We passed the test! It's a big relief, and it means that the 16-year-old Peugeot 206 is good for at least another two years. I took it to the inspection station — le centre de contrôle technique — yesterday morning and got the good news. Inspection stations in France do only that — they inspect. They don't do repairs. You have to go to a mechanic for those. That means there is no conflict of interest.
When the man who checked the car out was giving me the paperwork, he commented on how low the Peugeot's kilométrage is. The odometer reads about 127,250 kilometers, but that's not the true figure, because the instrument cluster had to be changed out a few years ago. I gave the man the real "mileage" — it's more like 181,300 km, which is about 112,500 miles — and he said even that wasn't much on a car with a good diesel engine like the Peugeot's.
Fact is, we've put only about three thousand miles on the car since its last inspection, two years ago. By the way, more than 8.3 million Peugeot 206 cars have rolled off the assembly lines in France and other countries over the years. No other Peugeot model has ever been produced in such numbers, and more Peugeot 206 cars have been sold than any other French car model in history, surpassing the legendary Renault 4 — I had one of those 30 years ago. However, if you live in the U.S. you might never have heard of the Peugeot 206 or the Renault 4 before, because neither has ever been sold there.
Congratulations, that's indeed a relief!
ReplyDeleteWe have the Citroën too, and it's newer. But I like the 206 and I plan to keep it until it becomes too much of a money pit. It's a luxury to ave two cars.
DeleteI don't know anything about cars, but what about Le Car for a Renault sold in the U.S.? I understand it was pretty popular.
ReplyDeleteThe Wikipedia article about the Renault 5 says about 5.5M were built, compared to more than 8M each for the R4 and the Peugeot 206.
DeleteIt's really cute the way you talk about this car like a proud papa :)
ReplyDeleteGreat news about it passing! Horribly, when I saw the headline, I thought of "passed" as in "passed away"! I was relieved to read the good news :)
I do love cars that are fun to drive. My VWs in California were like that, but they were heavier than the little Renault I had in Paris way back when or this Peugeot 206. I like cars that are called nerveuses in France — peppy and nimble.
DeleteI am so glad that this does not mean it died . :)
ReplyDeleteWhen we were looking for our first car, years and years ago, I wanted a Peugeot so badly. The husband had other things in mind and I ended up driving a Volvo for years, then we turned it in and got a new one ! You can imagine my delight when the day came when I no longer had to worry about driving the children and I got that BMW :)
I imagine you driving your car, over hills and dales , windows open, radio blasting ... Remember Audrey Hepburn in Two for the Road ?
I do remember that film, and the Peugeot 206 is fun to drive because it just hugs the road and it has a 2-liter diesel engine with a lot of torque and power.
DeleteI had a bright orange "Le Car" in the late 1970's. Loved that little vehicle. Your Peugeot looks like new! Congratulations on taking such good care of her/him!
ReplyDeleteThe Peugeot 206 is one of the favorites among all the cars — an Opel, a Renault, two Subarus, three VWs — that I've owned over the years. And the one I've owned the longest by far. It's fun to drive because it has a pretty powerful engine in a small body. It has all the features you could want — climate control, automatic windshield wipers, fog lights, a good radio — except one, and that's cruise control. Now that I seldom drive it on the open road, that's less important to me. And I'd like to keep the 206 going for another 10 or 12 years if I can. I remember the Renault 5, called Le Car in the U.S., but I don't think I ever drove one. I loved my little Renault 4 back in the early 1980s, but I was only able to keep in for one year because I was returning to the U.S.
DeleteOver the years I've rented little Peugeots a number of times, and also probably Renaults and Citroen, and they've been very good cars. Now it seems that whenever I rent a car in France it's much larger than those (except for the recent Yaris or Auris), even though I always rent an economy or compact. I was always happy with those small French cars, but maybe they don't make them anymore. This coming Spring I'm renting what I think is a Renault R4 or equivalent, but who knows what I'll get it.
ReplyDeleteThe current small French cars that are good in town and on the highway are the Peugeot 208, the Citroën C3 II, and the Renault Clio IV.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't about your car, but in addition to reading your blog, I read about french wines, and here's an interesting story, if you don't read this particular blog...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wineterroirs.com/2016/12/christophe_foucher_la_lunotte_loire.html#more
best regards,
Bill in Oklahoma City
Thanks for the comment and for the reminder about the wineterroirs blog, Bill. I used to read that blog regularly and ought to start reading it again.
DeleteI think Peugeot was sold in the US way back when, but didn't have the support of a big dealer network and thus got a reputation as a lemon. Maybe they were lemons, although friends who had one liked it a lot, but I suspect the problem is that they weren't a Detroit product.
ReplyDeleteI've made note of your recommendations for use in future rentals.
I was on the verge of buying a Peugeot in California back in the early '90s, just when they took them off the market over there. So I ended up with a VW.
DeleteWe are judged as being wasteful because we have two cars when one of us doesn't work in an area of our city where public transport is quite good. I am at a total loss as to why you need two cars, no matter how well the old Peugeot is travelling.
ReplyDeleteWhen you are two people living in the countryside where there is no public transit of any kind, it's often very convenient to have two vehicles. Sometimes both us us need to go in different directions the same day, but that's rare, actually, nowadays. There have been times when I've driven to Paris or elsewhere for a stay of several days and Walt has stayed here carless. And when a car needs service or a repair that might take a whole day or even too, the second one again saves the day. Having two vehicles doesn't mean we drive more, so to me it isn't wasteful. The fact is, it costs me almost nothing to keep the old Peugeot going.
DeleteIt costs rather a lot here to keep a car even if it is never used. Our old car, registration and third party personal injury insurance to the state government, €530. Comprehensive car insurance, about the same, so over €1,000 just to have the car sit there.
DeleteThe third-party insurance (we call it "liability" in the States) costs about 300 euros annually. The inspection costs 72€ every other year. Otherwise, maintenance on the car costs a little, but we drive it so little that it's insignificant. The car has no real value in cash now, so why sell it? Or otherwise get rid of it? Living in the country is very different from living in the city.
DeleteI understand perfectly why you'd want 2 cars living where you do. We've always had one car for the 2 of us, but we've always lived in cities. In Boston we both took public transportation to work; you'd be crazy not to. And here in Portland we both work at home.
DeleteIf one of us goes out in the old Peugeot and there is an incident, the one who stayed home can come to the rescue in the Citroën. It's a comfort. And neither one of us is stranded if the other has to go away for a few days. We lived in Paris, Wash. DC, and then SF for 20 years, so I know how different city life is from life in a rural area. That said, we managed with one car here from 2003 until 2015. It wasn't always easy.
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