Biggest fear about the new car

[Eric]

406 has reverse where the 306 had 6th.

Discuss possible outcomes

[Welly]

Now come along Eric, you should know by now it is impossible to engage reverse from 5th - there is a gate to go through from neutral only.

The HDi would have benefited from 6 gears, and some more BHP's

[Eric]

Now come along Eric, you should know by now it is impossible to engage reverse from 5th - there is a gate to go through from neutral only.

The HDi would have benefited from 6 gears, and some more BHP's

I managed to get 4th instead of 6th at a supersonic speed in the 6 once, with French gearboxes anything is possible
Felt sorry for the engine limiter on that one but a quick clutch foot resolved the issue.

I really hope the gate is "Eric" proof

[TooT]

Discuss possible outcomes

The guy following behind will have to replace his underware

[Malachy]

French gearboxes anything is possible

nothing wrong with pug boxes, most pug box problems stem from worn selecters which cost £40 to replace

try a vauxhall/renault/rover boxes then come back and whinge about pug ones

[jameslxdt]

the MA/5 and 4 gearboxes are shite, though the 4 is slightly better, the BE boxes are very good, apart from awful reverse

[neildavies]

I was surprised when i got the coupe to find that reverse is to the left of 1st, via a lift up clip.

But on saying this, I've seen another HDi coupe with reverse in the 6th position.

The 405, 306 and 206cc we've owned have all been in the 6th position

[Eric]

French gearboxes anything is possible

nothing wrong with pug boxes, most pug box problems stem from worn selecters which cost £40 to replace

try a vauxhall/renault/rover boxes then come back and whinge about pug ones

Ah it's probably just old boxes, I think Pug/Cit boxes get pretty sloppy after time.
My two saxos, 205GTi and GTi-6 have had flubbery feeling gearchange.
My wife's Corsa C gearbox has a fantastic feel to the change.

Now, try a 12 year old Mk2 MR2 and that gearbox is still snickety after all those years and a joy to use.

But I must admit French gearboxes although sloppy don't seem to break - Just flop a bit

The breaking I leave to Rover Turbos where they blow the diff if you rev it in 1st

[Eric]

I was surprised when i got the coupe to find that reverse is to the left of 1st, via a lift up clip.

But on saying this, I've seen another HDi coupe with reverse in the 6th position.

The 405, 306 and 206cc we've owned have all been in the 6th position

Takes a while to get used to when they are all different doesn't it

My Gti-6 was the worst car I've ever had to try and get used to but now it's second nature and I (rarely) fluff gear changes.
Oh hell, I still miss gears fairly often

[tux2006]

My reverse is in the 6th gear position and its a pig to get into reverse sometimes

clutch is down but it just wont go in so have to let clutch out then go again it works then...annoying and pant messing when the old dears in front suddenly reverse when in tescos car park!

I personally don't like the clutch/gearbox on my D8 but I'm not complaining cus I still love me mota'!

[wes1001]

My reverse is in the 6th gear position and its a pig to get into reverse sometimes

clutch is down but it just wont go in so have to let clutch out then go again it works then...

Snap - a right pain it is too.....

[STALLED]

Yeah - Reverse in my car is allways usually preceeded by a nice big "crunch" if I don't put it into gear and then back into neutral. BE3 is a good gearbox, just has shocking shift quality but they seem to last forver! If there is one thing which lets the 406 down IMO - its the gearchange quality, installing new linkages made a huge difference! I reccomend it

Seen some dude one night downchange from 5th to reverse in his Mazda FreeeeeeToooooooFreeee (323) - Was pretty funny watching his reverse lights come on at 60kph followed by a mighty big crunching noise. Couldn't help but laughing as I rocked up to him at the next set of traffic lights!



Joel

[Welly]

My reverse is up to the left of 1 on my HDi 110 saloon

I must say ALL my gears are really spot on and even reverse is quiet when reversing - not that waaaaaa, waaa, waaa, waaa noise.

[mjb]

My reverse can be a pain too. Usually it's fine but sometimes it doesn't quite go in, and you have to keep applying pressure to the gearstick while slowly coming off the clutch until it 'catches'. You get a nasty rattling sound (and no motion) if you don't realise that it's not quite in... oops.

Other than that (and the double-clutching required to get 1st gear while in motion which is annoying), my gearbox feels great. Wish it had a 6th cog though. Reckon I could better 60mpg on the motorways with one... Tell me once again - it is next to impossible to bolt a 6-speed box on isn't it?

My old Laguna on the other hand was a -nightmare-. You had to really ram it into most gears. Reverse was the exception I seem to recall. You pulled the base of the gearknob up in a syringe-type motion and it glided effortlessly into the 'left-of-1st' position... but then you stalled it cos the clutch pedal was like a rusted old shed doorhinge and only had 2 positions - calf strain or knee catapaulted to the chin ;)

[Pyros6546]

just to add my bit i don't have any trouble with the gears either
all of them are spot on and occasionally i would love a 6th gear

mjb as to the laguna you'll find most vauxhalls use that same type
of idea for the reverse and they can be a real pain in the neck.

Eric as long as you don't have to spend too much on the car
once you have it you should be fine, but if it is coming from
a dealer then make sure any problems you have found are
fixed, and try to get at least a few months warranty, most
dealers will do that unless they know the car has some serious
faults, a friend of mine just got an 806 from a dealer and
they gave him a nice 6 month warranty. yes i know it don't
sound like much bujt it will certainly help if any problems do
arise