Peugeot 605
The
Peugeot 605 is an
executive car produced by the
French manufacturer
Peugeot between
1989 and
1999.
The 605 was based on the
Citroen XM (although using a
sedan bodystyle), and was successor to the unsuccessful
Peugeot 604 which went out of production years earlier. The popular
Peugeot 505 model was thus replaced by two cars - the
large family car 405, and the executive car 605.
High equipment levels, a luxurious interior, a smooth ride, and exceptional handling were strong points for the 605. But
Peugeot has always struggled to succeed with large cars, and the 605 was no different. It was too similar in design and appearance to the smaller
Peugeot 405 to command a price premium, while its dashboard also drew criticism for its uninspired design.
Also like the XM, 605 suffered from grave build quality issues that resulted in a large number of breakdowns or malfunctions, which severely damaged the car's reputation. It took Peugeot three years to bring quality under control.
PSA Peugeot Citroën has not been able to address the "luxury-brand" issue effectively - the automobile market rewards such
segmentation, by brands from one factory - like
Lexus/
Toyota,
Acura/
Honda, and
Audi/
Volkswagen.
Consumers demand a certain exclusivity from luxury cars that
commodity producers cannot provide.
Thus - once
PSA had successfully degraded the distinct
Citroën brand image, it was rewarded with the failure of the
Citroën XM to attract customers from the world wide
Citroën fan base. The XM suffered the same fate as the pleasant but anonymous 605. Fortunately,
PSA has a strong profit position in
subcompact cars and in
developing nations to fund such experimentation.
After the launch of the well-received
Peugeot 406 in
1995, 605 sales dropped to near-insignificant levels, and the 605 was quietly dropped in 1999. Cars built after 1992 generally have good build quality and are often surprisingly good bargains on the second-hand market because the model's poor reputation keeps prices down.
The 605's successor, the
Peugeot 607, went into production in late
1999 and has fared marginally better in the marketplace.
Four petrol engines were offered at launch:
* 2.0-liter 8-valve carbureted inline-4, 115 bhp
* 2.0-liter 8-valve fuel-injected inline-4, 130 bhp
* 3.0-liter 12-valve fuel-injected V-6, 170 bhp
* 3.0-liter 24-valve fuel-injected V-6, 200 bhp
As well as diesel engines:
* 2.1-liter 12-valve normally aspirated inline-4, indirect injection, 88 bhp
* 2.1-liter 12-valve turbocharged inline-4, indirect injection, 110 bhp
* 2.5-liter ,turbocharged inline-4, 129 bhp
The base 4-cylinder petrol engine and the normally aspirated diesel, though reliable, were generally considered to be simply overmatched by the car's weight. The fuel-injected inline-4 was better received though it was criticised for lacking low- and mid-range punch, whereas the 170-hp
V6 suffered from criticisms over poor fuel economy (mostly due to its design essentially dating from the late
1960s). The same issue affected the top-of-the range V6-24 version in spite of its all-new 24-valve cylinder head, though a top speed of 235 km/h (146 mph) made poor fuel economy more acceptable to generally well-heeled customers. The 2.1 turbo-diesel was widely regarded as a good powertrain but was outclassed by the new
direct-injection engines introduced in
1988 by
Audi.
A 2.0-liter (8-valve) turbocharged 4-cylinder petrol engine (150 bhp) was added in 1991 and provided good performance but proved unreliable. Later, a 2.5 turbodiesel (130 bhp) completed the diesel lineup, then the 2.1 was converted to direct injection. In 1997, the antiquated 3.0-liter engine was replaced at long last by an all-new 2.9-liter, 24-valve, 192-bhp
V6, finally giving the car a powertrain worthy of its exceptional roadholding.
