peugot 206 - recommend for a first car?

okcomputer

everyone keeps telling me to get a Nissan Micra but i love the look of the peugot 206 1.1 L . it is a bit dearer but is it better?

tuxy

Well the micra would be more reliable and tax is a good bit cheaper.
yearly tax of €151 for the micra and €251 for the 206.

And even though the 206 has a biger engine the micra's engine is slightly more powerful.(afaik)

So no doubt the micra is the better car. But it is also important that you like your car or else you wont want to drive it.

cee_jay

imo the peugeot is a better looking car, but i think the micra is more powerful as well
also the micra is a lot roomier on the inside - i find the 206 really small for some reason
Have a few friends who drive micras and they swear by them - say they are pretty reliable

Seth Brundle

Personally I loathe Nissan saloons so I would opt for the Pug. My wife has a 1.1 206 and its grand. Just don't expect to have fun whilst driving.

tuxy wrote:

Well the micra would be more reliable and tax is a good bit cheaper.
yearly tax of €151 for the micra and €251 for the 206.

And even though the 206 has a biger engine the micra's engine is slightly more powerful.(afaik)

So no doubt the micra is the better car. But it is also important that you like your car or else you wont want to drive it.

The OP never mentioned engine size or whether it would be new or used.
However assuming its new then the Micra comes in at 1240cc and tax would be €272pa
The 1.1L Pug 206* would be 1124cc (IIRC) which is taxed at €251pa.

* assuming used here as the 206 was replaced by the 207

Eoin

The 206 is a very nice car on the inside for a car in that range. A well specced model will get you rain-sensing windscreen wipers, steering wheel mounted stereo controls, fogs, big sunroof (nearly half the length of the roof) / aircon, cd player, power steering etc.

The 1.1 engine is quite underpowered, but it's grand for driving around town.

Lookswise, I think it's a far smarter looking car than any model of micra. Good residuals too. I owned one for two years with no trouble, barring a faulty brake light and a slightly loose boot; both of which fixed in 30 mins. I never found it particularly tight - my sister has a late 90s micra, and in no way does it seem any roomier than my WTB's 206.

The micra is probably the more reliable bet in the long run, but I was quite happy to take the risk on the Peugeot, despite what the typical antyi-French car brigade knock out.

ninty9er

A friend has a 96 micra, but another friend (her little bro) hiti it at about 5 mph in the driveway and the car is nearly a write off...the back door is in bits, the 206 is a bit sturdier AFAIK

seamus

I like my 206 1.1. As eoin_s says, it feels a bit underpowered for the car, but it's not slow. It's comfortable and deceptively roomy, especially when compared with a Micra.

The only gripes I would have with it is the Frenchness - aside from moving the steering wheel to the right-hand side, they don't seem to customise it for the UK market at all. The headlight bulbs are also a complete nightmare to replace. Took me nearly two hours the first time and shredded my fingers to bits. While I've had a couple of small issues (dodgy aerial, door lock needed replacing, iffy driver's chair), I've never had any serious problems, and the engine is as solid as it's ever been.

Having driven my better half's '97 Micra (1L) and my '00 206 (1.1L), I would definitely say to go for the 206.

Eoin

seamus wrote:

The only gripes I would have with it is the Frenchness - aside from moving the steering wheel to the right-hand side, they don't seem to customise it for the UK market at all.

Actually, I just noticed the same on herself's 206; the centre console seems to be angled towards the passenger slightly and the wipers also seem to be for a LHD car.

furtzy

eoin_s wrote:

Actually, I just noticed the same on herself's 206; the centre console seems to be angled towards the passenger slightly and the wipers also seem to be for a LHD car.

Relay switch for the brake lights is still located on the passenger side and gets broken easily. Ever notice the amount of 206's going around with their brake lights permanently on

seamus

eoin_s wrote:

Actually, I just noticed the same on herself's 206; the centre console seems to be angled towards the passenger slightly and the wipers also seem to be for a LHD car.

You'll also notice that the bonnet release handle is on the passenger's side, and it's the driver's seat that slides forward to allow people access to the back seat
Two tiny niggles that have always irritated me. Never noticed the wipers. I always thought that positioning was a purely random choice by the manufacturer

Eoin

seamus wrote:

You'll also notice that the bonnet release handle is on the passenger's side, and it's the driver's seat that slides forward to allow people access to the back seat
Two tiny niggles that have always irritated me. Never noticed the wipers. I always thought that positioning was a purely random choice by the manufacturer

I think it's the direction in which they wipe - think they get more of the passenger side. I'll have a gander next time I'm in herself's car.

