1998 Peugeot 106 GTi from UK and Ireland - Comments

The head gasket has blown three times.

The exhaust has been replaced.

The engine management system needed replacing when it was two months old.

The air bag warning light flashes constantly.

The alarm goes off for no apparent reason.

Despite these problems the car is an absolute joy to drive. Every journey is fantastic (unless you're going a long way down the motorway). The handling is superb. It is very difficult to drive this car slowly and it does make you drive like a bit of a hooligan!

The airbag light is probably a broken wiring harness under the drivers seat. Your Pug dealer should be able to patch it up under warranty.

Hi - I wonder if 1998 was a bad year for 106 GTIs as mine has all of the problems you state and more besides. I'm onto my second head gasket: £680 worth of repairs (head skim, new radiator too) from a Pug dealer, thankfully under warranty. Not sure it's entirely fixed to be honest. Time will tell. However for some reason this is still the best car I've owned!

I think I have had the worst luck of all with my 1998 GTI. I bought the car from Peak Performance motors in Hounslow, London without a warranty... Silly me. Two days after I bought it the Head Gasket went, then the radiator... a nice hefty £650.00 bill for me. Since then the water pump has broken, its had 2 new tyres, 2 catalytic converters, the injectors have thought to have been faulty, and the oxygen sensor... It won't start properly, runs lumpy... its actually got a full service history and is up to date with all services. I want to sell the car, I have advertised it, but no luck! Can anyone at all help me, I don't know what else to do! Gemmaandgreg@ntlworld.com.

Not only was 1998 a bad year I am sure 1997 was aswell. I bought my 106 gti from Peugeot 2 weeks ago (a late 1997/R). The first day I had it someone told me the catalytic converter had blown yet somehow Peugeot managed to pass an MOT on it the day before, I then went onto discover my brake disc's were rusted and pitted and the radiator was falling to bits and had a leak!. Thankfully I have a 3 month warranty and after a lot of abuse and some tears (it always works) they agreed to repair it free of charge. The engine idling is erratic to say the least and my drivers door squeaks like nobody's business. Despite all this I love the car to bits I have never had so much fun in a car its just a shame that Peugeot have such poor customer care yet they were all over me when I had a nice fat deposit in my hands!!!

Hi

i heard to that the 1998 106 GTi were some what poorly built so I got a late 1999 (T) still had to do repairs on it, wasn't the cars fault I got it off a women who's dad was a mechanic, He seamed to be a bit of a muppet, all the brakes were fitted wrong, he fit new drive shafts and wreaked the front wheel bearings and still let the car go, he fitted a universal oxygen sensor (they are total rubbish) and the car was only doing 13 mpg, now all this is fixed it dose around 30 mpg, it needed 3 new tires and both anti roll bar drop links (normal wear 'n' Tear).

P.s the car will never idle properly it is a common characteristic of those engines.

The R's and S reg GTi's suffer a lot from head gasket problems. Received an uprated metal gasket in newer models which helped a lot with the strength of the engine. My gasket had just gone (oil in water) I'm not a mechanic, but am patient and am confident I can repair this myself - save yourself a few bob. Make sire you buy the uprated gasket and it's made by peugeot or a reliable performance make.