Talk:Peugeot 309

Reverted text from the unwikified re-write
Peugeot had owned the Ryton factory near Coventry since buying it from Chrysler in 1979, and since then had been making Talbot-badged cars there. But Peugeot was gradually discarding the Talbot marque and introducing new cars of its own which would be built in Britain.

The Peugeot 309 was the first foreign car to be built in Britain when production began in January 1986. It was aimed as a replacement for the Talbot Sunbeam, from which it inherited its running gear, and slotted into the Peugeot range between the 205 and 305. At a time when Peugeot was producing '05' numbered cars, the 309 was unusually badged about three decades ahead of itself.

The styling was nothing special but the 309 had a spacious, comfortable interior and agile handling. The 1.3 and 1.6 petrol engines gave acceptable refinement but it was the 1.8 diesel which was the choice of the range. There was also a 1.9 GTI which had a top speed of 120mph, and was one of the best hatchbacks to drive in Europe.

Throughout its production life, the Peugeot 309 was sold as a hatchback only (with three or five doors) and lagged behind the Ford Escort, VW Golf and Vauxhall Astra in the UK sales charts. The main reason that it lagged behind was due to the fact that its three big rivals were available with at least two different bodystyles - the Escort and Astra with three.

The Peugeot 309 survived until the spring of 1993 when it was replaced by the all-new Peugeot 306.

First foreign car built in Britain
My grandfather's Citroen was made in Slough Berks, long before 1986.

You're quite correct: "Some of the early models were built at Citroën's plant in Slough, England in the 1950s" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_2CV

Arguably, the first foreign car manufactured in the UK was Foleshill, Coventry built Daimler of 1897.

LewisR (talk) 23:15, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

309 GT
In addition to the variants listed in the article, there was a GT model, from the very beginning, with many of the features later offered on the GTI (central locking with remote control, electric windows, internally adjustable headlights, etc.) but an XU92C engine (double-barrel carburettor with automatic choke) instead of the XU9JA/Z (injection) featured on the GTI, and rear drum brakes whereas the GTI had disk brakes on all four wheels. It can't have been very common; the Haynes manual for the 309 fails to mention it, and Autodata incorrectly lists mine as a GTI (even though the GTI was not introduced until three years after my car's first date of registration!) Needless to say, this makes maintenance (not to mention finding the correct parts) interesting, in the Chinese sense of the word...  I'd love to see a 309 brochure from 1985 / 1986 to see exactly how this variant was marketed, and what options were available. DES 11:52, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

This twin-carb engine was also a feature of the Police-spec 309. This also had a close-ration gearbox, but was kitted out as an XE, with horribly thin steering wheel, dreadful seats and no electric goodies etc. This was terrific fun to drive!

Trim levels section
I have tried to write the trim levels section from a UK market perspective, using a 1987 brochure as the basis of the bulk of the information - as such, there is no GT listed, no SX, no XR, no GTI-16, etc. etc. I have tried to say where and when these cars were availiable, but even these are close approximations from what I remember - I would love to be able to re-write this properly, but it did take me long enough to write it in the first place, and I feel to do it properly I would nbeed information on the whole model range, so I could include all the models we didn't get in the UK (309 Green, SX, XR etc. etc.), I think it might be high time I actually created a Wiki account so I can develop my "baby" further.....! 86.144.68.27 (talk) 00:05, 29 July 2008 (UTC)