2003 307 1.4HDi

donnchaw

Im going to look at one of these on saturday with around 70k miles on it, its a private sale. Just wondering is there anything i should look out for in particular on it? Nearly everything ive heard about them is good but just want to know is there any major issues that need to be checked. I know the timing belt and water pump been changed anyway.
Ive never really even driven a diesel before so Im pretty much starting from scratch here so any advice would be greatly appreciated, however basic it may appear. What would be the main things people would generally check on a used car before buying it? Never bought a car from someone i didnt know before. Its a long way from where i live so i dont think getting a mechanic to check it over is really possible. Cheers everyone!

Zonda999

donnchaw wrote: »

Ive never really even driven a diesel before

Dont know anything much about that engine but i have driven one in a 307 before, very economical but... that old opinion on diesels that they are old and slow will apply in this case i;m afraid, the 1.4hdi is an adequate engine in a car the size of a 206 but putting it in the 307 is taking the piss, it just feels severely underpowered all of the time, and the engine is pretty vocal anyway so i hope you like the sound of it. That engine has a pretty good reputation anyway so if you're able to put up with the lack of power and the noise it will be a "grand economical car

donnchaw

Yeah, thought it might be quite slow alright but bearing in mind my last car was a 1.2 litre astra, being underpowered shouldnt be anything too new! unfortunately i cant really stretch to a bigger engine due to insurance costs (recently lost NCB) and im doing 400 miles minimum a week just going to work and then maybe another 100 or 200 on the weekends so diesel seems like itd be the best option, especially with the way petrol prices are heading! From what ive seen it seems like a comfortable car anyway, at least if im going nowhere fast, ill be comfortable doing it anyway.

Zonda999

Ya you're bang on there on everything, cheapish to tax and all, relative to a golf 1.9 tdi and it really should return ~70mpg if you take it handy! It may well even slower than a 1.2 astra though, they had 80 bhp, you'll have 70 in this! :eek:

Moanin

Had one for 4 years and put up 120,000 miles on it with no problems.Timing belt and pump should be done at 100,000 miles or 4 years (Whatever comes first).I had the XS model and it was very comfy and had all the bells and whistles

donnchaw

Zonda999 wrote: »

Ya you're bang on there on everything, cheapish to tax and all, relative to a golf 1.9 tdi and it really should return ~70mpg if you take it handy! It may well even slower than a 1.2 astra though, they had 80 bhp, you'll have 70 in this! :eek:

Just had a look there and they both do the 0-60mph in 14-15 secs, fairly ridiculous really! Although the astra was doing around 36mpg for the last while so at least id be travelling much cheaper even if not quicker.

Moanin wrote: »

Had one for 4 years and put up 120,000 miles on it with no problems.Timing belt and pump should be done at 100,000 miles or 4 years (Whatever comes first).I had the XS model and it was very comfy and had all the bells and whistles

The one im looking at is an XT i think, dont know what the differences are really.
No big reliability issues with them then that anyone knows of? I really cant afford to be in and out of the garage with it, thats my number one concern!

What are the usual main things to check on a used car before buying? Just want to make sure i dont miss anything obvious!

Zonda999

donnchaw wrote: »

Just had a look there and they both do the 0-60mph in 14-15 secs, fairly ridiculous really! Although the astra was doing around 36mpg for the last while so at least id be travelling much cheaper even if not quicker.

Thats not great but to be fair to it, it does have a turbo so, for say, overtaking people, goin from about 50-70mph, it should be a little quicker than a 1.2 astra, there is a bit of turbo lag in these though, so off the line it'll be dead as moses..

bazz26

The HDi will feel quicker over the Astra due to the way the power is delivered.

Make sure all the electrics work as the 307 is know for having electrical gremlins.

donnchaw

Zonda999 wrote: »

Thats not great but to be fair to it, it does have a turbo so, for say, overtaking people, goin from about 50-70mph, it should be a little quicker than a 1.2 astra, there is a bit of turbo lag in these though, so off the line it'll be dead as moses..

dead as moses, i like it! A bit more power for overtaking would be nice alright, the astra was a bit of a hill detector, especially if there was anyone else in it, although i probably do 90% of my driving on my own.

bazz26 wrote: »

The HDi will feel quicker over the Astra due to the way the power is delivered.

