Time was when French cars rightly had a terrible reputation for being prone to corrosion.
As a case in point, I recall going on holiday in 1980 with a Belgian friend and his family, when we drove in their eighteen month old CX from Brussels to Saint Jean de Luz. The two things that stand out from the journey were the wonderfully comfortable and relatively quiet motorway ride (light years ahead of Dad's then new, admittedly only four on the floor, Volvo 244DL), and the appalling body corrosion (whereas family Volvos, kept for ten years and more, have had zilch corrosion). The driver's door actually already had a fist sized rust hole in the outer panel, and the tailgate lip was already a nice furry finish!
Yesterday however, after washing SWMBO's nine year old Pug 306 Sedan, I decided to give the body and underside a good once over, specifically looking for corrosion.
What did I find?
Plenty of fine surface scratches, as the paint seems to mark just by looking at it, but not a single area of corrosion. Not even the rear passenger door and leading edge of the wheel arch, both of which were lightly creased and the top coat of paint cracked, when scraped against a post by the previous owner a number of years ago. Lifting the bonnet, and looking at the chassis member box sessions, even the vertical ends of the innerboard plates still have sound, solid, paint, with a crisp edge to the metal, despite not an ounce of wax in sight of this particular location. Looking underneath, there is ample corrosion protection and everything is completely sound, including minor brackets and componentry.
Sure, as I've said before, the inside of the car has the fit and finish of an Airfix(tm) kit assembled by a five year old (though nothing has actually broken or stopped working, to be fair), but regarding body protection, it looks like the French have been up there with the best of them for some time now. Admittedly I've never seen a rusty bodied 306, but is Mrs SjB lucky that the entire car has withstood corrosion so well, or did this turnaround really happen a decade ago?
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SjB,
I found the same with my '91 405.
I accidently scratched a door panel down to bare metal in a builders yard. The damage was done by an unseen breeze block, and was around an inch above the bottom edge, hence in the full flow of road salt, etc.
That was at around 120K.
I scrapped the car at 251K, and there was still no rust. Amazing!
Sadly, it's not the same with my '96 Vx Monterey (rebadged Isuzu Trooper). Surface rust on the underframe and rust bubbles on the slightest stone chip.
rg
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Think the CX was about the last in the line of French rustbuckets. Still running a 91 BX with next to no corrosion, now gone 89 Pug 205 similar.
In the eighties I ran a '78 Pug 104ZS. Some rust when i bought it in 82, very little more when it was sold in 86. Saw it 4 years later and still no worse. Replacement was '80 Mini City, swear I could see the rust spreading down the cills over a week.
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"The damage was done by an unseen breeze block, and was around an inch above the bottom edge, hence in the full flow of road salt, etc."
Did anyone get the registration of the breeze block?
H
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No, I don't think you will easily find a rusty 205 unless it has been bent. I had a 1984 car which had collected serious water under the carpets, so I gutted the interior. Not a trace of rust anywhere though the insulation was saturated.
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My '84 BX had quite a bit of rust when I sold it 13 yrs later (!) - ironically where a previous owner had fitted mud flaps and those plastic door edge protectors , also where rear exhaust box hanger joined the boot, and front sub frame. 1991 BX, which I sold last September had only one tiny bit of rust where it had a bad stone chip on the A pillar. On both cars the plastic bonnet and hatchbacks were totally free of rust(!)
Wifes '93 Xantia didn't have any anywhere when sold 2 years ago. I think, as original poster mentioned, that the change came about in about 1990-91 ish. Often think that old BXs look good and rust free (except for the ones that came in "Faded Red"!) but I wish their owners would occasionally fit new spheres!
Modern cars certainly contrast with the '70s/early '80s when I remember spending hours rebuilding front wings on various Renaults with fibreglass - even after spending other hours spraying Waxoyl - mind you, most of that seemed merely to make my hair impervious to shampoo and shower water.
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BTW, decoding the VIN of SWMBO's 306 Sedan shows it to have been built in Poissy, France, not Ryton, which surprised me, so it is indeed a French, French car!
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My 1987 Pug 309 SRi that had been in the family since new, had hardly a spot on it. The sills and the bottom of the rear doors were starting to go a bit, but then it got written off, so it didn't matter after that.
The last of the French cars to tackle the rust problems IMO was Renault.
A friend had a 1990 H reg Savanna estate, which was looking fairly tired when it went to the scrap yard last year, corrosion spots in panels etc.
My B reg Renault 11 GTL was showing its age on the bottom of the doors at only 7 years old.
Also, the Renault trafics (panel vans) before about 1995 are really prone to rust. Mine (1996) does seem to have escaped that problem though.
Two recent Citroen Xantias I've had have been fine.
The discovery's a different matter though. Rust and leaky window seals, where's that wallet?
H
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I think it is very rare to see a rusty peugeot, and there are lots of old ones around.I think they have partly galvanised 'high risk' body work areas like the wheel arches and door sills, so corrosion should not be a prob. They are also designed with fewer rust traps than other cars (unlike the filler cap area on old fiestas) Early renaults certainly were terrible though
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SjB - I believe the 306 production line was moved to France about 1997, when Ryton started to turn out 206s instead, and the facelifted 306 came out.
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...SjB - I believe the 306 production line was moved to France about 1997, when Ryton started to turn out 206s instead, and the facelifted 306 came out...
May be, but my wife's UK spec right hand drive 306 (N3) Sedan was built in Poissy in March 1995. Perhaps therefore Sedans were all Poissy built, as I believe the Carbriolets were.
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Worse than the CX range for rust was the GS/GSA. I am sure you could almost see the rust spreading before your eyes. Shame as it was a lovely car in many ways.
French cars today seem to be some of the least rusty on the roads. Saw a 1987 E reg Renault 5 the other day and it was immaculate.
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Had a Xantia for 9 years. Traded it in without hardly a spot of rust - and that's living by the sea. Most newish French cars don't seem to rust at all. I'd agree about the paintwork, though (and this is probably true of most cars these days, which have gone over to water-based paints) - the paint is soft and easily marked. You need lots of water at cleaning time, a non-abrasive cloth / sponge and a follow up with some decent polish carefully applied. I'm on the 2 stage Autoglym at the moment but intend trying Meguiars when the bottles are empty.
Graeme
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The large number of old 405s seem to support your theory. Back in the eighties a neighbour had a Fiat Mirafiori in white, nice looking car and no rust, after a couple of years he upgraded to a brand new SuperMirafiori, I'm sure he scrapped it after 3-4 years due to the extensive rust. It seemed far worse than the Vivas, Alpines that my brother had.
Steve.
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My 1989 Renault 21 had no rust on it when I got rid of it in 2000. I was amazed. The engine was still going strong too (2.1 D with 140k on it) The interior was falling apart mind and the dashboard bulbs had given up
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