2001 Peugeot 206 LX from UK and Ireland - Comments

My first doubts about the car emerged when the clutch broke almost straight away and had to be replaced. There is also an awful lot of rattling going on inside the console (unfixable).

More worryingly, the car has been broken into by bending the top of the passenger door back (bare handed) reaching in and unlocking the door. This would have taken less than a couple of minutes. The Police and car body shop tell me this is a very common way of breaking into 206 and that they see this "all the time". The garage demonstrated the ease in which this can happen by simply bending the door roughly back into shape by hand. Peugeot on the other hand have no knowledge of this and refuse to acknowledge the manufacturing fault.

I would certainly not recommend anyone to buy this make of car. I would certainly not have considered it had I known of this fault.

It would appear Peugeot make a habit of denying knowledge of security flaws in their cars. I returned to my 406 in a supermarket car park last year to find the boot lid open, and the boot emptied of its contents including a £2000 laptop, and £1000 worth of tools and diagnostic equipment (I'm an engineer). Having been caught out before with dodgy central locking, I'd checked the doors and boot before I left the car, so I know it was all locked. I was also 200 miles from home in a place I'd not been to for some months, so there was no way anyone could have known what was in the boot.

Bizarrely, there was no sign of damage to the car, and all the other doors were locked. The police officer who attended was most helpful, and said "off the record" that he had attended six similar incidents with 406's that week alone. Thieves have cottoned on that a strategically placed clout on the boot lid causes it to pop open, and it is so easy/quick to do that they simply walk past the car and do it on the off chance of finding something valuable (they certainly struck gold with mine).

Then I had problems with the insurance company, because there was no sign of forced entry. It was implied that the boot was left unlocked, and therefore they were not liable. My local Peugeot dealer denied knowledge of the problem, and calls to Peugeot customer service bore no fruit either. The service receptionist in my Peugeot dealership told me that a modified boot lock kit has been supplied to them by Peugeot for fitment to all 406's of a certain year which are taken in for service. This kit is a security modification. As this information is not being made public for fear of bad publicity, the conversation was strictly off the record.

So, as it stands, I am £3,000 out of pocket for the sake of protecting Peugeot's image, and I suspect I'm not alone. If they would simply acknowledge the problem publicly, my insurers would believe that the car was locked, and pay out. A nice way to treat a loyal customer who is now on his fourth Peugeot. I think the fifth will be something different!

I have read your review and it seems that because you have been "loyal" to peugeot you expect them to accept liability for you leaving the car unlocked - which lets face it.. you did!

My 206 GTI has very dodgy central locking. it refuses to lock most of the time, and when it does and I dead lock it, I have returned to the car and it's open. this has happened several times now. it took it to an independent auto electric place, they can find no fault in the doors, although it was faulting. it is the component which operates the locking which is faulty. it's now in with Peugeot as we speak. I believe that this chap locked his car and there is a serious fault with Peugeots parts.

In reference to the chap left mystified by a thug 'bending out' the door frame of his car, allow me to explain this must be the most common 'stealth' tactic employed by car thieves and by no means a problem unique to Peugeot or the 206. Forcing a door lock takes too long, especially with advances in security/technology. Breaking a car window is too noisy. Forcing the frame allows access to the car in seconds, makes little noise, and the bonus is no tools are required! This frame can then be bent back again without showing any signs of damage/theft, hence drawing little attention, should stealing the car be the objective. This technique is universal and works just as well on prestige marques as it does on other cars. An aside to the engineer who left his car unlocked, a simple bending moment calculation should have revealed this.