The Peugeot 604 is an executive car produced by the French manufacturer Peugeot from 1975 to 1985. 153,252 cars were sold during its 10-year production life. It was made in France and also assembled by Kia in South Korea, between 1979 and 1981.
The Pininfarina-designed 604 was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1975 and drew praise for its formal, handsome styling. Denmark's Bilrevyen 1976 ("The Car Review 1976"), for example, described the styling as possessing a "calm elegance". Sales began in September 1975. Based "on the principles of the Peugeot 504",Autocar, November 1977, p. 17 using its bulkhead,Motor, 6 December 1975, p. 2 doors, and part of the 504 floorpan, and usually powered by the then-new 2.7-litre V6 PRV engine, developed in conjunction with Renault and Volvo, the car was Peugeot's first entry into the large luxury saloon market for 40 years - the most recent being the short-lived Peugeot 601 of 1934.
In the marketplace The Sochaux-built 604 represented Peugeot's first entry into the market segment for executive cars since the 1930s. It augmented the Peugeot range. The drive to enter a product in this class came from the increased affluence of the French market which Peugeot felt could accommodate a car more expensive than the 504.
Price at launch was US$10,990. In the UK the car was sold for £4,785 (compared to £4,399 for a BMW 520, £4,361 for a Citroën CX Pallas, and £3,485 for a Ford Granada 3000 GL).Autocar, 22 November 1975, p. 19
The 604 had several noteworthy attributes. From the 504, it inherited a damped and supple ride,CAR Magazine, November 1980, page 116Motor, 6 December 1975, page 2Nicols, M (1975) Luxury, Peugeot style. Car magazine. August 1975, page 27 equal to a contemporary Jaguar XJ6, its "good handling",Autocar, 7 May 1977, p. 66 its spacious passenger compartmentMotor, 6 December 1975, p. 4Car Magazine, November 1977, p. 83Car Magazine, December 1983, p. 95 and highly rated steering described as "a model of its kind", "highly accurate"Car, August 1978, page 53. and "one of the finest yet produced". The 604 had unusually wide opening doors which made entry and egress very easy for users.Motor, 6 December 1975, p. 5 This was especially appropriate for the car in its role as a limousine.Pagneux, p. 84
Despite critical success, the 604 was a commercial failure.Buckley, Classic & Sportscar (January 2007), p. 149 The production of 153,252 units was half that of the V8 engine Rover 3500 and an eighth of its stablemate, the CX. Peugeot made a profit on each car made, primarily because of the shared tooling and engineering with the 504, but the car ceased production without an immediate successor.
France's car manufacturers have not had much success internationally in the executive segment after the Citroën DS's successor, the underpowered Citroën CX. The 604-era was perhaps the last point at which PSA Peugeot Citroën could theoretically have focused resources on becoming a viable long-term competitor in this lucrative market segment. PSA Peugeot Citroën actually went in the opposite direction, creating a third competitor, the Talbot Tagora.
The German manufacturers did not hesitate to exploit this confusion in France, with cars like the 1974 BMW 5 Series (which also entered a segment new for the manufacturer) that had relatively good build quality.Motor, 6 December 1975, page 7 German cars created an unassailable position in the executive class auto market during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Germans were not challenged again until Japan addressed this segment 15 years later.
Like the situation in the US with the Lincoln Town Car, French luxury cars are now primarily used in fleets.
The 604 was introduced during the recession caused by the 1973 energy crisis, which created a marketplace that was even more unfriendly to large-engined cars in France. Contemporary journalists attributed this relative failure to a variety of reasons, such as the conservative styling, the lack of technical innovation, modest performance, and a reputation for problems with rust. Others said that the recent energy crisis made this an inauspicious time for Peugeot (along with Renault, whose own six-cylinder saloon went on sale a few months earlier) to be moving into the market for six-cylinder saloons. However, by the time the oil shock hit the western economies Peugeot, along with joint venture partners Renault and Volvo, presumably believed they had invested too much in the design and development of production facilities for the new shared engine that would power the 604, to abandon the venture.
Over 36,000 cars were built in the first full year of production (1976). The launch of the similarly sized but cheaper Peugeot 505 in 1979 along with another oil crisis, halved sales of the V6-engined 604. By 1981 7,000 examples were produced.
Peugeot did launch some detuned economy versions of the 604, but they did not do much to increase the car's overall sales. Most surprisingly, a turbodiesel version was introduced at the 1978 Geneva Motor Show, alongside the expected 305 D. Peugeot initially tried to convince buyers of the upper-middle class that the 604 had "The engineering of the Mercedes-Benz 280E, the handling of the BMW 5 Series and the elegance of the Jaguar XJ6 " but did not convince enough buyers of this proposition.
Sales, which were only strong for a few years after launch, dipped further in 1980 following the launch of the 505, and the last 604 rolled off the production line in 1985. A mere 581 examples were produced in 1985, with sales continuing into 1986. Peugeot's next major executive car, the 605, was launched in 1989 although a V6-engined 505 served as an interim flagship model.
