Nothing essential before:
Steering shaft, 115.000km/11 years.
Fuel gauge.
Electric windows, motor.
R. bearing arm (in English?), 125.000km.
Clutch, 125.000km.
Gear transmission, 128.000km.
Distributor (regulator), 130.000km.
Exhaust pipe rusty, 130.000km.
L. bearing arm, 135.000km.
Washer pump front (electrical fault).
Heater regulator (electrical fault) 139.000km/15 years.
Leakage, sun roof (since new).
A bit of rust here and there (extremely damp surroundings).
Great car for snowy, steep Norwegian hills, always gets me where I want to go.
Quick, fun to drive.
Easy to repair (use your ears!).
First model in '83, but still got "the looks".
She was my second 205 and my 4th Peugeot. My 5th Peugeot is a 309. Five Peugeots out of seven cars says it all.
Like your Norwegian reader, I have had a Peugeot 205 XR since new in 1986, and have covered a similar distance (84,000 miles/ 135,000km).
I have kept a detailed record of all expenses since new. Fuel consumption has averaged 46 mpg. It has always seemed a bit fragile (its construction is very light - only around 720kg - compared with modern cars) and partly because of that has been only averagely reliable. But it has never left me stranded (save when I once left the lights on - flat battery).
The list of major items replaced over the last 15 years is as follows:
Two batteries, brake master cylinder, two sets of pads and both front discs, nearside drive shaft earlier this year, speedometer cable, four new tyres (at 70,000 miles), two pneumatic hatch supports, and a new silencer every two to three years.
Its saving grace is the ease with which repairs can be carried out by unskilled owners. e.g. the speedo cable, brakes discs and pads, hatch supports, various minor electrical repairs (interior light switch, boot light switch), and a recent carburettor overhaul, a leaking windscreen surround, armed with nothing more than a modest tool set, a Haynes manual, and some common sense.
The engine has got noticeably noisier over the last year, which adjusting the tappets (difficult, because the engine reclines by 70') has not cured. I wonder if this is valve seat recession caused by the switch to unleaded petrol in the UK last year? The interior trim has lasted a lot longer than I thought it would.
The car has benefited from being kept in a garage since new. Annual hosing underneath and Waxoyling behind panels seem to keep most rust at bay, though it keeps creeping back along the upper edges of the door window frames, and the seam in front of the nearside rear wheel.
I think I shall keep it until something very major goes wrong with it. Then I might get a 206.
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