It is kind of a quick release system. Peugeots and Citroëns from this era had a an orientable rear suspension based on 4 flexible rubber bushings allowing the wheels to turn a bit during hard cornering. Very nice in terms of handling but not really made to whack a curb at full blast...

Go for a niva 4x4, a Fiat panda 4x4 if you fit in it or an old peugeot 504 (they came in pickup form) or 505. A citroen 2cv or related (mehari/dyane) could do the trick as well if you’re not in a hurry. In terms of modern stuff, have a look at the dacia duster, they’re having a reputation for being tougher than they…

I ride one in that place of chaos named Paris... I gave up on classic bells as most of them simply don’t make enough noise to cover both traffic and the music blasting in the ears of the smartphone-zombies walking in the bycicle lane, so I went to a junk yard and bought a truck horn wich is now wired to a battery…

Quite common in a lot of places in Europe, and somehow we manage to deal with it.
Witchcraft!

No woman no drive!

Totally agree with that. As a parisian I don’t see the use of a diesel car in the city, except if you like paying more for an engine that will clog itself up due to the fact that diesels are only good for long distance, highway driving.
(full disclosure, I do own a peugeot 306 Hdi diesel, which spends the whole week…

Leave me a 306 convertible tho, they are well proportionned, handles good and get good mileage. oh and reliable :)

CP at this price, but I love Peugeots in general, they are very reliable in diesel form, and the suspension/chassis is usually a good mixture of fun and comfort, good for tearing up backroads while being comfy on long trips. But i’m french so parts availability is a different story for me...

A portuguese 2CV, belonging to a friend, she loved it but didn’t had any money to maintain it, so I offered to do the work for free, fixed the engine, had new floor plates welded, changed the soft top, repaired the seats, the floor mats etc. During the process i used it to bomb around some trails in buggy mode (1…

these vans are among the worst things i’ve been given to drive: top heavy, a suspension that manages to be both quite harsh on bad roads butalso too soft when taking a corner, bordering on scary the first time you turn the wheel a little to fast, and, at least in the previous version there was a sort of kink on the…

Thanks, I was guessing it could have been these but I wasn’t ure. didn’t had those in France but they would definitly have been a deal breaker for me. I always wear my belt but I don’t need any stupid automated belt, thank you :)

Oh thank you, I thought of these as well but wasn’t sure. we didn’t had those in france but yeah, they lust have been a serious PITA...

Pardon my ignorance, but what do you guys call a mouse belt? I tried a bit of googling and didn’t find anything... (french guy here)

I live in Paris, and the basic way we park (provided your car doesn’t feature a back-up cam/radar) is using our butt sensors. you get in that tight spot slowly, until you bump in the car behind, non one will mind as long as you’re not forcing it. so your car is bound to get some scratches, and then the potential…

I’d say they are aiming to take over services like those we have in Paris, where you can be taken to the airports on a Honda Goldwing or a BMW K1600GT or similar, which is usually much faster than cars/taxis/buses, especially during rush hours.
Still wouldn’t trust an Uber driver on a motorbike, especially here in…

Oh my, something’s happening in my underwear!

i drove a few hours at speeds up to 50MPH without noticing that I had a completely flat tire in one of these cars, so y’eah i wouldn’t worry too much about a few more :)

Peugeot/citroën diesel engines from that era (and the first gen HDi engines, before their first attempts at downsizing) are pretty much bulletproof. my 2.0 HDi never missed a beat over 190k miles so far, only needed oil changes and things like belts and an engine mount. all the while returning around 40mpg even when…

French carmakershave been using that for a while, PSA had a passive version in the Peugeot 306, Citroën ZX, XM, Xsara, Xantia and a slightly different version in the Peugeot 406, and Renault used it in the Laguna 3 GT. I don’t know how it behaves in the Renaults, but in my 306 you can really feel it at work in the…