WHAT WOULD YOU BUY DIESEL OR PETROL

[turbolag]

£500 for a knackered 406

I wouldn't go round writing off (figuratively speaking) £500 406s as knackers. My last one I got rid of because the bonnet came up at speed for the second time (not a mechanical fault) and it needed a couple of tyres and a CV boot that I couldn't be bothered paying for, plus I wanted the extra 50bhp of the V6. Other than that it was pretty much immaculate and needed less than the bare minimum of servicing in the 70k miles or so I had it - only one oil change in 100k, no cambelt change, etc.

My current one (had it a year) has just needed some brake discs. Unless someone crashes into me or something else dumb happens I'll run it probably for a few years until the cambelt snaps and again pay next to nothing on servicing

I don't care how old the cars are, petrol D8 406s will on average be a lot less prone to breakdowns than something that's just come off the production line. Read up on the "bathtub curve". Also a 150~200bhp executive motor is MUCH more of a car than a little 107!

What would your 107s be worth with an extra 70k on the clocks? How much would the servicing costs be? and how uncomfortable are the non-electric seats? The comfort of my back is worth a couple hundred a year thanks!

All well and good, and all irrelevant - it doesn't matter how much they'd be worth with 70k miles on the clock, because the way they hold their value from new it's cheaper to buy a new one and chop it in each year for another, than it is to buy a £500 high mileage 406 with no warranty back up and lord-knows-what'll need doing at that price. I did it 2 years running, and still spent a total of £145 less than that £500 old snotter would have cost. To cap it off, I didn't need to pay for servicing as I traded each one as the year rolled around, and I paid only £35 road tax and sub £100 fully comp insurance, and didn't have to pay for MOTs either.

So, a 107XS driven for a year and sold at a £100 loss.

And a 107 Urban driven for a year and sold on at a £255 loss.

Thats £355 for 2 years worth of new cars. I could probably do it a third time and still have change from your hypothetical "£500 406", so why bother with a used snotter?

Spending £500 on a used car, when NEW cars can be had so cheaply, is an expensive way to save money.

[steve_earwig]

Petrol, it's got a much lower flash point and burns much quicker, that way I could just dump a bucket full over her head and put a match to it before she's had a chance to change channels.

(umm, perhaps I've got the wrong idea here...)

[turbolag]

Actually, diesel has a lower flashpoint to petrol and is much more easily ignited by ambient heat than petrol, which prefers a spark or naked flame beofre chuffing into life.

Petrol is a more energetic fuel with a higher calorific value and has a faster moving flame-front, but the less energetic diesel burns much more evenly and thoroughly due to the nature of the compression-ignition process, so is thermally 3 to 3.5 times more efficient.

[steve_earwig]

Hmm, this calls for a experiment

[rapport25]

Basically its the luck of the draw then. You may own a diesel and have no trouble then its a wise move. Have a diesel with loads of issues and petrol is a better option mmmmmmmm. Not really sure to be honest.

I though all 407's were the same. Loads of electrical problems and suspension problems? So it does not seem like a wise move.

I know of one guy where i work and he has 57 plate 407 hdi no issues with engine just electrical problems all the time also suspension issues. And he is selling it due to issues from day 1of ownership.

He has said the 407 is the worse car he has ever owned. Had a 406 and was a 100% reliable in 7yrs of ownership.

So back to the original question petrol or diesel?

I wont be buying peugeot so hopefully I wont have the same issues.

And the mileage I do I could be better of with a diesel


I agree about the bhp diesel's im considering are all 150bhp.

I think I will need to sit down and start doing the sums unless someone is kind enough to save me the job

[Doggy]

Hmm, this calls for a experiment

You really need napalm to make a job of it, failing that mixing the two should do the business

[Doggy]

Then there's the dreaded FAP.

I'd say you're bound to get trouble with this on a taxi, unless you do mostly out of town work.
Decided to risk it with mine as 60% of my annual mileage is my daily 30 mile return journey to work.
Wondered how the Peugeot Eurotaxi/E7's get on, there seem to be lots of them about and I assume they have FAP systems too. Do you know anyone that runs one?

[turbolag]

Basically its the luck of the draw then.... I know of one guy where i work and he has 57 plate 407 hdi no issues with engine just electrical problems all the time also suspension issues. And he is selling it due to issues from day 1of ownership.

He has said the 407 is the worse car he has ever owned. Had a 406 and was a 100% reliable in 7yrs of ownership.

I've owned 2 x 406's, and 2 x 407's, and my experience is 100% the opposite.

