New car time for my sister yet again because her Primera gt isn't as healthy as it should be

She's now looking for something smaller again and used to love her old 306 diesel but wants something faster than that so I've suggested a 306 gti6 to her and she loves the idea.

What do you look for on these? Her budget is about £3k and it has to have reasonable miles and aircon. Looking at the trader is seems like her budget is just about right.

Thanks

 

nice car had one about two years nothing went wrong with it fast car to not far of a uk turbo. look on some of the gti6 web sites. think u will find it hard to get a low mile car for 3k.

 

Thanks

I've driven one of the older xsi models years ago and it was loads of fun to drive just a little underpowered.

There seems to be plenty in the trader for that money but time will tell what these are really like.

Was aircon an option on them?

 

had an xsi before my gti6 to different cars. xsi has about 130 hp gti6 has 167 hp but the gti is just so much faster. all comes with air con, not that good like moden day cars but works well enough. also have a look at the rallye 306 a bit faster then the gti but with no air con or electric windows. so dont tnink it will be no good for her. also on the gti main thing that goes wrong is the electric mirrors and windows.

 

If it was me I'd go for the rallye and sod the toys but she wants the electric windows and aircon I think the rallyes are more expensive aren't they?

I'll make sure I check the mirrors if I go with her to look, that's an easy thing to forget actually

Thanks

 

Paul - its a cracking piece of kit mate, had one before my scoob. Handles brilliantly, goes real nice, 6sp box (bit of a pants turning circle but you learn to drive round it) and was THE hot hatch to beat for about 4-5 years! You/she would not be dissapointed.

Just make sure the cambelt is done twice as frequently as Peugeot say.

 

I had a 306 S16 - the forerunner to the GTI6, with about 155bhp - great fun car and it proved very reliable. I did a lot of miles in it and the only thing that ever needed replacing was an ABS sensor. Nice handling, although it wasn't as sharp as the 205 GTI - although I suspect the 306GTI went some way to addressing that.

 

Hi Paul,

Have owned 4 x 306's but the below is obviously still just based on my opinions/experiences:

306-Gti6: great car. remember though you cannot turn right in a circle of less than about 15m . Difficult to find a pre-owned one that has not had a hard life or one that still has low miles. Belts are must to change and regularly. Car is a very reliable beast however and I have competed in two Targa Tasmania's in them with engine and chassis as standard (except for roll cage, harnesses, etc) and it never let me down.

Will you get good one for around 3K? Probably not... but it shouldn't stop you trying

Hence the fallback. If you can't go too much higher in price then I would recommend the 306 XSI late model. these are the ones that came with the same alloys as the GTI-6 (they did in oz anyway). I picked mine up about 6 weeks ago and paid £3600 for a very nice example, full service history, one owner and just under 30,000 miles on the clock. Engine is good for 100Kw, which I think is about 135bhp??? (sorry just moved over from OZ and am leaning all the conversions...). The one I bought also has (as factory standard and some options):

- climate control
- abs
- four airbags
- auto sense wipers
- half leather
- 6-stack clarion
- front electric windows

I hope this helps and happy hunting....

 

Check this one out Paul

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/44236.htm

 

Ah The one pet hate that she had about the primera was the turning circle Is it really that bad? Personally it's not the sort of thing that bothered me but I guess women get lost more and need to turn around

I'll tell her about that gold/whatever yellow one on piston heads It does look and sound nice.

Thanks

 

just make sure she drives it first and attempts a three point during the test drive. If she is happy with that, go for it! The gear changes more than make up for the extra space in the engine bay...

 

Anyway Paul, isn't the same Primera you tried flogging me??? G*t!!!!

 

I will certainly make sure she does. The mistake she made with the last can was not driving it herself on test drive and leaving it up to me. I personally drive around problems where she doesn't

Until we start looking at cars it seems hard to say whether you'd find a good one for that money, there may be plenty about but that doesn't mean they're good It's good to hear that they're reliable, I don't need yet another car to be working on at the moment!

