R.I.P. Black beauty :-(

[neildavies]

I'd push for a new one Sup, much as I hate to say it, I wouldn't spend thousands on getting black beauty back on the road.

[Doggy]

Have to agree with Neil, Soops.
I understand how you feel, but it's time to move on.

[Welly]

Indeed, in fact spending £3,000.00+ on fixing a 406 is probably false economy now

I do agree with Turbolag about the switch to petrol and I have done it myself to the tune of costing me an extra £8.00 per week in fuel but the enjoyment of no repairs or other issues. Petrols are so much more simple; an 'expensive' service would just include a set of spark plugs every 24000 miles or whatever.

High mileage Taxi'ng though it may well still be cheaper in diesel especially because the engine is always hot (less FAP issues?). When I was at Kwik Fit the other day the guy was telling me about an '04 plate Volvo S60 D5 that'd been in earlier with 400,000 miles on the clock - it was a Taxi used in the day and then also by night with a second driver so the engine was pretty much running 24/7. The car had been completely reliable with no issues other than normal servicing.

I guess I'm trying to say that if you need a diesel then make damn sure you use it! bring it into town though on your daily slog and the petrol model is only a car or two behind.......

[turbolag]

No FAP on the EWs. The 2.2 is very long stroke, which gives it a nice low down shove, but is also VVTi, which gives it a pleasant top end rush if you're feeling the need. It's the bottom end, combined with the slick ML6C box, that makes it so easy to tool around on small throttle openings and keep the consumption reasonable.

The 1.6 HDi is a strangely nice car. Not as slow on the open road as you'd think, and the gearing and aerodynamics make it an incredibly economical beast. Alas, it has an even worse reliabilty record in the 407 than the 2.0, and just locating and remedying single HDi fault code issue can wipe out any annual fuel saving made over the clockwork reliable petrol versions, and that's without fatoring in the additional insurance and inevitable FAP/DMF money spending.

Sure, a Glof will do more, but I'm comparing like to like with 407s. My 308 HDi 110 Sport (my version holds the world public road fuel consumption record) won't drop below a 50MPG average no matter how or where I drive it, and well into the 70's in daily mixed motoring is more normal return. On a journey down to my Dads in Kent, all motorway apart from 4 miles, I achieved a spincter squeezing 97.1 MPG over 120 miles by the simple expedient of setting the cruise to 56 and not touching it again the whole journey, except for negotiating the tunnel. Add to that it's bigger inside than a Golf 6, slightly cheaper, handles better, brakes better, has proven (not just mine, but 308s in general as the 308 is the first new gen pug where they claim they've clamped down hard on the silly niggly problems) to be utterly reliable, and 2.5 years on from launch is also holding it's value like no other pug ever has, the 107 excepted (the 107 is the least depreciating new car currently on sale). The 407 in HDi guise is simply not capable of significantly decent consumption figures like many of its rivals, or other diseasel pugs, on a public road and the dire reliabilty and expensive maintenance just annhiliate and savings made on the fuel. Shame, because they're otherwise decent cars to pilot. A nearly car if ever there was.

[neildavies]

Reading this, I can agree mostly about petrol engines being more simple and possibly reliable.

What I can't get over is that 10 years ago, how much this whole conversation would have been the other way around.

That's progress for you......

[Doggy]

Rover 75?

[STALLED]

Rover 75?

No, you have to be retired and over the age of 65 to drive one of those. MG ZT on the other hand...

[neildavies]

From what I've read about them, not a very big car inside anyway (the 75)

[Welly]

Reading this, I can agree mostly about petrol engines being more simple and possibly reliable.

What I can't get over is that 10 years ago, how much this whole conversation would have been the other way around.

That's progress for you......

I remember my first job in a young, growing, cash-rich company in 1988 and all the company cars were petrol; petrol was very cheap and diesel cars were complete shyte mostly. In recent years the strive for mega fuel economy has seen a massive growth in Diesel company cars and the performance of new diesels is mostly greater on the road than the equivalent petrol but with it comes very stringent emission controls; fine for the first 60,000 miles but then.......

