1991 Peugeot 405 GL from UK and Ireland - Comments

The rear view mirror fell off.

Everything is made of plastic and

feels like it will fall off or break

at any moment.

The car is a difficult starter.

I performed a complete overhaul

on the 405 engine. Having performed

the work myself and having worked on other cars, it is possible to see poor design effort on the 405. The exterior shape looks good (low profile bonnet). However this means that the XU5 engine

which is used both by Citroen and Peugeot needs to be installed at an angle. This makes extraction of bolts

very difficult. Particularly exhaust

bolts that are usually seized on because of heat and rust.

I needed to change the front lower arm

ball joints. This is an unnecessarily

difficult task. Peugeot insist on using proprietary tools for the extraction of ball joint. Why not simply use a hexagon head.

Driving is hard work on the 1.6GL.

The lack of power steering makes

driving uncomfortable.

On the plus side it is spacious and

comfortable.

Absolutely extraordinary. An 11 year old car with 180000 km using a 1.6 l engine (for such a heavy car, it was sold to people who wanted a 405, not the performance, or, could not afford the 1.8 or Better 2 l engine) and the mirror fell off. Really, a demonstration of unreliability, incredible. And everything is made out of plastic (even the motor?). This is unbelievable, I owned once a Rover and I ignored it was made of gold...

I had a 1.6 gl 405 for to years, I did have lots of silly things go wrong with it, water hoses, oil hoses, and the suspension wore out. The solex 34 34 z1 carb when working properly was brilliant, exsept it liked to cut out when the choke was switching of I did 70.000 miles in mine I sold it when the cam bearings worn, wish I had kept her a increadible car had some real good times with it.

P.s it wes not a bad off roader either.

Some of the service tasks on the 405 diesel are not easy, but not as bad as many other manufacturers vehicles. The fantastic thing about these vehicles is the fuel economy, longevity, and reliability. My last 405 diesel estate had covered 300,000 miles. Amazing thing. I thrashed it and neglected it! It is still being used. Just under 60 mpg. I can't complain at all.