dumb

leather/suede

Personally I'd wak away. Sounds like it's been in a prang to me... There must be other's out there and it's worth sitting tight to get a good 'un I reckon.

My 155 has had at least one panel replaced, and there's evidence of a skim of filler on the offside rear arch. I was happy to buy it like that, but only because it was cheap. By cheap I mean less than £700. I take it this car is going to be a quite a lot more than that.....

In which case I really wouldn't bother - there's plenty of them around, so hold out for a decent one.

Quite easy to fix, but if you're not familiar with working on cars, then you'd be paying someone an hour to do it.

There's a couple of hundred quid urgently needs spending for a pair of decent tyres - believe me, you don't want cheap budgets on something that's as tail happy as a 306.

Replacing. £50 plus fitting at a minimum.

Might need replacing - yet more money to spend. Again, as a tail happy FWD car, this is something you want to be working properly.

Ouch. You're looking at at least £200 for this - close on £500 from a main dealer.

Avoid! - Air Con problems are expensive enough to write off older cars - a friend very nearly scrapped a very tidy, but elderly Alfa 164 V6 Super Lusso due to a knackered aircon pump £700 to replace! (I found him a used pump for £50, which saved the car)

For it to be a good price, it would have to be going for £500. And I'm sure it's not, so yes, walk away.

You guessed wrong!

Passenger side on a RHD British car.

leather/suede

Cheers guys - very helpful. I had a quote for changing the cambelt, regassing the a/c (assuming that was the only problem with the a/c....) and changing the front brake pads. That was going to be £400 from an independent garage, £700 from a Pug garage. The seller was prepared to go to £3650 - going rate is closer to £4.5- 5k. But to be honest it's not just about the money - it's the hassle too!

OTOH, most pugs around that age (97 R) are going to need some work, I guess.

Anyway, the seller just called me - I essentially said I wanted to think about it, he got a bit miffed. Still, no worries - he's not doing me a favour selling me a car, just like I'm not actually saving money by buying a cheap knackered car. It's still money going to someone else....

But thanks for the replies - like I said, very helpful Cheers Nick

In news:1gi43j7.6s5irrsnaal1N% snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk, SteveH decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Have you ever actually driven a 306? "Tail happy" is not how I'd describe them.

Personally, I'd rate a 306 GTi6 as the second best handling small / medium hatchback I've ever driven. The list of which includes the 106 Rallye, 106 GTi, 205 GTi, 309 GTi, 5 Turbo, RS2000, Escort Cosworth, Alfa 145 Cloverleaf, Golf GTi, Golf VR6, Golf VR6 Synchro, Ka, Alfasud, Golf Rallye, Corrado VR6, Polo 16v, Nissan Sunny GTi-R, Bravo HGT....

My top 10 is as follows...

1st Lancia Delta Integrale Evo 2nd Peugeot 306 GTi6 3rd Lancia Delta Integrale 16v 4th Lancia Delta Integrale 8v 5th Lancia Delta HF 4x4 6th Ford Ka 7th Ford Escort Cosworth 8th VW Golf GTi Mk2 8v 9th Nisaan Sunny GTiR 10th Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9

The side nearest to the kerb when driving normally.

HTH

Never driven a 306, no. Driven a 205 and 309 (both GTIs) and found them to be easily provoked at the rear end - just like the Alfas and Fiats have been.

My 155 is currently riding on NCT5s on the front and cheapo Chinese tyres on the back, and it's bloody lethal if you don't keep the power on through quick bends - especially on damp / wet roads.

I always thought the 306 was similar in handling terms to the 205/309 chassis? - 106 certainly maintains this traditional Pug trait.

That's the thing - with a rear end that's working so hard, it needs good tyres - which was sort of my point. You'd be looking at the thick end of £200 to sort that, or I reckon the handling would fall apart very rapidly.

IYSWIM.

Nice theory, but as OE they were fitted with some s**te like Michelin Pilot Teflon...

NCT5s are s**te - I know got four on my Volvo. Never again.

Going back to Contis next time, have PremiumContact on the Zafira, currently shwing 17k miles and loads of life left, had SportContact2 on the Volvo, short life but much more grip and more progressive on the limit than the NCT5s.

