garycox Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 A couple of months ago my mum decided that her Metro was too old and unreliable to cope with her needs and wanted a newish car to replace it. Despite me telling her to get a Polo or Fiesta she bought a 54 plate Peugeot 206 1.4S Automatic. Probably the least desireable 206, she paid £4995 for it. And it's a bloody silver 3 door. In it's defense it's only done 22K, but that's 2k more than her 1985 Metro!So expensive, crap spec and boring, not a good start. On closer inpection the interior plastics are hard, shiny and brittle and everything feels like it will break if you don't treat it as if it's made of wafers. Which it probably will. Also being the 1.4S Auto the fuel consumtion (according to my mum) is WORSE than the 1.3 Auto A series Metro.The gearbox can be switched to a semi-auto mode which is a sort of sequential affair where you push the selector forward to change up and back to change down, I had a go at this and TBH it's qite fun as a novelty but I've no idea why you'd want to use it for everyday driving.So, what else is wrong with it? Well the crappy 'frameless' rear screen is badly delaminating around where the actual frame is, the paint is AWFUL (compared to a metallic 1985 BL car!), the 1 COAT of paint on the bit above the rear number plare has already been taken off in a few places, and the piece de resistance? (LOOK I'M WELL FRENCH)Bloody French bloody electrics. You can't say I didn't warn her! About a week after she bought it the 'spanner' light came on the dashboard, meaning it needs a service or something. According to the dealer who sold it to her this had just been done, so she took it back. They turned it off (somehow). About a week ago it came back on again. Then they turned it off again. FOC but still. FFS. Get rid of it woman!I'm tempted to tell her to cut her losses, but how much would she get for it? I think she paid over the odds TBH but obviously she'd be reluctant to sell it for a big loss. It's probably gonna be more hassle in the next year than the Metro was in 24... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrogeezer Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 £5k for a nearly 5 year old motor?? When the scrappage scheme was all over the press?Did she just buy it without mentioning it to you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
autohausdolby Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 I'm not well up on my new PSA motors but I'd say it's blathering out fault codes and needs some sort of French mota style fixing. Get someone to run a fault code read on it, then take it back to the garage and set fire to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r.welfare Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Small autos with low miles always seem to manage crazy prices. I'm sorry to hear this 206 sounds like a bit of a dog...a friend of mine had an identical one from new in 2003 and didn't have any bother with it.Spanner lights/engine lights are the curse of the modern car. We had similar issues with my wife's Fabia - I just invested in a code reader and extinguished it every other week. No ill effects in the 62k we ran it for. Might be worth springing the £25 one costs anyway, to get an idea of what fault codes are stored in the ECU memory - to use as a "big stick" for the supplying dealer if they are telling her porkies...BTW, the sequential thingy is quite useful for holding it in a low gear when going down steep hills; particularly useful where there are speed cameras to allow a bit of engine braking to hold your speed - my wife's Accord has a similar function. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete-M Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Tip - the 'fault' light will only come on if there's a fault.The spanner light is a piece of piss to reset, don't need any special tools for that. Get the fault codes read and fix the faults. The light won't come back on then. It's not the cars fault that the garage don't want to change what's probably just a dicky lambda sensor or similar. They're just stringing her along until its out of warranty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Bo11ox Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 I imagine small autos are expensive because they are bought by people who are the least interested in cars.What happened to the Metro then, has she chopped it in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlo Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 The unlovely 206 - where it all started to go wrong for Peugeot. When I was still selling Peugeots over 10 years ago my dad brought a new 206 (they had just come out) diesel from me, and I remember the drive down to Devon from London to this day. Hard uncomfortable seats, a sloppy gearchange, really nasty hard, shiny interior and to cap it all rather alarming handling going through some fast downhill bends on the A38 near Exeter. I seem to recall thinking 'What's my dad done to deserve this?'It wasn't even an attractive car either. But of course then Peugeot had craftilly decided to concentrate their resources into marketing and away from engineering; in what seemed a direct swap with Ford. Luckily when the even worse 307 came out in 2001 I decided to call it a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Station Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Think you can reset the service light by keeping the mileage reset held in and then switch the car on. That worked with the 306 anyway.My workmate had a 206 GTi. The 'i' fell off the badge. Apparently (seriously), this is a common fault with the GTi's. Shite cars, it was constantly in the garage with a wide array of problems - radiator, leaky sump, head gasket, PAS, and electrics. It was also hideous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milford Cubicle Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 I saw 3 of them puffed out on the hard shoulder in a short traffic jam near Stirling. It wasn't that hot, about 18c, and the jam wasn't that long, just a couple of miles. Dire. It was quite enjoyable crawling past them in a 12-year old £500 car with the same badge, keeping its cool.Is your mum's 206 an 8-valve? A friend had one and it couldn't out-drag an old Panda 4x4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pogweasel Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 206. Hmm. They are a bit poo, but not terminally dire. Against is the poor quality, dreadful visibility and so-crap-its-funny 'elephants arse' effect dashboard. On the upside they handle quite well, and are mechanically quite tough - I tested one to near-destruction when I worked in northern ireland, loads of bits fell