My 306 is a 1994 L reg XRDT 1.9 Turbo Diesel which I bought in April 2003 to replace my ageing but very reliable Peugeot 309 (non turbo) diesel. Generally, I have been very satisfied with my 306 so far despite needing a new radiator and a few other bits and bobs which the dealers couldnt care less about. It is the XR model which has electric windows, power steering and central locking. It is certainly a great car to drive with superb handling and smooth ride. Being the turbo-diesel, performance is great with superb mid-range pull for easy overtaking (even with 5 adults in it) and relaxed motorway cruising and can leave many petrol cars for dead. Fuel economy is another great thing about this car with 40mpg round town and 55+ mpg on motorways, ive done over 500 miles on £40 diesel! Being 10 years old and having covered 128000 miles,the car is in excellent condition inside and outside and when washed it looks almost like new! Overall, apart from a few problems to begin with and maybe being a little ripped off when buying the car, i'm generally happy with my 306, especially with an insurance group 5!
Have a 70,000 mile S plate GLX 1.8 16v and, handling apart, it's a horrible bucket of bolts. had it from new, had it serviced religiously to the schedule by a main dealer and it rewards me with the following reliability record:
Air bag warning light keeps coming on, central locking intermittently stops working, interior creaks and bits of trim fall off, engine overheated and seized without temp gauge moving (£2000 worth of damage), poor cold starting, idles erratically especially when hot, stalls when cold, radio reception now non existent, blows instrument bulbs every 3 months, ECU light blinks and then goes out without storing a fault code so dealer can't fix it, tappets noisy when cold, power steering pump leaked.
But it is good to drive. Handling is better than anything else in the class, and probably than anything else with front wheel drive despite soft GLX suspension. The quality and reliability is appalling though.
306 DTurbo 97 After a year of ownership, life is looking grand! I own a car that is still stylish compared to the lumpy 307, still quick, good on fuel (but not great I have to admit) and practical.
Just after I bought the car with 46000 miles on it, everything went wrong and after much arguing with the awful main dealer (yet to find a good one!)the car had new head gasket, cambelt, discs, pads, hoses and clutch! The warranty kindly deflected the cost but not the inconvenience!
Luckily, apart from the clutch cable failing, life has been stress free since and 67000 miles are now showing. I LOVE the handling. So much fun despite so much nose-weight. The only niggly fault is the appalling (Coventry) built quality. The fuse panel now lives in the boot where it makes much less noise! Value is a bit poor. A Citroen ZX may look less exciting but is the same car and can be exchanged for a packet of peanuts! I'm still glad I bought it!
1.9 Diesel 1995/N 70k to 88k Considering it uses the same engine as our old BX, mpg is dissapointing,42-46mpg. BX was 46-52 and on one long trip 56 mpg was attained.
I owned a 306 D-Turbo 1995 until recently & it was the biggest shed ever. The clutch used to stick when driven in hot weather or stuck in traffic making gear changes a nightmare,both rear brake cylinders failed,both handbrake cables also failed,there was a terrible knocking from the rear whenever i went over the smallest bump & the gearbox whined so badly it drowned out the stereo.The only good point to these cars is the engine (1977 vintage!!) & the chassis. Concidering it had only covered 117,000 miles it was ready for the scrap yard.Fortunately i managed to flog-it-on at auction & have bought a Rover 420SDI as a stop gap with 236,000 miles on the clock & it drives like new!
I had a Peugeot 306XSi for just over a year. It was great fun to drive but an absolute money pit!! The rear axle came loose and the sunroof may just as well have been made out of a string vest for the amount of rainwater it kept out.
It attracted all the wrong attention too - spotty boy racers and police mainly.
Now I drive an 18-year-old Volvo and I can have just as much fun in that. It may not be quick off the mark but you can still throw it about and god help any pathetic little boy racer who tries to cut me up in his fully body kitted penile extended Nova because he’ll certainly come off a lot worse than I will when I refuse to give way.
Peugeot seem to have the knack recently for producing stylish little cars. Whilst their abilities seem to be a little stretched the further up the size scale they go, at the smaller end they manage to squeeze a little French chic into very small packages.
The 306 is no exception, for a two box five door hatch the basic shape is remarkably stylish in its execution. At this basic level the only minor gripe is the wheels do look a little undersized for the arches.
