1997 Peugeot 106 GTi from UK and Ireland - Comments

For the 1st two years of ownership, nothing really went wrong other than general wear and tear of the car. This year though I had an exhaust bracket snap, that lead to me driving home carefully with the middle section of the pipe hanging down. Now I have an electrical fault that has paralysed my car.

Symptoms are that I have charged my battery overnight and within 20-30 minutes of driving, the stereo will switch off and then eventually no power steering and then the last part of being stranded on the side of the road! Not nice!!

Having purchased this car a couple of years ago for the sum of 4,000 GBP, I can honestly say in my opinion that this car has been well worth the money spent!

I'm not a Boy-Racer, but have always loved Peugeot's small hot-hatches with me owning two 205 GTi's which sadly both got written off due 1 drunk driver and a white van man running a red light! Surprisingly they both stood up well!

After the 205's I needed a change and picked up the 106 GTi, after a few viewings picked out 1 in Blaze Yellow (Gold to me and you).

Performance wise this car is spot-on with a 0-60 time in the region of 8.5 seconds, but for what it lacks in straight line speed (128 mph top-end) it makes for in chuckability!

I drive through some cracking B-roads and this is what the car is made for, its so agile and nimble and the steering gives so much feedback that you know when the car is on the limit. This is what driving is for!

The good thing about the 106 is it has a great suspension set-up and just enough power in the cracking little 1.6 engine to make it a cracking drive!

The interior is abit plain for me, but I don't care (i know some do) and with me being 6'2 it can be cramped for any passenger in the back! They have to be the size of mini-me if they want any legroom!

The pedals are very close together, but it took no time at all to get used to this even though I can't drive the car confidently if I have my work boots on (I always have a pair of trainers in the boot in-case).

Even though the car is not the most practical of things to own eg high insurance premiums and sometimes high fuel cost's, this just adds to the character of the car for me.

There are faster hot-hatches to 60 and also top-end, but for my personal opinion this maybe 1 of the last True hot-hatch's as with every passing model, these newer cars are putting on more weight and maybe some how are losing their sparkle.

I'm going to keep this car for as long as possible as this car best reminds me of my days in my 205's!

The closest thing Peugeot have came to replacing the Classic 205 GTi in spirit and fun is the 106 Gti!

I just hope they don't go the same way as the 205 and end up as boy-racer cars with silly body-kits and naff sounding exhausts!

But I'm afarid they will! Shame really.

Great review of what is a great little car, I do agree though that most of them will end up thrashed and abused by young boy racers as most Peugeot GTi's do I'm afraid.

Good review, nice to see someone not over estimating the 0-60 and top speed of these little cars. there are too many reviews on here that claim 0-60 in under 7 seconds and 140mph+ top speed.

Just an up-date on the 106. I found out that the electrical problem was just a wire that had gone bad and was fixed for 25GBP.

Now the interesting part!! While I had the car in at Peugeot for the elec fault, I decided to change the timing-belt as a precaution as it had started to make a little bit of noise.

Upon investigating, Peugeot told me that it was best to replace the belt and the tensioners, which I agreed to.

4 weeks after I parted with nearly 400GBP, I'm sat at some traffic lights and I hear a very loud grinding sound from the engine. Before I could pull over, I heard a popping sound and all power was lost, no brakes and no power steering!!!

I called the RAC and he diagnosed straight away that the belt had snapped. When he opened it up, the belt was ripped to shred's!

The damage to engine is quite severe, as it has bent the valve's and smashed the head!! Not good!

The only positive I can take out of it is that they are going to replace the whole lot for free! The problem is now I don't have a car for probably 2-3 weeks!!

I'm not going to slate the car, as it's not its fault! I'm not a boy-racer, and don't really push the car to its limits every time I drive, but to have this fail after only 4 weeks is diabolical!

A great car the 106 is, but Peugeot's service department needs to be improved A LOT in my opinion!

Sorry to hear that mate. The same happened to me, see the 1999 'lesson learnt' review. It'll be great once it's fixed though. Know mine is.

Lesson learnt id say, never us epeugeot to do any work they come out worse thean they go in, there standered of work is shocking belive me I've heard enough complaints in my tim euse a mechanice you can trust.

Another update.

The car is running perfectly now!! I have my finger's crossed, as I have already had my hands burnt by Peugeot!!

After reading some comments on other 106 Gti pages, I would like to say this car CANNOT do 140 mph and hit 0-60 in 7 seconds!

I have seen clips on the web, showing a 106 GTi reading the BIG 140 on the speedo, but with the inaccuracy the speedo, then your the speed is more around the 120 mark. I bet if you had a top-end drag (private track of course) with a car that can actually reach 140 mph, then you would find out the car can't do it!!

Just respect the car for what it is, a cracking small GTi, that can out pace bigger and more expensive cars around a good set of twisty B-roads.

