Faults:

After the initial euphoria I noticed that the engine lacked power when changing up a gear and quite often hesitated as I changed gear, sometimes with a hint of a misfire, not unlike fuel starvation.

Umpteen visits to various Peugeot dealers left me extremely frustrated with them and Peugeot UK refusing to accept there was a problem with the car at all. I even considered booking myself into a mental home as they were convincing me that I was the fault and the car was perfectly OK albeit a tad underpowered.

I decided to name the car Naomi Campbell as it was beautiful to look at, but a nightmare to live with! Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about top end speed or acceleration even though my previous car (1988 Vauxhall Cavalier 2.0 GLi) was faster, but getting there with the Pug without hiccups, coughs and splutters is a fine art and winning the jackpot on the National Lottery is easier!

Other faults are few, but include door rubbers which come adrift too easily.

Also, the petrol tubing has split on 3 occasions and nearly resulted in the car being set on fire.

The ignition key battery costs a small fortune to replace and I also had a problem with the EMS refusing to start the engine because it didn't recognise the key, even though I successfully opened the car and turned the engine over.

I'd love to buy a Peugeot 307, but after the treatment I've received I'll probably buy a Volkswagon Golf.

General Comments:

Looks lovely, but beauty is only skin deep.

Faults:

Clock bulb has been changed about 10 times in 130,000 miles.

Rubber trim around doors seems to keep working free, I've tried glue, tape, everything, I think it must be the doors, when they open, they must pull the rubber bits off.

Seats are quite soft, comfy at first, but a bit poor on long trips.

Paint-work seems easy to damage.

General Comments:

Car seems a bit under powered around town, it is fine once you are on the M-way where you need a bit of a boost for over-taking.

Quite dear to run for a diesel, the last Peugeot I had (a couple of years ago) seemed to be much better on fuel. Even Fords get better Miles Per Gallon.

Brakes are spot on, a bit uncomfortable at first, but great once you're used to them.

Dealers are way to dear! (for service etc).

Lots of cool gadgets.

Radio seems to turn off after a couple of hours, you can turn it back on straight away, but why does it do it in the first place?

I think that as long as you look after it, and service the car as often as needed, there should not be too many problems!

Faults:

Engine rebuilt after 20,000 miles, as started using large quantities of oil.

Electric windows persistently failed.

Electrical fault in the loom, 4 weeks for the dealer to rectify the problem.

Very noisy engine on tick over, which the dealer said was a characteristic of the car.

General Comments:

Abysmal seats, too soft, consequence was 4 years of back pain.

Best day of ownership. The day it went back.

Took the company cash and bought a used Nissan Primera GT and haven't looked back.

Faults:

Speedo and rev counter needles jumping around like crazy before quitting altogether.

Mileage being added to the odometer when the car was stationary.

Gearbox oil seal failed, contaminating clutch plates.

General Comments:

The 406 was an attractive car which was faultlessly comfortable, nicely made and rode and handled superbly.

Biggest gripe was the almost dangerous lack of performance from the 1.9 TD in this heavy shell. Okay, a diesel saloon is never going to be a sports car, but this is one of the slowest cars I've driven for a long time. The engine is a typical Pug diesel in that it is very quiet and smooth, but it's obviously just overwhelmed by the 406's bulk. In cut and thrust city traffic, or fast B-roads, I often found my right foot welded to the floor and my body rocking back and forth in the vain attempt to coax more acceleration from the car!

The fact that the car is both heavy, and quite seriously underpowered hits fuel consumption quite hard. A low of 32 mpg is fairly atrocious for a diesel car of this performance, and a long-run high of 45, whilst not exactly thirsty, isn't stunning either. My thought was that the consumption did not compensate for the lack of grunt.

The chassis was superb, offering a wonderfully smooth ride. Steering feel was good, and the brakes were powerful and reassuring. Despite its size, the 406 was a joy to punt around twisty roads, with superb body control and sharp turn-in.

Unusually for a Peugeot, the interior was well made, and used decent materials. Driving position was good, and standard equipment also generous. Reliability was okay, but considering I had the car only a short time, there were a lot of niggling problems. The dealers were quite offhand and kept the car for a while.

A good, satisfying car as it was, if it had had the 2.0 petrol or even the 2.1 TD engine under the bonnet it would have been near perfect.