Am I doing this right?

Hey LaLD! Long time no see! I always wanted to post on the DriveTribe page when Kinja went down but school and other priorities have kept me away. When LaLD came here after DT died, I realized I still have a backlog of at least several weeks’ worth of French Friday content that needs to be posted! I don’t know if Jobjoris is still around here; he was always the biggest proponent of French Friday, but let’s see what I can do in his absence.

This week I’ve got a pair of B-segment cabrios from PSA from the early to mid noughties, the Citroen C3 Pluriel and the Peugeot 207 CC. They’re both a bit controversial, aren’t they? The Citroen was (in)famous for its insanely impractical roof rail system which promised full ‘roadster’ capabilities but in reality was very much an either or, as in either it’s a coupe or it’s a roadster.

The 207 makes no such compromises with its all-metal folding hardtop yet comes from what is regarded as perhaps the darkest period in Peugeot’s history (the -07 age). Together they represent somewhat of a malaise era for PSA, though Citroen did manage two final hydropneumatic monsters before (skimpy, boring) Peugeot cut the cash.

More than that, though, these represent the end of an era for compact cabrios. I remember once making a post on Kinja LaLD about the Matchbox castings for the Escort Mk3 cabriolet (by Karmann) and the BMW 3er cabriolet (by Baur) and remarking how those entry-level luxe showboats have all but been replaced by the coupe SUVs of their class, i.e. the Ford Puma and BMW X4 in regards to people shopping for something ‘with a bit of style’.

These two here would have been replaced by the Citroen C3 Aircross and Peugeot 2008 as such, both city cars with SUV wannabe looks and features.

I do wonder if the CUV boom is so bad and unprecedented or if it’s just been a long time coming. These two here are massively impractical, the Citroen for aforementioned reasons and the Peugeot because it has no trunk, being a hardtop cabrio.

So basically if you own either of these it probably shouldn’t be your only car, at least from an American perspective. Maybe this works better if you live in England and take the train to work five days a week, but I just can’t imagine Costco runs or having more than one friend would be much fun in either of these two.

What, then, of buying them as status symbols? The Pluriel was always weird to me in terms of appeal. Who was it meant for? Younger women are an obvious target for this type of vehicle, but I doubt any of them chose the gawky, difficult-to-use Citroen over the flashy, cheeky Pug.

I’m sure these two wouldn’t have found many male clientele either with their emasculating image, though European tastes may be a bit less gendered in that regard. Still, obviously no enthusiast would ever buy these two with their heavy roofs, lack of stiffness, and lowly diesels when you could get a C2 VTS or a 207 GTi for much the same coin.

Old people might like these, but they aren’t so easy to get in and out of, you know, and anyone with a family would be completely out of the picture. So I guess the 207 CC can be said for a younger female audience, while the Pluriel is relegated to gay French farmers who think it’s the successor to the 2CV.

In terms of the models themselves, these are both 3 inch Norev examples from the era when these cars were made. Norev’s 3 inch scale has been a bit all over the place, starting closer to 1:55 in the early 2000s and now closer to 1:64 or smaller with their most recent releases.

These are certainly in the middle somewhere, probably 1:60ish, and feel quality. They have metal bases and plenty of separate lens pieces and tampo appliques. Both have a flimsy little plastic roof piece that can be removed which I think is brilliant for display opportunities. They’re certainly a bit fragile as toys, but definitely more solid than a TLV and probably on par with AW build quality.

Anyways, thanks all for reading, and have a great weekend! I'll see y'all round the Hyphen!

Allard was resurrected to make this, a nosecone for the LS400. well, there were a few versions of the P4.

boy they're all horrid

not sure about that interior either

@tripper to be fair, it's the Boomers that created the massive demand for the automatic in the first place so it's really ultimately their fault that we can't/won't drive stick

Jeep made a Wagoneer for the year 2000 in 1991. it sure is

cab forward design has its limits

@DSM_OR_DIE oooh Chrysler. I always forget that one exists. That's probably their entire problem right there. What an American institution they used to be, though.

Hey Oppo! I'm not sure if many of you remember, but back in the Kinja days I used to do these post series' like Generation Gap or Driveways of America with polls to choose between various cars. I wanted to revive that but I don't have the time or wherewithal to make it a regular occurrence; instead, I'll just randomly bombard Oppo with three vaguely similar cars every now and then and let y'all duke it out in the comments! I'm calling it People's Choice and I invite others to use the tag as well.

I've been thinking about '90s Ford lately and how, like GM, they offered three very different big sedans across their ranges in America, Europe, and Oceania. That led me to realize that in each of those regions there was a Ford sedan that caused a major stir in the '90s due to controversial styling. What are they?

Hailing from Europe we've got the 1994 Scorpio, a fish-mouthed update to the formerly angular executive:

In North America there was the 'oval' Taurus which replaced the perfectly rectilinear first and second gen in 1996:

And Australia got the New Edge AU Falcon in 1998 which ruffled a few feathers:

So, what's your pick in 2022? I know mine.

enter the IAD (International Automotive Design of West Sussex) Royale, using the Alcyone platform and associated flat six

I remember seeing this concept in magazines as a kid and being obsessed with these circular button panels

So they prettied up an Iveco LMV with some very 2000's mods.

hope you like blue

@ttyymmnn laughs in Arizona

@Powered_By_Howard the Lane is selling theirs~!

anyone got $5k to spare?

@WhoIsTheLeader from a U.S. perspective, sure, but the 2CV has always had massive stigma in Europe (especially Britain) for various reasons, mostly the price. For decades it was seen as a 'poor persons' car because of Citroen's dirt-cheap pricing and the archaic nature of the car itself. Over on DTW it was mentioned how even a Renault 4 was so much more of a 'legitimate' car despite being only marginally more powerful simply by being better built and more conventional. Nowadays, sure, the 2CV is a certified classic, but there were many years of derision involved, no doubt.

@Mercedes_Pagoda_230SL tbt when I could pay $2.20 / gal for premium at Costco; now everywhere is like California, and California is like Europe.

@KAC Hah! I knew someone would come up with a Toyota! I wanted to stick with the smaller Japanese brands but Mazda didn't really offer a performance wagon in this segment at the time, and the Stagea being a wagon-only model makes it interesting and a bit weird. According to Wikipedia, it was intended to go head-to-head with the Legacy Touring, and Mitsubishi has been Subaru's iconic arch-rival ever since the rally days.

@CB any vintage French car.

slow (by modern standards), inconvenient, difficult to source parts for, but utter industrial beauty and bonkers engineering

@EssExTee too modern! these are all pre-2000, all you could get is the 2.0 GT-B

@SAAB_9-3_SportCombi ok, but these are the Galant dimensions:

@orneryduck you're welcome it's intentional, I can't have the polls being too skewed though there's certainly more favored marques here and there. I think the Legnum is the dark horse in terms of being interesting; it's got a rather conventional transverse V6, but the powertrain is reminiscent of the 3000GT and I agree that it's the best looking of the three.

@SAAB_9-3_SportCombi too small! Evo wagon vs. Legacy and Stagea? Nah, it'd be Evo wagon vs. WRX hatch vs. idk, a Jetta wagon? not many C-segment performance estates

@ash78 the pictures are only to stir your imagination! any variant of the above cars is acceptable.