off but I could not kill it despite being ragged off-road and beasted silly on it. That was a 1.4i pez estate, which seemed a bit gutless - the 1.1's are dire, I remember a mate had one when they first came out and I caned his ass in a head-to-head drag against my then 9-year-old 1100cc 205. As for small auto price, deffo crazy. I guess it's the bazillion of grey wrinkly people wanting thrifty cars to drive to Aldi once a week. I've been sort-of looking for something of that genre for my folks, can't find much that would be any cop under about 3 large, which is quite depressing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Station Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Much better car: Okay, so everything fell off within a year, but it was a nice car to drive and it looks quite nice/aggressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milford Cubicle Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 I rate the 106 too, I've driven an early carb 1.1 over a few hundred miles and it was great - light, eager and responsive for its size, even with 3 passengers and 150kg's worth of kit in the boot and on the back seat. A proper small car which doesn't need much more than 1000cc to shift it, unlike bloated modern efforts. Shame you need ballet pumps to work the pedals though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reallyloud Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 I still have my 106 Rallye, which as mentioned is a better car in every way to the 206. The missus has a diesel 206 van, which in it defence, has a tough reliable engine - its the older type lump and has been the main reason why she still has it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Futuramic Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 I learned to drive in a 206 diesel; so have covered many miles in one. It was truly shite. I never really liked the lopsided styling either. The RS bonnet vents, that adorn many an Erika Escort and Sapphire Cossie look the business. The black holes on the 206 look like a seagull has had diarrhoea in flight over the car. The same goes for the frankly odd wipers. Symmetry is a good thing is design, it suits the eye. The 206 ended up looking more like a Picasso painting, which is not a good thing in a vehicle.The car I drove was supposedly a TURBO diesel. It was. I had to lift the bonnet to point out to the driving examiner how I would top up the radiator, or something, and finally located the turbo. It was the size of a 10 pence piece and tucked away next to the boiling hot side of the engine block. Driving the car was interesting, because of this. The engine, off boost, provided similar acceleration to a Anne Widdicombe on a bicycle. On boost was like driving an 850 Mini that's dropped a cylinder. To generate boost it was necessary to rev the car up to about 4,000 RPM. The redline was 4,100 RPM. So driving went: foot down, slow, slow, slow, slow, whine, very slightly fast, change gear, slow etc.I can't comment on the handling as the car was too slow to need any. Hateful thing. Five grand was a rip off. I wouldn't have one if they paid me five grand to take it away and burn it. Well I probably would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owain-328i Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 A mate of mine had a 206 which proved to have rather unreliable electrics (i remember when the horn stuck on for an entire 20 mile journey - not fun)And the engine was rather coarse (1.4 petrol maybe?)I also recall the old man having a 406 executive as a company car in 99 maybe? to replace a e34 520i.The peugeot was doing its only thing electrically from about 6 months old. Windows going up and down randomly, mirrors folding in an out as they pleased, seats stopped working etc etc list is endless, and the 2.0i in that was rather coarse and sounded like a diesel too.It lasted 70k, the BMW previously to that had done just shy of 200k without major incident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vicsmith Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 I`ve always rated 206s fairly well, although I`ve never had one long term and have no experience with the auto, small autos are a funny bunch, but it does not sound as if it is lumbered with the variety of troublesome CVT style boxes a lot of small autos from the late `90s had, manufacturers must have realised a few years ago that these were just "not on". I must admit I always thought the interior of 206 was a nice place to be, it is a late `90s supermini don`t forget, and most of it`s rivals were a lot more austere. Also as mentioned the handling was nice, but not at the expense of the ride.Not bad, really, although the 106 and 306 were markedly better cars to drive and to look at and they were all available at the same time, so the 206 did not really need to exist in a practical sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthonyG Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 206 = shite, as mentioned before, where it started to go badly wrong for Pug. However they seemed like a good car in comparison to the 307 .Did someone save the Metro? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garycox Posted June 1, 2009 Author Share Posted June 1, 2009 Sort of, the Metro was given to my cousin on the understanding that they would give it back to me when they had finished with it. I wasn't particularly happy about this they're not very good at looking after things and it was starting to show a little rust, which needs treating asap rather than sitting outside and being abused until it's irrepairable. I'd have it back now but I really haven't got the time for it at the moment and I want to get my Mini back on the road this year so I don't need any more distractions. I'm glad the scrappage thing hadn't come in a few months earlier or it would've been cubed by now anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vicsmith Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 That sounds ominous. In my experience, cars and extended family are not an ideal combination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Lobster Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 206S Auto doesn't sound like a very fun car at all. In fairness, we ran loads of 206's as hire cars at work and despite taking the obvious level of use / abuse that hire cars get they were actually very reliable with not that much in the way of mechanical issues. They are obviously built to a (low) price but as long as you don't expect too much they are ok. £5k for a five year old auto certainly sounds like a lot of money though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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