Clio and 306

[ally406]

Hi Farmer, I just stumbled across this thread. I have owned one of these in the past, and they are fair enough little cars. You should be seeing 50mpg easily on the 1.2 16v, no way can a 1.9TD touch that. Added to that the longer service intervals on the petrol engine and generally rock bottom running costs of the Clio, I would fully expect a 306 to be significantly more to run. Also the Clio has a 5 star ncap safety rating, I would doubt an elderly pug would be half as safe in an accident.

Wing and bumper are easy to swap and should be cheap enough from ebay/breakers. Lower engine mount can develop some play leading to sloppy gear change, but they are cheap and easy to replace (you can poly bush if you like), although the gearboxes are generally just a bit crap. Had mine for nearly 80k and no troubles, and it's replacement, the 182, has done around 45 balls-to-the-wall trackdays with no more than replacement rear dampers (same gearbox as the 1.2 incidentally).

[FarmerPug]

i changed the starter in the clio yesterday it cost £20 to recondition it so at least starts but its still thirsty on the fuel and oil.
the clio may have more stars (i think the 02 is a 4 star car) but i feel much safer in the 406.

my mums still looking to change the car, the seats on the dynamique are really badly designed they are bucket style seats but it causes your shoulders to curl in and you cant rest your arms comfortably and there is no lateral support. It gave me a backache and its giving my mum one also and she needs better comfort since she got a heart operation a few years back.

The 306 is still being considered, although a 1.2 fiat panda might be a better choice because my mum liked the old one so much.

[ToddM]

i changed the starter in the clio yesterday it cost £20 to recondition it so at least starts but its still thirsty on the fuel and oil.
the clio may have more stars (i think the 02 is a 4 star car) but i feel much safer in the 406.

my mums still looking to change the car, the seats on the dynamique are really badly designed they are bucket style seats but it causes your shoulders to curl in and you cant rest your arms comfortably and there is no lateral support. It gave me a backache and its giving my mum one also and she needs better comfort since she got a heart operation a few years back.

The 306 is still being considered, although a 1.2 fiat panda might be a better choice because my mum liked the old one so much.

Frank the multijet 1.3 Panda feels much quicker, is much more economical and cheaper to run and holds value better! I'm fairly sure it's the one I'd go for after driving a 1.2 and a 1.3 back to back.
I'm sure your mum would like a Panda more than a 306 - easier to get in and out with and cheaper to run as well. Unless she likes to drive it like she stole it I'm fairly certain the Panda is the better car! Besides it just looks so darn cute

[FarmerPug]

i know on paper the diesel is faster but i still prefer the petrols for the noise and how they drive, there also seems to be a semi auto with the petrol model:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p
and then the 1.4 is still quite appealing because then i could occasionally take it for a blast when i want. But the main reason for getting a petrol would be to eventually get an lpg conversion.