406 coupe safety

[daviewonder]

Hi all, Looking into getting a 406 coupe due to the possibility of starting a family in the near future and our current cars being very small and unsafe. Would really like to get a coupe but I'm unsure how safe they are, does anyone have any experience with this? Also do they have 2 or 3 rear seats?

Any info greatfully recieved.

Dave

[DiscoPol]

Looking into getting a 406 coupe due to the possibility of starting a family in the near future

so you want a 2 door car because you are thinking of starting a family

I dont deny they are a good looking motor but honestly mate a 2 door is the last thing you want to be trying to get a baby seat and buggy into along with all the other assorted bags and cloths and wipes and feeds and bottles and toys and clothes and so on and so on. maybe a nice exec saloon at a stretch but not a coupe.

just my two zloty like.


DiscoPol

[omega]

[quoyou rete="DiscoPol"]

Looking into getting a 406 coupe due to the possibility of starting a family in the near future

so you want a 2 door car because you are thinking of starting a family

I dont deny they are a good looking motor but honestly mate a 2 door is the last thing you want to be trying to get a baby seat and buggy into along with all the other assorted bags and cloths and wipes and feeds and bottles and toys and clothes and so on and so on. maybe a nice exec saloon at a stretch but not a coupe.

just my two zloty like.


DiscoPol[/quote]

have to agree you really need a four door ,a 2 door makes it a lot harder work.

[DaiRees]

Definite 2 seats in the back of the coupe mate, not 3.

Safety's a tricky and emotive subject. Obviously a 14 year old design isn't as "safe" as an equivalent brand new car, but if you were in a position to get a brand new car you wouldn't be considering a 406. For the money / class / style / age of car it's as safe and probably safer than any of it's peers. Let me put it this way, I've been driving 406s for about 10 years now and both of my kids were brought home from hospital in them and have been ferried all over Britain in them since. The secret is, don't crash it!

I don't want to put you off the coupe (I'm keeping an eye out for one myself, but I intend to keep my estate as well) but I was driving a saloon and saving for a coupe when my first son was born, a few failed attempts to get stuff into the boot and I splashed my savings on a nearly new at the time executive estate . Kids need easy access and you have to cart around untold amounts of stuff and parafinalia . We do have at least one coupe driving father of a small child on here, he's easy to spot, it's the coupe with the roof box!!

[teamster1975]

Believe me you will need the boot space!
We've got 2 boys which has been a squeeze with the saloon and with no 3 on the way I'll be getting a 406 estate in the very near future.

[FarmerPug]

If safety is the biggest concern ill blaspheme the 406 and tell you to get a toyota avensis (03 onwards) because in the event of a crash its the car you want to be in, 5 stars with euro ncap and i could easily believe it the car feels like its made of cast iron , there is airbag stickers everywhere, the driver even gets a knee airbag ,and they arent too expensive now theres plenty of ex fleet cars for sale. They are no coupe to look at but are about the safest car you can drive.

[mjb]

I've had a 406 estate, saloon and now coupé. You want a coupé, but you need an estate. (or if funds stretch, do what I do and get a V6 coupé and a diesel estate/hatchback like my Golf TDI )

My missus is due early next year and I think it's going to be a struggle to get a pram/pushchair into the coupé: it's got loads of boot space, but very poor access to it, and the lack of rear doors makes getting bulky stuff onto the back seats very difficult.

I'm not worried by safety at all though. In fact it's just a quick turn of the key to disable the passenger airbag, whereas I'm going to have to go hunting for plugs under the dashboard to kill it in the Golf. Remember that when restrained properly, a baby is much more likely to survive a serious car crash than you are!!!

[daviewonder]

Thanks for the fast replies Guys. The whole picture is my Mrs has just become pregnant and at the moment our cars are a Peugeot 205 GTI and a Renault 5 campus, neither of which are a car that I want a pregnant woman to be driving around in, especially the R5 as I don't think it has long to go Our budget is pretty tight at the moment so we dont have a great deal to splash out on a "new" car and a Coupe has come up for sale near by for a very reasonable price that we can afford. I think pound for pound you wont get a better car and the timing is perfect, and as long as it's pretty safe I think we're gonna go for it, if fitting everything in becomes a problem when the baby arrives we can always trade it in for something longer

Cheers Guys, Dave.

[mjb]

The trouble with buying a coupé is after you've had one you won't want to change to the massively more practical estate simply because you'll fall in love with the looks... Trust me on this

[Welly]

You know what, during the first 4 years of baby production (2 off) my missus drove a Peugeot 309 then a Ford Onion, then a Shitroen AX we had a pushchair that would fold down to a manageable size.....unlike these freaking enormous "off road" pushchairs you see now

We even went on holiday in the Ford Onion and I can't recall struggling with any of the cars, even the seemingly ridiculous AX (but the kids were then able to leap in and out of that one themselves).

Seems a lot of people think they have to buy an enormous car with kids but I disagree mostly. We've had a Honda Coupe, an MX6 Coupe and an FTO coupe all with 2 young tea pots and it's never been a real issue

Only now, when the kids wouldn't be seen dead with either of us, have I got a 'safe' 4-door saloon and I drive it almost exclusively on my own

[mjb]

Yeah, but I've got a 406 so my boot's already full, without a pushchair!

Tool bag
Other tool bag
5 litre bottle of water
Wheel brace
Warning triangle
Breaker bar
Axle stands
Jack
Oil
Gear oil
PAS fluid
Brake fluid
Spare throttle body
Spare radiator
Spare PAS pump
Spare ECU
Spare BSI
Spare wiper arms
Spare suspension struts
Spare drop links
Spare gearbox
Half pallet of duct tape, zip ties, araldite
....
...

[Welly]

Here's what I carry around........

One of these...


And one of these...

[FarmerPug]

from the list of things in your boot mjb nothing will stop you from getting to where you want, i keep a small tool box but also in typical clarkson style i have a hammer though its in scale with all the other small tools and not really very useful around a car

[DiscoPol]

Welly, surely you have forgotten the other two essentials for your motor.

























and

[daviewonder]

My Girlfriend (Trisha) and I are now the proud owners of a 406 coupe. We picked it up yesterday, it was a 200 mile round trip that my 205 coped quite well with, appart from developing a knocking driveshaft . Trisha drove the 406 home and loved it, although she was a little scared as it's quite a bit bigger than the R5 that shes used to. I jumped in it as soon as we got home and took it for a spin and I loved it too! Its such a nice car to drive and I can't believe that we waited this long to get a 'proper' car, I really can't believe how much car you get for your money! I can now also come on this forum and feel that I belong here

Dave.