The need for tweed: Peugeot 505 GR Estate

Plush. That’s the first word that springs to mind when viewing the interior of this Peugeot 505 GR Estate. Plush and VERY spacious.

It’s all about the tweed. Although velour and leather seats were options on the Peugeot 505, hard-wearing tweed is all you need, especially in an estate. There are worse places to self-isolate than a Peugeot 505 wagon – you’re not going to be short of space.

Forget a boot large enough for a dog, in the 505 Estate you can take your plush puppy for a walk and complete your daily steps in the process. Up front, there’s enough rear legroom to shame a Mercedes S-Class or Skoda Superb. You can even remove your shoes and treat your feet to the feel of tweed on the backs of the front seats.

Tweedledee

Space is less generous for the driver and front seat passenger, but you are treated to the warm glow of an orange light alongside the ignition switch. It’s as homely as an open fire and yet brilliantly simple. Still want that Mercedes E-Class Estate with its choice of 64 different ambient lighting options?

You also get to play with the brilliantly named ‘Econoscope’, which consists of three little lights: green, amber and red. Green was the key to economical driving, although Motor Sport described the ‘Econoscope’ as “quite meaningless, but it amuses the children”.

Not that the children could see it without a pair of binoculars – the rear seats are that far back. Your dog may as well be in a different time zone.

Tweedle-yum

There was a time when the Peugeot 505 was a familiar sight on Britain’s roads. The saloon – in particular the 505 GTI – was as good to drive as a BMW 3 Series, while the 505 Estate was the wagon of choice for families who demanded supreme comfort to go with the practicality. The Family offered seating for eight, although the CX Familiale offered more headroom in the cheap seats.

Feel free to spend a few minutes admiring the tweed seats and door cards. Take a little longer. Wonderful, aren’t they?

According to Stone Cold Classics, where the car is for sale, the Peugeot 505 Estate was discovered in an old barn. A genuine barn find, then? Wonders will never cease.

Although there’s no history with the car, the condition of the interior provides enough evidence to suggest that the indicated mileage of 32,000 is genuine. There’s much to like, including the original Rootes of Maidstone dealer sticker, an unused cigarette lighter, exposed steel wheels and the original radio/cassette player. Oh, and tweed.

Cheryl Tweedy

At £6,995, it isn’t cheap, but that’s around £1,500 less than the price of a Dacia Sandero MCV. But having checked the Dacia brochure, it appears that tweed seats aren’t an option, which makes the Peugeot 505 GR Estate the best value wagon in Britain. Probably.

Whatever, it will outlast pretty much every new car on sale today in the UK today, except the Hilux and the Land Cruiser. It’s just a shame the country is in lockdown, so your need for tweed will have to wait a few weeks. In the meantime, you can dream of tweed.

Thanks to Stone Cold Classics for permission to use the images. You can view the for sale advert here.

Words with less tweed:

• Frankly, we don’t talk about the Peugeot 309 enough
• A hat enthusiast is selling his Mercedes 280 TE estate
• The Citroën Xsara Enterprise was a tax-dodging starship trooper