1998 Peugeot 306 XT 1.8 from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Solid, satisfying and occasionally unpredictable

Faults:

Central locking jumps up and down by itself.

Exhaust is boomy, especially at high revs.

Choke switching off occasionally stalls the engine.

Erratic windscreen wipers on auto.

Cabin lights on front door switch don't work.

Indicator intermittently doesn't work.

General Comments:

This car was in great condition when I bought it second hand, and generally hasn't given me many problems at all.

Though it has its idiosyncrasies, which can be annoying sometimes, at others they're kind of hilarious.

When the central locking plays up, the locks (very noisily as on many Peugeots!) jump up and down constantly, sometimes ten times in a row, like there is some poltergeist present. Sometimes it is hard to get the door open; in this case you have to unlock, then quickly pull up the handle to get in.

There is a flat spot in the revs at about 2000 rpm, which makes acceleration from lights uneven; you have to gun it past the 2000 rpm mark to accelerate evenly, and other people tend to think you're trying to drag them off.

It's pretty comfortable to drive on the highway, though when climbing hills the boomy exhaust system makes it difficult to hear music on the radio, and after an hour of driving you feel a little deaf.

The clutch is incredibly stiff; why do they make them so stiff? It's like a truck to drive in city traffic.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 12th June, 2011

14th Jun 2011, 06:18

Funny. Re the central locking, our ex-Citroen Xantia did the same thing, which was oddly exacerbated by braking in wet weather. In addition to the comedy, the plastic lock caps would fly off like little plastic missiles and assault passengers.

French-ness... Bless.

In reply to 14th Jun 2011, 06:18

20th Jun 2011, 04:53

I had the door locks jump up on my 1994 Citroen ZX many years ago. It was solved by checking the earthing. I recall having to add proper earthing to the battery.

3rd Jul 2011, 05:32

I have since changed the muffler and it's fine, no boominess now. Also replaced the fuel filter and accelerates smoothly now too. Good solid car, though driving in stop-start traffic requires a Buddhist approach.

1998 Peugeot 306 XSi 2.0 16v from UK and Ireland

Faults:

Needed new pads and discs all round at 104000.

Accelerator snapped whilst driving back from work! Was easy to repair myself.

General Comments:

Got this car in early 2008, always liked Pug 306s, and opted for the XSi over the d-turbo. Would have liked the GTI-6, but insurance priced me out of that one.

Reading other 306 reviews, it seems that other Xsi's fall to bits after a lot of miles, but this ones been brilliant. It now has 105000 miles on the clock, 16000 of those are mine. Starts first time, never misses a beat, no nasty creak from the dashboard, and interior still looks relatively fresh.

The performance from the engine isn't exactly brilliant, the engine seems breathless once it reaches 5500rpm. I was expecting more from a 2.0 engine. Between 3000 & 5500rpm though it goes really well. It's fast enough to overtake without any problems, and seems on par with my mates 2.0 focus.

Handling is superb, we all know 306s are renowned for this though! I don't exactly race round corners and push it to the limits, but when taking corners at speed it feels very planted to the road, and like it would take a lot more to reach its limit.

The interior is okay, pretty bland but I like the sports seats in the front, they're quite comfortable and have held up well from the wear and tear over the years. The doorcards are awful and look really cheap, that's the one thing I really don't like about the interior.

I do all my own servicing, part are cheap and very easy to get hold of. I change the oil every 5000 miles and follow the Pug service schedule, so hopefully this car will last a good few more miles yet!

Overall I'm really happy with the car, and although it seems I landed on my seat in finding a good, reliable one, I would definitely recommend it for people looking for a cheap, warmish hatchback.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 25th February, 2009

25th Feb 2009, 19:11

These cars manage to be decent handling and decent looking cars for what they are. And they don't have much of a boy racer image either.

2nd Mar 2009, 09:29

Agree with the above comment, I hardly attract any unwanted attention from people in my XSi, but it still looks relatively sporty and only people in the know, know what the car's capable of!