Peugeot 106 diesel - cheapest motoring?

[vit4]

And so I create the most miserable thread of my life.


With my work there's a very real possibility I'm going to face a 50/60 mile each way commute fairly soon. With other miles as well it'll work out at around 25,000 miles a year, to give it some perspective. I won't get a company car/fuel card etc and won't be on the world's greatest salary, so I'm going to need something cheap. Very cheap indeed.



I wondered if anybody can share some experiences on the Pug 106 non-turbo diesel? I can't think of anything I could get for under a grand that would be as good on fuel/insurance, but would like to know in particular how happy they are at 70, servicing costs, reliability etc. Also, can they run on veg oil? T'would be even better if so

Or, any other suggestions for dirt cheap motoring welcome! Apologies, I know it's a fairly dull topic, but such is life

[red_rover]

Rover 115D

The 106's posher yet cheaper (to buy) cousin.

[jjones]

clio 1.5dci, can be had for less than a grand, 65mpg possible, 20-30 road tax

[r1ch]

I think i'd cry myself to sleep every night covering that distance in a 106 diesel. Don't get me wrong i love 106's and the economy of the little diesels is brilliant. But i'd have to get a 306 dturbo, same price, probably not the same MPG but still excellent economy. Good luck !

[DemonDesign]

I got a Citroen ZX Diesel for my commute of between 1000 and 1500 miles per month for work. great at 70, great MPG, cheap parts. cheap to buy

[MR Kirbyz]

jjones said:

clio 1.5dci, can be had for less than a grand, 65mpg possible, 20-30 road tax

+1

I have one of these and can get 50-55 mpg with pretty aggressive driving and 35-50 in full on hooning mode :P
and yes the road tax is heaven just watch out for the electrics! it is french you know

[v8will]

Another +1 for the Clio, a work colleague has one and it's £30 road tax and actually not as gutless as it's 65BHP would suggest. However the electrics can be fragile and they definately can feel old after a few miles.

I bought my D4D Yaris a year ago and the total fuel bill for 15,000 miles is currently less than £1000. Unfortunately current fuel prices meant a £60 fill today but that'll last the next 500 odd miles. All it's needed has been a couple of oil services and a front wheel bearing. Should hit 80,000 sometime next month.

Sure it's a white good but it starts every morning, will happily sit at 80+ MPH all day and a years road tax is £30, it should even still be worth a couple of grand in 2 or 3 years time. Might be over the OP's budget a little but worth a look.

[vit4]

MR Kirbyz said:

jjones said:

clio 1.5dci, can be had for less than a grand, 65mpg possible, 20-30 road tax

+1

I have one of these and can get 50-55 mpg with pretty aggressive driving and 35-50 in full on hooning mode :P
and yes the road tax is heaven just watch out for the electrics! it is french you know

My mate's got one of these, he's had a couple of big bills which puts me off if I'm honest. The ones on my price range all seem to be 1.9's as well, a couple of 1.5's but they look pretty rough



The ZX might be a good call come to think of it, do you have what sort of real-world mpg do you get?

[Defcon5]

In your position a 106 NA diesel would be the main choice.

[vit4]

10AE said:

r1ch said:

I think i'd cry myself to sleep every night covering that distance in a 106 diesel. Don't get me wrong i love 106's and the economy of the little diesels is brilliant. But i'd have to get a 306 dturbo, same price, probably not the same MPG but still excellent economy. Good luck !

+1

Wait! That's exactly what I did.

I decided the 106 was just too small and slow for regular every day driving, the 306 1.9 Dturbo actually can make reasonable forward progress without costing too much.

Had a look through your profile, brilliant break-down of the 306! Inspired me to put a bit more detail on my profile later. I noticed you mentioned about switching to fuel pumps for veg oil, do you know how easy that is? IE is it swap pumps and pour in the veg oil or is there other stuff that needs to be done?

[geeteeaye]

25k a year in a 106 diesel?

Don't do it, it would be an awful, pitiful existence. A 306 Dturbo is a decent call, or a Mk4 Astra DTi but you want something at least that size for those miles, preferably a Mondeo/Passat IMO.

[Olivera]

A friend had a 106 diseasel and claimed it was the worst car he'd ever owned. Economy was fantastic, but pace (lack-of), comfort, driving position, in fact anything else you could name bar economy was diabolical. The thought of spending 2 hours plus a day in one makes my shudder - in fact I'd rather just give up with life.

