FS: SOC

It's time to shed my reliable old shed and this seems to be the place
to start as there's the odd pikey ShiteOldCar runner around:

1997 Peugeot 406 1.8 LX saloon (with droppable rear seat)
~150k miles, manual, petrol, dark blue. MoT July, tax till end June.
Power steering, electric front windows, central locking, aircon,
towhitch
Interior reflects mileage and usage - scruffy but not dirty or torn
Exterior reflects clumsiness - many minor dingettes, couple of decent
scrapes (n/s rear door particularly) good ding in o/s front wing.

Would make an excellent urban warrior due to condition and lack of
nickability. Has FDSH up to my ownership, then I've maintained it for
the past 40k - very recent full exhaust inc cat, for example.

As it stands it would fly an MoT test (with an advisory for the creak
in the rear suspension which has been the same for three years, I
can't find it and neither can the MoT testers nor three other
mechanics) and if somebody wants it I'll stick a ticket on it for 50
quid extra.

Adequately quick, it ain't no cross-country missile, but it doesn't
hang about and gets ~35mpg in general use. Comfy as you like, feels
nice to drive, has served me well for the past five years during which
time it has been *totally* reliable. Has the odd quirk like the
driver's window sometimes decides to go down again after you've hit
the button to close it (French-designed, built by Brummies, see) and
the fag lighter doesn't work very well.

Four hundred quid or 450 with 12 months ticket. Located in Flitwick,
200m from the railway station, ~5 miles from J12 M1.
Delivery negotiable.

Bring it on.

 

Perhaps BGN would want another old Pug?

--
Steve Parry
BMW R45, 01 Kawasaki ZX12-R, 07 K1200GT SE
95 BMW F650, 87 Yamaha FS1, Sukida SK90PY, 91 Kawasaki AR50,
07 VW Passat SE Estate for comfort
www.gwynfryn.co.uk

 

I thought that. I also thought that unless he was to pay me the
asking price I'd make sure it ended up outside his house.
Unfortunately, the 'later' models (like mine) do not rust, due to the
galvanised body panels.

 

They all do that sir, Kwik Fit can spray some nice stuff around the
rubbers/linkage that shuts it up for a while.

Used to get 40 out of my 2.0 on a run. 26 round town :-(

They have a bad rep, but mine never let me down in 7 years and 149k miles,
until the gearbox died.

 

Heh. The ex-patio ornament V6 Vectra. Such a sensible choice, in
these times of cheap and plentiful petrol.

 

Towed trailers and bikes up hill, down dale, climbed mountains, forded
streams - all that. Never complained, never failed to start, never
stopped running. Slight whiff of clutch once, when dragging an
unwilling MGB up the hill to be painted, but that was it.

 

Well I'm buggered. There's a KwikFit in town, I'll give it a go.

The penalty of a 2.0. Pulling a trailer full of camping gear to
Cornwall, then snaking round overcrowded and overheated Cornish towns
for a couple of weeks and coming back (uphill all the way, innit) the
1.8 returned 38 overall. Never worse than 30.

Another one of those under-rated vehicles, like my previous Renault
21. The 406 is functional, not un-pretty, quite pleasant to drive and
comfy too. Half-decent performance and economy helps, but as a
package hard to beat for the money. Passengers seemed to like it.

 

But I liked me pug, and the extra oomph the 2.0 had over the 1.8 was worth
it. Especially when the fuel was company fuel

Well comfy, 307 is no where near as good.

Lots of taxi drivers do as well

 

I had something similar on the Fester. Liberal application of silicon
lube spray from Halfords cured it.

 

You sure?

Given you're a bit of a spanner monkey you probably know all this
already, but if the clutch goes on these (1)it's a right PITA to do
given Vauxhall decided to do away with both the 'cassette' clutch
arrangement (2) and the more conventional way of mounting the engine
(3) over the previous Cavalier models.

They're not that bad on fuel for a V6 IIRC... they will however
eventually need new hydraulic tappets, and if you're lucky, you'll
realise the rocker covers are leaking oil before it drops enough into
the alternator to kill it.

The dash display that *will* lose half its pixels you'll probably
just find irritating...

Yes, I'm not a fan of these.

(1) DAMHIK IJD, OK... and it wasn't the clutch that had actually gone,
it was the slave cylinder which Vauxhall had helpfully mounted inside
the bellhousing with no external access, meaning there was no
alternative than to split the engine and box to get at it.

(2) As in, 30 minutes to change a clutch if you had access to set of
ramps rather than, IIRC, four and a bit hours Vauxhall used to quote
for the four pot versions.

(3) The engine is mounted on the front subframe rather than by
conventional mounts all round. Net result is you need to drop the
whole lot down if the clutch goes in order to split the engine and
box, which is fine... bar if the subframe isn't supported in the right
places, it can end up twisting and you end up with something that
scrubs out its front tyres even more quickly than a 170bhp FWD
normally does.

 

The 110bhp HDI is fantastic on fuel - 48mpg I found was the worst I
ever used to get out of mine on a mixture of town and A road stuff, no
matter how much I ragged it.

A much more pleasant, torquey power unit than the 90bhp or 1.9 TD
models as well.

The gearbox is the one major thing that tends to go in these, and
given they all tend to do it in the end whilst the rest of the car
tends to hold up quite well in later life, the gearboxes are sought
after secondhand.

HDI wise, you need to keep the belts changed and make sure that the
bottom pulley is changed as well - seen more than one of these where
said pulley is worn, throws the alternator belt and this then gets
tangled up with the cambelt - bye bye top end.

That, and neglecting to keep the fuel filter changed can end up in
injectors / fuel pumps getting blown to bits.

 

I had one of those back in the olden days.

They can be provoked to do 30+ MPG, but I generally saw 26. Oh and
they understeer horribly and make the fronts triangular at the
slightest provocation.

thank **** it was a company car with fuel card.

 

Typical. I'd have had it but why didn't you mention it when I said I was
flogging the Mondy?

 

'Cos that was a few weeks ago and the Pug's replacement wasn't legal
at that point?

 

Why the question mark? Are you telling me or asking me?

 

Interrogative statement, I guess. Prolly has a proper name and
everyfink.

 

I could hear your upward inflection. Maybe WC is being tetchy ?

P.

 

No, I don't think he is.

The current over-usage of raised intonation is bad enough as it is,
without it creeping into Usenet.

And seeing as Pip is the most vocal of grammar-kopping on here, it's
about time he got his come-uppance?

 

If I was going to attempt to give Pip his comeuppance, it wouldn't be
over a fucking feral question mark.

What's wrong with everyone today [1]

Cheers,

Paul.

[1] ?

 

Well, there's a thing. I detest the use of such inflections, as
(especially female) teenagers seem to use it to end every sentence.
It just seemed apposite at the time - and I reserve my right to abuse
English as I use it adequately most of the time.
Bring it on, Fatty.

Cor, I've just come across this (f'narr) and I wish I wasn't four days
late.