Faults:

The head gasket is getting a little funny now, which I will be repairing by myself when I have the money. The Bosch Monopoint throttle body has been playing up for the last year.

2 years ago I got rear ended by a BMW 1 Series, which badly dented the rear panel, and also knocked the boot out of alignment.

The last thing is the coolant hose that feeds the heater matrix from the thermostat has a small pinhole, which I professionally repaired by using electrical tape and a jubilee clip, so now it only loses a few drops, but I keep an eye on the coolant level once every couple of days.

General Comments:

I bought this car in November 2008, about 3 months after I passed my test for £350, and to be honest this car has been great, very comfortable, good looking, good fuel economy, and not a complete pain in the a**e to work on.

After almost 3 years of running the little beast that I will never get rid of, I'd certainly recommend one of these to anyone.

Also though it's not worth it, someday I want to strip this car down and overhaul it, especially the engine and gearbox, and keep it going.

After all of those miles, she is still not burning oil and has no weird knocks or rattles, which is quite surprising for such an old Peugeot, but I think this will easily touch 180,000 or even 190,000 before an engine overhaul is needed.

Faults:

The heating matrix was duff when I bought it. We have replced it, but would not do it again.

Glow plugs at 140,000.

Central locking will never work again due to wiring looms in the front doors.

General Comments:

The car is cheap to run.

Noisy power steering.

As the central locking doesn't work neither does the alarm.

Hard to start up when cold.

Faults:

Needed new cambelt (most Peugeots should have it changed around 70000 miles)

Radiator Hose needed replacing.

Head Gasket blew, therefore also needing new cambelt again.

Power steering rack has just broken.

Another hose needed replacing, causing water to pour out.

Breaks are poor.

Clutch is on its way out.

Speedometer broke (fault in the gearbox)

Water is full of oil, which cannot be flushed as radiator has seized up.

Stepper motor had to be replaced.

Needed new temp gauge.

Indicators don't cancel themselves anymore.

Steering is a problem at high speed.

Engine gets very hot very quickly.

Plip doesn't work any more.

Central locking doesn't operate the boot.

Fuel cap opens when you shut the rear drivers side door.

Headlights need re-wiring.

Rear de-mister doesn't work.

General Comments:

Considering all of the faults above, the car handles and drives well. Its quick, accelerates well and takes corners nicely. The interior is good condition, and it has things that a fiesta of the same age doesn't, electric windows, PAS and central locking. Even though its 11 years old, it still looks quite modern. If you can find a low mileage one, with full service history, its worth a look. Just remember French parts are expensive and irritating. I'd probably recommend a 94/95 1.4 LX in good condition for a first time driver.

Faults:

Front anti-roll bar to suspension strut linkage bars. These seem to go about once a year as the ball joints wear and become slack. This leads to knocking over rough surfaces.

Turbo shaft seals leak. This is a well known problem leading to oil contamination of the inlet tract and inter cooler.

Front wheel alignment and tracking must be spot on otherwise I have problems with uneven tire wear.

Clutch gave in after 136000 miles -not too bad.

Rear light cluster connections corroded.

General Comments:

On the whole this car is very sturdy.

I've had no major problems in over 80,000 miles.

If you service the diesel engine regularly and change oil and filter religiously it will go on and on.

These things do smoke a little when they get older, but its usually a simple case of worn injectors or less often a turbo problem.

The car has been a cheap and stylish run around. You can pick up the early Turbo Diesel 306 for about 1000 pounds and they have much higher spec than the petrol models of a similar vintage.

The handling is good although the front end feels heavy due to that weighty diesel lump.

If you want an economical car that's cheap to repair and run, but also offers a good level of performance I can think of few better cars.