All that said, none of those niggles really bothered me at the time - they were a pretty small price to pay for what I thought was one of the best looking and comfortable cars in its class. Of course, that was after driving an 89 mini with less electronics than a musical birthday card.

Zaph

I drive a 1.1l 206 as well, and I have to say it's never given me a moment's trouble. Nearly all my driving is around the city and it's perfect for that, and I've always found the seats very comfortable when you're sitting for ages in traffic, which is quite important. The only reason I'd tell someone not to buy one is if they had particularly big feet, as there's not a huge amount of room in the footwell and the pedals are fairly close together. I'll be selling mine soon as I'm buying an automatic and I'll be a bit sad to see it go.

Eoin

zaph wrote:

I drive a 1.1l 206 as well, and I have to say it's never given me a moment's trouble. Nearly all my driving is around the city and it's perfect for that, and I've always found the seats very comfortable when you're sitting for ages in traffic, which is quite important. The only reason I'd tell someone not to buy one is if they had particularly big feet, as there's not a huge amount of room in the footwell and the pedals are fairly close together. I'll be selling mine soon as I'm buying an automatic and I'll be a bit sad to see it go.

It's an acre of space compared to the 106!

Zaph

True, I had one before the 206 and couldn't wear particular pairs of boots when I was driving it.

prospect

eoin_s wrote:

wipers also seem to be for a LHD car.

that is not uncommon, the previous to current 5 series BMW also had wipers that moved from right to left.

Stephen

I'd go for the 206 as well. I hate both the current and previous gen Micras.
1.1l will be fine for a first car and will be very easy to sell when you're finished with it, but if you could afford the slight increase in tax/insurance the 1.4 would be much better to drive.

okcomputer

thanks everybody , i was actually looking at a model circa 1999. i could get a micra for about 3999 or a peugeot for about 4350

i think the peugeot it is..:) was hoping ye would say that

steveland?

eoin_s wrote:

It's an acre of space compared to the 106!

Agreed... I have a 106 and my foot keeps getting caught under the chassis over the clutch, not a problem for taking off or changing gear but coming out of reverse or if I've to creep up on the clutch I keep having to reposition my left foot.

I've gotten used to it but don't get a 106 if you have size 11 feet...

Haven't tried a 206, my mother has one and it's never given her any trouble at all and is a very all round comfortable car.

The only issue she's had with it is the release catch on the passenger seat which broke off.

I've a 5 door 106 and I'd go for a 5 door 206 if I was getting one

Spit62500

The driving position has been widely criticised - its very hard to get comfortable as the steering wheel is not adjustable for reach. You c an end up with serious shoulder ache after a log time in slow traffic. The pedals are very close together and can catch you out if you're wearing boots.

The wipers are set up for LHD but do a good enough job of clearing the screen as one of them moves up while wiping. The headlamp bulb fitting was redisigned around 2005 and is now much better. The rear numberplate bulbholder is still nasty though.

Nissan servicing is much cheaper than Peugeot servicing (main dealer). Peugeot dealers have trouble calculating the next servce due interval and tend to move it a lot nearer than they should. Go by the service intervals in the handbook, not what the dealer says -its 20k miles/30k km not 12k miles.

Depreciation isn't bad but may be affected by the 207's arrival.

Eoin

Spit62500 wrote:

Depreciation isn't bad but may be affected by the 207's arrival.

Don't know what the story is now with the 207 coming in, but I think the 206 had one of the best resale values in the small car class for a while. I lost very little in 2 years, and that was buying from new.

ninty9er

furtzy wrote:

Relay switch for the brake lights is still located on the passenger side and gets broken easily. Ever notice the amount of 206's going around with their brake lights permanently on

YES!!! Thank you, someone else has finally noticed...that really bugs me as you never actually know when the stupid bi*ch driving the 206 in front is going to brake!!!!

(apologies for the ranting generalisation)

nl

Does anyone have an opinion on the 1.4 turbo diesel 206? I need to buy a small car within the next two months and I think its nice. Im fairly keen on a small diesel and it seams to suit the bill.

ninty9er

the diesel didn't arrive here in 1.4 'til 2002 (I think), so they won't be cheap in good nick.

On the other hand, the engines are supposed to be a lot better than the general build quality of Peugeot in general in the last few years