Rank Taxi Replacement- 306 follows on from Octavia

[320touring]

eltax91 said:

I had an HDi one of these years ago. A set of half leathers was only £100 way back then, so should be able to swap those seats out on the cheap. If i remember correctly the back seats are half a dozen bolts tops and the fronts were easy, only the airbag fittings to swap over on mine. Half a day and it was all sorted.

Cheers for the info but the seats are in good condition so they can stay

gregs656 said:

If you change the seats you can also get a spilt rear seat unit which is handy.

Good idea, mind you the 320touring justifies its existence as the handy estate with split rear seats..

RemyMartin said:

Those seats are amazing, they deserve to be in a museum or something.

Aye, its not a car you to with a hangover, thats for sure..

[Funkycoldribena]

I'm not reading this because I liked the Octavia.

[ChrisR99]

320touring said:

I'll do my best not to - It is in significantly better condition than the Octavia though-so much more likely to stick around

That's great to hear! I have a strange hankering for one of these...one in that red and those wheels (phase two is also my favourite) but probably a petrol.

Don't ask me why.

[bitwrx]

320touring said:

Good idea, mind you the 320touring justifies its existence as the handy estate with split rear seats..

But there is literally* nothing that doesn't fit in the back of a 306 with the seats folded down. In actual fact you could definitely fit the whole BMW in there.

• Can it all you pedants.

[320touring]

Funkycoldribena said:

I'm not reading this because I liked the Octavia.

heh!The octavia was fun but wearing -ride was crap and handling poor.

If another one pops up at reasonable cost, I'd do it again

this is a much better 'drivers car' out of the box.

[320touring]

ChrisR99 said:

That's great to hear! I have a strange hankering for one of these...one in that red and those wheels (phase two is also my favourite) but probably a petrol.

Don't ask me why.

I can imagine a gti-6 would be a bit of a hoot-possibly a touch less ghty than the Clio 172 we have, but almost as quick

bitwrx said:

But there is literally* nothing that doesn't fit in the back of a 306 with the seats folded down. In actual fact you could definitely fit the whole BMW in there.

• Can it all you pedants.

having bmw as the practical car means it gets to stay "on fleet" if you see what I mean;)

the lies we tell ourselves (and SWMBO)!

[J4CKO]

I loved the 309 I had and these are so much better looking, getting rare, so pretty.

[320touring]

J4CKO said:

I loved the 309 I had and these are so much better looking, getting rare, so pretty.

I dunno about that A Talbot 309 gti goodwood could be a very nice thing!

[SouthernBoy]

I loved my 306 Dturbo. I ran it as a shed for 18 months. It never once failed, was very easy to DIY, economical with decent amount of poke and tough as an old boot. The seats were comfy too - although not quite as garish as yours, OP!

[320touring]

SouthernBoy said:

I loved my 306 Dturbo. I ran it as a shed for 18 months. It never once failed, was very easy to DIY, economical with decent amount of poke and tough as an old boot. The seats were comfy too - although not quite as garish as yours, OP!

Ooh, thats a nice series 1! your paint is much better than mine is!

[helix402]

It's rather high spec, with a turbo, special seats and everything. I had a 1.9D a few years back. It was a super car, my record was 616m from one tank of diesel. Best mpg 53. Sure you'll beat that. I bought it at 130k and sold it at 160k. It went over 100mph on the gps when overseas.
The turbos are more prone to head gasket failure and occasional rod failure but I'm sure it'll be fine.

[320touring]

helix402 said:

It's rather high spec, with a turbo, special seats and everything. I had a 1.9D a few years back. It was a super car, my record was 616m from one tank of diesel. Best mpg 53. Sure you'll beat that. I bought it at 130k and sold it at 160k. It went over 100mph on the gps when overseas.
The turbos are more prone to head gasket failure and occasional rod failure but I'm sure it'll be fine.

Its an oďd spec re the seats vs the lack of any posh cabin gubbins..

I'll report re the economy likely early next week-about 320 into the tank so far

[ChrisR99]

SouthernBoy said:

I loved my 306 Dturbo. I ran it as a shed for 18 months. It never once failed, was very easy to DIY, economical with decent amount of poke and tough as an old boot. The seats were comfy too - although not quite as garish as yours, OP!

That's stunning!

Looking forward to more updates OP.

Edited by ChrisR99 on Tuesday 5th January 20:39

[320touring]

Took it out to visit my brother.

Turned out he learned to drive in one

He thought it most competent, and worthy of a good go at the shedding!

have a gratuitous pic of it sidelights on waiting for its prey (mainly lardy repmobiles)

[320touring]

Struck whilst the iron was hot and ordered up service parts..

Hedged my bets re the thermostat and ordered both versions-hardly breaking the bank and no doubt someone with an XUD will be able to use whatever one is left over.

got to love a service for sub £30 inc delivery!

I've left glow plugs off the list at the moment, as I'll need to see what the job looks like. Moreover, not ordering any brake parts til I get a look at the car this weekend.

[jb2410]

Cracking cars. I had two, one dturbo and one hdi. If I needed a shed for a daily it'd be one of the first things I looked for.

Looking at the photo of the engine bay your intercooler looks a little oily, there is a D shaped seal underneath which swells and won't seal properly if not replaced after the ic has been removed. Only a few quid from memory and something like three bolts to replace so may be worth doing with the rest of the service.

[Usget]

colinevan said:

All was fine until I slowed down to join another motorway, once the slip road opened up to join I floored it in 5th from about 60mph to pass a truck. I passed it in about an eighth of a second and the car had more pull than my M3 lol. It had that much pull I took my foot of the accelerator and it jumped upto 3 figures instantly. As I'd obliterated everything on the road it was safe to pull over on the hard shoulder whereby I had to force the car to a standstill with it trying to bounce off the limiter. I realiased what had happened , let the car cool down and re started her. Same thing!! rev counter bouncing off the limiter and even pulling the key out the ignition left her running. Popped her in first and purposely stalled her and rang for breakdown .

Ironically , when they turned up I had burned all the surplus oil and was fine to carry on my journey lol.

Oil had settled at its max and was happy lol.

Ace car.

Edited by colinevan on Tuesday 5th January 01:40

I don't know why but that made me guffaw!

I love the D-Turbos - my mate used to have one and we took it round the Evo Triangle back in 2007 or so. Brilliant car, seats were insanely comfy (and when you're sat in them you don't have to look at them)

[Piginapoke]

I had a Citroen ZX TurboD back in the 90s. My 1st new car, totally trashed it 6 months later

Good engine though

[320touring]

jb2410 said:

Cracking cars. I had two, one dturbo and one hdi. If I needed a shed for a daily it'd be one of the first things I looked for.

Looking at the photo of the engine bay your intercooler looks a little oily, there is a D shaped seal underneath which swells and won't seal properly if not replaced after the ic has been removed. Only a few quid from memory and something like three bolts to replace so may be worth doing with the rest of the service.

As i understand it the intercooler is best removed to do the glowplugs, so I may make that all the 1 operation- cheers for the info

Piginapoke said:

I had a Citroen ZX TurboD back in the 90s. My 1st new car, totally trashed it 6 months later

Good engine though

Aye the XUD seems proper old style td- a wee while to get wound up thsn a good dlop of shove!

[320touring]

I think I may need to call DEFRA in..



likely sunroof drains or somesuch.

Another thing to add to the list!