Ownership Verified: The Downgrade

The Doctor 90

The Doctor 90

Active Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2006
Messages
174
Location
United Kingdom
Car(s)
Nothing.. :(
So I had my lovely Volvo S60 D5 and all was well. Circumstances changed in my life though and I have moved to London for my university studies, so hardly any need for a big cruiser there. Nevertheless I wasn't going to stop my insurance and loose a year's no claims, effectively writing off the hundreds of pounds I had already paid to insure the Volvo. It made sense to have a small car with low insurance group so that I could continue my insurance and virtually pay nothing for it because the Volvo's payments up till now would cover it. The S60 is staying in the family, with my dad, and I was left armed with about ?400 to find a replacement car for me. Evidently would have little choice with so little money but I quite liked the idea of a small diesel. It took a couple of weeks and I very nearly bought a 1998 Ford Fiesta 1.8D (a car which has the thinnest, non vented, front brakes I have ever seen) until this turned up:

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It's a MY 2000 Peugeot 206 2.0 HDi. The only thing that makes the car worth while in my opinion is the engine. 2.0 90 bhp turbo diesel in a 1000 kg car is a good thing. Incidentally I had wanted to have a go with one of these for a while, chance has granted my wish. The price I hear you ask? ?300 + ?123 to tax it. Not bad. The pictures you see are after 3 hours cleaning, it was a real mess when I got it. Fortunately the interior is in one piece, but unfortunately it has been smoked in. The bodywork is the main problem, surface rust on tailgate, the driver's side front wing is toast as is the trim on the wing mirror and the bonnet is rotten as a result of stone chips. Also the mileage is 180k miles. That pretty much sums up why it was only ?300.

All those problems are cosmetic though and the car drives fine, albeit being quite agricultural and the clutch bit point is a little high. It's an LX model but has electric front windows, mirrors and air conditioning and remote central locking. Everything works apart from a couple of bulbs on the instrument lights and the cigarette lighter (might be a fuse). The washer jets are blocked, but that's easily fixed. It even has the spare key with it.

Plans for the car? First is a full service next weekend. I could also fix the bodywork somewhat. My local scrapyard will probably have a replacement bonnet and wing along with a few other bits and bobs. Probably a ?100 for bits. The mechanicals are ok, this is only really a beater so no real effort will go into it, my studies will not allow it. I'm quite happy with the purchase though and hopefully the fuel consumption will be excellent, the turbo seem alive and kicking too. :) These have good levels of rust protection, the underside looks dead clean. I will whip the wheels off tomorrow to see what's what underneath.
 
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Wait...they don't refund you if you cancel your insurance mid-year?
 
Not quite that simple. If I had paid the full year up front then sure I could have some of the money back, but I'm paying monthly and since I've got more than half way through the year and I want this insurance year completed so that I have three years no claims it made sense to swap to this.
 
The Doctor 90 said:
I study chemistry, now at Imperial College. :)
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Good on you. Extremely versatile field, IMO.

As to the car, I again usually loathe small French cars, but this one I do like, and I've felt that way ever since I first saw them in person on a trip to France back in '07.
 
Nice. We don't have many small diesel cars up here. Our tax system means that you need to clock up quite a few km's per year before a diesel car starts making sense, and anyone that spends that much time on the road is going to want something bigger to begin with.

At 180k miles, the engine has lots of life left in it. PSA diesels are excellent. :)
 
Thanks guys. I became interested in the HDi engines ever since my dad has a Xantia HDi 110. That thing flew. Ok the Pug doesn't have an intercooler but 90 bhp is plenty especially considering I once drove a Yaris. I like how the Pug is nice an low slung. Definitely the best handling car I've had (said the man who first drove a Yaris, then a 1.6 ton Volvo). I had the windscreen washer jets off today, they are finished, one of them is blocked solid no-matter what I do. The cigarette lighter fuse wasn't broken so more investigation is required on that front. The spare wheel is an interesting one. It is underneath obviously, but you need a large flat-headed implement to undo the large bolt going through the boot floor. Presumably the original wheel nut wrench was for that. I don't have the original. The spare itself is a space-saver for some reason. I loathe them, so might as well get a full sized spare from the scrap yard. My local charges less than a tenner regardless of condition.

I think I need to devote an entire day to getting some basics done next week:

-Full service
-Still need to inspect underneath properly
-Try to get the smoke smell out (Fabreeze should do the trick, the dendrimers in it trap the smoke particles well)
-Treasure hunt to the scrap yard for a wheel, upgraded washer jets, tailored mats, cover for one of the number plate lights and the rear panels for the headlight units. If I'm very lucky and there is a colour match, might as well go for the front wing and bonnet.

Finally the coolant expansion tank... it's very French. It isn't transparent which makes checking the coolant level tricky. You can't peek down from the top either because it has a swan neck top. Engine doesn't run hot at all though.
 
Not bad, looks fairly clean for the money. I'm slightly put off 206s as several mates have had them and they fell to bits with surprising speed, personally I'd have gotten a 106 as they seem to be a bit more solid, more compact and just as cheap to run. ;)
 
That's a fair point. I had a look at a couple and they are relatively simple. The whole HDi thing may have clouded my judgement. The good thing is that I'm not going to make a massive loss at this price even if it does go pop. There is one big advantage the 206 has over the 106, safety. 206 is rated 4 star by Euro Encap. In London that is a damn good thing too, you see some crazy **** going on there sometimes.
 
Ok then. Service bits are on the way. Also a 27mm socket for the fuel filter and an 8mm allen key bit (I ordered a 3/8 drive socket thingy which has the hex bit) for the sump plug. Luckily the engine only takes 4.5 litres of oil and I have that much left over in 5W/30 fully synthetic from servicing various motors. Oil is expensive stuff so waste no want not.

For whoever might want to buy one of these one day, I shall document what it is to drive like here:

The steering is very direct indeed and reasonably well weighted, not as much feel as in a Ford though. Brakes are pretty sharp and perfectly satisfactory. Handling in general is as good as you would expect from this sort of car. The low centre of gravity is a massive advantage over say a Yaris which wallows even in the best of times, so stability remains good as you pile on the speed. The engine overall is just as good as I expected. There is zero effort in gaining speed and the mid range punch means it is nearly too easy to go above the speed limit. Funny how quiet the turbo is on this compared to the S60 D5. I had become used to the S60's TURBOPOWERNOISE (TM) due to the turbo not quite being perfect on it for some reason. The gearing is a bit tall, but I'm expecting this was meant with motorways in mind. The gearchange is a bit agricultural but not a surprise.

I think the 1.6 HDi 110 would be a fantastic pocket rocket if I were to speculate.
 
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