1998 Peugeot 406 SDT 1.9 turbo diesel

Summary:

Comfortable for its age, but expensive if anything goes wrong

Faults:

Replaced following:

Headlamp bulb.

Radiator (rusted through)

3 glow-plugs.

Accelerator cable.

Various rubber seals appear to be.

General Comments:

Overall, I have would have to say that the car has been fairly reliable over the past four years of ownership. I was surprised at the radiator rusting through and needing replacement, but this has been the only major mishap. The engine sounds quite rough now, even for a diesel and there appears to be some worrying clunking sounds developing from the rear suspension.

Acceleration is dismal, making overtaking a little bit tricky and the engine is very loud over 60mph. Cabin and boot space is excellent though making it quite useful for carrying large loads, especially with the rear seats down.

Peugeot servicing has varied enormously between garages. One garage even left an air block in the brake system resulting in a pretty close call with the back of another car. Peugeot parts are also very expensive. I had to replace the mirror insert on a wing mirror after another car hit it which came to about 80 euro! Terribly expensive for a piece of plastic. The accelerator cable kit which consisted of just the cable and come rubber tubing came to over 100 euro!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 5th January, 2005

1998 Peugeot 406 LX 2.1L turbo diesel

Summary:

Very reliable, spacious runner

Faults:

Not much has actually gone wrong with it. The door trim seems to be wearing badly though.

General Comments:

I love this car. I always crave for diesel engines (and I am only 23!) as their fuel consumption is generally more efficient as well as better reliability over their petrol counterparts.

Performance wise, the car is not the quickest off the mark. My old non-turbo diesel Renault Clio '98 was just as quick if not quicker. However, I assume this is largely to weight of the car. I would not want to try a 1.9L version.

Turbo on this 406 seems to kick in at around 1700rpm, but sadly seems to die at around 2500rpm and sounds like the engine is really being pushed at anything over 3000rpm.

Really good motorway cruiser. Happy to travel at 90mph all the way.

Best mpg was 43 and worst about 36.

First gear is a bit short, but others are fine.

Seats are comfortable and there's tons of space at the back and the boot.

Factory fitted rear speakers are very bad, and replacement is not easy to find. Although, it's a standard size of 6" x 9", the hole where the magnet is supposed to go through is very small for most speakers.

Servicing is done by a local private Peugeot dealer at a much lesser cost than the main dealer, who are simply rip-off merchants.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 17th October, 2004

18th Apr 2005, 15:15

I have a 2.1 406 the turbo went on it. it was a kkk type I searched the country for one with no results. a friend of mine suggested I should try a garroton well after careful consideration it fitted, but you must change all the pipes right back to the front exhaust pipe and including the manifold its running fine now.

22nd Jul 2005, 07:08

As the original poster, I would like to add that the reason the power died at 3000rpm was because the needle lift sensor on primary injector has died. This has been replaced by LSUK at a cost of 150UKP and now runs fine up to 4000rpm. I have also had the ECU remapped for better performance, which is very impressive indeed (about 140bhp)

7th Nov 2007, 13:16

My 406 2.1 turbo diesel gets 47-52 m.p.g.. It's the best car I have had-comfortable, reliable and economical. It now has 168,000 miles on the clock, and is driving 'spot on'.

12th Oct 2008, 21:13

I have now sold this car with 145,000 miles on the clock. Since my last review, nothing has really gone wrong with it. It was an amazing car and a great servant. Much better than my new Honda Accord diesel...

I miss it.