I'll have another look into these but a little closer tomorrow thanks

 

I don't think the turning cicle on the pug is anywhere near as bad as a primera (I swear a series Landy has more full lock ).

Had the privilidge of driving a few on a regular basis when they were new, nice car, quick and perky if you take it through the gears. Although I always found it disapointing considering the value they were at the time (₤18K list price ) also the handling wasn't as sharp or as involving as I expected. - It wasn't much quicker, as good a handling or as involving as the Escort I was driving about at the time either. But it's certainly a better overall drive than the primera...even though Primeras do handle better

Nowadays though, with increasingly heavier and bogged down modern cars, they seem much better and somewhat refreshing to jump back into now than they did in their heyday, and now with sesnible second hand prices not to bad to buy. Obviously now there are going to be a right bags of nails going about on the road. The only thing I know to watch out for is the gearboxes can be a bit notchy and the odd electrical gremlins.

 

no If you remember I offered you a go in the one that some old boy drove into the back of That was a real good one it seems I did enjoy driving that loads. This one is a P11 and the steering lock isn't great but to be honest as a daily driver unless you live in Monaco or drive in multi stories every day I doubt you'd notice because the rack seems geared for fast road use.

 

French cars these days seem to have worse electrics than the old italian cars and that's saying something

I'll watch the gearchange though

Thanks

 

My buddy has a boggo 2.0 se and i was amazed at how that handles.

That 306 i posted seems a good buy. there is also a nice Rallye for a bit more dosh (£3700) on Pistonheads or is it strictly 3k - cant you give her the extra???

 

Had both the GTi-6 and Rallye, superb cars!

 

I also had one before my first RB5..

Brilliant car.. Was tempted to get another when i sold the RB5 but didnt..

Cant go wrong for that sort of money..

Not sure if anyone mentioned it but check the Air-con piping behind the front bumper as well, they tend to corrode & leak..

Very enjoyable cars though.

 

I'm not 100% sure how strict her budget is but she's just about to move house and buying impreza turbo running gear for her sport so I think it's probably fairly tight. Although I'd go for the rallye I can't see it being that practical for her because she wants aircon to keep her daughter cool in the car.

I'm not giving her any money for cars I have to maintain my wife's car and mine too without spending out on hers as well.

 

That hadn't been mentioned yet, thanks I'll bear that in mind too. It's good to know all of these things now instead of finding out afterwards.

What are the cambelt intervals on these?

 

Think in the book it's 72K but everyone says to do it at half that

Have a look on here.

www.306gti6.com

Plenty of info on there..

 

Thanks Grahame

I found that site yesterday doing a google but hadn't registered yet. I've just registered there so I'll have a nose about.

Thanks

 

I had a Rallye - awesome cars, really fast. They are more £££ than the GTis though, my sister is about to put her black Rallye with very low miles up for sale and there £5k + I think.

Matt

 

You have PM Paul

 

My other half had one b4 his scoob... really nice nippy car but as has been said the turning lock on it was ****e... expect to do a 10-point turn rather than 3!!


I am local to you(little'un is my sister) and I recall seeing them advertised at Wye Valley/Wye Stream Motor Co in Loudwater... but cannot remember how long ago - it might be worth a shufty in this weeks BFP..

 

Had 3 306s before the scoob. The last two were S16s - great fun, good handling but they werent that cheap to run and the dealers can be a bit crap! But at least there are a lot of dealers to choose from ! The coil packs kept going on my S16s [ one pack per cylinder ] and the air con needed regassing a fair bit... but great fun to drive.

 

Awesome cars, fast, souynd great over 4000 revs, comfy, air con, great 6 cd changer as standard, go for it, get a phase 3 gti6, or a rallye if you can live without the 1/2 leather. Loved my GTI6 Sigh,

Cal

 

had a 306 gti-6,xsi and rallye-rallye was the best 1 second slower to 60/100 than bugeye wrx an with 6 speed gearbox i used to get 350+ miles to a tank
martin

 

Sounds like I really need to drive one to see what the steering lock is like.

I'll have a look in the paper, I think I've still got last weeks copy at home.

Thanks