Faults:
Within the first year.
1. Air conditioning failed at least three times.
- Service department did not find fault.
- Service department replaced blower.
- Service department fixed faulty connector, which solved the problem.
2. Automatic Transmission Fault displayed momentarily on display panel. No fault found.
3. Door rubber disintegrated. Service manager tried to show me how the problem was caused by how I got into car. When I got in and it did not match the theory he had, he simply said that I did not do what most people did, said he was not an engineer, and put on his engineering expert to talk to me. I (being a UK qualified engineer myself) told him in no uncertain terms what I thought of his theory. The service manager in turn decided he would not discuss it with me, but with my wife who was there, and went on to show her that the problem existed in his Peugeot as well.
The outcome - changed the rubber at no cost.
The result - it disintegrated in about six months again.
I spoke with a Customer Service Representative at Peugeot France, since I begun an email trace with them. He assured me that the material was tropicalised, and was not meant for the temperate countries only.
My conclusion, based on the results of my experience and others, was that they probably never even considered it.
Within the next three years, there were a number of things that could go wrong and did go wrong, but the icing on the cake was the transmission:
The transmission started slipping. I had to sometimes rest the car in between my journey for it to work sufficiently well for me to reach my destination (Trinidad is not a very big place).
I, in my layman opinion, suggested to the service people that it may be some overheating problem.
They continued to do whatever they did, charging me of course for their service, but without a permanent solution.
The transmission was still under warranty, and by jove they decided to change it under warranty. I thought my problem was over.
By then, the overheating I thought I had, began to show signs when the temperature gauge started settling at a point higher than what I considered normal. Well these experts flushed the radiator to solve the problem, but within a week I called in with the problem again. The response was that they had no radiator coolant when their service was done, so bring the car to have this rectified. I complied, but as I expected, it did not solve the problem. After numerous checks, I left the vehicle with them for over a month, so that the problem could be resolved. I got the vehicle back eventually with the symptoms (temperature gauge higher than when the vehicle was new), but was assured that the reading was within spec and my problem was resolved.
The next phase - the replaced "new" transmission started displaying the same problems as the old, but by this time the warranty (which started when the car was bought and not when the transmission was replaced) had expired. The result was that the dealers claim was that they were awaiting word from Peugeot France, and would get back to me. After a number of checks, I was advised that I could pay for the transmission to be replaced ($50000 TT dollars) as no response was received from Peugeot.
In the midst of all the problems I was having with this vehicle, I continued emailing Peugeot France. I was eventually asked why I was telling them of my problems since they only acted as a... and they would go back to the specific dealership.
I concluded I was wasting my time, and that this dealership would not milk any further funds from me.
I took the vehicle to a private mechanic in Trinidad, who concluded that the cooling system was inadequate for this area, and that was the main cause of this problem.
I took the decision to replace the engine and transmission with a Nissan product acquired through our foreign used dealership here. This was done, and I have managed to squeeze a further three years life without the same "headaches" that I endured from the original new product.
Mind you, the car has a comfortable ride and some nice features, and it looks really good when it is standing still.
I have lost the nice features, but it takes me from point A to point B.
I have also acquired my next vehicle from... TOYOTA.
