During the mid to late 1970s, the motoring press speculated that a new Peugeot would soon arrive, in order to update the company's model lineup, in an attempt to make the Peugeot more internationally appealing. Since Peugeot had only recently discontinued their Peugeot 404 model, many people thought that the purpose of the new car was to fill the gap, previously occupied by the 404, between the Peugeot 304 and Peugeot 504 models.
It therefore would have been natural for the new car to be called the 405. The car was to be developed from and use the running gear from the 304, but in terms of size and price, it was to succeed the 404, especially considering that the top model in the new range would cost more than the entry-level 504, and that the 304 would remain in production some time after the new car was introduced. Instead of being called the 405, the new car was called the 305. When it made its press debut in November 1977, the motoring press were initially confused as to why it was called a 305 rather than a 405 but it sold well anyway.
The body was done by Italian stylist Pininfarina and was completely new[citation needed]. It was all-steel monocoque which strongly resembled the BMW 3-Series of the time. The design came from Peugeot's 'VSS' prototype safety vehicle, which Peugeot created to improve car safety. This meant that the car had front and rear crumple zones, side impact protection, a protected fuel tank and bolt-on front wings.
Three bodystyles were available, consisting of a conventional 'three-box' four door sedan, a five door station wagon, and a three door panel van.
Despite that drawback with the smaller engine, the gearbox in all 305s was excellent, with an extremely precise and light gearchange.[citation needed] The 305 combined a front-wheel drive car with an excellent and durable gearbox. On the downside, there was no fifth gear provided but, especially at motorway speeds, the four gears gave the 305 the maximum power it needed in fourth, Peugeot was reported to have said that the car had no difficulty reaching 95 mph (153 km/h) if pushed to the limit.
Becky's car which was a top-specification SR model after face lift is known as the Peugeot 305 GTX and was only in production during the years 1985-1987. In the car grant, the car was registered in 1988 but with the current information, the car is at least a year or a maximum of three years older than stated. The car at sale is then at least 22 years old if not older.
It was based on the Peugeot 204 with which it shared many components, the most obvious difference being the frontal styling.
The car was moderately advanced for its time, having fully independent suspension, and a four speed gearbox located directly below the engine, sharing the same oil as the engine. Although most interior components were interchangeable with the 204, the 304 had a floor mounted gear change in place of the column mounted control in the smaller car.
The transverse engine front wheel drive configuration conferred enhanced cabin space, although this was no longer such an unusual feature as it had been for the 204 back in 1965. The 304 also incorporated front disc brakes and headlights that could adjust for left/right hand drive.
The 304 changed little during a model life exceeding ten years. From the outside, the saloon received a simplified rear light cluster design in 1972, and there were rearrangements of the Peugeot badge appearing on the front grill. The roof line of the saloon was changed slightly to give greater headroom for rear passengers, the rear doors' window frames correspondingly were modified, gaining about and inch and a half to their rearmost upper edge making them the only doors in the 304 model range which were unique to the 304. Changes under the metal included the replacement of the dynamo with an alternator in 1971 and the fitting
of wider tyres in 1974. The hydraulically operated clutch was replaced with a cable operated mechanism in 1977.
The Successor(Peugeot 309)
The first 309 rolled off the production line at Ryton in October 1985 and sales began at the beginning of the following year. The 309 was not intended to replace Peugeot's own 305 model, but the out of step model number – the next small family car after the 305 should have been named "306" – was intended to distance it from the 305 in the marketplace and to reflect the car's Simca origins. The 309's slightly awkward styling (especially when compared with the 205 and 405 of the same era) is due to the decision to re-use the door shells from the 205. The 309 was also supposed to be differentiated from Peugeot as a Talbot, and was designed "in-house".
The 309 was eventually replaced by the Peugeot 306, returning Peugeot to their normal numbering scheme. The 306 was in turn superseded by the 307, with the 308 launched in 2007. Whether there will be a "new" 309 to follow the 308 remains to be seen, but Peugeot have not previously re-used model numbers, as the 309 was the only model to have been named out of synchronisation with the rest of the Peugeot generation it was produced with (it was produced alongside the "05" generation).
There goes my car again....
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