adambrallye wrote:After a V6 estate manua
EXCELLENT choice. I've had a 2.0 turbo estate, V6 saloon and now I'm on a V6 coupé and I'm still in 2 minds about whether or not I should have had another estate or not. If you need the doors and boot space (the coupé and saloon both have similar and piss poor boot space compared to the cavernous estate) I'd go down those lines in a heartbeat. Although I would consider a 530 or better estate if I could get one stupidly cheaply
)
Any FAQs/buying guides most welcome as I know bugger all about these. 306s and 205s I can talk til the cows come home!
Ditto the bigger petrol engined 406s ;)
You have two major decisions: D8 (1997-1999) or D9 (1999-2004), and 194bhp ES9J4 (1997-2001) or 210bhp ES9J4S (2001-2004).
The D8 is MUCH more solid in terms of the electricals. The D9 uses the fragile BSI which I'm sure you being a 306 nut know about. The trip computer display in a D9 is MUCH cooler though. My late 1999 coupé is an in-between model of D9 electricals with the 194bhp ES9J4 engine.
As far as the engines go, the ES9J4S is apparently a lot smoother but for some reason has a slower 0-60 speed. Mechanically they're pretty much the same in terms of reliability, but the ES9J4 has one coil pack with 3 coil whereas the ES9J4S has 6 pencil coils and VVT. I've only heard of one person having issues with the VVT solenoid, although the J4S has a fly-by-wire throttle which makes cruise control a hell of a lot more reliable but it's a lot more sensitive to a knackered throttle pot
The body... listen on a test drive for suspension knocks, they're usually minor but they're effort to fix (due to the wheelarch liner screws rusting). Expect the handbrake to be useless. With an OEM exhaust (very expensive) all you should hear while driving is the road, but cheaper egg sauces WILL make a lot of noise given the engine displacement. Not too much noise though, check that back box carefully, and use it as a haggling point if not on ebay. Given the length of the car, it's hard to tell whether you've got a minor blowing or a checp egg sauce.
Check EVERYTHING electrical. On D8s fixes are easy, but on D9s they could be signs of BSI failure. ES9J4 cruise control failure is pretty normal, I've yet to work out why, but it's a simple system albeit bloody inaccessible. Also check the centre rear seat belt. They've got a habit of screwing up on estates, sometimes irrepairably (which you need to cut)
<steve_earwig> I think this forum is more about keeping our cars going with minimal outlay than giving our cars more reason to go bang