[texasjohn]

v8will said:

Another +1 for the Clio, a work colleague has one and it's £30 road tax and actually not as gutless as it's 65BHP would suggest. However the electrics can be fragile and they definately can feel old after a few miles.

Not sure if it is the same era/family of engine but a colleague has got a 2008 Megane CC with the 1.5dci 105 engine. He has a tuning box fitted and we saw 75mpg on a 200 mile run at 70mph on cruise control.

He reckons it has made 12-14mpg difference. Still, 62mpg is not too shabby either.

[Marky Boy]

I had exactly the same dilema; moved house and had to find a cheap motor to do the 100 mile per day commute.

I bought a Pug 106 1.5D for £300 off ebay. First off it was pretty rubbish to look at and drive. I even used it as a skip when clearing out the back garden of the new house.

It did however return good economy, and was actualy not that uncomfortable on the motorway once upto speed (although that did take a day or so).

I did about 48k miles in mine over about 2 years of the commuting. It did however go through 1 clutch, snapped timing belt/head, exhaust, diesel pump, diesel solenoid, front control arms, gear linkages, alternator, battery and all the normal service items.

If you get one with with the lucas pump you can run it on veg oil apparently.

All in all a decent work horse with good economy. You get what you pay for however.

HTH

[cptsideways]

I've got an Arosa 1.4 Tdi for this job, its anything but slow! Brilliant little thing apart from the fact its a VW in frock so come with all the VW esque crap build quality.

[Defcon5]

cptsideways said:

I've got an Arosa 1.4 Tdi for this job, its anything but slow! Brilliant little thing apart from the fact its a VW in frock so come with all the VW esque crap build quality.

Also comes with a 1.7SDI, for ultra slow reliability

[Jayho]

http://pistonheads.com/sales/2745731.htm

Rover 25? Slightly bigger than your 106's ect, and more comfortable long distances?

Its under a grand, if its had all its belts ect done and you look after it, there's no reason it wont last. Just please, please, please, dont make this into a HGF thread. Ps, there's a lot of support on the Rover/MG forum. Big big community for some strange reason! :/

[Kevin VRs]

Have you thought abou moving closer?

[vit4]

Jayho said:

http://pistonheads.com/sales/2745731.htm

Rover 25? Slightly bigger than your 106's ect, and more comfortable long distances?

Its under a grand, if its had all its belts ect done and you look after it, there's no reason it wont last. Just please, please, please, dont make this into a HGF thread. Ps, there's a lot of support on the Rover/MG forum. Big big community for some strange reason! :/

Regarding HGF I won't, the HGF blah blah woe betide the K-series threads piss me off! Planning a VVC into Metro project, actually a bit of a closet MGR fan Hadn't considered the 25 so will look into it. One problem is I remember looking at petrol ones a year or two back and the insurance was astronomical in comparison. What might be £50 difference to a 40 year old in a decent postcode will be a £500 difference for an 18 year old in, to quote James May, a part of London that's usually on fire

10AE said:

Thanks, I've updated it a bit just now and try to keep on top of it. This is my first bangernomics experiment so I wanted to blog all my costs. I've actually become quite fond of the car so have started spending on preventative maintenance rather than just waiting for things to break first! Not truly in the spirit of bangernomics but, oh well.

The pump swap isn't too much of big job, there is a guide on one of the 306 websites detailing exactly what is required. I haven't bothered to look too much at it as my mileage is quite low but it'd definitely be worth considering at 25k/year. Some 306s come with the Bosch pump to begin with, though. Then you simply pour veg oil into the tank and jobs a good 'un. I think the recommended levels are 60:40 in the summer and 20:80 in the winter as the thicker veg oil will make it difficult to start if it has not been thinned enough.

Nice one I'll have a snoop around the Pug forums and see what I find. Cheers for all the info!

[vit4]

Kevin VRs said:

Have you thought abou moving closer?

Not an option unfortunately. At the moment, I'm still living at home and won't be on a massive salary. Not very exciting but I really want to build up a chunk of savings over the next few years for a deposit on a house etc, so just looking to minimise costs. House sharing would do my head in and renting my own place would eliminate any chance of building decent savings quickly. The job move isn't definite yet by any means, I might be able to get one 30-odd miles away, but the staff at most local branches at where I work is fairly stagnant so to get the position I want it's probably going to have to be a distance jobby. Such is life