I had Conti Aqua Contacts on my Mk5 RS2000. Great at wet cornering, but no actual traction. Swapped 'em for Avon something or others and they were brilliant. Got Avon something or others on the Sierra and they're truly superb. Quiet, grippy, and just generally excellent. Seem to last well too. I've put 3500 miles on the Sierra and the tyres are lasting well.

Seem to suit the 155 for some reason, although the old NCT3s were s**te on a 33.

I'll only have 6 months maximum of these on the mileage I'm doing anyway.

I wanted something cheaper than P6000s and longer lasting than my favoured Yokos.

These were cheap enough for me to chance it.

Not great, but not bad, although they do the comedy squeel thing quite well.

In message , Pete M writes

Neither would I, based on owning an XSI for several years. It is certainly steerable on the throttle, much more so than some other cars, and I dare say that one could lose it by lifting off clumsily. Having said that, there was a time or two when I had to break much deeper into a misjudged corner than I would consider prudent, and it did nothing untoward. It was no more tail happy than the 309 I had before it.

To be honest, I'm not sure what the journalists are doing when they describe lift off oversteer as a problem in FWD hatches; apparently the Civic Type-R is also "snappy", but I'd describe it as progressive. Less so than the 306, but still linear and predictable. Are they describing what happens if you go in with massively excess entry speed and jump off the throttle? Because in that situation you are going to go off one way or another, be it forwards, sideways or backwards.

I suppose what I mean is turning in at close to the limit of grip, accelerating until it starts to understeer and then lifting off and adjusting the attitude with the throttle.

This kind of thing would definitely put me off a car, though.

I love FWD cars that have a decent amount of lift-off oversteer engineered into the chassis.

My Cinq. was a prime example after it had been lowered - in the wet it was incredibly tail-happy. I spent many a happy hour playing with it on wet roundabouts - completely sideways 4 wheel drifts were available on tap :-)

I do tend to be quite agressive with a car, though, and definitely try and provoke such behaviour regularly :-)

Tail happy? Certainly not how i'd describe a 306 or a 205 - i know for a fact that unless I was driving very erratically (rapid side-to-side camber changing corners) there was no chance of me losing either ive driven - it was always the same old dull FWD understeer.

J

Hi,

Neither would I. I've driven 205s as different as XR, Diesels and TDs, and I have to admit it's not tail happy. Tends to understeer, excepted for the DTurbo which has a brilliant throttle cornering aptitude. The 405 *had* a happy tail, once above the limits (done it with Dunlop SP200 at front and Pirelli P600 at back), but the limits are so far away you just can't reach them on a normal drive.

I had to push it far above reasonable driving. It was some years ago on the last curve driving to the Magny-Cours circuit, big left corner with a 60KPH speed limit. Entered the corner @70KPH on a wet road, pissed of 'cause of the BMW stuck to my ass, the car started to oversteer, far easy control. Out of the curve I was above 85KPH, the BMW was far back, and kept on full throttle up to 110KPH. Of course I was in 3rd gear, and things would possibly have been different in 5th. Of course I was driving my mum's '88 405 SRi, with Mk1 rear passive steering. Damn good handling. Once you've driven up to the limits (and I made it several times), you don't want any other stuff than Pugs.

Regards, G.T (still young Pug ham, has driven many other crappy cars to compare - gonna give the list if you need it) snipped-for-privacy@worldonline.fr

205 Diesel & turbo-Diesel :

leather/suede

Got the RAC report back today. In the comments section it noted that it was likely to need a lot of money to rectify these problems, and regular investment in order to keep it in top condition.

So I ain't bothering...

Cheers Nick

It does, the point is that it only does it when deliberately provoked, which is how it should be, IMO. If I could get something with the Civic's engine, gearbox and grip, and the 306's steering feel and handling, I'd be a happy man.

That'll be the integra then!

There are worse cars out there, no doubt about that, but it sounds like the sort of condition I trade them in in*, and no way would I buy anything I've traded in, neglected, abused and just on the verge of needing tons of money spent to avoid even bigger bills shortly after.

Walk away and find something better, if it sells in the meantime then it's no real loss. HST, if the price is significantly under book, it may be a fair price.

(* - except for the accident damage, which needn't be an issue.)

Apparently >Hi guys,

Is it black and are the last 3 letters of the reg something like R*** NRU?