I like old skool diesels they were very simple, would chew up lumps in the fuel and spit them out, and would go on for ever and everrrrrrrr....... I used to like the old 205 GRD - that engine used to love being thrashed

[neildavies]

Peugeot's 1.9 diesel was the best around. Rock solid.

[supafrisk]

Putting the car back on the road is now not an option - after getting a couple of other quotes (all a LOT lower, as the engineer had factored in new exhaust, rear suspension, 6 track changer etc) and then going back to said engineer, who then got shitty, thought I was questioning his authority and expertise and ramped it up from cat B to cat A, adding that he won't even release the car unless it's re-shelled
Huge argument with insurers over the amount offered, however have been on to the insurance ombudsman who have offered to take it up if I got nowhere. After a LOT of calls to many departments finally got hold of a guy who had dealt with this several times who says they should be able to hit the other party's insurers for uninsured losses, which would cover the shortfall.
Got a 59 plate 2 litre 140bhp mundane hire motor at the moment, I'm bored already. Took me half an hour to work out the scant toys supplied with it and then boredom set in when I realised it wasn't mp3 compatible and only has the one cd slot. Bugger.
The seats are rock hard and I find more than a couple of hours in it and my left hip starts to ache, as do my knees as if I lower the seat to where it was in the pug, I literally can't see over the steering wheel, let alone see the bonnet
I miss my bum warming seats
Stereo is crap with a capital C, the pug sounded better without the amp on, got the bass up full and I still can't hear it
Bloody seat belt alarm is irritating the crap out of me, I even have to wear the thing when parked up trying to sleep with the engine running
The only good points to note are it flies along and it's got a huuuuge boot.
There's chewing gum walked into one of the carpet mats already and the cup holders are shaped so you can't put two takeout coffee cups in them without the lids rubbing against each other, falling off and getting coffee/tea/chocolate cascading across the gear surround/handbrake.
Another thing that's peed me off a tad is the duck I hit in it which left a dent in the bonnet and a gouge in the bumper - that would NEVER have marked the pug, it would have just glanced off it - I know, I've had several fowl things hit the 406 before and no worries.
Having got used to the six speed box, it made me wonder what a 406 would be like in theory if you could fit one into them
So far I've limited my search on the 'Net to 407's and 607's. However I think the 407 is fugly, I HATE the front end with a passion. I am leaning more and more towards a 2.2 170bhp exec 607. But feel free to point out the nasty bits in case I've missed them
I've been playing autotrader top trumps with both pugs and the 407 loses out in boot space (less than a 406 and my 406 struggled with more than two hard shell type suitcases) and also loses out on fuel tank capacity. The 607 also weighs roughly the same as a 407
As far as I am aware the 407 wasn't released with a 2.2 engine in it.
Back to the 406, am I within my rights to change the wheels over and take my beloved JBL speakers out or not?

[steve_earwig]

Bleurgh to the engineer. Go and take what you want, the bugger can't make things any worse now can he?

607 has surprisingly short list of bad stuff on Honest Ivan and it even passes the elk avoidance test now (do WHAT?). I suggest you go try one forthwith

You're right, looks like the 407 only has 1.6, 2.0 and V6 diesels.

[Welly]

You can only remove stuff that YOU fitted as extra, if it's supposed to have jbl speakers then they need to be there all the way to the scrap yard. I had this arguement with the FTO which had a nifty sound system - he let me take the autochanger and comms lead (cos it wasn't factory fit) but I had to leave the head unit in place! - he said I could take the head unit but must replace it with an equivalent even though it was a CAT B write off going off to be broken up. Seemed silly to me getting a brand new unit out of the box and posting it into the hole in the dash

Here soops look at the swish interior ..............

[steve_earwig]

Gah! They cost more than 406s here Hold on, 3 grand? Ah...

[Welly]

Here steve, borrow these.......