RE: PGO Cevennes | Spotted

RE: PGO Cevennes | Spotted

Tuesday 6th April 2021

PGO Cevennes | Spotted

Quirky French sports car uses 206 GTI running gear for très chic option



We're inclined to believe that the current owner of this PGO Cevennes was inspired to buy it after a sighting somewhere suitably exotic. Monte Carlo, as the seller claims. The French Riviera would do. It has the prerequisite style for such a setting. But not the premium thanks to the engineering parsimony of its maker. PGO Automotive - said to be France's smallest car maker - created the Cevennes using the running gear from a Peugeot 206 GTI. So it's not expensive to buy or run.

But it is pleasingly light. The Cevennes was launched in 2005 and is said to tip the scales at just 980kg, some 145 kilos less than the hot (ish) hatch it was based on. The 206's four-cylinder - mounted in the middle and now driving the rear wheels - is in standard, 136hp tune, so performance is more sprightly than sprint. At any rate, PGO never set out to create an apex-worrying sports car, but rather a quietly glamourous open-top.

Consequently, the Cevennes was capable of a 6.8-second 0-62mph time and 134mph; more than enough poke to make a cliff-top cruise pleasurable. Or else somewhere to enjoy the custom-made body reflected in a shop window, from an interior bearing leathers and chrome-surround dials. Prices started at £29,995 in Britain, which seems fairly reasonable when you consider how much domestic firms charge for hand-built exclusivity.


Of course, it was hardly likely to become a common sight on UK roads. If there's one thing we do well, it's low volume car production. You'd need to be a card-carrying Francophile to opt for the Cevennes in a land that Morgan and Caterham and Lotus and Westfield and Ariel and Ginetta and many more call home. It would be like buying a Cadbury's Creme Egg in the Lindt factory gift shop.

Still, PGO did build right-hand drive models for the UK market, and it also subsequently tickled the car's four-pot to 184hp (it's also, interestingly, listed on PGO's website as a PSA-sourced 1.6 now) to make the Cevennes more exciting. This car came before that, but having accumulated 15,000 miles in 11 years, it's lived a respectable life for a vehicle clearly designed for weekend jaunts. The £31k asking price obviously suggests that no value has been lost in that time (or so the vendor believes) and there seems little reason to question the car's usability given the boot under the bonnet and the ULEZ compliance enabled by its Euro IV status.

So while its humble engine is hardly likely to persuade you out of a Boxster, it's easy to see how the comparative cost, undoubted rarity and easy-on-the-eye looks might win you over. Especially when it's sunny outside and you've got a swanky pub garden to get to in the very near future.


SPECIFICATION | PGO CEVENNES

Engine: 1,997cc, inline four
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 136@6,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 140@4,100rpm
0-62mph: 6.8sec (est)
MPG: 32 (combined)
CO2: 175g/km
Year registered: 2010
Recorded mileage: 15,000
Price new: £29,995 (2007)
Yours for: £30,995

See the original ad here




Author
Discussion

ajguk

Original Poster:

316 posts

71 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
Surely (at least from the front) this is trying to imitate a Porsche 356? No mention in the article so maybe it's just me.

WCZ

10,492 posts

193 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
cute! I like it

DaveyBoyWonder

2,466 posts

173 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
ajguk said:
Surely (at least from the front) this is trying to imitate a Porsche 356? No mention in the article so maybe it's just me.
First thing I thought.

Second thing was how much is this £10k French oddity. £30k+ it seems biglaugh

alpha channel

1,386 posts

161 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
It put me in mind of the Copen more than anything else... I like it though.

ajguk

Original Poster:

316 posts

71 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
DaveyBoyWonder said:
First thing I thought.

Second thing was how much is this £10k French oddity. £30k+ it seems biglaugh
The front end is almost identical when you compare the two (especially the bonnet shape) - and the rear's not far off. It's a rip-off! Or a 'homage' if you're French.... smile

shalmaneser

5,930 posts

194 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
This is pretty cool! Definitely one for the collector who has everything...

redroadster

1,729 posts

231 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
Compared to UK built Chesil speedster its priced right, even if its not a full blown copy its got enough off the look.

Doofus

25,732 posts

172 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
I believe they built their first car using a Chesil as the base.

I hate it; it's an ugly POS.

Gecko1978

9,603 posts

156 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
Doofus said:
I believe they built their first car using a Chesil as the base.

I hate it; it's an ugly POS.
Agree...it seems like a copy of a copy and its 31k.....best of luck selling that

McFarnsworth

284 posts

148 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
The 206gti used a 2 liter engine, as does this PGO, it even says so in the add, twice.

30k for a new one seems fair, 31k for a 10 year old one not so much.

berlintaxi

8,535 posts

172 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
As seen on a Northern soap;


TwigtheWonderkid

43,248 posts

149 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
Rosie Webster had one in Coronation St



Edit: Berlintaxi beat me to it.

MightyBadger

1,836 posts

49 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
Awkward looking roof, last but one hoop too high. Door mirrors need removing and billet bullet mirrors added to the wings. Needs metal lattice light covers, Halfords alloys need to be melted down and replaced. Dash lights are a hideous mish mash of nastyness. I like it though, looks like good fun laugh

Augustus Windsock

3,340 posts

154 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
Hahaha the jokes on you PH!
As we all know any April Fool made after 12pm on April 1st means the joke is on you
And really, expecting us to believe that price, everyone surely expected it to be £3099....

Professor Popkiss

26 posts

57 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
I couldn't read this article without thinking of Len Goodman.

ecs0set

2,471 posts

283 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
There's something odd about the look of this... probably that the headrests are higher than the top of the windscreen.

Makes it look like something from the middle aisles of Toys'R'Us. Does it come with a 6V battery?

Professor Popkiss

26 posts

57 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
And the soft top up looks like a Victorian widow's bonnet.

WCZ

10,492 posts

193 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
berlintaxi said:
As seen on a Northern soap;

wow <3

Sion111R

308 posts

91 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
Given the choice, I would choose this.

Edited by Sion111R on Tuesday 6th April 16:37

Maccmike8

1,017 posts

53 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
A Peugeot kit car.
Im oot.