Peugeot 206 1.4LX Mini Review

They do blow a bit as a 'drivers car' without the sports suspension setup and 'sportier' seats (my mate had one, well, it was his mum's, 1.9D, and it easy to fall off the side of the seats), and with a 75bhp 1.4 8v that's older space and time itself, it's not what you'd call a 'potent' combination is it... Although when driven slowly, in traffic/town etc I always found

206s very comfy and just 'easy' to drive in bordem situations, and I could sit in mine all day and never get uncomfy. Also, I certainly never got too hot as the aircon was like climbing into a bath of water at 0.1c, then having crushed ice poured on you, and all the while this happening in a freezer set to -30c, at the North Pole, during an ice age.

Humm, I'll describe it.

It's very responsive - too responsive, in first.

Both in terms of the clutch and throttle, meaning that getting off the line without loads of revs and / or a little scrabbling, is a fine art.

Once on the move, it's not that quick - the Nova feels more gutsy in second and third.

Driving position wise, it just feels wrong - you feel like there's a lot more bonnet in front of you than there actually is.

The ride feels decidedly bouncy at the front compared to either the 306 or Nova, but then to be fair, I'd not checked the tyre pressures etc.

Having said all this, it's quite comfy, (although it didn't feel like you were as 'in it' IYSWIM, as the 306), and comfortable.

Oh, and it's £1500 with a years MOT having had a new cat for this, and a fresh head gasket.

I don't think that's bad really for something with only 51k from new on a 51 plate.

No danger of that in this one - it's the one with the massive sunroof and no air con.

only thing that bugs me on the 206 is the pedals are quite close together and the gear box feels like it's connected by an old bit of rope

LOL

Yes, the gear change did feel a bit ropey.

They're known for lunching their gearboxes, as well.

The gearbox in mine was really tight - dunno if that was because it was driven nice and hard since new hehe, and I've never heard of them having a rep for munching gearboxes? The pick of them for you would be the 1.6 HDi GTi - the Ford shared engine. Basically a GTi, so, climate, leather and alcantara, and loads of generally very nice interior touches. The steering wheel is the later ones is particulary nice, I had the same one in my XSi and I liked it. GTi bumpers/wheels etc and the GTi suspension/brakes setup. So, all the GTi toys, with the XSi performance, and the HDi economy :-)

Really if I was being sensible when I bought the R27, I'd have bought a late

206 GTi 180, just cos they're not a lot of cash for the coins. Also, 03 plate onwards 206s are a lot more reliable electrics wise as they're multi-plexed or something, I don't know if that explains it, but that seems to be the general consensus anyway. I could've had a 2005 one for like, £6-7k, as opposed to the Clio, but then, the Clio was a lot better, and I'd had a 206, so seen as though it was incredibly likely to be my last car I took the only option :-)

It is, isn't it? It does impress me how some people do cable driven gearchanges much better than others though. The feel of the gearchange on the Xantia is brilliant, I must say.

S'what the mechanic told me, as he's seen a few with shafted boxes.

Hummm... if I had the money for one of those, I'd be buying another Passat or Golf TDI, or a Fabia vRS. ;-)

Heh fair - although having just had a look around, they haven't half held their value well haven't they? I think they were pretty pricey new, like £13k+ and not exactly hot hatch fast (0-60 in about 9.2secs iirc - it was the same as my XSi) as such they didn't sell that many. I'd imagine most people wanting diesel economy wouldn't wanna spend the 'GTi' premium, and people wanting a GTi wouldn't want one with only 110bhp.

Thousands of Golf GT TDI owners must be wrong, eh? ;-)

...why?

Because they sold quite well, and the earlier, pre PD version, was 110bhp.

GTi stylee car, 110bhp diesel donk.

Ah, I'm pretty sure none of those buyers wanted GTi performance though, cos they'd have probably test driven one before buying. Although I dunno how cheap/expensive they were compared to the petrol GTi, or if the 150bhp ones sold a lot better - but then, I don't know what point we're trying to get to :-) Mind you, I'd have thought most buyers of the Golf GTi 1.8T petrol (not that 2.0 n/a joke) were more just wanting a Golf with and a GTi badge than wanting a focussed drivers car.

In more ways than you imagine, yes... ;-)

The GT TDI 110 wasn't about for long*; VW moved to the 115, then the 130 /

150 combination.

*I have no memory of the 110, just the 115, which wasn't around for long either...

I'd much rather have one of those than say this 306 I'm using - the Golfs are quicker and a lot more economical, and I include the 110 in that.

The Passat is more economical on a run, and that includes if you floor it now and again.

Having said that, the 306 is still a good car, and is more economical around town... it's just not as good as what I'm used to.

...ah well, in that case they can't exist. (They were produced for four years, and were the only GT TDI in the range for the bulk of that period of time)

These 40 or so auctions for Golf GT TDI 110s must all be a work of fiction...

Agreed, there weren't many of those produced, with the 130 and 150 quickly taking its place.

Strangely, my mate managed to end up with one for a while.

Heh; I have no memory of them being badged as the GT TDI as a 110...

...I also have no memory of what Tim Kemp and I had to eat for lunch earlier in the week... ;)

I tried to persuade my at-the-time line manager to stop his stupid idea of driving the 2.3 V5 (original, 150 PS version, not the 20v 170 PS version) like a granny and get the TDI 115 and drive it like he stole it. He went for the V5...

The 110 was the one with an all-silver TDI badge, as I recall.

130s got the 'red I' and 150s red D and I.

Not quite.

150 has red T, D and I

115 and 130 have red D and I

110 has, IIRC, a red I, and the 90 has all three in silver.

Just to confuse things, B5.5 Passat 130s were originally badged up with a red D and I, and the later 130s just have the red I.

Ahhh, OK.

Knew it was something like that.

I vaguely remember a craze of people with poverty 90bhp Passats sticking red badges on 'em.

S'not set in stone though, depends on what the dealer had in stock at the time ISTR.