Owner Review: Born to be a retro rally car-My 1997 Peugeot 306 N5 Lemans 1.8

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Basic information

1997 Peugeot 306 N5 Lemans 1.8 Automatic （Purchase Year 2017）

Initially, I bought the car out of curiosity and wanted to make a  vintage rally car that can be used every day. At that time, I bought it at a low price（Rp 26 Juta）, and its packaging was very friendly. But this car is not my only car, I am not in a hurry to complete this project to suit my taste.

Reasons why I bought this car

• There are few 360-model automatic transmissions that can be collected on the market
• European technology
• Durability is not bad
• Sporty car/rally appearance
•  Typical French comfort
• Elegant material Exterior and interior design, company: Pininfarina
• Easy to modify

Car selection process

Considering the vehicle to choose at that time, the car that must be suit my taste, that is, Sedan( It means comfort is the most important thing), and must be automatic. Because it is used in Surabaya, Surabaya often encounters traffic jams and it looks like a retro and rally car style. Cars are only used daily in cities, but it occasionally used outside the city must be no problem.

Peugeot 306 N5 is a French car designed by the Pininfarina of Italy's famous automobile design company. It is the second generation product of Indonesia's 306 series, before 306 series, and then 306 MY2000( manual only). Choose 306 N5 Lemans because it has automatic variants. 306 series are front-wheel drive injection system,and it has capacity of 1800 cc, enough to run.

User experience

When I modified this car at the beginning, I faced a lot of challenges. Especially in terms of gearboxes, considering that automatic gearboxes were not popular in Indonesia and their performance was limited, and I had to uninstall the gearbox several times because some cars are not good at using this type of automatic transmission. Moveover, I must add an oil cooler to the automatic cooling system to avoid power outages in traffic jams and high temperatures. In terms of the engine, this is not a big problem, the wiring of the car has been processed, and the spark plugs have been replaced according to the specifications. As far as the frame is concerned, I only replaced all the bushing parts, the tie rod long tie rod bracket, the rear drum, the brake pads, and rebuilt the power steering system with new sealing parts and pipes.

In terms of appearance, the color of the body was changed from the original blue-black to dark black, the body changed all black accessories and bumpers to one color, and the wheels were still repainted from silver to dark gray. And equipped with new Dunlop 185/65/r14 tires.

The interior of all seats is replaced by a half bucket made of fabric from front to back, so the retro feel of the assembly looks very strong.In addition, the steering wheel can still carry 3-spoke Retrim, and Alpine mono audio and Bluetooth technology are also keep to use, so It still looks very retro.

In order to turn the car into initial performance, I spent about 2 times the maximum purchase price. But the results are encouraging. LOL

This car is very comfortable on bumpy roads and is very weak to vibrations. In addition, it is usually almost impossible to detect when the speed bump is  passed, so many people do not pay attention to the speed limiter to accelerate the damage to the legs of the vehicle. And the car can still be tested at a speed of 180 km/h, because taking into account the traffic regulations, it is recommended not to make changes in the urban area, outside the urban area or toll stations. For Every day, we can only drive normally, we still have to observe and maintain traffic awareness.

Pros & Cons:

Pros

Comfortable, rallying appearance, driving pleasure, compact 1800 cc sedan makes it very flexible to run and good at climbing, the cabin and luggage are very spacious.

Cons

This is a car over 20 years of age. If it wants to restore its new performance, it must have a lot of replacement parts, which is a huge burden.It’s worth it to me, Althogh this is not a car that can be used in all terrain conditions, especially on harsh road terrain.

Ratings:

• Total Score: 4.5
• Performance: 4
• Quality & Features: 4
• Space: 5
• Ride Comfort: 5
• Fuel Economy: 3
• Price & Cost: 4

This car is very efficient and it will be interesting for those who like performance and comfort. However, for those who are not used to old cars, they will be a little confused when maintaining it.

Summary

The modification of the car is still in the early stages, and funds are being raised and for better modification. I hope I will have the opportunity to record the progress of the modification of the car.

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