1993 Peugeot 405 GLDT estate review from UK and Ireland

Synchromesh on 5th gear is faulty. Only £30 for a scrap gearbox to replace, which I'll do soon.

Water inlet manifold went at 75,000 miles, which looked like a water pump leak, but wasn't. A new one cost only £9 from Peugeot, and I fitted it in an hour and a half. This is a very common fault with 405s it seems.

Driver's side front window sticks (electric window motor needs replacing). Not in a rush as it's easy to cure with a quick thump to the door!

Squeaky bush on front nearside. Again, cheap and quick to fix.

Screen-washer pump for rear window (located in luggage compartment) doesn't work (yet).

This is my second 405 (the first one was vandalised and written off).

Despite the faults above, this car has never let me down on the road. There are certainly a few of them, but as you can see they're really only niggles rather than major mechanical worries.

The vehicle came with a full service history from Peugeot, and I changed the cam-belt upon purchase just to be safe.

Each fault/job has been relatively minor and a cheap fix, and won't need re-doing anytime soon.

The cabin is well laid out and quite comfortable, though somewhat "cheap" looking and plastic by today's standards (I still prefer Sierra seats!). Everything is in easy reach and quickly becomes intuitive.

The gearbox and clutch are typical of the range - quite heavy and sluggish, but still very capable.

The car can and will keep up with most modern vehicles "off the lights" and will certainly hold its own in the 50 to 70+ stakes thanks to the turbo. I've left many a silly young boy racer wannabe chewing on diesel fumes before now! This car will happily cruise at motorway speeds all day (and night) long.

Economy is excellent for its size. I run this car on pure biodiesel (Rape Methyl Ester) and get 40mpg around town and 50+ mpg on a motorway journey.

As a workhorse for driving serious mileage over long periods of time you really won't get better than one of these for the price. I've done 1,000 miles a week since I bought the car and it just laps it up. They'll take you to the moon and back if properly serviced on a regular basis (cheap and easy to do yourself).

If you care more about reliability and economy than looking cool, you'd do much worse than to buy a 405; the estate especially is very practical for a family or tradesman.