I'm not really convinced of the validity of such small five door cars. Sure it makes getting into the rear a little easier, but its a fairly compact rear and personally I would buy a bigger car if I needed to make extensive use of the rear on a regular basis. especially if it was me who was having to sit in it.
The boot is tiny and slot like as you would expect but the basic shape of the vehicle does make it practical as you can load it high at the expense of rear vision. The seat does fold nicely out of the way to give a surprisingly large space when needed, and they fold on decent hinges which should last well which is more than I could say for my old Uno , which had hinges that were sized for the doors on a cuckoo clock and gave up the ghost after around Half a dozen foldings.
On first entering the car I was surprised to find strange floppy things attached to the doors which strangely enough moved the windows when turned. Even odder was the excellent electric sunroof. Now I don't know about you but I open the windows most days and the sunroof about twice a year. So I know which I would prefer to be powered and which I could cope with stirring occasionally.
The interior is well laid out and fairly Airy giving a more spacious feel than is reality. The quality is a little lightweight in a few areas, but at least the fit is quite good.
The wooly seats don't look much and hardly entice you in, but once your bums in place it feels okay if a little unsupportive to the sides, but that really probably asking for too much at this level.
After the first drive home I was actually fairly impressed. The trip encompassed A roads and Motorways, and the zingy little motor zipped along nippily on a Doc Martens worth of throttle aided and abetted by a sharp five speed box and precise clutch. The engine is a decent little revver making up for any lack of low end torque, with its sheer willingness. It revs quickly and crisply deep toward the red line with little complaint and as is common in many new motors it feels to have little inertia and the revs fall away quickly when you take your foot off the gas.
On the motorways the little Pug steams along at an easy licence losing pace should you require, with excellent stability and poise, the compliant suspension nonchalantly ignoring expansion joints, dips and rises without complaint.
Only later when faced by back streets and the latest cursed pox of our roads (mini roundabouts), that strange traits began to expose themselves.
(Please note there may have been something deficient with this example which may or may not be cheap to correct. I don't know but it sure felt bad.)
The steering which seemed nicely weighted for the first turn suddenly weighted up and became very stiff, making mini roundabouts or tight 90 degree turns a pain in the proverbial. This was not helped by a slippery hard wheel, which made it even more difficult to grip and heave.
The brakes which worked okay at pulling you up, did seem to lack some initial bite, and required a fairly hefty heave for a car so small, or Maybe I spent too long in an Audi A4 and have just gone soft in my old age.
The gearbox too managed to lose it a little here with rolling entrances to first gear being notchily reticent in comparison to the other 4 slick ratios.
The gearbox I could live with, the brakes I would become accustomed too, but the steering would drive me daft, and it spoiled a nice little car. Around twisty quiet country B roads, it was a delight to drive with the chassis poise balance and grip being well beyond the output of the engine, and the accurate swift upper ratio changes allowing you to make full use of the engine without ever suggesting it could get you into difficulties it may only have 75bhp but the flat riding chassis lets you make use of most of it for large periods of time.
The Hot versions of little Peugeots have big reputations, and the chassis of this one makes it easy to see why. If the steering problem is fixable, (which Im fairly sure it should be it) then the hotter versions are then built on solid foundations. For thoose of us who cant or dont want to stretch to a hot one it make a real nice little motor to zip around in.
1998-99 306 Rallye Manufacturers usually take a particular model and make it more attractive by upgrading it with loads of high spec equipment. In the case of the 306 Rallye, Peugeot has taken the top of the range 306 GTi-6 and stripped it of all the usual refinements including leather seats, CD autochanger, alarm system, electric mirrors, windows, passenger and side air bags and air conditioning.
This is not a new concept for Peugeot as they have done this to the 205 and 106 ranges respectively and both have proved to be great successes. The concept is to create a great driving machine which is lighter to heighten the driving experience which in turn improves performance, handling and fuel economy.
The 306 GTi-6 is described as the king of hot hatches which I agree with but with a price tag of £18,450 it made the 306 Rallye which retailed at £15,995 on-the-road a much more viable option to those on a tighter budget. Hence the used car market is now turning up some affordably priced examples.
The Rallye decals are part of the package but don't look to hard for your favourite colour as Peugeot only offered this car in black, red or white.
