Thursday 23rd May 2013

Peugeot 309 GTI: PH Ad Break

The 205's bigger brother gets a blat around a country house for a photo op in this neat ad from 1989

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Pity the Peugeot 309 GTI. Based on a defunct Talbot project and sneered at for slightly dumpy looks, it also had to share a showroom with the pert, petite 205 GTI back in the days of the now-revived Peugeot Talbot Sport stripes. The 205 was the car everyone wanted, and it’s the one that’s remembered as such today. But despite its reputation as the frumpier, more sensible big brother, the 309 was a fantastic car in its own right; perhaps even, some reckoned, a better one. “The 309 GTI is a most desirable alternative to the usual run of sports hatchbacks, offering the performance and handling of the 205 GTI but with more space and greater refinement,” ran the Autocar road test at the time.

Doesn't the 309 look cool here?

This was the era that car ads were just starting to get amusing, of course, and rather than go with its usual, dour efforts to tell us all about how worthy its cars were, Peugeot decided it wanted a piece of that action in 1989. So it came up with this little number, memorable not just because of the neat plotline that still raises a chuckle today, but also for the fabulous array of brand new, and now much sought-after, 80s hot hatches assembled to take part in the photoshoot at the ad’s heart.

Throw in some spirited driving, including a cool reverse turn, several bouts of lift-off oversteer and a precise handbrake stop to finish, and it’s enough to get you all excited about trotting down to your local Peugeot showroom to hand over some cash. Except you can’t, because all they’ll be able to sell you these days is a 208 GTI. No, if this ad woos you, you’re best off turning to the PH Classifieds, where you’ll find this fruity-looking GTI-6 powered example, converted by well-known tuner Pug1off.

[sjabrown]

They're great car but not as rust resistant as 205s. Think there's about 100 left taxed now, and a few more Goodwood special editions. That compares to a couple of thousand 205 GTIs still taxed.

[sjabrown]

And I think, like the 205, they've aged rather well.

[mattmurdock]

Mine broke the rear torsion bar, shortly before an unfortunate coming together with a caravan. It was written off, and I couldn't afford to replace it with another one at the time. I loved that car, my dad had a succession of 205 GTIs in both 1.6 and 1.9 form and I always thought the 309 was at least an equal.

Edit - mine was pretty much identical to the one in the first pic, except it was a H reg.

Edited by mattmurdock on Thursday 23 May 10:00

[austrom1]

My first car was a 309 Goodwood, was thumped by a lovely person in a Tesco car park.

Great fun to drive, still look great now. I do miss that car!!

[405dogvan]

Never, in the field of human conflict, has so much decent hardware been wrapped in such a hideous exterior and then there's the interior, which appears to have been designed by the same people who design the insides of choccy boxes and is made from the same stuff.

The only reason they seem 'classic' now is you've not seen one in the best part of a decade - meanwhile, 205s keep on going and going and going.

That's not looking like a hippo for you...

[crostonian]

Always thought these were a better drive than the 205 and love the Ferrari 288GTOesque fog/spotlights!

The Mk2 Golf in the pic looks about 10 years older, I think the 309 looks much better than the dumpy VW.

[cerb4.5lee]

A friend had one & fitted a superchip to it & it seemed to go like the clappers! I have fond memories of these & it was back in a time when Peugeot knew how to build exciting front drivers...those days are a distant memory when you look at the tripe that they produce now.

[Ag51bye]

Notice how white is the colour of choice to make the other cars to seem dull. How times have changed!

[anything fast]

there was a factory 16v example that was not sold on the UK. I think they were on in LHD and in the home market only. Now that would be a nice car to get hold of.. if you can find one!

[Soupie69uk]

I had one of these as my first car. K25BSC - was great fun when it was running ok.
Sold it to a friend and has since been scrapped. The seats felt nice as did the steering but I hated that the sunroof started to leak.
Bought the corgi model a couple of weeks ago as a reminder.

[Andyc4s]

seriously good car, i regret selling mine especially as the guy only wanted the beam and wishbones to put on his 205 i assume the rest got scrapped. I was going to drop a 2.0 turbo in it from a xantia as standard they were a little underpowered. As far as i recall the 16v weren't the same as the mi16 it was a lower powered engine.

[mooseracer]

Had one of these and it was an absolute hoot to drive, better I'd say than the 205.....

[Andyc4s]

quite a good little track day car

[Alfa159Ti]

Probably a case of nostalgia tinted specs, but to me that car looks really attractive in a simple, elegant kind of way.

Love the early nineties Pugs.

[mybrainhurts]

Worst looking car Peugeot made at the time. A true dog...

[Strider]

I had a lovely five door; the steering was so full of life and it didn't have the evil lift-off overstear that put a friends 1.9 205 in a hedge. We used it as a chassis bench-mark when developing the Evante 140TC Series II.

[Andy ap]

Was that Quentin Wilson narrating?

[anonymous-user]

An Ad like that - suggesting speed - probably would be allowed now.

[MadDog1962]

mybrainhurts said:

Worst looking car Peugeot made at the time. A true dog...

I agree it wasn't beautiful, but most Peugeots are not pretty things (the 405 and 406 were OK though). A bit of an overstatement to call it a true dog though.

Even the lesser versions of the 309 handled really rather well. I did 40,000 miles in one year in one back in 1989/1990 (it was my first ever company car). Good gear change, brakes and steering. Didn't weigh too much either. Downside was iffy build quality and water leaks. I read somewhere that the rear light clusters never fitted the apertures properly.

[rossub]

Amuses me that the 15" wheels look so large on these cars. They'd be lost on a modern equivalent.