Make sure all the electrics work as the 307 is know for having electrical gremlins.

cheers bazz, ill keep an eye out for that.

cadaliac

Check for noises from the rear wheels - well suspension actually. These are a cheap fix - I think they are drop links that the bushings ware out on. It will sound like a loose part when you hit a bump - nothing too loud mind. A mate had one and replaced them a few times.
Check ALL of the electrics and air con (if it has it) - turn them all on and see if they work.
Good luck.

nogoodnamesleft

I was in a 1.6 PUG HDI in the UK about 2 years ago which belonged to one of the lads I was working with. Anyways his had a fault with resulted in the car going into limp home mode due to a "pollution problem" as diagnosed by the onboard computer. Anyways apparently the HDI engines inject a substance into the exhaust gas which lower the emissions. According to him its derived from horse piss!

Anyways here some some factual info:

http://www.autodiagnos.com/fileadmin/assets/en/downloads/pdf/technical_bulletins/psa/psa_307_addgo2_fap.4.pdf

donnchaw

cadaliac wrote: »

Check for noises from the rear wheels - well suspension actually. These are a cheap fix - I think they are drop links that the bushings ware out on. It will sound like a loose part when you hit a bump - nothing too loud mind. A mate had one and replaced them a few times.
Check ALL of the electrics and air con (if it has it) - turn them all on and see if they work.
Good luck.

Will do cheers again! Read somewhere that suspension can be a problem occasionally alright, suppose at least if its a cheap fix its not too bad. I think it might have aircon, its the XT spec i think but cant actually find out whats in that anywhere.

nogoodnamesleft wrote: »

I was in a 1.6 PUG HDI in the UK about 2 years ago which belonged to one of the lads I was working with. Anyways his had a fault with resulted in the car going into limp home mode due to a "pollution problem" as diagnosed by the onboard computer. Anyways apparently the HDI engines inject a substance into the exhaust gas which lower the emissions. According to him its derived from horse piss!

Anyways here some some factual info:

http://www.autodiagnos.com/fileadmin/assets/en/downloads/pdf/technical_bulletins/psa/psa_307_addgo2_fap.4.pdf

Thanks for that, dont think the 1.4 suffers from that, if it happens though ill know to just get a horse to fill her up for me, a good cheap fix!

Anyone know what the service intervals on them? Or how much one would set me back? Thanks again for all the help!

Row

nogoodnamesleft wrote: »

I was in a 1.6 PUG HDI in the UK about 2 years ago which belonged to one of the lads I was working with. Anyways his had a fault with resulted in the car going into limp home mode due to a "pollution problem" as diagnosed by the onboard computer. Anyways apparently the HDI engines inject a substance into the exhaust gas which lower the emissions. According to him its derived from horse piss!

Anyways here some some factual info:

http://www.autodiagnos.com/fileadmin/assets/en/downloads/pdf/technical_bulletins/psa/psa_307_addgo2_fap.4.pdf

The 1.4hdi's don't have dpf's only a catwhich is below the turbo.

Overall the 307 1.4 hdi's are easy on Diesel but are alittle underpowered .
A remap can help alot...:)
As above the front droplinks do fail....don't worry you'll know when there gone....otherwise there not bad....if minded they can run over 200k without much expense....:)

245

donnchaw wrote: »

The one im looking at is an XT i think, dont know what the differences are really.

As far as I remember, the 307 XT had wood style trim on the dash and a driver's seat armrest. Maybe nicer seat fabric - can't remember. Definitely had air con on the petrol model - prob the same on diesel..

The 207 1.4 HDi can't be much lighter than a 307 - its no ball of fire but not really a slug either. Great economy and quite refined most of the time.

Check for crash damage - misaligned panels and poor quality paintwork. front wings are plastic and bonnet is aluminium so allow a little leeway in terms of panel fit in those areas but it should be close enough and even.

I'd like to see a consistent service history over its lifetime for peace of mind. Regular oil changes are important on modern turbo diesels.

There were some issues with rear tyre wear on early 307s. I'd imagine that its all been sorted by now in terms of recalls/production improvements.