Today the 604 is a rare automobile in United Kingdom - there are only 17 that are road-legal as of the second quarter of 2014.
Development
The 604 was launched in March 1975, at the Geneva Motor Show. It was originally available in a single specification, as the 604 SL. In 1977, the 604 was launched in the US in carbureted V6 SL trim, with twin rectangular headlights and larger bumpers. In September, the somewhat quicker 604 TI model with Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection and a five-speed manual transmission was added. In late 1978, for the 1979 model year, the 80 horsepower 604 D turbo turbodiesel model was introduced; it entered production in February 1979.Allain, pp. 61-62 The diesel could be ordered with either a four- or a five-speed manual transmission, as well as the GM-sourced three-speed automatic. The six-cylinder 604's received modified gearbox ratios.
For 1979 there were some minor modifications, including the change of the petrol filler cap from round to square. The US 604s receives a larger 2849 cc engine, although with no change in power. In 1980 the 604 underwent a minor facelift, featuring a new rear-view mirror, while the bonnet badge was removed, the indicators were changed to orange, and there was also a new plastic dashboard and gearstick. The limited edition luxury "Grand Comfort" model with power windows and locks, a sunroof, tinted windows, and other amenities was also made available this year. US sales "faded away" during 1980.
In 1981 the 604 STi, with Michelin TRX tyres and alloy wheels, was introduced. From January 1981, the automatic gearboxes used in the 604 were no longer sourced from General Motors' factory in Alsace, but rather from ZF in Germany.Allain, p. 70 The existing diesel model was replaced with two different specifications, GRDT and SRDT. Total body immersion anti-corrosion treatment was also introduced across the entire range. The turbo diesel was now exported to US, where it replaced the already absent V6 entirely. In 1982, the carburetted base 604 SL was discontinued and in 1983 the TI and GRD Turbo versions were removed from the lineup; this left only the STi and SRD Turbo.Allain, pp. 77, 83
In 1984, the 604 GTi with a 2.8-litre engine was introduced, replacing the 2.7-litre STi. Also, the new GTDT diesel model was introduced. US sales were discontinued after 1984.Flammang, p. 498 In November of the next year (1985), the production of the 604 came to an end.Allain, 98 As a partial replacement, a V6 version of the 505 soon appeared, and in 1989 the front-wheel-drive Peugeot 605 arrived to fill the empty slot left by the 604.
Turbodiesel
The 604 is noted for being the first production turbodiesel car ("604 D turbo") to be sold in Europe,Autocar, 17 May 1982. the Mercedes-Benz 300 SD having been marketed in North America since 1977.Eves, Edward. 16 May 1981, Autocar. "Long legged lion". page 50 The turbodiesel was launched in 1979. It uses the 2,304 cc Indénor Diesel engine with a turbo fitted, designation XD2S. This was a reliable engine, overshadowed by one major problem. Like many diesel engines of the time they were hard to start in the cold weather, the 604 was one of the worst with this problem, it was a very difficult car to start and some owners ensured it was parked on a hill to get around this. However, some minor tweaks to the glow plugs and compression made the car easier to start.
The tall inline-four diesel engine was slanted at 20 degrees to fit underneath the low bonnet of the 604. Sometime in 1983, this was upgraded to a 2.5-liter version (XD3S), originally producing at 4,150 rpm. This version could reach when fitted with the manual transmission. Soon thereafter the engine was upgraded to electronic rather than mechanic fuel injection (XD3T), and then produced at the same engine speed. USA and Canadian market turbodiesels mostly were delivered with a three-speed ZF automatic gearbox, which was optional elsewhere - but some five speeds were sold in Canada and the USA. Thus equipped, top speed dropped to .
Autocar'''s Edward Eves conducted a long-term test of the turbodiesel in 1981.Eves, Edward. 16 May 1981, Autocar. "Long legged lion". pages 50–54 The test concluded that the "604D Turbo is a fine, friendly type of car which really begs to be used. This can be seen in the way the mileage is being built up with it at the rate of 24,000 miles in the year". The overall fuel consumption was estimated at 32.5 miles per gallon (8.7 liters/100 km). The author noted that while the car was not intended as a high-performance vehicle, "it is a very practical vehicle for experienced drivers and is capable of very high point-to-point averages once the technique of driving on the torque curve is mastered". It was also described as "an effortless long-distance car and should be considered by anyone whose motoring is of the order of 30,000 miles a year because this is one of the longest-legged of cars...that I have met". Regarding the diesel engine start-up procedure, the author described it as "remarkably like firing up a petrol engined model". Accommodation inside the car was viewed as being "fully up to international standards for a four-five seater touring saloon with room in the rear seat for two people to travel long-distances in real comfort". The velour seats were praised for their comfort but were viewed as being vulnerable to burns and soiling. Autocar noted that the map pockets in the doors were insufficiently deep and during the test the speedometer cable failed and the foil insert from the rubbing strip on a door detached.
Heuliez Limousine The French company Heuliez produced 124 long wheelbase limousine versions of the 604. Available in these versions were two extra movable seats. The limousines were produced from 1978 to 1984.
The boot volume controversy