Opinion of the panel?

The engine will be fine. The first thing to die IME is always the rear window heater in 405/406s - if that works the rest might well be ok. Have a nose round, if it all works it's worth a punt. You can probably eBay it for £3k - 406 HDi estates have pretty good residiuals - 2.0 I assume? 90 or 110? If it's a 2.2 you've won in a big way hehe.

In the spirit of the group, I've never even driven a 406 but I'm going to speak authoritatively about them anyway:

HDi 90 406 estate won't be very brisk, even by diesel standards, it's acceptable in the 306 Estate but I'm not so sure about 406s. 110s are the way to go. 2.2HDis have a reputation for being tricky to work on in FWD Pugs.

Our HDi 306 met its demise at a rock face in the snow and had less than

100k but in that time had 1 episode with a fault code and engine management light which was cleared with no problems found. Nothing apart from that.

Crankshaft timing sprocket has rubber bits in and needs replacing with the timing belt (I read somewhere) which makes belt changes a lot more expensive than clockwork XUD powered machines.

Front suspension and steering bushes/balljoints will wear faster than you're probably used to if the other Peugeots we've had are anything to go by.

You should just get an MX-5 instead though.

Never even sat in one, have a truly british hatred of all things french, and post here. So I'm going to say it is crap, with a heart felt conviction.

Tim, stop using Carl's internet!

Post corrected for accuracy.

Bah, it's just the car *you* should be buying ;)

Predictable reply follows.

It's french. Don't.

:)

LOL! They're not quite as bad as all that...

I can't think of anything for the budget that won't have small niggles.

HDI 90 or HDI 110, it won't matter at the price. The 110 is pokier, naturally, but it's also slightly more economical for normal day to day driving.

I forget how you're going to be working the 406: if it's heavily laden you'll really appreciate the 110 over the 90. If you need the room rather than the weight, the 90 will suffice.

It will occasionally be used 4 up, but mainly it'll be me and perhaps 1 passenger. However, I still think I'd be wanting the 110 over the 90.

Yes: the 110 is the preferred option, but the 90 isn't that bad. Indeed if you get a 90 and avoid driving a 110, you'll never know the difference!

We never did get a 110 HDI for the fleet. The 90 felt rather more clinical than the 1.9 XUD 406 but it was heaps* more economical.

*We didn't find the 1.9 XUD all that good, economy wise, compared with its Laguna, Mondeo, Xantia peers. Nicely refined, lovely driveable engine, just not all that economical. The driver returned ~40 as I remember. The 2.0 HDI 90 that we bought with a different driver known to be more economical returned ~52 to the gallon.

Righto. That said, I suspect from Ebay that a MK3 Diesel at that kind of money is unlikely, although I could probably get away with a hatch. The main requirement for an estate is because most other vehicles this size bar the Vectra and Mondy are saloons, and I want to be able to get a bike in the back.

A couple of MPG isn't really here nor there, between cars of similar power outputs. The situation I don't want to be in is to be in an underpowered car that drives me up the wall and isn't particularly frugal - BTDT with a Ka that I *really* had to try to get 38mpg from, whereas the Golf gives 35mpg when you're thrashing it and plenty of grins...

Without looking through the tread I'll guess:

Steve: HFM?

Derv It's a HDi, it's good.

Burgerman: It's Diesel, it's crap.

Steve: It's not Italian, it's crap.

Burgerman: It's FWD, it's crap.

Everyone else: It's French!

How did I do? ;)

Pretty much spot-on.

just to confirm

it's french!