GERMAN ROCKS

xt is the nicest. it has all wood eg dash around door openers etc. it has climate control with air con. it has automatic headlights and rain sensors. abs. both hand rests on driver and pasenger seat. very hard vearing velour covered comfy seats. i was actually looking at a neighbours brand new focus today and it was way behind with very hard seats.

PauloMN

As said above, XT has most toys but prob won't have alloys unless they were added separately by the current owner. Would prefer XT myself as you can always add alloys later. Have to say it was a comfy car.

We had a 1.4 petrol (8 valver) and it was horrendously underpowered. Think it was 75bhp. It was the one huge problem I had with the car. There's a 1.6 diesel which you should look at if you can.

Build quality is suspect so take a good look at the interior and exterior fittings - we had rubbing strips on the rear door fall off when the car was only 1 year old.

There was a recall on the indicator stalks also - lots of problems with these - so check the indicators and if the stalk feels funny i.e. not definite when switching on/off, they may not have been done.

Overall we had little problems though, but personally I'd recommend going for a more powerful diesel model, or maybe take a look at a 16 valve 1.4 petrol which brings the power up to 90bhp. Small increase but makes a big difference.

donnchaw

245 wrote: »

As far as I remember, the 307 XT had wood style trim on the dash and a driver's seat armrest. Maybe nicer seat fabric - can't remember. Definitely had air con on the petrol model - prob the same on diesel..

The 207 1.4 HDi can't be much lighter than a 307 - its no ball of fire but not really a slug either. Great economy and quite refined most of the time.

Check for crash damage - misaligned panels and poor quality paintwork. front wings are plastic and bonnet is aluminium so allow a little leeway in terms of panel fit in those areas but it should be close enough and even.

I'd like to see a consistent service history over its lifetime for peace of mind. Regular oil changes are important on modern turbo diesels.

There were some issues with rear tyre wear on early 307s. I'd imagine that its all been sorted by now in terms of recalls/production improvements.

I think it was serviced regularly but not by a main dealer, just a local mechanic. I presume this shouldnt matter too much as long as the oil was changed regularly seeing as the major work like the timing belt was done as well?

GERMAN ROCKS wrote: »

xt is the nicest. it has all wood eg dash around door openers etc. it has climate control with air con. it has automatic headlights and rain sensors. abs. both hand rests on driver and pasenger seat. very hard vearing velour covered comfy seats. i was actually looking at a neighbours brand new focus today and it was way behind with very hard seats.

Yeah, thats the one alright, saw a picture with the wooden trim in it, sounds like a very good interior/spec for a car that age/price anyway, glad to hear about the nice seats, makes a big difference on longer journeys!

PauloMN wrote: »

As said above, XT has most toys but prob won't have alloys unless they were added separately by the current owner. Would prefer XT myself as you can always add alloys later. Have to say it was a comfy car.

We had a 1.4 petrol (8 valver) and it was horrendously underpowered. Think it was 75bhp. It was the one huge problem I had with the car. There's a 1.6 diesel which you should look at if you can.

Build quality is suspect so take a good look at the interior and exterior fittings - we had rubbing strips on the rear door fall off when the car was only 1 year old.

There was a recall on the indicator stalks also - lots of problems with these - so check the indicators and if the stalk feels funny i.e. not definite when switching on/off, they may not have been done.

Overall we had little problems though, but personally I'd recommend going for a more powerful diesel model, or maybe take a look at a 16 valve 1.4 petrol which brings the power up to 90bhp. Small increase but makes a big difference.

Im not overly concerned about the alloys really, wouldnt be one of my highest priorities. Can always see about picking some up cheap later on, although probably wont have the money for a good while id imagine! Would the indicators be much of a job to get sorted if they havent been done already?
Think the 1.4 is about as far as i can go unfortunately for insurance purposes, going to be back to zero NCB next year so smaller the better!

245

donnchaw wrote: »

I think it was serviced regularly but not by a main dealer, just a local mechanic. I presume this shouldnt matter too much as long as the oil was changed regularly seeing as the major work like the timing belt was done as well?

Would the indicators be much of a job to get sorted if they havent been done already?

As long as its been regularly serviced with the right oil etc then I wouldn't mind who did it as long as they knew what they were doing.

I'd imagine that any indicator issues have been sorted by now. They were improved in later models so given its mileage either your car isn't affected or its been rectified (or the previous owner never indicated )