There's always a few troublesome cars. These are usually found towards the end of a car's production life. And I seem to have had two of these on the trot.
I bought the car second hand, so maybe in-there lies the problem... but with it being a limited edition with no sign of anything wrong inside or out (besides cracks in the leather) and low mileage I believed it must have been well looked after.
Right, problems:
1). The passenger's electric window clunks when half way down. As if falling.
2). The passenger's door grip continually comes from the plastic door handle.
3). There is an annoying piece of plastic lining at the top of the car just above the doors. On the driver side this continually comes loose and waves about whilst driving.
Biggest problems of all however was when I got a puncture. I could not replace the wheel because it was bolted to the car with somesort of special bolt that needed a specific key to unlock. Having not received this with the car I was unable to get the wheel off! I had to limp home with a flat where the car sat for a week whilst I tried to construct something to get them off... after being snubbed off by my local Peugeot dealer TAYLORS OF BOSTON. Having to borrow my wife's car wasn't particularly amusing during this period as it's a pink Honda Jazz...
With all that's wrong with it you'd think I hated the car right?
Well yeah there's a few problems such as the Glove box being just small enough so it's completely useless (Maybe this is a feature only on my model because a mate's N-Reg XND has a spacious one)... and the car has THE worst turning circle I have ever seen, and I've driven MPVs. As I regularly have to reverse into my drive off a busy road it can get a bit hectic.
Having said that I love this car. The styling is glorious. Mine comes with a rear spoiler, 15 inch alloys in Metallic China Blue. It's a 3 door and it's looks, in my opinion, could match any coupe that would rush past.
The boot is spacious compared to the size of the car itself, though rear legroom is a bit limited... especially when you try and get 3 teenagers in there. The interior isn't to everyone's taste admittedly, and the word "dated" is passed around a lot. But as with the later Meridian HDIs the central console has been given a coat of Silver paint which livens it up significantly.
The half leather seats unique to the D-Turbo S are very comfy, though my particular model's leather has begun to crack due to undermaintenance. The stereo is great, a fact often overlooked. The cassette fascia hides a 5 Disc Multi-changer in the boot... which means you can listen to your CDs without having to fiddle about and makes theives think you've got a worthless cassette radio.
I love this car's economy. My last car was a 1600 Escort and it drank like the irish do on st. patrick's day, so it was quite refreshing to have a car that even when driven "properly" managed to average at over 40 mpg. I've ever managed 50+ on motorway hauls... returning easily 250 miles to the £20, mine for some reason seems to prefer Shell's Diesel to anywhere else.
Insurance is next to nothing and is only in band 5. And it's officially the fastest car available in that band. Hence the fleet of max powered versions floating about.
Now... the car's performance. One word, brilliant! Compared to other road cars the handling is tremendous. I've many-a-time watch other cars breaking heavily behind me 2 get road a corner where my low centre of gravity and sharp suspension allow me to just throw the car into pretty much anything. The brakes are good too, but the ABS is weak compared to the ABS on my father's new Focus.
The engine doesn't like starting sometimes on cold mornings. It always will start, but puts up a fuss.
It sounds like a diesel from the off, and the noise is ever present until you get going... and you hit the magical 1800 rev mark... which is when the car comes alive! The turbo kicks in. THat horrible diesel rumble is replaced by a whoosh usually associated with the high power petrols you dream about. The car shoots off to a 0-60 time officially 10.9 seconds, but I've managed it in under 10... and a top speed of officially 109, but I've managed an incredible 117.
It's fast enough to pretty much own the road until you run into someone with a Scooby.
It still stands today as one of the world's fastest commercial diesels. Only recently being outdone by the TDi-S Leon and the Diesel VX220 and the upcoming Astra XVR-D. But can you pick one of those up for under £4000? DOn't think so...
I've got a ZX TD and agree with you about the performance, these engines are great. I've done the 0-60 in mine in a tad over 10 seconds and also reached 117mph - but that was it, it could do no more lol. Still, it's more than enough. Also average mid 40's mpg and can get over 50 on a long steady run.
Great cars, i'd quite fancy a 306 as they look a lot nicer than the ZX (but they are still more expensive to buy)
I agree with the comments about the 1.9TD as I had a ZX Volcane TD which was a great car. I decided to trade it in after 4 years of trouble free motoring for a 306TD. I regretted it as I had endless faults which the dealer could never fix including fuel leaks etc. The Peugeot dealer was hopeless. I gave up after 3 months and bought another Citroen which was fine. I know many people who still have 306's and they've had no trouble at all. I really wanted a 306 at the time, but as with all cars its luck of the draw and no car is perfect. I don't think the 306 is all bad I was just unlucky with mine.
There are many many many diesel cars that are faster than DTurbos mate.
Don't get me wrong, I liked my DT very much and it was great fun to drive, but compared to modern common rail diesels, they're old hat and very slow.
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I have a 1996 d-turbo s and for its age I don't think you could get a better car. I have a k & n air filter on it and that makes a good difference to standard. its response is great at just under 2,000 rpm the turbo kicks in and keeps pulling to 5,000 rpm in every gear. I've beaten an astra gsi I gave a 206 gti a good run for its money and a top speed of 122mph on the motorway!
'I have a k & n air filter on it and that makes a good difference to standard'
If 2-3BHP is your idea of a 'good difference' then your correct! But I doub't it somehow. Air filters rarely give a car much more BHP, they mostly just make the engine noise a bit more raw.
My pug 306td 1997 is a piece of crap; it sounds like german tank, the turbo doesn't kick in till 3000rpm, and it sounds like it's red lining all the time. I had it serviced; that ain't done anything, so whatever you do, don't buy one, even though I had 120mph racing a Saxo VTS; it's rubbish and picks up like my nan's mobility chair.