Even though they’ve struggled for the past 15 years or so to win us over with their products, Peugeot is still one of the world’s greatest car manufacturers.
And when we say greatest, we mean throughout history. Sure, the latest 308 as well as the facelifted 508 are both very capable models in their particular segments. But other than that you’d have a hard time praising another Peugeot car build in the past 15 or so years.
You’d have to look towards the 90’s in order to find some really great products such as the 205, 306 and the 406. Of course who can forget the 405, one of Europe’s finest family cars back in the day, evening winning the prestigious European Car of the Year award back in 1988.
But if we go back a lot further than the 80’s, we’re bound to come across the famous Peugeot 204, which is turning 50 years old as we speak. Peugeot says that this “stylish saloon” helped define the small mid-sized segment and we’re not going to argue with them.
Back in its day, the 204 was indeed considered to be good-looking, it had front wheel drive (first Peugeot to have it), disc brakes at the front and independent suspension front and rear.
However, the 204 is best known for spawning what is today the compact segment, where you have cars such as the 308 enjoying a lot of success. The 204 had a transversely mounted engine with a transverse gearbox beneath it, which created enough space for the car to be front-wheel driven. The 6.3 liter twin-turbo, just kidding! The 1,1 liter petrol unit was later joined by a 1,2 liter diesel engine – which made the 204 one of the most efficient cars of its era.
The 204 could be ordered as a two-door convertible, three-door coupe, five-door estate, three-door van as well as the four-door saloon it was initially launched as.
At the time, it was praised for its fuel economy, solid performance and accurate steering – which we won’t laugh about since plenty of us dislike today’s electric power steering systems.
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