306 for a second car?

[mk2rs]

I bought a 1999 Toyota Avensis 1.6 for my first car simply as the bloke was selling it for £400 and I knew it would have been well looked after...

I am considering a 306 HDi 2.0 for my second car, but as these are older cars and likely to be some high mileage examples, is this a good idea?

Ideally I will find one that hasn't been ragged about by a 'boy-racer', but I'm more worried about turbos failing, poor reliability etc?

Anyones thoughts or advice on this?

Thanks

[Motorrad]

Likewise I wouldn't have one as a 'second car' if my first car was an Avensis. However as something to abandon with abandon as a counterpart to something a bit tastier I can't think of anything better for the money.

I'm very satisfied with my 306 non turbo diesel, IMO it's better than the turbo'd cars as they are less likely to have been ragged around by some chav, most of them have the Bosch fuel pump that you can run on waste/veg oil without it fking up and there is nothing on them to go wrong. They aren't even that slow round town and will cruise at 80mph no problem.

[StoatInACoat]

Had a few before and still have one as a sensible car with a proper boot. Far more reliable than most will have you believe and lovely to drive. As said, rear beams fail and check front suspension for knocks and play. Easy and cheap to fix as usually drop links or wishbone bushes/ball joints that will fail. Air con will not work, the pipes rot and are ver expensive to fix. Check interior fans, rear callipers (HDI will have rear discs) central locking and uneven tyre wear. Handbrake will be crap, just make sure the callipers haven't seized.

Walk away from anything with rust or misaligned front end and check boot floor/panel below boot with the badges on for damage. Most will have dents here but a creased boot or bent sill is not good. These shouldn't rust unless very early ones or a bad repair although phase 1/2 (before the clear headlights and round fogs) had issues with the inside of the rear offside arch collecting crap and water because they have no arch liner. Pull back boot carpet to check, reject anything that is damp or rusty here. HDI should be phase 3 and the problem was fixed.

Getting hard to find a good one now. Been vaguely looking for a nice estate to replace ours and there don't seem to be any that haven't been abused.

Edited by StoatInACoat on Tuesday 10th July 09:05

[Hub]

They were pretty good cars in their time, but they must be all pretty knackered by now! If you find a well looked after one the engine can be pretty reliable, though you are also bound to suffer a few electrical niggles.

[300bhp/ton]

doogz said:

Why do you want a second car? For weekend fun?

Or do you mean to replace your first car?

+1 that'd be my question too.

doogz said:

I love 306's, they're great cars, but I wouldn't have one as well as an Avensis, both pretty 'white goods' sort of cars.

If it's to replace the Avensis, then yeah, like i said, great cars, pay particular attention to the rear suspension, they're getting on a bit now, and replacing trailing arm bearings is a nuisance, and a mate's in the middle of having all sorts of issues with his fuel pump. He's replaced it, the old one was gubbed, yet still, the car won't start.

+1 to all that too.

[Pentoman]

If you want it, do it. Doesnt sound like a major risk. Buy carefully - they attract cheapskate owners and many will be ex fleet cars and things. Great cars to drive - although the mk1 Avensis wasn't that bad either.

[ShawCrossShark]

Some good advice here. I am on my second one now, had a 1.4 petrol and now have a 1.9TD GLX. As said before be prepared for electrical niggles, mine has a few but it was only £525 quid with 8 months ticket. Drop links seem to be a regular thing for replacing.

Pug diesel blocks have a good reputation so if it has been looked after you should be fine.

Nice handling and feel pretty nippy as you are quite lowslung in them. Comfortable too!

[mk2rs]

Thanks for all the replies!

Sorry I should have been more clear, the 306 would be replacing the Avensis.

I would probably be replacing the shocks/springs with an Apex -30mm kit or similar, I'm looking at a HDi for the possibilities to tune/modify at a lower cost than buying a newer car.

With regard to the air con issue I'd be looking at removing it anyway in order to make way for a FMIC at some stage.

If I removed it would I still have a heater or is this part of the air con system? I ask this because I live in Yorkshire and cold winter mornings aren't too good...

Thanks (:

[Krikkit]

Brave to start modifying - that's a whole heap of expense coming. Rear beam is a particular bd to lower after 15 years of road time.

[300bhp/ton]

mk2rs said:

Thanks for all the replies!

Sorry I should have been more clear, the 306 would be replacing the Avensis.

I would probably be replacing the shocks/springs with an Apex -30mm kit or similar, I'm looking at a HDi for the possibilities to tune/modify at a lower cost than buying a newer car.

With regard to the air con issue I'd be looking at removing it anyway in order to make way for a FMIC at some stage.

If I removed it would I still have a heater or is this part of the air con system? I ask this because I live in Yorkshire and cold winter mornings aren't too good...

Thanks (:

Heater should be operate to air con and won't be affected. Nice looking cars the 306's. There's a member on here who used to have quite a well modded one, can't recall their name, but if I remember it I'll post up.

