New Car Time

[Ali C]

lo bob

long stoty short:

had 106, drove around, mot came, car failed, not worth fixing, new car time.

I have my heart set on a 306 for some reason, they fit bikes in pretty nicley and look pretty.

I have seen this 306 on auto trader (top one)

Its nice and cheap at £200 but doesnt have any MOT or tax. They say it just needs a new windscreen to pass, so to get it on the road it possibly another £300.

Is it worth it?

I went to see a 95 306 XND today, its a year older, done 115000 miles and has no tax, but it does have a full MOT and the engine looks really clean and tidy. Its advertised for £850

so that makes the auto trader one look pretty good, over £300 cheaper, has central locking, electric windows, power steering and is a turbo and I presume will have split rear seats.

Just after some more opinions, I know no one can really judge without seeing either, but any help would do.

(ps, I plan to phone up and ask about the one on outo trader soon to find out more)

[Caleb]

looks pretty good, but sign up towww.pug306.net and have a check on there too.

there was a guy selling a taxed a nd tested one, had been colour coded etc for £500

and a guy selling one with a headgasket gone with the gti alloys for £250 .

great cars though imo i have a td and although yet to pass seems very good

[Fixed Pants™]

Looks nice, lets hope it's JUST the windscreen that will get it through the MOT, but don't worry about needing it for bikes because of boot space, it's best to just get a bike rack thing, and it wont damage the interior! But generally pugs and 306's are nice and reliable. I'd probably go for it as its only £200.

[Ali C]

bike racks slow the car down and reduce mpg, so I would rather put them inside if poss.

I am not just going to dive in and buy it, going to ask for the mot failour slip (if it has one) and go and check it out, look for rust and stuff. My 106 needed a lot of welding.

[rocktrials]

i may be wrong, but isnt trade meaning they want to swap it for something? thats what i always thought but probably wrong

[Ali C]

there private and trade.

I see it as private sales ie just someone selling their old car.

Or trade sale, ie a company selling the car

[Fixed Pants™]

bike racks slow the car down and reduce mpg, so I would rather put them inside if poss.

Yeah only when you need it, when you don't need it take it off... problem sorted

[Caleb]

check for rust on the tailgate near the boot lock, and on the just behind the sunroof, however mine hasnt any rust on and 306's in general are good for staying rust free.

french did something right with them at least

[shaggy]

I've have a 306 and its been a nightmare! Engine wise it's been fine and i dont look after my cars (should do really). But check all the electrics they are known for being crap. I've had my central locking go, lights on the dash and my cooling is goosed the fans dont work any more! Should really fix it. And recently the door handle snapped off in my hand so now i have to get in the passenger side. The handles are made out of some strange palastic. Oh yeah and the idle control valve is sticking and my car doesnt idle well. It wouldn't run cold for about 6 weeks. Then just decided to start working again.

Anyone want to buy a 306????? )

[Fuse]

Personally I wouldn't consider buuying a car that doesn't have at least 6 months left on the MOT. If that car has no MOT at all, then you only have his word that it's road worthy. You could buy it, take it to be tested and find out it needs hundreds of pounds of work on it, and you'd have zero comeback as you've bought it as seen.

If I was you I'd pay a little more and get one with a valid certificate.

[JTM]

to be honest MOT means feck all in the second hand car world. Getting someone to put a car through a MOT is merely a case of knowing them personally or a couple of quid on the side. Ive bought cars before when the MOT has BLATENTLY been blagged as things went wrong the day after I got it. So dont take MOT for gospel. Ali, if your 106 is such a rust bucket, do you think andother french piece of cheese is what you need? Sure, fords of this price range might have some rust etc, but french cars of this price range will be falling to bits lol. The electrics, which from what ive seen are the hardest problems to diagnose in any car ar awful aswell. If I were you id go for a old fiesta, escort or even older golf/polo. You not wanting to go fast, your not wanting to chav it up or anything, you want to go A to B as best you can, and I dont think french cars of your price bracket can do that for you.

[Simon]

Few tests i've found that would become usefull.

First off, roof, sunroof, drivers side, check for rust or bubbling. Big problem on 306's and most will have it, both of mine do, but this only cosmetic, i put a hole through my rust a few weeks back, and its been fine, water just goes into gutter by sunroof.

Secondly, if it has a headunit, turn it on then open and close the door, if the music turns on and off, then loom between door and car is shot. Not really important at this stage, just annoying.

Now open the door with everything off, and you'll see a black rubber pipe going to a plug, if you can, pull the rubber back towards the car and check for split wires. If a thicker blue one is split, thats your electric windows, don't know many other colours except red, which is sounds.

As you can guess, electrics is the main problem, but if you know a little, they can be fixed.

Doorcards come off in 5 minutes gaining access to any locking issues, drivers seat comes off within 20 gaining access to control unit, the only main problem is loom between door and loom, as its a b*****d to get your fingers in there.

Diesel engines are known to be bullet proof, just make sure when asking you enquire about the cambelt, because if it hasn't been changed in 60k, i'd look into doing it asap.

Also, turn the engine on and leave it for a bit, check it idles ok, and doesn't jump about.

I make 306's sound really bad, but currently i'm looking at my next 2 cars being 306's, mainly because i now know enough to get me around, and at the end of the day, they are good little cars 'cept for some little niggles here and there.

[The Duck]

to be honest MOT means feck all in the second hand car world. Getting someone to put a car through a MOT is merely a case of knowing them personally or a couple of quid on the side. Ive bought cars before when the MOT has BLATENTLY been blagged as things went wrong the day after I got it. So dont take MOT for gospel. Ali, if your 106 is such a rust bucket, do you think andother french piece of cheese is what you need? Sure, fords of this price range might have some rust etc, but french cars of this price range will be falling to bits lol. The electrics, which from what ive seen are the hardest problems to diagnose in any car ar awful aswell. If I were you id go for a old fiesta, escort or even older golf/polo. You not wanting to go fast, your not wanting to chav it up or anything, you want to go A to B as best you can, and I dont think french cars of your price bracket can do that for you.

Yep. A couple of days after I got my old car I noticed a small white mark on the roof, which grew quite quickly until most of the roof was white with the rest of the car being blue. Turns out the cnut that sold it to me used blue polish instead of paint on the roof. A couple of weeks on from getting that sprayed, the engine basically went up in a puff of smoke. MOT means nothing. I do know that they don't check paint on MOTs but who wants to be driving round in a dark blue 1 litre polo with a white roof?

But now I've got a 306 2.0 SXI, which is an absolute beast to drive and I've had it for about 6 months and nothing has gone wrong! The only money I've had to spend on it is on MagicTree's.

Edited November 4, 2006 by Mr_Tensile

[Caleb]

i dont understand how your driving at 15 mr tensile?

[mcajh]

I expect the 306 on auto trader will have done mega miles! I had a 306 until january this year. Was a good car during the few years i had it. No real mechanical problems just a few common electrical problems. Only major problem was a broken front wishbone but that was my fault :$ , damn kerbs.

My 306 was a diesel turbo sport. Same engine as the one on auto trader, good fun to drive and good mpg. Mine didnt have split rear seats though, have to fold the whole seat back down. Can get a few bikes in them though.

[Ali C]

Thanks for the help guys, that one on auto trader has been sold, so thats out of the question.

I am still wanting a 306 turbo diesil, got some nice insurence quotes too

when I go to see one I will take your advice hand have a look at the electronics.