With the removal of passenger and side airbags safety was not discarded with side impact protection beams, side impact padding and a braking system which incorporates oversized ventilated front discs, rear discs and ABS.
From a drivers point of view, the 2.0-litre, 16-valve 167bhp & 6 speed gearbox drives you to 0-62 mph (0-100kmph) time in 7.9 secs and with a top speed of around 140 mph accompanied by handling characteristics which are truly phenomenal the 306 Rallye proves to be a winner in all aspects. This car offers one of the most responsive driving experiences you'll find in a front-wheel drive car.
On a downside the sport style seats are positioned so high even on there lowest adjustment they give the feel you are sitting on top of them rather than in them. If you are quite small the seat is very wide and fails to give you the support that is needed. It does however support those of us who are a bit bigger.
The spare wheel which I think is a criticism with almost the entire Peugeot range is located underneath the rear of the car and unless you fit a specialised wheel lock which is quite costly and only available through dealerships you can loose your valuable spare all to easy to a passing thief.
In conclusion the 306 Rallye is a versatile car which suits all types of driving ability and whether town driving is your thing equipped with massive boot space or should you feel the need to drive in a more 'sport' style it is always ready oblige.
I've just bought a 1997 R geg 306 1.4 LX. I've had a few problems with it so far. The first is the engine tends to cut out shortly after taking up drive. The other is the air bag light comes on intermittently (has now stopped since I raised the driver seat). and the third is that there tends to be some rattling noise coming prom the passenger side (front suspension - passenger compartment area).
I have a D Turbo and its 100% pure pleasure!..Worth every penny I spent although they need to be serviced on a regular basis to ensure trouble free motoring.
I have been very pleased with my car it has done 122'220 miles and is still running fine. The problem i have had is with the central locking, this started when i changed the batteries in the key it seems to of affescted the central locking and now the only way i can get in or lock it is through the door. Does anyone know of any codes or a way to get the central locking to work again by using the key?Email me at [Log in to view email]
Never owned
Preloved Visitor
Reviewed January 2004.
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at last its going this weekend ile never have a 306 again i paid ?2000 for it 18 months ago since then ive replaced the sump ?100 central locking faults ?80 rear brakes cylinders as well ?130 tie ends and bushes ?50 main crank oil seal and new cambelt ?150 and now the head gaskets leaking it has always been quiet noisey the exaust sound quiet loud the handlings very good but that is all the amount of rattles is amazing and the sunroof leaks this is a shame as i thought that a car asembled in britain would of been alot better shame they think every days a friday
Owned for 2 years.
Preloved Visitor
Reviewed January 2004.
Performance
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Having owned my little 1.4 306 for over a year I've had resonably few problems. The first was the on board CPU breaking resulting in the engine stopping and loosing the power steating whenever the rev's dropped. But the dealership assured me it was only a 20 minute job to fix and lo-and-behold it was!! One black coffee and a chockolate hobnob later my car was as good as new - and done for free! the only other problems I've had are the internal pressure sensor going (again fixed for free) so the engine cut out on long journeys or when rev'ing around town, and the front break disks needing replacing - all though I do dirve up and down a lot of hills so this is to be expected... all in all a relaible little car that's happily done 20,000 in the last year (~50,000 miles total) with no need for a service - just change the oil and filters myself. My only gripe is the doors sound hollow when they're closed (not the reasuring clunk you would like to hear.
Never owned
Preloved Visitor
Reviewed December 2003.
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I have owned a 306 XSI for a year, apart from the cylinder head gasket going at 62,000, electric window motor going, tappets going like crazy and three heater matrix's its actually a decent car. Although there is high vibrating at high speeds.
Owned for 2 years.
Preloved Visitor
Reviewed October 2003.
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Problems with cold starting on turbo diesels, changed pugs and batery, no luck
Owned for 2 years.
Preloved Visitor
Reviewed August 2003.
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I previously owned a citreon bx 14 and had enough of that and replaced it last year with a peugeot 306 1.4xr pas electric windows and sunroof all though under powered the 1.4 engine is willing and the handerling is top notch the rest is very poor so far rear brake cylinders leaked ,central locking failure twice loose rear suspention bushes tie end failed on mot but worst of all replaced sump owing to rust
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