Faults:

Bad wear on back seats.

Very slow auto windows.

The soft top has to be taken down manually.

General Comments:

Very quick, cheap and pretty.

Seats wear easily and are nothing to write home about.

Handles really well and easy gear change.

Hasn't broken down yet and didn't come with a spare wheel.

Very cheap and very good condition for a second-hand car.

Doesn't show her age and looks every bit the lady she is.

Faults:

I guess we bought this car at the stage where it was starting to need general things replaced.

Front brake pads, and rotors replaced when we bought it.

Rear brake shoes, cylinders replaced at 143000km. Cylinders had weeped (read leaked) and it was all crappy in the drum, meaning the back brakes didn't work.

Heater matrix was leaking when we bought the car. This is a very tricky replacement because the dashboard must be removed. It's easy once you have done it once though. The hardest bit was the very tight fitting plumbing connections on the firewall.

General Comments:

This car is a little pocket rocket. The 1.9 turbo diesel really pulls strongly. I have turned up the boost a little on this car, and upped the on-boost fueling so it's got a lot of pull when the turbo is up to pressure. When off-boost I have left the fuel rather lean, which makes feathering easy for economical driving. 0-100 is in less than 10 seconds now!

More of a city car than a highway cruiser, due to the shorter wheelbase of the car and the more basic interior than the 405, but it is still great on the open road.

Economical for sure, over 635km (580 highway and 55km city) I got an economy of 6.3L/100km. It was driven spiritfully and had three people with luggage, so was a completely full car. I strongly believe that this car is capable of much better economy should one want to drive sensibly with a lighter load.

Handles like a go-kart. It's got a little bit of understeer, but I still feel confident that it will take me where I point it, and that it won't surprise me. Being a small Peugeot, it features the lift-off oversteer, great fun when you are expecting it. It's not something that you come across unless you are trying to oversteer, so shouldn't be an issue for most drivers. The car wanders a little with the slope of the road, but apparently a wider tyre could remedy that.

Road noise is pretty good. Engine noise is better than the 405 diesel for some reason. I think the engine in this one is quieter to begin with.

The interior is quite basic with no fancy stuff. Mine is a base model so that is to be expected. At least it doesn't feel cheap at all. The seats are very basic, but are still supportive and comfortable on a long trip.

When you fold down the back seats, you have enough boot space to fit a single mattress in there! It's surprising just how much space Peugeot seemed to find in the car.

Highly recommend this car to anyone who is in the market for a small hatchback, as it's versatile. Use it on the highway or in the city, 4 passengers is no problem. boot space is good but it doesn't have much vertical room.

A HDi Dturbo would be on my shopping list if they were available here in NZ!

Faults:

Had to replace rear subframe, due to seriously worn trailing arm bearings. I've been told this is a common fault with older 306's now. £100 for used part and fitted myself.

General Comments:

Despite its age and miles, the car looks good. The styling is still pretty sleek and inoffensive in 2006, the handling is superb, and still outhandles many modern cars.

The engine is a real cracker, my engine came out of a 200k+ car, and still can surprise a few reps in brand new Mondeo's and Audi's! It really is an exceptional diesel for its time, the turbo is quite fierce, which takes some getting used to, but it's nice to suddenly pull away from whatever little oik is trying to race you in a 1.2 Clio when they see that you're driving an elderly, and slightly tatty diesel.

There is buckets of torque, so overtaking isn't to much of an issue. *Allegedly* the engine is pretty easy to bring up to about 115BHP by simply fiddling a few screws. (Do your own research :-) )

Around town, it's not so much fun, as you normally can't rev the engine high enough to provoke the turbo into doing something! But it's not too bad!

The interior on my model has worn well, despite rapidly heading towards a stonking 200,000 miles. The electrics still work on my model, but occasionally a window winds itself down, or it refuses to lock.

For a twelve year old car, it has electric windows/electric sunroof/remote central locking/alarm and steering column controls for the stereo, which I think is pretty neat for a £500 banger!

The clutch is extremely heavy, and I like it, but it takes a bit of mastering, probably not the best clutch for learning to drive with.

The steering is poised and accurate.

The cabin looks a little dated, but it's well laid out, and the car feels quite "big" on the inside.