Peugeot 306 ?

[Stixy]

Ive recently got  a W reg  Diesel flavour Peugeot 306 ( long story ) 

 

its absoloutly no use to me whatsover as it has 3 pedals   and my knees cant cope with a clutch

 

 

I have been looking over it and quite impressed at how rust and scab free it seems  and ive been looking at petrol flavour automatics on ebay  and they all look good bodywise 

 

but are they any good ?

[Sloth in a bowl]

Papa Sloth loved his 306, but like yours it was deisel and manual.

Petrol motors are fine (even rather good in 2 litre form) but I and not sure about the wisdom of a french baddermatic. More experianced members may comment via the vastness of their experance.

[Mr Livered]

Yes, they're great cars. My mother-in-law has one with about 160k on that she keeps at her country home, and consequently it goes unused for months at a time.

 

It always starts on the button when she comes back for it, it's quite frugal, very reliable, and corners really well. The x06's are the last Pugs I would personally buy.

[lisbon_road]

Indestructible Stix.  Seem to go on and on and very little rust, often none.

[scooters]

Is it a Tdi? Great wee cars lovely to drive

[messerschmitt owner]

Like my 306 a lot.

[Vince70]

We've had a few in my family over the years and I must say that all have been fantastic little rot free motors..

 

My last one was a little 1.4 petrol which I really did use and abuse as when I moved into my last house it was used as a builders truck and was overloaded on such a regular basis the the clutch couldn't cope and destructed in spectacular fashion..

 

I found the 1.4 a very nippy car and it was really economical and reliable, I never had to put a drop of oil or water in that car, yet my brother had the same engine in an xsara and it was nothing but trouble.

 

It's the only car I've ever had that the oil always remained a nice new toffee colour for some reason and don't think I gave it an oil change in the 2/3 years I had it.

 

The only problem with the 306 is the central locking can play up from time to time due to a break in the door harness which is a common problem.

 

The 306 is highly regarded as a late one commands a lot more money than its successor the terrible 307.

 

It's such a shame that Peugeot forgot how to build decent cars.

[carlo]

Lovely cars, you won't get better ride or handling or have as much fun for the price.  Auto was only available with the 1.6 & 1.8 petrols (there was a 2.0 306 Sedan auto briefly).  Ideally go for a pre 1997 version as the auto boxes were mechanical and more reliable/robust.  Post 1997 cars have the computerised 'box, and also have to suffer 16 valve engines if in 1.8 flavour, again not great with the automatic.  You can tell which box is in the car from the lever, they're totally different.  

[jonny69]

I don't know if it's relevant because I don't know if it's the same box, but the auto in the 207 is absolutely dire and drives me nuts. It's jerky in the ridiculously short first gear. It changes at unnecessarily high revs for the engine which makes it heavy on petrol and annoyingly noisy. It's also completely inconsistent and unpredictable, which makes it very difficult to guess what gear it's going to drop into at whatever revs, throttle or load you're on. Not great when it does it mid bend as it upsets the balance of the car. I'm not normally horrible about cars, but it really is crap.

[Cavcraft]

I thought they didn't rust much either. Then I saw the n/s/r inner wing on mine after the MOT found what was left of it.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Those recent PSA automatics get called the 'nodding dog' versions cos your head ends up wobbling about all over the shop as the gearbox changes randomly while you drive. They seem to be absolutley thunderously shit even by PSA's own admission.

 

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/paris-motor-show/paris-motor-show-2012-new-psa-gearboxes-revealed

[twosmoke300]

I'm gonna rock the boat and say I'm not a fan. They drive ok but they always seem to leak into the cabin somewhere, that drivers door loom and repair kits a joke. Good engines but terrible pipes and rads etc so headgaskets seem fairly regular. Then the rear axle goes.

And the gti 6 and some hdis have the worse pull clutch set up ever.

 

Rant over

[dugong]

I'm gonna rock the boat and say I'm not a fan. They drive ok but they always seem to leak into the cabin somewhere, that drivers door loom and repair kits a joke. Good engines but terrible pipes and rads etc so headgaskets seem fairly regular. Then the rear axle goes.

And the gti 6 and some hdis have the worse pull clutch set up ever.

 

Rant over

Right - so all the ones you drove were shagged, then. 

