Hello

[IhateBambi]

Hi, I'm from Lincolnshire in the UK and I've owned a 309 Style Special Edition for a few years.
Happy (and a bit surprised) to see there's an online community of 309 owners!

My 309 was bought new in 1992 by my Grandmother. She and My Grandfather used the car for many years doing very few miles to and from the shops. Eventually they decided to buy a new car and gave the 309 to my half sister who was just learning to drive. She was on her way home from work one night that disaster struck - a deer ran into the road and demolished the nearside lights and put all sorts of dents in the bodywork - the car was deemed to be "beyond economic repair" but rather than write it off my dad drove it back to ours and we set about repairing it with hammers .

A few parts from the scrapyard and a rattle can later and it was back on the road. It's not the prettiest car but it gets me from A to B and is so fun to drive!

309.jpg (50.95 Kio) Vu 3471 fois

This is quite an old photo, it's acquired a few new dents since then (not my fault I might add - I live next to a sports field and stray cricket balls often end up on our drive ) At some point I'll get around to straightening the panels out properly and repainting the whole bonnet cause the quick repair was rushed hasn't held up well

Recently I replaced the transistor in the fan speed control and "upgraded" the windscreen wipers to the intermittent wiper option by swapping the control stalk and adding the missing relay.

[thefunkyboy]

Hello!

Welcome here in our global community, your 309 is clearly not common and that was a very good idea to have it repaired after your car crash!

Do you have any pics just after the crash?

[SRDTURBO]

Nice color, in France this Miami blue was exclusive for the GTI16 and the last SX/XS with injection.

[IhateBambi]

No photos of the damage sorry. The headlight was totally smashed and the bonnet and wing panels a bit bent. The strip along the bottom of the grille was totally folded up, hence the non colour matched replacement of the car I found in the scrap yard.
Here's the car from another angle - not its most flattering side

dents.jpg (29.69 Kio) Vu 3455 fois

The frame behind the outer bumper below the headlight/indicator was pushed inwards quite a way and took a lot of straightening. The first thing we did was tie a rope to it, and around a big tree in the garden, then carefully reversed the car until it was pulled back the right way!
As I say, the priority at the time was to get it roadworthy again so we concentrated on the places where the paint was broken. Eventually I will get around to sorting out the large dents and repair the paintwork properly. I suspect that is going to require a fairly major strip down with the bonnet, wing, and door panels removed from the car so I can beat the dents out.

[IhateBambi]

Nice color, in France this Miami blue was exclusive for the GTI16 and the last SX/XS with injection.

Until I discovered this site and looked at the brochures in the resource section I didn't realise it was a Special Edition.
I don't know whether you could get other 309s in Miami Blue but metallic paint and a spoiler wasn't an option on the regular 309 Style according to the brochure.

One thing that still eludes me is any information about the wheel covers. The Special Edition should apparently have the "Turbine" style covers but mine are different - The ones on mine aren't depicted in the Peugeot parts list for the 309 and I've not found any photos of similar ones

[Attila97]

Welcome here!

Very nice car!!

Look at this link, you'll find pictures of 309 Style with the originial wheel covers

http://aebergon.perso.neuf.fr/Peugeot/p ... yle_GB.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And they are depicted in the 309 part list!!
Look here, it's the number 2

[Daemon]

Welcome

[IhateBambi]

Look at this link, you'll find pictures of 309 Style with the originial wheel covers

http://aebergon.perso.neuf.fr/Peugeot/p ... yle_GB.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And they are depicted in the 309 part list!!
Look here, it's the number 2

The Special Edition is supposed to have the "turbine" covers (number 5) according to the brochure. http://issuu.com/lamicale309/docs/gb--- ... al-edition

The two that remain on mine though are not like any of the ones on the part list!

I don't have a photo that shows mine clearly from the side, I'll try to remember to take one tomorrow.

EDIT: Here's a photo of my wheel covers:

hub.JPG (41.56 Kio) Vu 3423 fois

[thefunkyboy]

I do agree with you, your car is a Style modele but the specific one with miami blue color.

