alargeau -- a quick introduction

[alargeau]

Hello,

my name's Aurélien, I currently live in France, in the South East or let's call it the French Riviera.
I'm 28 years old and I own two 309s:
- a 309 SL, bought near Glasgow. It's a 3 door model, in Topaz Blue, from 1991 and which has got the famous 1294cc from Simca-Talbot.
- a 309 GTI automatic from Japan, from 1989 but first registered in 1992. It's got the XU9J1 engine with the 4HP14 4-speed automatic transmission. It's a full spec so it's got lots of features European 309s don't have and despite its high mileage (318 000 km), it's still a real pleasure to drive it.

Now, some pictures:
My 309 SL:


My 309 GTI:


Both cars:


I'll update my presentation asap.
Cheers.

[Thomas 309]

Hi Aurélien,

you have two very beautiful exotic 309 ! I like them very well. Then you are driving on the "wrong" side .
What special equipment does the japanese GTI have? Also I would be interested in in some data of the engine of your SL, I think this engine was not available for german 309, so I dont know it.

[alargeau]

Yes, I don't think that engine was available in Germany because it doesn't have a catalist converter. It's a 1294cc developing 65PS. It's a very old engine actually, it was fitted in Simca and Talbot cars as well as in Peugeots afterward. It is fitted with a carburettor and was only available in phase 1 309s in France whereas it was still fitted in the UK, and as late as 1992, when they finally replaced the engine by the TU3 Peugeot engine that was already used in continental Europe.
My 309 GTI is a full spec model, it was actually a sort of limited edition in Japan. I don't know exactly the number of such 309s but my Japanese contacts who know well and own 309s told me it's a very rare car and they had never seen one in Japan. It seems they were only available with the XU9J1 engine and automatic transmission whereas the 309 GTI was also available in Japan with a manual gearbox. So, it's got, as standard, power steering, electric windows and electric mirrors, sunroof, heated seats, red tape lining all round, 4 headrests, Sony cassette player with a 6 CD changer, position pole, air conditioning, automatic headlight control and probably other things I don't remember.

[XTSI]

You forgot your bumperfiited antenna, as seen on your picture just kidding, looks like you got yourself a extremely luxery 309, in perfect shape, with airco, which must be nice in your area!
gr, Mark

[alargeau]

A/C WOULD be really nice in here if only it worked
The compressor needs to be replaced and the sooner I do it the better because my back is sweating like hell!!

[XTSI]

Aha, can imagine that

[Thomas 309]

There you have two great cars, especially the GTI. This is an luxury 309 . An A/C would be in my 309 very useful, in summer it can be in my region around Stuttgart very hot, so it is in the 309, too .
I think te GTI with automatic was also not available in Germany, just with 5-Speed manual.

[alargeau]

Yes, the GTI automatic was only produced for the Japanese market because Japanese love cars with automatic gearbox. That must be beacuse of the traffic. Anyway, concerning the A/C, it's hell to install. I tried to do that in my SL because it's very too hot in here during Summer days but it's way too complicated. Plus, finally, I just found it useless to tune my car.