Faults:
Soon after getting the car I noticed that when accelerating moderately the clutch appeared to take on a sharper, more sporty feel. I thought it must be a feature of the car, but when I quizzed the garage about it, I was told they had no knowledge of a feature of this type. It was some time later, at the end of a long trip, that I realised it was a fault. I pressed the clutch pedal to change gear and it stuck about an inch from the floor, allowing virtually no control. I eventually found that I was able to free it by flicking it up from beneath with my foot. The clutch cable was replaced, the sporty feel has gone, but it operates correctly.
The trim on the tailgate was incorrectly fitted. The garage replaced the entire trim.
The car would regularly pull to one side or the other depending upon the last corner it had been around. This was not diagnosed by the dealer, they registered no fault found. In fact the problem was in the rear suspension passive steering system which was initially rather tight. As everything wore a little the problem vanished. This led to additional wear on the tyres, and resulted in the tyres needing replacement at about 22k miles.
A CD changer is fitted, this failed after a couple of months, then the rest of the music system followed. The garage replaced the fuse three times over a period of months. Finally they replaced it with a higher rated fuse and blew-up the entire system. This took them about three months to put right, and during that time we had no music system.
Within the first year, the wiper blades had perished. These were replaced without a quibble.
At its first MOT, being just under three years old, it failed on one of the rear brake pad sets sticking, indicator bulbs that were "too white" and a discoloured number plate. I was told that the rear brake discs and pads needed replacing and with the other items, the repair bill would be around £200. The car had been serviced by the dealer to Peugeot specifications and was still under warranty, but according to Peugeot UK and the dealer these parts are consumables and therefore not covered. After a great deal of arguing, they cleaned up the brake pads, fitted new bulbs and number plate free of charge and it passed the MOT.
It is interesting to note that Peugeot UK told me that the discolouration of the number plate may have been caused by ingress of water. Strangely, I had no idea that I had to prevent them getting wet, and I certainly cannot find mention of this in the manual.
The air-bag warning light started to show intermittently. This was caused by a bad connection under the passenger seat. It was cured by soldering the wires together. Again, this was sorted under the warranty.
It is now about four months out of warranty and two of the bulbs in the instrument display and radio have recently failed. Was this a design feature or just bad luck? Why in this day and age were these not LEDs?
On a couple of occasions, the engine stopped for no apparent reason. The garage re-mapped the engine and it has been fine ever since.
Trims around the windows work themselves lose and regularly have to be pushed back into position.
It has developed countless rattles and creakings. Some of these appear to be from the doors and the back parcel shelf. These can be very irritating on rougher road surfaces and cold days.
General Comments:
The interior is wearing well despite being climbed over regularly by three youngsters.
It has become noticeably quicker with age, and its not just that I am putting my foot down harder. My wife has also noted this.
The climate control and automatic wipes are great. I wouldn't have paid extra for them at the time, but now I'm hooked.
This car is a dark, flat, green and tends to mark easily forming light coloured scratches.
It actually requires a service about once per year despite the claims. The main services are interleaved with "intermediate services". At main dealer prices, these are a significant cost.
Pity the dealer was not up to scratch. Their service has, on the whole, been poor.
A little more attention in the design could have made this car a dream to own.
9th Oct 2007, 04:30
The car randomly starts to rev and accelerate to the red mark.