definitely stick to companies that still sell cars here. Meaning Volvo, VW, and Mercedes. There is a reason those companies are still here and Peugeot is not.

At the very least, parts for a car made by a company that still sells cars here would be cheaper and far easier to get.

-Jay

[RoadWarrior]

If you haven't discovered it yet, take a look at http://www.504.org/ they've got a Peugeot parts catalogue and a repair manual online, and a US owners handbook/manual.

[Mike T]

Originally Posted by hybriDatsun350

You'd be crazy to buy a French car, lol! Definitely stick to companies that still sell cars here. Meaning Volvo, VW, and Mercedes. There is a reason those companies are still here and Peugeot is not.

My Peugeot 405 gasser has 225,000 miles on it and the car is all original and has lots of life left in it.

Typical French-bashing, it gets SO old....or is that Freedom-bashing, I forget.....

My other Peugeot is 42 years old.

Parts are not much of a problem. Join Yahoo group Peugeot-L.

[Lug_Nut]

French cars, Italian cars, gone from these shores for good reason. The only way to make them worth a damn is to combine them, a French car styled by the Italians.
The 1978 Renault R17 Gordini (1.7 liter hemi in a targa-hatchback-coupe anyone?) I owned was one of only two cars I sold for more than I paid. and I regret selling it to this day.
I'd get over that loss with a Citroen SM...can you help?

[RoadWarrior]

I'd like one of those R17s, used to have the sedan it was based on in the family, a R12TS it was gonna be my first car and I drove it a couple of times under supervision, and did a crap load of work on it. However, it turned out some suspension bushings needed to pass safety for the rear suspension were unavailable, or with a 2 month lead time from France and at an exorbitant price or something, so it ended up going to the wreckers.

Can't figure why in particular some of the Renaults that got over here had a bad rap, unless it was lousy mechanics who only know the GM way of doing things messing them up all the time. I would say however, that euro automatics never were as refined or reliable as US ones, and probably made the cars seem desperately underpowered. But four on the floor and a revvy engine is where it's at there.

Personally I quite like the french philosophy of suspension design, or at least how it used to be, lots of travel, lots of clearance, they feel like they're gonna tip over on the corners, but that is really all just body roll, everything else stays on the road, usually for a lot longer than the driver has the stones to try pushing it. So they can feel "wallowy" but can actually be thrown around quite a bit and soak up rough pavement with ease. Since the 90's they all tended to be a lot firmer and flatter.

[Mike T]

I had an R12 with the 1289 cc engine, rusty as hell but a fine car for a family, good FE and excellent suspension.

A friend had an R-17 Gordini with Weber 40 DCOE conversion (from Bosch FI) and it ran pretty hard until it holed a piston due to detonation.

Another friend (still) has a Renault 8 Gordini, but that's another story.....