[twosmoke300]

All the ones I've worked on

[bub2006]

My aunt has just scrapped a v plate 306 1.6 auto estate. Owned it since 2001. Always looked after and well maintained. Did 15 mile round trip to work 5 days a week plus shopping at weekends etc. She said it was diabolical on fuel. Apparently 180 quid a month average with current fuel costs. When towing her family's trailer with camping equipment she said it couldn't make its mind up what gear to be in and hills caused it to hunt up and down too. Went to the bridge when the gearbox decided it wanted a career change

[carlo]

Which seems to vindicate what I've said, stick to the pre 1997 mechanical ZF box and you should be OK.

[outlaw118]

I bought Sporty-Shite's 1400 Pez on behalf of my stepdaughter, and it's a cracking thing, bit rattly here and there, but would certainly investigate one for myself.

[Lankytim]

Ive never considered these as they just seem so dull, however everyone I know whos had one raves about them. The 8v HDi lump is a real peach in my experience.

[Stixy]

Thanks everybody  for advice and opinions   but as i need an auto and  after reading it all i think i will leave well alone 

 

I will get the diesel one ive got mot'd and rehome it 

[af1]

I love them!

[Volksy]

I've a very battered and abused 306 Turbo Diesel, 180k, and it still manages 55 - 60 mpg on my thrice weekly motorway commute. It's comfy, and does exacly what is asked of it. It's due replacement, as it's on borrowed time, but I'm quite tempted to chuck a bit of money at it and see how long I can keep it going for. Mine does have a bit of rot, the sill is going on one side and the bonnet is f@cked, but it's all through neglect, nothing else.

[RoadworkUK]

My far better and more attractive half has a 306 XN 1.4 2 door on an N, it's the only car she's ever had since passing her test ten years ago. It's in that Heinz colour they call Bermuda Blue.

 

Amazing thing. Not a spot of rust, embarrassingly reliable, a great steer (non PAS), comfy, we did 6000 miles across Europe in hers in a week. It's had CV joints and other such stuff since we've had it but never thrown its toys out the pram. Parts cost pennies.

 

I figure we better keep it for ever in case the next car she gets is shit.

[scooters]

What's the hot hatch version called? Quite tempted to find one. The 306 was the last drivers car pug sold. One that was true to pugs principle of design. The 307 is dreadful.

[Jim Bell]

There's the gti6 and the rallye Scooters. Both worth a look.

[PiperCub]

Known alot of people who've owned these and recommend them. I like them myself, drive great. If there's any problem then it's the owners as they are reliable decent cars they are often owned by non car-types who take them for granted due to their reputation so they can end up really shagged out.

Like my 205 (& other Pugs of the era), they don't seem to rust either. Also I read that the older diesel engines (not the fancy common-rail affairs) are really simple and cheap to tune up to get a decent power hike, I'm thinked about one of these for my next winter hack car to have a play with this theory.

 

[andy18s]

I had the 2.0 16v X si. 138bhp as opposed to the gti-6 which h had 160ish. Went very very well.stuck to the road like shite to a blanket but not to hard a ride.sold it to a member on here few months ago

[Jim Bell]

The XUD9 (dunno if that's the correct code) engine from the 306 pre Hdi dTurbo is a marvelous thing. Turn screw tuning, Bosch pumps like veg. Shared suspension set up with the GTIs too. I had a ph1 306 dTurbo for a while and really enjoyed it. Very lively and planted. Well equipped and comfortable too. Even had AC! (Just needed regassed apparently).

[dollywobbler]

Only complaint I had about my 306 DTurbo was a heavy clutch. Was a right pain in traffic. A wonderful car to drive quickly though, which is probably why I didn't get better than 45mpg. Tail would snap out if you were particularly ham-fisted about things. Or is that ham-footed? Eventually, I did tire of the clutch and the narrow power band. Still, it's one of only two cars that I've driven over 30,000 miles in. (the other being the current 2CV).

[warren t claim]

I've had loads of them and they've all given some sort of trouble. Save the aggro and buy a well looked after Focus, they drive nicer and are a lot better packaged.

[twosmoke300]

Ooo I dunno about that. I think I'd,have a 306 over a focus. The ones I see are getting pretty tired . Rusty suspension and brake pipes etc . Having said that they are good to drive but so is a 306.