Peugot 406.....

[audi_girl]

Ok so far with hire cars since September I have had 2 Vectra's, 2 Peugot 406's and an Omega!

The Peugot is the worst of the bunch by a loooong shot.

This one is a 52 plate with 10k miles on the clock. Now while I appreciate it isn't in the same class as my S3 it should be comparable with the Vectra.

Problems I have found with both of the 406's are: clutch bite point so high I have to lift my entire leg off the seat to change gear, audio so awful it crackles and distorts if you turn it up on the motorway, steering wheel at some bizarre angle so it feels like you are driving a bus, and god forbid you try to brake hard with one hand on the wheel cos it hops all over the road.

The interior is as to be expected (pretty plasticy) but not too bad, and it's top speed isn't too bad either. And if you keep it in a low gear (keep the engine between 4.5k and 6k rev's - redline about 6.5k) then it's driveable.... just !

Have to say - would never buy a Peugot based on thesee 2 offerings, but would consider a Vauxhall in the right situation !

 

[Crafty]

Current Astra is a solid car. The diesel versions are very good, dad has a 2.0 DTi only 100ps ( 98bhp! ) but 170lb/ft ( only 30 less than an S3! ) from 2000rpm to 2500rpm. Service it every 10k, no cambelt, no worries /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Vectras are... *shudder* 'orrible. Early ones are unreliable and have poor build quality, later ones are ok, but as its been said so many times before you can't polish a **** /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Have issues with rear suspension bushes falling out /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif amongst other things. New Vectra is a electrical nightmare, the higher range models have 50 ( yes 50 ) ecus in them. Everything from the engine to the indicators and horn are ECU controlled.

VX220 is a fun little car but you wouldn't drive it all year round.
The new turbo engine is a bit like the 1.8T, similar power (around 200bhp), small kkk turbo.. internals not up to much.
Thing is the 1.8T has parts readily available for it, Vauxhall tuners don't like things like engine management and quite often bodge stuff. Theres a vectra that had a turbo conversion by a long standing vauxhall tuner, promised him 200bhp, £5000 later he gets the car back, its got water injection on it, standard NA engine management ( not proper factory turbo engine management ) result ? 174bhp. For £5k ? The water injection is to prevent detonation, because the management is not correct, so it doesn't fuel properly. Nice eh ?

Anyway, back to the turbo engine from factory, you can get chips for it, promise 300bhp, of course they don't get it, more like 260bhp at best, very peaky torque due to small turbo - and thats about your lot.. whereas with a 1.8T people like jabbasport are getting 350bhp etc.
The Vx unit could probably reach the same levels but the tuners aren't around to do it, so it'd be a DIY job.. not many owners go that route.. so it all goes pear shaped.

Anyway enough ramblings.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Oh there is one Vx tuner worth a look that do stuff properly.. Look here
They will soon be expanding into the VAG market too /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[carlo]

I used to have a 405 which I used to love... not so much for the performance but the handling... I used to put a bit more pressure in the tyres and in the wet find a really good fast bend and the car would give loads of progressive lift off oversteer. In the snow it was even better... Quality and layout of the dash was much better than the 406 and the seats were fantastic for long journeys.

I used to have a 406 diesel 130 as a company car and that used to take an age to accelerate and didn't have much in reserve and didn;t think the handling was as good as the 405. 406 was a little on the unreliable side too loads of electrical faults, my 405 on the other hand never had a single problem in two years!

My A3 not quite as sharp to drive as the 405 but overall driving experience much better. Would never go back.

 

[Gambba]

3 cars ago I had a 106 xsi, nice little car but wouldn't really want to travel to far in it especially with the 45 boots I was running it on.

Was back at my parents for the weekend and was balling and shouting about the crappy ****** Fiat Stilo, but then I drove my dads 106 diesel and my god was that steering harder than the titanics! Since having my 106 I've had a BMW and now the Audi along with many rental cars and had forgotten how much effort reuired to steer at low speeds in the older pugs.

 

[Drystone]

A friend of mine had an old 306 diesel without power steering, I drove it once and it was horrendous. I'm no wimp but I was literally struggling to turn the wheel at low speeds /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif.

He sold it a few months ago and a young girl came to look at it with her Dad. He thought that there was no way she'd buy it after she'd driven it. On the test drive she commented on the weight of the steering but then said "it's okay though because I'm used to driving tanks so it doesn't bother me..." /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif. Turned out she was in the Army and was used to driving big Land Rovers etc with incredibly heavy steering. Needless to say she bought it.

Christian