[alargeau]

Hello there!
It's a very nice car you've got, plus it's quite rare. I spotted one not that long ago on eBay and that was a 5 door model too. It seems the 3-door models are extremely rare. I'm not sure, but I think I've seen these wheel covers on another model... perhaps a Japanese one. Can't really remember.
Regarding the car, the 309 is definitely not the prettiest car on earth, but it's not the ugliest either. I kinda like its shape though and when they're well maintained, they can be pretty nice. Plus it's very economical, even if you compare with today standards. Yours seems in good condition btw. How about the underneath? Is there rust?

[IhateBambi]

There was quite a bad rust patch in the boot underneath the rear windscreen washer bottle. When I touched it my finger went straight through to the wheel well as all the steel had rusted away and was only held by the paint and underseal. This has been patched up for me by our local garage who cleaned the hole and welded a plate in for me.
Mostly the underseal is in good condition so rust underneath isn't a problem.

Cosmetically the car isn't great - the signs of the crash still visible, and the various dents from cricket balls etc. Mechanically though it's in very good condition for its age and is very reliable.
As I said before, it had a very low mileage when my sister got it, and I don't drive very much either. I seem to remember she had the clutch changed and recently one of the front wheel bearings failed so I've had that replaced.

It's great fun to drive because it's so lightweight. My dad has a modern turbo diesel with power steering etc and I hate driving that, there's such a delay between pressing the pedal down and anything happening and no road feel at all in the steering!

[alargeau]

There was quite a bad rust patch in the boot underneath the rear windscreen washer bottle. When I touched it my finger went straight through to the wheel well as all the steel had rusted away and was only held by the paint and underseal. This has been patched up for me by our local garage who cleaned the hole and welded a plate in for me.
Mostly the underseal is in good condition so rust underneath isn't a problem.

Cosmetically the car isn't great - the signs of the crash still visible, and the various dents from cricket balls etc. Mechanically though it's in very good condition for its age and is very reliable.
As I said before, it had a very low mileage when my sister got it, and I don't drive very much either. I seem to remember she had the clutch changed and recently one of the front wheel bearings failed so I've had that replaced.

It's great fun to drive because it's so lightweight. My dad has a modern turbo diesel with power steering etc and I hate driving that, there's such a delay between pressing the pedal down and anything happening and no road feel at all in the steering!

My H reg 309 has quite some rust underneath and the best is to go under the car so you can see in what condition it is. I had some surprises with mine, had to weld new bumper brackets and the front crossmember is so rusty I can bend it with one finger and pretend I'm Superman. These are old cars which are great to drive as you mentioned it, but they also need some attention. It's actually a very good experience because you feel you're driving, whereas with modern cars it's very comfy and all but they're just machines.
Yours is a nice model and I assume they aren't so many left on the road, so consider it a future classic.

[IhateBambi]

These are old cars which are great to drive as you mentioned it, but they also need some attention.

Indeed. We have a saying here "A stitch in time saves nine".

Yours is a nice model and I assume they aren't so many left on the road, so consider it a future classic.

80s/90s cars are are a fairly rare sight here now - the population was decimated by the government's "scrappage scheme"

There is a website called "how many left" that allows you to search the vehicle statistics published by the Department for Transport. It tells you how many vehicles of a particular type were licensed or declared "off road" each year since 2001.
Here are the totals for the 309 http://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/?page=1&q=Peugeot+309" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[alargeau]

In France, where I live now, they have the exact same scheme. Not that long ago, you could go to a scrapyard and find lots of 80s/90s cars but it's over now. Last time I went, I barely spotted old cars. It's a total waste which goal is only to make us buy more and more cars. Plus they say it's for the environment, but I highly doubt there is anything good in changing your car every 5 years or so. What happens to the scrapped cars? Don't they pollute anyway? And what about the production? If you sell more, you produce more so you pollute more. These are just stupid schemes I can't understand.

[moustik76133]

avec un peu de retard : Bienvenue !

welcome