Those HDIs

[Captain Jack]

I just went to view this little gem http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PEUGEOT-406-COUPE ... dZViewItem, just to see if the actual car is as good as it looks. Needless to say, I wasn't tooooo impressed with it. I have viewed a coupe HDi nearly 2 years ago and impressions of this one are similar.

First, let's start with the engine. I would have thought that this being a 2.2 litre turbo diesel one, it would absolutely fly. I was expecting the performance to be something along the lines of a Golf TDI. I have driven a 150bhp model many years ago and that was quick. And I was also expecting it to be quicker than my old 2.1TD. And it just doesn't seem to be. There's no sense of "urgency" and I can't even feel the turbo kicking in until the 3rd gear! So it starts off very sluggish. Once you get up to speed it's OK. In my 2.1, I can wheel spin in 2nd gear and all in gears, except the 1st, you feel like you're being pulled by a train. Seems strange that an advanced engine such as this is slower than an old one. I must say, that the ride is quite smooth and it's dead quiet. Mine sounds like a bag of bolts when accelerating hard. Are all HDi engines like that... seems a bit of a waste.

Second, when I asked about the problems the owner had in the past 14 months, all the usual ones cropped up. Anti-pollution fault, some electrical gremlins and now the passenger window doesn't move "up" when the door is closed. Apparently, this is due to a slipped nylon runner thing and will be fixed. When the owner tried to demonstrate sat-nav, it wouldn't work. The menu option was greyed out. Hmmm... Although, he texted me to say that now works after I left.

Good points are obviously the sexy, stunning looks and even my "lady-friend" said she'd have sex with me in that car. And she doesn't do that unless she's REALLY drunk... but that's another (long) story. Inside was quite cozy, full leather and I felt connected to the car. This one also had an after-market (looks like a genuiune Pug one) arm rest. You know, the one that bolts down into a centre console. The only downside of it was a quite awkward gear changing (I managed to select 4th instead of 2nd) and that it's made of hard plastic. I think my elbow would hurt after a while.

I also didn't like the fact that the gas pedal was much further "in" that the brake and the clutch one. I am sure I'd get used to it but I find mine to be easier to operate.

It did feel quite heavy in general.... so maybe that's what hampers the performance in the first place? This thing really needs a V6. A 2L petrol must be reallllly slow in it.

Thoughts?

[steve_earwig]

I'm not feeling well placed to comment but my 2,0 HDI estate has a 0-60 time that can only be described as "eventually", despite having the same bhp as my old 2.1 it just doesn't have as much grunt. Parkers lists the 2.2 HDi coupe 0-60 as being over 10 seconds, which is indeed a little sad, but I know they can be re-mapped to about 180 bhp and probably more.

[mbell666]

The HDI's are a little funny, When i got mine i thought it wasn't that fast and it not really but its not a slow as it feels.

The older 2.1 and 1.9 have a much more noticeable turbo kick in point (VW's are the same too) but the HDi's turbo is controlled by the ECU and kicks in a little lower but with less of a kick. If you watch the speedo they aren't slow, but they just feel it because the power delivery tends to be very smooth.

If you get in a HDI and think "oh this is kind of fast" its either been remapped or something isn't quite right. IF you hover of the pedal they should feel like they want to go faster thou.

[bargainbro]

I agree that the only proper engine for the coupé is V6. No other engine does justice to such beautiful car. The 2,2 Hdi coupé was never sold in Finland, we only got 2,2 petrol and V6 so I´ve no experience on that engine. However, to have driven a 407 2,0 hdi with 136bhp, which was a bit of a turn off too, I can easily imagine your frustration of driving a sporty coupé with a 2,2 136 bhp diesel.......If they only had had the 2,7 hdi then

About the sound of a HDI engine. I used to drive a 90bhp HDI 406 and yes, it was noisy and rattling. Especially when turning it off, it sounded like my late grandfather (who chainsmoked through his adult life) coughing on his dying bed.May he rest in peace.Miss him. The car can rot in....

By the way, there was this Peugeot tv commercial they aired in Finland when the High-pressure Direct Injection system repleced the old diesels: Peugeot 406 HDI - The Most Quiet Diesel In The World!!! (yeah, if you happen to live at the bus station )

[neildavies]

I went straight from a 2.1TD saloon to a HDi coupe. I would say it's pretty quick for what's a heavy car, the torque on it still gives me a smile, especially at high speeds. You don't have to fuss around dropping gears. I'd agree that it's a hell of a lot quieter than my 2.1TD.
You mentioned not feeling the turbo kick in, and I think I know what's going on there. The 2.1 definitely has a sort of "surge" when accelerating, and was quite sluggish at low revs (had some scarey moments pulling onto roundabouts!). The difference is the 2.2HDi has a much broader turbo range, so the turbo is working when you don't know about it.
As for the arm rest making you get 4th instead of 2nd, mine needs to be pushed over to get into 2nd, and that's with no armrest.
Dairees has had a drive of my coupe, he drives a 2.0 HPi petrol, so it's probably slower than his, but I think he thought mine was rapid enough (or was he being polite as I'd only had it a day?)

At the end of the day, I think the thing looks fast enough just parked up. The looks over everything else sells the coupe.

You could've had a drive in mine alex when we met up, so you'd know what they're like.

[jameslxdt]

in the first picture you can clearly see the paint work is not original, the door and rear wing cleary appear to have been painted
something strange about that car

[steve_earwig]

Checks pictures.

Note to self: Buy a better monitor...

[Captain Jack]

Nah, it looked OK. It did have some scuffs on the filler cap thing and a small scratch on the front bumper, but nothing major.

[Welly]

You would need to work out the cost of running over a year.

Repairs on the V6 engine will be zero (apart from the expensive cambelt job).

The HDi will need a bottom pulley (200.00) Anti polution faults (say, 300.00 each?) Special fluid additive (60.00?) when the cambelt is changed at 96000 you ought to do the cam timing chain and tensioner in the head (god only knows £££).

Take all these into stock and you may well find you can afford to run a V6 anyway, after all the V6's purchase price should be lower with fewer miles than the HDi to begin with.

And with motorway commutes you will easily get 35 MPG out of the V6, and don't forget Petrol is cheaper and is likely to get 'cheaperer' in coming months/years as the Government continue to hammer business Diesel users for Tax.

(and that V6 up there doesn't look right to me either, missmatched panels to door/rear quarter also fussy looking shut lines to the front end).

[bargainbro]

Repairs on the V6 engine will be zero

True. Especially the first V6 version is somewhat carefree I´m told. And based on the users experiences I´ve always kept it the most reliable engine you could get with the 406. Or then those f**kers aren´t telling me everything At least it doesn´t have the idle problems that come with the EWs....

And then some OT: someone please tell me how many comments do I have to write til I get that that "1.8 8V " note away that´s placed under my avatar??? it´s making an ass out of Steve

[V6Exec]

And then some OT: someone please tell me how many comments do I have to write til I get that that "1.8 8V " note away that´s placed under my avatar??? it´s making an ass out of Steve

I think it is 50 to get the 1.8 16v and 100 to get the 2.0 16v, I had a turbo (300) before we got hacked. 500 required for the V6