This 106 Review is 1000 times better than the last 106 review I read on here.

Everything I read is what I have heard, a good, honest portrayal of living with the car.

The ups (basically the way it drives) and the downs (as far I can tell, it being french which = questionable servicing and reliability)

And most of all, the honest performance times.

I don't think I will ever own one, (too much motorways) but I think the 106 GTI (and a lesser extent the 306 GTI and Rally) were the last proper hot hatch Peugeot made, and long may you continue to enjoy them!!

Another Update!

After the recent problems the car has experienced (not all of its owns fault), I now how have a new problem.

The symptoms are that when I brake and slowly coming to a stop, I hear a loud knocking sound coming from the driver's side!

I don't believe it's a drive shaft (or it could be!), as when I accelerate, I don't hear anything, and the problem only persists when I come to a stop! Any help would be nice! :-)

Other than that, it's been good to get her back on the road, but since she has had the full engine re-build, I also have noticed she is drinking oil, with no visible sign of a leak, and it's also not smoking upon start up!

It's problem after problem at the moment, and I'm thinking of getting rid of her! The only problem is that when she run's great, I just can't bear to sell her!!

I'm experiencing the same thing. Had the top end rebuilt and I've noticed that on long journeys at motorway speed it's guzzling the oil. Around town it seems fine. I asked the mechanic and he claimed it was normal as the engine has to build up carbon deposits on the new components and that some oil usage should be expected. Could be waffle, we will have to see. Oh the joys of running a 8 year old Peugeot!

Original author here again!

The joys of running a 10 year old 106 GTi is great! (cough cough. BS!!!) :-)

I found that the latest problem was a rubber joint,that had gone bad and was replaced for about 45 GBP.

I have had a good few weeks of driving without problems and it has been great!!

The car has stopped drinking oil and finally is giving me confidence, that I can drive it for long periods without having to call the RAC out! :-)

Only problem now is that the local scumbags are taking a fancy into stealing anything with a GTi badge on it! As a previous Pug GTi owner (205 GTi), I know Peugeot's are a favourite for joy-rider's and have already seen one 106 GTi burnt out, and a friend of mine's 306 Rallye got broken into and nearly hot-wired!

We have both invested in better security for the car, and I have purchased a steering lock, just for peace of mind and a more visual deterrent, to the local scum-bags!

It would just be my luck that, now I believe the car will give me a number of month's of hassle free driving, then it would get stolen, after all the issue's I have had with it!!!

Oh the joy's of owning a 10 year old Pug 106 GTi, and also living in rubbish area, with thieving scumbag's!

Great!!! :-)

Another Up-date..

The car has been running brilliant and passed its MOT after a little work.

I have kept this car for a number of years now, and I believe I may I have passed the bad times with it!

The car is completley standard (as where my two 205 GTi's) as I believe Peugeot knew best about about building a small hot-hatch from bottom to top!

Even tho its on a 97 plate, it only has just reached 80k and Peugeot only replaced the whole engine 3k ago!

I had some boy racer lad offer me silly money for it, but because its running so well, I just could'nt bear to sell her.

Plus in my opinion this little car will be a classic once the boy racer crowd have killed most of them off, just as the 205 GTi is right now!

Another up-date:

Failed its MOT due a alloy wheel issue, but other than that went through it with flying colours... BUT I now have gearbox that is on its last legs and I know it's a bearing gone! It still drives fine, but the noise from the gearbox is getting gradually louder! I'm deciding if I should get a GTi box or a Ralleye box as I know the Ralleye box is geared slightly lower and will improve in-gear acceleration!

Other than that I had a good year of driving with minor faults, my friend just bought a Civic Type R (04 plate) and against it the little 106 can still keep up around the twisty stuff (clap clap Peugeot for the handling), but grand prix moments from the lights, it isn't an embarrassing distance, behind but respectable enough to say the least.

I have 1 more year left in the 106 GTi, then I'm moving onto the Ford Focus ST, but I'm un-sure if I will sell the 106 as it still makes me want to drive it like I stole it every now and again, and when it's such a blast to drive, it will be a tough decision to make!

Another update.

After changing the gearbox, I had a 2 month period of driving heaven (no issues), and yesterday I feel the gearbox is on its way out again!

This is the final nail in the coffin for the car, as I will get it repaired ONLY because I need the car for work!

I can't wait to get the Focus ST, as I know they are much less hassle to keep going, and their build quality is much better than Peugeot!

It's a shame really, and with me being a Peugeot hot-hatch fan, It feels like the car just wants to fall apart all the time, and I am fed up with it doing so! Also I would like to point out that I don't thrash it from cold or red-line it every day, and got it serviced every 6 months!!!

Bye bye 106 GTi and hello Focus ST! Only 6 more months!!! :-)