[StoatInACoat]

mk2rs said:

Thanks for all the replies!

Sorry I should have been more clear, the 306 would be replacing the Avensis.

I would probably be replacing the shocks/springs with an Apex -30mm kit or similar, I'm looking at a HDi for the possibilities to tune/modify at a lower cost than buying a newer car.

With regard to the air con issue I'd be looking at removing it anyway in order to make way for a FMIC at some stage.

If I removed it would I still have a heater or is this part of the air con system? I ask this because I live in Yorkshire and cold winter mornings aren't too good...

Thanks (:

Heater is separate.

To remove the air con properly you will need a new aux belt set up (shorter) and a FMIC will require pipe work, slim line rad, slim line fans, boost adjusting to suit and definitely remapping. You'll more than likely need to cut the metal work about on the front as well. My advice would be to stick a stage one remap on it and leave it alone, it simply isn't worth the expense and effort to mess heavily with these engines. You lose fuel economy, it smokes like fury and it'll still sound cack. You'll also reduce the life of the clutch significantly and it can start to get very expensive very quickly. If you want performance get the GTI-6.

Regards, modified 306 Dturbo owner (The old one, no ecu, sounds like a lorry with a straight through)

[veevee]

StoatInACoat said:

Regards, modified 306 Dturbo owner (The old one, no ecu, sounds like a lorry with a straight through)

Weren't D-Turbos 3-door only?

[StoatInACoat]

veevee said:

Weren't D-Turbos 3-door only?

Geek answer:

No, they came in four door flavour as well although they are very rare but "DTurbo" actually denotes a trim level, not just the engine. You can get DTurbo HDI's for example and it's the "sporty" spec.

However, the car pictured is phase 2 Meridian with a load of phase 3 bits on ( Top spec so leather, air con, alloys, auto wipers, etc) but it is mechanically the same as a DTurbo and uses the same engine. Ish. There were lots of different combinations of fuel pump and turbos but ours has had both of these uprated anyway.

Apparently.

[300bhp/ton]

mk2rs said:

Thanks for all the replies!

Sorry I should have been more clear, the 306 would be replacing the Avensis.

I would probably be replacing the shocks/springs with an Apex -30mm kit or similar, I'm looking at a HDi for the possibilities to tune/modify at a lower cost than buying a newer car.

With regard to the air con issue I'd be looking at removing it anyway in order to make way for a FMIC at some stage.

If I removed it would I still have a heater or is this part of the air con system? I ask this because I live in Yorkshire and cold winter mornings aren't too good...

Thanks (:

Mr Whippy, aka Dave. He had a nice 306 diesel. Might be worth shooting him a PM.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?mem...

[philmots]

If you're struggling to find a good one look at the 406's too. Was a thread on here about a month ago saying they're solid cars.

[Motorrad]

Do yourself a favour- if you want a diesel by some low spec 'piece of crap' like mine. Won't have been abused and given decent tyres will still please as day to day drive. Otherwise buy an enthusiast owned GTI-6 and reap the rewards of their analism, particularly suspension wise.

Most of the TD's that abound seem to be abused shagged P.O.S or chavved up modified stboxes, or both.

[PhillipM]

There's certainly a LOT of shagged DTurbo's around, even the ones owned by enthusiasts

[LiamM45]

My Mrs bought one as cheap transport to uni and back (£400 with 12 months MOT), and it did it's job very very well! Comfy, nippy enough and cheap to run, couldn't ask for more out of a workhorse car.

It was excellent until 2 weeks ago, the aux belt snapped, okay... £8 and some skinned knuckles later it's fixed. 2 days after that the timing belt snapped rather unexpectedly! So it's now off to the scrapheap in the sky.

[pwrc]

had a 2.0 hdi (meridian) for about a month now and it's been faultless (well, I have some suspicions that the aircon has a mind of its own). was quite lucky to find it i think, 109k on the clock and one lady owner (missed out on a 70k/1 owner)

seats are comfy, ride is good, handling is what you'd expect from a peugeot hatchback (delicious) and it's not slow either.

as others have said check the electrical bits and the springy bits, but a good one should treat you well.

[veevee]

StoatInACoat said:

veevee said:

Weren't D-Turbos 3-door only?

Geek answer:

No, they came in four door flavour as well although they are very rare but "DTurbo" actually denotes a trim level, not just the engine. You can get DTurbo HDI's for example and it's the "sporty" spec.

However, the car pictured is phase 2 Meridian with a load of phase 3 bits on ( Top spec so leather, air con, alloys, auto wipers, etc) but it is mechanically the same as a DTurbo and uses the same engine. Ish. There were lots of different combinations of fuel pump and turbos but ours has had both of these uprated anyway.

Apparently.

I wasn't referring to the engine, I thought that D-Turbos were the ones with all the trimmings, in a 3-door shell, a-la GTI-6..