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My Peugeot 206 is now about
two and a half years old.
I traded in a nail of a 205
diesel for it. I really miss
that 205.
The 206 looks very nice.
It's a pleasant light metallic
green, and the shape is pleasing
to the eye. It has been almost
100% reliable, which I admit
the 205 was not. But I still
want the 205 back. Unfortunately
a local woman has it now,
so I get to see it trundling
around almost daily, and therefore
daily I get this pang in my
stomach, and a hollowness
in my wallet.
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What's wrong with the 206 then? Well. It's noisy. The engine
(first mistake, bought the 1.1, should have got the 1.4, they
say) is harsh and lacks any sort of go. The 205 was a great
big 1900cc diesel and could really pull up hills, and returned
60+ m.p.g. The petrol 206 struggles up hills and returns a
disappointing 50 m.p.g. Hmmm. The gearbox is very noisy in
first, a loud whine... "yes they all do that" the
dealer tells me. Do they now?
Second big mistake, chose the sunroof version, not the air
con. My beloved 205 had one of those huge sliding glass sunroofs,
and so I went for the same option on the 206. An error, as
it makes a huge racket when it's open and a lot of rattling
when it's shut - "yes they all do that" the dealer
sighed. His mechanics have applied the Peugeot fix to this
problem, which entailed stuffing bits of sticky backed stuff
in various places which cured it for a month and then they
all fell off. When open there's a clever sort of air deflector
thingy which pops up. I swear it's this that causes the excessive
wind noise. It renders conversation and radio listening impossible,
so you shut the thing again fairly quickly.
The driver and passenger seats are rubbish. They've both
been partially replaced under warranty, but they're still
not much good. Bits fell off, things that should slide didn't,
bits that should stay stiff flopped about. And they aren't
very comfortable. There is a useful storage area under the
passenger seat which sounds just dandy when they tell you
about it in the showroom, but never gets used in real life,
because of child seats, passengers and general detritus that
gets put on the passenger seat. To tip it all of to get to
the nice cubby hole, well it just never happens.
On the plus side it doesn't seem to leak, which the 205 did.
There was a small water feature in the back footwell most
rainy mornings in my 205 days. I admit that I don't miss the
sloshing noise going around corners. The 206 is ultimately
faster on a motorway, and is a lot perkier around town than
the diesel, but show it a hill and it starts demanding downward
shifts, which gets on my nerves. The 206 has a jolly nice
CD player, which is a huge improvement on the cassette eating
monster in the 205. And the stalk controls for volume and
so on are great. Oh and the electric windows and door mirrors
are a huge improvement on the cranking and fiddling of the
205.
The old diesel had done over 120,000 miles when I sold it,
I wonder if the 206 will see that distance. Though it is jolly
nice not to have it serviced for two years at a time, I really
do worry about the oil. I know it's very clever and all that,
but does it really still protect the engine towards the end
of that sort of time period? Have they tried it? Do they really
know for sure?
I know deep down the 206 is a very nice car and I should
be happy with it. And even deeper down I know that the 205
was on its last legs and its shortcomings were started to
add up. But that doesn't stop me looking at it with regret.
I'm sure I was happier with that old thing than I am now with
my fashion statement.
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