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#1
I obtained this car all the way back in 1996. Unfortunately Peugeot is no longer available in India.
I'm a French origin Indian and I was very glad to see this car come in India and just knew I had to purchase one. This was the first car I ever bought. I remember back in the day this car was actually criticized a lot and people had never heard of Peugeot in India. I however stubbornly wanted one and went for the purchase. It was the first car I ever owned on my personal name.
Compared to other cars available in India that I had driven at the time, I was really impressed with how smooth and responsible the car was. The car felt rock solid on Indian roads and the suspension was very strong.
In France, the 309 was considered to be a small car but in India, it was actually rather big compared to other cars. Nowadays, this isn't the case anymore.
Unfortunately due to the extreme heat in India, and that I didn't use covers, the dashboard plastics began to crack quite quickly. I've had to change the dashboard a few times. After using covers and taking care and with a new dashboard the cracking problem seems to have stopped.
This car does not have power steering so it is a more natural feel to steer it but a bit less convenient than cars with PS.
I have kept the car mostly stock. Its had 3 minor accidents from 96-02 but that has been completely fixed with original parts. What is nice about this car is how strong the body is, the metal seems to be thicker than most cars however this makes it a big heavy.
I bought the car in cream color but now its silver. There is a cassette player in it that still works and so does the AC. I haven't had the heart to change the player, but I've added a line from battery to charge phone and I can use that as a player with car speakers.
This car holds a lot of memories associated with it. I'm not married and my family consists of just me and my daughter. This is the car I drove her to school every day with. She also learnt to drive in this car and took her boyfriend on a first date driving this car.
Since the 2000's parts for the car are increasingly hard to find in India and for original parts its nearly impossible. Like I could not find the part that holds the boot latch. Luckily since I travel to Europe and deal with Import Export stuff in India, I can get the parts I want but its quite a hassle however it makes the car more precious to me.
This car has done around 560 000 km and is still going strong on original engine.
In recent times I don't use the car as much now as I have a Renault Fluence also. I recently also imported a Lotus Elise S Club Racer as I couldn't get one in India and that's my new toy. In France I own a Renault Mégane only and my daughter has a Citröen C5 there.
The Peugeot has been used mostly by my daughter since I bought my Fluence and she loves having this car that she grew up with and takes great pride in having it. She bought a Renault Pulse (which is just a Nissan Micra with Renault logo on it) with the intention of using that as main car and the Peugeot as secondary but unfortunately got into an accident which damaged the pulse beyond repair and is back to using the Peugeot as main vehicle. She intends to get another car to replace the Pulse that got scraped and then use 2 cars.
The Peugeot unfortunately recently got some damage in front because my daughter accidentally hit the back of a van. We haven't been able to completely restore it but I have arranged to pick up the head lamp covers and grille from a friend in France on my next visit. One of the doors also has small damage and a cracked handle but we don't know how that happened as my daughter found damage after returning to see her car when it was parked somewhere, most likely a hit and run.
What I find interesting is if I had (well now its my daughter's but she lets me use it if I want) this car in France, it would not be as special as there are still quite a few of them around. Here it is like a precious classic car that we find very valuable because its rare now so we take good car of it. In France a similar car would be used as a low value car for doing the dirty work.
Hope this car serves us for many more years.
I'm a French origin Indian and I was very glad to see this car come in India and just knew I had to purchase one. This was the first car I ever bought. I remember back in the day this car was actually criticized a lot and people had never heard of Peugeot in India. I however stubbornly wanted one and went for the purchase. It was the first car I ever owned on my personal name.
Compared to other cars available in India that I had driven at the time, I was really impressed with how smooth and responsible the car was. The car felt rock solid on Indian roads and the suspension was very strong.
In France, the 309 was considered to be a small car but in India, it was actually rather big compared to other cars. Nowadays, this isn't the case anymore.
Unfortunately due to the extreme heat in India, and that I didn't use covers, the dashboard plastics began to crack quite quickly. I've had to change the dashboard a few times. After using covers and taking care and with a new dashboard the cracking problem seems to have stopped.
This car does not have power steering so it is a more natural feel to steer it but a bit less convenient than cars with PS.
I have kept the car mostly stock. Its had 3 minor accidents from 96-02 but that has been completely fixed with original parts. What is nice about this car is how strong the body is, the metal seems to be thicker than most cars however this makes it a big heavy.
I bought the car in cream color but now its silver. There is a cassette player in it that still works and so does the AC. I haven't had the heart to change the player, but I've added a line from battery to charge phone and I can use that as a player with car speakers.
This car holds a lot of memories associated with it. I'm not married and my family consists of just me and my daughter. This is the car I drove her to school every day with. She also learnt to drive in this car and took her boyfriend on a first date driving this car.
Since the 2000's parts for the car are increasingly hard to find in India and for original parts its nearly impossible. Like I could not find the part that holds the boot latch. Luckily since I travel to Europe and deal with Import Export stuff in India, I can get the parts I want but its quite a hassle however it makes the car more precious to me.
This car has done around 560 000 km and is still going strong on original engine.
In recent times I don't use the car as much now as I have a Renault Fluence also. I recently also imported a Lotus Elise S Club Racer as I couldn't get one in India and that's my new toy. In France I own a Renault Mégane only and my daughter has a Citröen C5 there.
The Peugeot has been used mostly by my daughter since I bought my Fluence and she loves having this car that she grew up with and takes great pride in having it. She bought a Renault Pulse (which is just a Nissan Micra with Renault logo on it) with the intention of using that as main car and the Peugeot as secondary but unfortunately got into an accident which damaged the pulse beyond repair and is back to using the Peugeot as main vehicle. She intends to get another car to replace the Pulse that got scraped and then use 2 cars.
The Peugeot unfortunately recently got some damage in front because my daughter accidentally hit the back of a van. We haven't been able to completely restore it but I have arranged to pick up the head lamp covers and grille from a friend in France on my next visit. One of the doors also has small damage and a cracked handle but we don't know how that happened as my daughter found damage after returning to see her car when it was parked somewhere, most likely a hit and run.
What I find interesting is if I had (well now its my daughter's but she lets me use it if I want) this car in France, it would not be as special as there are still quite a few of them around. Here it is like a precious classic car that we find very valuable because its rare now so we take good car of it. In France a similar car would be used as a low value car for doing the dirty work.
Hope this car serves us for many more years.
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.![[angry]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Rage.gif "Rage [angry]")
. 5.6 lakh kilometres, I eat my