1998 Peugeot 406 LX review from UK and Ireland

I recently bought a 406 2.0I petrol saloon from the car auctions. The car had previously been owned by 1 company from new. At exactly 4 years old I thought the car would be in reasonable condition, which on first glance it would seem to be. After 2 days the exhaust system fell off (inspection revealed a seemingly brand new exhaust with every joint completely corroded), £202 for the 2 rear sections later (fitted myself to save money) I thought should be trouble free for few years. A day later after taking the kids out it had a flat battery, a few tests revealed that the alternator was charging OK and it appeared that the battery was shot, £40 for new battery. Another 2 days of happy motoring later, travelling at quite a bit over the speed limit, the clocks dropped to zero and the engine cut out, as I was again with the kids this was worrying, before I ground to a halt, I found that turning EVERYTHING off, and putting my foot hard down kept the engine running, (albeit with a misfire). When I got home the electric windows had stopped working and the central locking would not work, another new battery borrowed from a friend showed the same problem (dead after 6 hours running). An alternator test from a mechanic again showed that it was charging fine. I have left the car with an ammeter connected which shows no drain with the car locked up (10 ma, for the LED's). All the bottom door trims are now in the boot having fallen of as soon as the kids touched them. With so many makes of car available my advice to anyone looking to buy one of these is simple, ignore the sexy adverts and stay well clear. Peugeot you should be ashamed, ime back in my "j" reg cavalier 2.0I auto, looks awful, but it goes, and it stops people pinching the 406 on a night as the doors still won't lock, I have to park the cav in front of the 406.

Maybe the numbers are marks out of 10 for: -

4/10 build quality (bit on the optimistic side)

0/10 reliability

6/10 comfort.