[mjb]

All well and good, and all irrelevant - it doesn't matter how much they'd be worth with 70k miles on the clock, because the way they hold their value from new it's cheaper to buy a new one and chop it in each year for another,

You mean you'll only use a couple of hundred quid by putting 70k on a brand new car? Load of crap. You'll get about 30% of its showroom price for it tops.

than it is to buy a £500 high mileage 406 with no warranty back up and lord-knows-what'll need doing at that price.

You didn't read my post did you?

Thats £355 for 2 years worth of new cars. I could probably do it a third time and still have change from your hypothetical "£500 406", so why bother with a used snotter?

Hypothetical? I've spent around £300/year on cars, £600/year including tax and mot. My last purchase was a 3.0V6 406 Executive trim for £620. For that I've put about 35k/year average on the cars, not had a breakdown, and had extremely comfortable, high powered luxury cars. As opposed to stupid little 107s. I bet I pay less on petrol on the motorway too, especially with passengers in the car

Spending £500 on a used car, when NEW cars can be had so cheaply, is an expensive way to save money.

Tell my mate who's spent £5000 on servicing in 4 years of owning a £20,000 VW Jetta, or the people on here who've had to replace the clutches on almost-new 407s... or the people who've bought £5000 low mileage 2004 406s and landed enormous repair bills

Then there's people who buy £500 406s and pay virtually nothing (other than consumables) for the lifetime of the car. Hell my dad's 406 (150bhp 2.0 turbo, executive trim) cost about £200. I think he's spent about £100 on tyres and £15 on a new courtesy light since I bought it him 2 years ago. Looks a bit of a banger, especially as he dented it he other week, but that's the great thing with cheap cars. Live with it or chuck it and get a new one. You're not forced to pay up for a repair job

[teamster1975]

Petrol, definitely.
I can't afford to buy anything over £1000 for the foreseeable future but my £500 tubby is doing me proud & luckily I enjoy doing the spanner work myself It's done 120,000 and still got loads of life left in it.
There are enough knowledgeable people on hear to help me if I get stuck!

[TooT]

I'll had my 2 pence worth here. I had a 99T V6 406 for two years and a half years and the only things which needed was rear anti roll bar bushes, a battery and an exhaust, other than that it never missed a beat. Sold it on with 139k on the clock, still going like new.

Now i have a 03 dCi Megane and to be honest in nearly a year of motoring its been trouble free, but there is loads of horror story's on the net which are a constant worry, which i never had with the 406.

Why? because if anything major goes wrong with the Megane i will have to fix it as it a newish car and still worth a bit of money, but as for the 6 if anything went horrible wrong with that it would just go in the bin. Im with mjb, shitters are much less stress and cheaper in the maintenance department to.

Oh and i'm going to go back to petrol after this one.

[turbolag]

Dont be silly MJB - why put 70k miles on a brand new car when you can trade it in for a new one after a year with only a few hundred quid loss? Who cares what they'd be worth in 70k miles, cos you'd need your bumps feeling to keep oine that liong when you can have a new oner annually for pennies.

So, would you rather have a 70k car of unknown reliability and provenance for £500, that may or may not last a year, or two or three?

Or would you rather have a new with 0k miles car every year for less money?

Only a mental patient would pay more for a high milege old car when they could for a new one ever year for two, maybe 3 years for the same outlay. It was an easy decision for me to make after the 406.

[steve_earwig]

...there is loads of horror story's on the net which are a constant worry, which i never had with the 406.

Clunkers all the way, I've had a few new-ish cars and they're a lot more worry. There's a deal of difference in getting yet another ding on your clunker's paintwork in the carpark and finding someone's marked your brand new motor, it's never the same again. Anyway, I couldn't afford much in the way of a new car, probably something like a 107 right down the cheap and nasty budget end and I really wouldn't feel safe in one.

Flash Points:
Gasoline (petrol) <−40°C (−40°F)
Diesel >62°C (143°F)

Diesel's a lot harder to get going, plenty of time for screaming and such. Unless I heat her up to 210°C first, in which case she'd spontaniously combust

(Thanks Wiki)

[mjb]

Last time I looked even putting 35k on a new executive car is enough to more than half its value. In that time you've also got to deal with the fact that there will be manufacturing flaws which'll need sorting out. A well maintained 100k car will have had everything already fixed on it that's likely to fail

[DaiRees]

why put 70k miles on a brand new car when you can trade it in for a new one after a year with only a few hundred quid loss? Who cares what they'd be worth in 70k miles, cos you'd need your bumps feeling to keep oine that liong when you can have a new oner annually for pennies.

Hey turbo, how do you reckon?? I'd love to have a brand new car every year or two, but the thing that always puts me off is the huge depreciation. Just this afternoon I was looking at an 08 08 Vectra 1.8 with 12k miles for £5999, so that's lost about 60% of it's value in 8 months.

What's the secret?