Well I bought a 405 TD Estate Executive for =A3700 a couple of weeks ago, I missed a few important things when i test drove it...
The clutch judders(Judders in first when warmed up), I took it to a garage and they said the engine is "swimming with oil & fuel leaks" and the clutch is probably getting contaminated, they said its not worth doing as the clutch alone would be =A3400 and who knows what else could be lurking under the bonnet. The clutch does seem better than when I bought it though. There are a few spots of oil on the ground when I park it overnight. Peering under the car it doesnt look any worse that my last car which leaked for years and never had any other problems (I know you can't really tell by looking)
The front part of the exhaust has a hole in it, I guess this is pretty easy to replace. Just sounds odd as you can hear the turbo through it at the moment.
The steering is stiff, I was told this is probably the ball joints and the track rod ends would need to come off/be replaced. The parts for this are quite cheap but is it a long job?
The car drives well, and is clean, starts within a few turns. It has about 150,000 miles on it but pulls very well. There are a few rattles but nothing horrible...
I've only had german cars in the past and these do seem to be more durable, (except a metro which fell apart after 6 months!), i'm wandering if I should try and sell it and buy another 405, or sell it and get a VW Passat, or try to repair it. Tricky knowing what to do, any ideas?