"It suddenly clicked this morning and I think I now understand how to drive a 406 properly.
1st gear is rubbish is the first understanding, it's too short to be of any use apart from initially pulling away.
2nd gear is also rubbish and too short full stop, good for slow moving traffic and that's about it.
3rd gear is useful for a bit of low-mid acceleration, again fairly short but the engine starts to provide useful power around then - Good for cruising at 30-40mph
4th gear is only any use really for cruising at 40-50mph and handy to stop the car having a four speed gearbox.
5th gear is good from about 60 all the way to the top.
The trouble with the HDi is it only has usable power between 1900rpm to 3000rpm, any lower than that and it struggles a bit, any higher than that and it's out of puff.
If you need to possibly accelerate and not be left dead in the water if the traffic speeds up then stay between 1900 and 2200rpm.
The turbo reaches full boost at just below 2000rpm.
It's not like you will suddenly lift off when you hit boost.... *Dreams of having the MR2 turbo back* but it will actually pull ok when on boost.
Oh and the turbo sounds pretty cool when spooling with the windows down ;)
That doesn't sound particularly good, but....
I found the HDi wants to cruise and it's exceptional at it.
Take it out of it's cruising territory and it starts to be hard work but if you do what it wants to do which is reach cruising revs at whatever velocity you see fit then it really will drive itself.
My 306 had to be driven, it had to be pushed, pulled and monitored with constant throttle adjustments, too much too fast, not enough and it starts to slow.
The HDi isn't like that, it wants to maintain a constant speed and once you reach the speed it's comfortable with the whole car changes - it becomes relaxed, serene and will happily maintain speed with next to no input from yourself.
I managed this morning to cruise at most speeds and learnt that there's no point in trying to drive the car and hammer up to cruising speed you have to just gently let it go the speed it wants and it will eventually get to the speed you want, you just won't notice.
Before you know it it's cruising happily along and you forget you are driving nearly.
Then when the car is cruising you pick up it's rhythm and start to handle the car how it wants to drive, roundabouts and corners are no problem at a decent speed when you tune into the car and understand what it wants.
This may sound like random hippy talk but most cars you can force to drive how you want them to drive and with a bit of give and take you become an extension of the car.
With the HDi if you fight with it it's not a lot of fun, it's not tameable but when you are in it's territory - God it's a damn good car to drive.
Quite a strange but pleasant experience this morning.
But enough of the hippy talk, it is a damn good car when you get to know it
"
Winner of the 
(for a big
4th slight drop off but still pulling hard 
