406 Wannabe - Buying Advice?

[Mothman]

Hi

Looking to get a small 2 berth caravan, but first will need a budget towcar and a diesel 406 estate would seem to fit the bill. Theres one on autotrader that I plan to view this weekend but as I'm new to 406's I would appreciate any advice if theres anything particular I should look out for.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

It's already got a towbar fitted and so I expect it's probably already been used for towing a caravan and so I may have to budget for a new clutch. What sort of ballpark figure should I I should allow for this if fiited at an independant garage?

All help greatly appreciated

Cheers
Rich

[jonsowman]

You might find the 90 a bit underpowered, perhaps consider a 110 or a 136 (2.2 HDi)?

By the way, the listing says 99k miles but in the text it says 122k. Sneaky.

[GingerMagic]

I agree, I had a 90 and it was perfectly adequate round town, but when loaded up or towing it used to struggle a bit. Very frugal and less to potentially go wrong as the engine is basic, but I would go for a 110.
Much the same price but the extra power makes a difference, will still do around 45-50 mpg round town too.
The 2.2Hdi is also a lovely car, but less mpg with a more complicated engine, although will pull a big caravan no problem.
110 is the best all rounder.

[Mothman]

You might find the 90 a bit underpowered, perhaps consider a 110 or a 136 (2.2 HDi)?

By the way, the listing says 99k miles but in the text it says 122k. Sneaky.

Yeh, would have preffered something with more grunt but 110 & 2.2 HDi estates seem a bit thin on the ground around my way. Had also spotted the
mileage discrepency in the ad, as you say a bit "sneaky".

[jonsowman]

Here's a few within 50 or so miles of you, note I haven't examined these particularly closely.

110s:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/99T-Peugeot-4 ... 1211980112
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Peugeot-406-2 ... 1309112785
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-PEUGEOT- ... 0493716764

And a couple of 2.2s:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PEUGEOT-406-H ... 1254246016
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Peugeot-406-2 ... 1312129771

Sorry I just thought I should point out the 99k/122k thing in case you'd not noticed!

[rwb]

At £2k we're into 407 territory: 136 hp out of the 2.0 although they're heavy (don't even think about the 407 1.6 110, it's weedier than the 406 2.0 90).

[Mothman]

jonsowman & Gingermagic thanks for the advice and the heads up on the cars, guess probably best to kepp searching.

My budget is limited (£1200 max). Should I consider high mileage cars (175-200K) if they are priced right and have full history or are most knackered by then?

[rwb]

Not knackered at all. I've just run past 200k, just replaced the clutch, and gone through MOTs two years on the trot now. I consider the bodywork to be tatty, but I've seen much worse.

I'd be looking for as few owners as possible, to have done most of the mileage earlier in its life -- fleet owner ideally -- and lots of bills. Should be on its second or even third cam belt by 180k. A clutch would be nice. Lots of oil changes. Maybe a low pressure fuel pump. And nothing strange and electrical.

[jonsowman]

Indeed, 200k really doesn't bother these cars. My 2.1TD is on 227k and the 2.2HDi is on 202k, nothing wrong with them at all

High mileage and well looked after is significantly better than lower mileage and neglected.

[Doggy]

Mileage isn't too much of an issue - they seem to be good for 250k or more, (but there's always the odd exception). My original 2.2 estate's going strong at over 200k, my current one's on 106k, but I aim to probably double that before parking my favourite armchair for the last time.

I would suggest holding out for a 110 or 2.2 and get a top spec car - they don't cost any extra to buy and heated leather, cruise, CD changer etc all add to the experience without costing any money. 110's are allegedly the most frugal, having an intercooler, longer gearing and post 2001 maybe even cheaper road tax compared with a 90.

2.2's definitely cost more to run, but not a great deal more. They are the smoothest, quickest and remapped like mine, can still hold their own with almost all current diesels.

It's worth getting to know them a bit before taking the plunge, but having said that, they're all damn good cars.