My mum bought a brand-new Peugeot 207CC 1.6 petrol in 2008.

In the past 37 months, it has travelled a gentle 18,000 miles. It has never been in an accident. It has always been serviced by a main dealer, maintained regardless of cost. I wash it weekly and check the fluid levels etc.

You wouldn't find a more pampered example.

It's just one month out of warranty, and when she came to start it this morning it sounds like a bag of spanners. The AA came out and towed it into the dealership. I'm no expert, but it sounded like something mechanical at the top of the engine - perhaps cam/follower related, or maybe timing/water-pump - and the AA man agreed.

We will be pushing the dealer very hard for a decent 'goodwill' contribution from Peugeot. Even so, I will certainly never recommend the brand to anyone. French ****e.

In the past 37 months, it has travelled a gentle 18,000 miles.

That could be the problem.

Lots of short trips can knacker an engine a lot quicker than trawling up and down the motorway for weeks on end.

Also depends on how it is driven. A certain relative of mine undertakes all low speed manoeuvres at 3000 rmp while slipping the clutch - result, one dead clutch in under two years. not casting aspersions on your mothers driving though.

It's usually the cam variator on those

Thanks Ben, will see what they come back with.

Most reliable car I ever had was a Peugeot 205 diesel.

I did 180,000 miles in it with only oil and cambelt changes.2 sets of brake pads ,1 set of front discs,and a front exhaust resonator.

They obviously don't make them like they used to...:no:

That could be the problem.

Lots of short trips can knacker an engine a lot quicker than trawling up and down the motorway for weeks on end.

So people say but there's no way it should knacker that soon.

Most reliable car I ever had was a Peugeot 205 diesel.

I did 180,000 miles in it with only oil and cambelt changes.2 sets of brake pads ,1 set of front discs,and a front exhaust resonator.

They obviously don't make them like they used to...:no:

Have to agree there..

Mate of mine has a 306 dturbo.. the elec's were shot as expected, but the engine just wont die!.. despite the turbo probably having no vanes left, and it usually has no coolant in it.. it just smokes onwards!

Have to agree there..

Mate of mine has a 306 dturbo.. the elec's were shot as expected, but the engine just wont die!.. despite the turbo probably having no vanes left, and it usually has no coolant in it.. it just smokes onwards!

My mate has one too. 160k on the clock and still going fine.

It's normally the electrics that go first in Frog cars. Everything slowly goes wrong until you're fecking sick to death of the damn thing.

always thought Pugs were expensive for being so cr&p.

My 106 xsi had a tuned engine to 144bhp on the rollers and that lasted to 208k

COME ON 208k for a little tuned petrol engine isn't bad.

it didn't even go wrong, just got crushed because I was a nuaghty boy.

The gearbox was sloppier than a bowl of prison gruel though.

on a side note my friedns 206 LX had nothing but trouble, in 2yrs he spent over £2000 on parts(he did all the work himself)

head gasket, door fell off, wishbone snapped, clutch, new wiring loom(after failed attempt of fixing old one) etc etc

p.s. just remembered some more, water pump and alternator in the same week. leaking panaramic roof and broken heater matrix.

Edited 4 October, 201114 yr by Sonner

I had a similar experience to the OP with my wife's Citroën Xsara Picasso. That was a few months out of warranty (with full dealer service history) and it needed a new lambda sensor and one of the rear doors wouldn't unlock; the lock was knackered.

After much bitching and complaining I think we got a small "goodwill" gesture. Goodwill? What effing goodwill?

I had a Renault Clio 16v with the build quality that would have been better had it been made from lego.

It's put me off buying anything French again. (although I love the look of the DS3 but not enough to buy one)

I had a 406 hdi a couple of years ago did 18k in it in just over a year and it cost me sod all to run, bought it with a knacked clutch and did 17k before it started to slip,

Put a new clutch in it and a month later a clio run into it outside work and wrote it off

They obviously don't make them like they used to...:no:

Quite right, they're all at it too, cutting corners and mugging us off with naff interior plastics and dodgy panel fit. Pretty much all of the vag group cars nowadays are rubbish too compared to what they used to make, compare a mk4 golf to a mk5 golf and you'll know what I mean..

The French build quality gets everywhere

VW radios were certainly made in France at one point, if not now. About 1999 I went to work on a machine vision system inspecting the LCD displays on VW radios at a Sony factory in Basle.

Had to replace a door control unit on a 4 year oold Roomster a while back. I suspected that it was at fault (no fault codes showing and windows not working) as soon as I saw 'Made In France' on the sticker.

I always vowed after spending the first 25 years of my career in the motor trade NEVER to buy a French made vehicle. 5 years ago I had a rush of blood to the head and bought a Citroen Berlingo 1.9 diesel van and I have to admit it's been a little jem, it's now done in excess of 140000 and apart from the usual consumables has cost very little to run (touch wood quickly!!).

Some friends of ours had a Berlingo van thingy with windows in the sides (if you know what I mean )

It had been bought new on a 54 plate and by last year it'd got so many problems it was cheaper to buy a new Berlingo than fix the old one. So it sounds like you got lucky with yours!

I think the dealer took pity on them tbh giving them such a good deal!

We used to run pugs (207 estates and 2 307 estates) as the fleet cars at work.

So many problems, with little help from the terrible dealer network.

Now we use golfs. With no problems at all so far (Total of 300,000ish between them).

Usually French engines are sound for a good few years, it's just the rest of the car that' a problem.

My brother has had a 106 straight diesel (180k), 309 straight diesel (160k) and a 306 d turbo (150k) all with no problems and were all sold on too !

As said above, constant short journeys won't do the engine any good !