Whats the general consensus on these cars then? I've read they handle well, are fairly nippy out of the box, and even hot hatch quick when tuned.

As you all know i've got a Golf GTI 8v at the moment. Apart from it costing a fair wedge in repairs, it also costs a fair bit in fuel - I get about 280-300 miles out of tank in town driving. And of course, the thing has a thirst for optimax too, so that is what I give it. I do like the Golf, but I also miss my old Fabia vRS for its sheer grunt, the Golf feels totally gutless in comparison, even though it is fairly quick if you thrash it.

OK, so what I want to know is :-

+ How good is a chipped one? If it was 90% as quick as my old Fabia vRS i'd probably be pretty happy with it.

+ How much can I expect in terms of fuel consumption

+ How good is the handling

+ Can I get a decent one for around a grand?

+ How reliable are they?

Cheers for any advise.

only group 5 insurance!!!!!!!! You just cannot make up your mind can you

I liked my old Citreon ZX TD, which I think uses the same 90hp TD engine. Its not as tuneable though and would need a lot of work to get to even standard vRS Fabia spec. Its a reliable, frugal engine though, from what I remember.

Sound like a tractor in comparison to a VAG lump IMHO!

I used to drive them at work , and they weren't sluggish but neither were they a performance car. They do handle very nicely indeed though which makes up for it a lot.

As for what your grand will get you , I can't really help , but any car in that sort of price range will potentially have problems.

The ones we had were pretty heavily abused but regularly serviced and nothing major fell off that I knew about.

rattle rattle clunk rattle

only group 5 insurance!!!!!!!! You just cannot make up your mind can you

Nope. I consider it an illness - i was the same when i had the Fabia vRS.

I have the older 1.8 peugeot engine in the rover and I had the newier 2.0 lump in the 206. It's not a bad engine, fairly nippy but when you rag it then fuel drops alot. It's not the smoothest or quiestest out there but it's ok. The engine that is in the rover should be good for atleast 200k so the newier should do the same.

To be fair the 206 got about 380 out of a tank. I'd also like to add the 2.0HDi will do over 116 as nicely pointed out to me but the very nice police office in his nice silver BMW 5

Try peugeotsportsclub.com for more info

i used to have a d turbo. got it optimized as it was called then (it wasnt an hdi) not a bad car. had 17inch wheels on it which sapped the performance but in all a good car.

As mikejay says, you need the fuel pump optimized. Basically the same as putting a tuning box on a TDI engine - you wind up the fuelling. Gives it about 110 bhp and wakes it up somewhat. Feels very lame otherwise.

You're not gonna get much for a grand, and they are popular with the young boy racer set for all of the reasons you want one, so for a grand don't expect a minter as they're popular, and give it a very very thorough going over.

We also used these as work hacks a few years ago, easiest problems to spot are suspension clunks as per most Pugs and electrical gremlins. Worst to solve are those that effect the wiring in the doors as all the wires are black and if more than one goes it's can be hard to suss out which one goes where! Head gaskets are also worth watching as will be the case with most older diesels - the pugs are supposed to use a certain type of coolant additive IIRC and many don't which leads to problems in old age.

Keep the Golf!

Keep the Golf!

After reading your opinions + others, I will be...

When I passed my test, the 306 TD was THE car to have. (Amongst the 16-20 community anyway).

They are decent cars, but for a grand, I imagine they will be coming to the end of their life. If you were to spend about

I ran a 95 306DT from 1997-2000. It's pretty nippy but nowhere close to the Fabia vRS performance wise. 0-60 is about 11secs and 110ish flat out. The in gear torque is good would pull away from a mate's 115bhp Escort GTI easily. The steering is fantastic and the handling is fun if a little soft, oh and be careful of lift off oversteer.

The 1.9 XUD had 90bhp and about 150lb torque. It's an old school mechanical diesel so can't be chipped, although you can mess about with them mechanically to force more fuel in. Compared to the PD it's clattery and the powerband is narrow - the turbo comes in with a wallop around 2200rpm and it's out of puff by 4000rpm. Economy is decent I used to average 47mpg and get 55mpg+ on a motorway run.

The later 2.0HDI isn't any faster although it's a got a bit more torque as Pug loaded the cars up with toys which added to the weight. It can be chipped but the 90bhp cars donn't have an intercooler which I expect limits tuning options. My mate had a new 306 when the HDI was launched and it suffered from all sorts of ECU problems, the later 206HDI he had was fine tho.

I had less reliabilty issues with the 306 than the Bora I replaced it with. The radiator sprang a leak at 3 years old (seemed to be common on that year) and the indicator stalk fused itself and melted! Build quality isn't a patch on your current Mk2. They feel tinny and the bodywork dents easily in carparks and the rear parcel shelf rattle used to drive me potty. The electrics are typically french - dashboard lights flash in time with the indicators etc. Find a good one and you'd be OK but a bad one will cost a fortune.

I just sold my pug 306 hdi estate. Tuning wise, visit Allards website, they know what they are doing with the pugs. I had mine allard super tuned: a big fofmic, custom remap, full custom stainless exhaust, and an air filter. Transformed the 90bhp to around 150bhp and 320ft/lb. It suprised an awful lot of people and kept with my mates vrs up to 120mph where it ran out of go.

Could try going to auction.

I went a few weeks back and '97 306 TD 3 door with 60k went for

I had a 306 DTurbo HDi (2001) and it was a great car. It handled very well, but the inside was very dated. There are a number of electrical glitches (central locking, wipers, etc) that tend to give trouble, and it is quite noisy in the cabin. I got mine chipped from 90bhp to 112bhp, and it made a good car even better. From memory, I used to get mid to high 40's mpg, but it didn't get much city driving.

Overall, a good car imo!

How long before Paul's back in a Furby???