Having had two Peugeots in the past, and never had any problems with them, I'm thinking of getting one of the above as a replacement.

It ticks the major boxes:

Cheaper road tax.

slightly higher fuel economy

Minor change on insurance group/cost

Smaller

More Kit.....(sorry, can't help myself)

Are there any major things I should be aware of? The current 'candidate' has leather and an lcd panel with buttons for the air con....french electrics really that bad? my last peugeots, everything was mechanical.....

yep its a peugeot!! Dont worry though the service centre will know you by your first name and how you like your coffee in the morning, as your'll be spending most mornings there

From my experience pre 2001 cars are better than the newier ones.

What year spec is it? If its diesel and HDi mine had no end of injector/fuel related issues, though it would still run most of the time. The 1.9TD block was much better

The 307 is bloody terrible. We have had numerous Peugeots in our family:

2 x 1.1 206's from new, no problems.

A P-reg 406 1.9 XUD that we had for years. Never, ever let us down, I miss that car :'(

And currently, a 207 1.6HDi. Decent little car.

Before the 207 though, we had a 307 S 1.6 petrol, one of the last ones made. We had it for a year and a bit, and got rid of it with 7000 miles on the clock. It kept leaking (spare wheel well was awash), and the central locking would frequently unlock itself while you were off doing the shopping or whatever Cheap, nasty interior too, and a HORRID gearbox, and pedal positions, even compared to the other Peugeots we had.

There are better cars out there!

Edited 19 February, 201115 yr by Leodhasach

Friend has one - it's comfy. . .

To be fair to the stereotype my mum had a 1.4 206 from new for a couple of years and now on her second 107 with no problems. However there was a 206 which needed all new central locking bits changed. Seems to be a lot of inconsistency in QC. However I would agree that there must be better alternatives, it doesn't exactly jump out as having anything unique going for it?

Well, I had a look at the Pug...

It's not the most solid thing on the earth by a long shot - doors feel thin and tinny,but driving VAG cars for the last ten years, I've been spoilt on that front.

Seemed quite nice, but the list of possible issues is a little scary, though I'm equally convinced that I can find horror stories about every car on sale if I look. Though Peugeot seem to crop up more often.....hahah

But the big issue for me was that this main dealer, although not a peugeot one, only gives a 30 day warranty on the car. Is that an age thing (56 reg)? The other issue was every tyre was barely legal, and on 205/50 17's, that's a big bill immediately.

The only thing it has going for it is the running costs really. But if it's a dog, that's a false economy. I get some suggestion it is less than totally kosher - the dealer had a manky looking 52 plate passat estate on display, but the Peugeot round the back with no price sticker.

And the floor under boot carpet (not in wheel well) was

wet....It was even droplets, so perhaps moisture condensation rather than a leak........

Gosh, it's tough to find a decent mid-sized hatch for £6,000 or under....

Just to clarify, this is a 56 registered (2006) 1.6 HDI Sport.

I didn't know Peugeot used a 1.9, or do you mean the 2.0? Isn't that still HDi, according to the badges anyway?

On the warranty side, the Sale of Goods act implies a 6 month "warranty" obligation on the dealer as a private buyer, whatever he says.

I can't really help on the 307 but my last experience of a Peugeot was a 407 2l hdi sport. Whilst it was a very nice car comfy/full of toys/spacious/quiet/refined it did have a few faults.

* Odd size tyres which you have allready found, there only seemed to be a handful of manufacturers that make them

* Aircon systems are made from weak components and regulary fail (as did mine within 3 months)

* Usual DMF faults as with any diesel however the 1.6hdi was less prone to failure than the 2l and SMF kits can be bought direct from Peugeot dealers.

Does it have Tyre Pressure sensors?? mine had them and they were built into the tyre valves, if so do some research on here and you can save yourself a fortune getting new sensors and getting them recoded.

I never had any electrical faults with mine, all the faults with mine were mechanical, if it weren't for the faults I would still have it as it was by far the most comfortable car to drive I've ever had.

Matthew

Edited 20 February, 201115 yr by matt@theforce

The 1.6 HDI is the same engine you will find in some mini's, and Ford rebadge it as a TDCI, quite nippy for a 16v engine but injectors, camshaft failure and turbo failure are the common problems that crop up on these engines, if you read some of the Ford stories and I have experianced it the engine tends to cut out due to the injectors and camshaft sensor packing up, the old DT units were much stronger ie the old 1.9DT's.

Davy

I used to have a 306 HDI (2litre) jobbie and sold it to my brother a whole ago, that has rolled onto the 100k-ish mark now I believe and seems to be chugging along ok. No experience of the new HDIs though, as mine was pretty much the first one that pug came out with to replace the old XUD and XUDT. I had the latter of those in my a 405, great car till the ex rolled it into a ditch :'( Silly girl

My youngest has a 07 plate 207 1.6 HDI Sport, not a bad little car

Mechanical problems are a worry....usually pricey....

Collective wisdom on a 1.8TDCi Focus, Citroën C4 1.6HDI ( same engine as pug, but better build?) or a 1.7CDTi Astra?

Just don't do it...

And no point coming in with comparisons of other Peugeot models, the 307 was a big low-point for them. General fit and finish is poor, and the electrics are awful

Mechanical problems are a worry....usually pricey....

Collective wisdom on a 1.8TDCi Focus, Citroën C4 1.6HDI ( same engine as pug, but better build?) or a 1.7CDTi Astra?

I can vouch for the Astra. SWMBO had a 1.7CDTI SXI for 4 years and now her best friend has it. Not the quickest (100bhp) but good fuel economy and not one issue on it. Over 4 years i just had it serviced and changed the front disc and pads once (over 50k). Flew threw the MOT everytime too. We used to have a 1.8TDCI Focus at work and tbh i preferred the Astra as the Astra seemed more nippy and nimble. Down to personal preference really. Citreon C4 is horrid inside IMO! Friend has one and pretty much every bit of screw on or clip on plastic has fell off! The glovebox lid it wedged on, the seat adjuster falls off everytime you use it etc etc...

As for the mother in laws 306......well the last MOT before she saw the light and bought a brand new Golf had 3 A4 pages of advisories after the A4 page of what it had failed on!

I don't know anyone that has had a Peugeot that hasn't had a catalogue of issues (or any French car for that matter) with them, mainly electrical too and expensive.

Big problems with the turbos failing & taking the engine with them,the focus has the same engine & ford now have shortened the service interval. The 2.0 hdi is a better choice if you have to have a pug.

Drove numerous Pugs when contracting for a dealer. None broke down but they were cheap and nasty in every case.

Even the salesmen thought they were crap.

From personal experience Frenchmen + electricity = smoke.

Mine was a Clio, major components were ok but everything else, especially the electrics and things connected to the electrics were made of cheese.

Joints in moving parts, seals and anything adjustable all made of cheese.

I'd have a Korean car before I'd drive a French one again. At least the Clio was cheap and crap, Pugs are expensive and crap.

JD Power supports my biased opinions

Results for 2006

http://www.whatcar.com/NonCar/8666102471.jpg

Pug 307 is 104th out of 105.

Octy was joint 5th.