Peugeot 406 2.0HPi Executive Reviews

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Good Points: Spec

Bad Points: It's a Peugeot
Peugeot Dealers

General comments: I've had my latest 406, a Peugeot 406 2.0HPi Executive, for almost a year and a half now and really, I cannot say anything too good about it.

The car is well specified and the list goes like this:
Sat Nav
Automatic climate control
JBL audio system
Electric Windows, seats and sunroof
Alarm and imobiliser
Trip Computer
Automatic headlights and windscreen wipers
Headlamp washers
Leather apholstry
Phone system built in (this was I believe a box ticked by the first owner)
Front and side airbags.

Firstly, the good points.
The car is obviosly well specced and also has the PSA HPi petrol engine, which gives better power and torque, combined with lower fuel consumption and emmissions compared to the standard 2l petrol engine. Performance wise, you get 137BHP and 143lbft of torque, up from 136BHP and just under 140lbft of torque with the normal engine. Economy is also better, 37mpg and only 177g of CO2 for every km driven. The engine, when it works, is great for a Peugeot four-pot unit, and gives much more confidence when trying to overtake on a two lane road. You also get the fantastic ride quality that only Peugeot can provide, combined with good seats, which are both comfortable and quite supportive on the twisty bits which means that the car is a really nice place to be.

The electrics are quite reliable and the stereo is fantastic. The JBL unit has a separate amplifier and uprated speakers all round, so bass, treble and volume are far superior to most standard fit stereo systems, my subwoofer has lived in the garage since I bought this car. The sat-nav works well, but is controlled by a really fiddly remote control, which is a chore when it comes to inputting a new route.

This all sounds good but with this car it seems that Peugeot tried to cut costs and also make a very high spec car to compete with the Germans, a true case of having your cake and eating it, where the customer is really the loser. Without further ado, let's move onto the bad points about this car. There are so many.

The car is fragile, feels cheap and bits come loose, fall off or in the case of the wiper and indictor stalks, wear to the point where you no longer have any control over what they are doing.
Airbags went faulty and had to be replaced
Exhaust mid section and rear box had to be replaced, Peugeot only part. They quoted £400. I said get lost and went and had one built to fit in stainless steel for £230
Brakes and any other consumables are specific to the model and are puegeot only. For example, spark plugs are £76 a set and no, normal ones just won't do.
You really cannot go to a non-dealer garage to have work done. Their diagnostics computer won't talk to the car, they can't get the parts and 99.9% of the time, they don't even know what it is. One mechanic at a Peugeot Citroen specialist garage, looking at the engine bay, asked me if it was a 407 as he'd never seen that engine before.

The main problem is really the model's obscurity. The HPi engine is so unusual and uncommon that the only place work can be carried out on it is at a Peugeot dealer. This is both expensive, and infuriating, especially when Peugeot mechanics keep thinking it is the HDi, a turbodiesel and obviously completely the wrong car. The engine is utterly unreliable and worked well for about three months after I bought it. Since then I have visited the dealer on average, once or twice a month and they have never been able to diagnose the fault with the car. Once or twice, they have carried out diagnostics, (£60 per hour) replaced the "faulty part," usually at great expense, and the car runs even worse then it did before they touched it. They now tell me, that all my problems have been down to a faulty high-pressure fuel pump which "only lasts about 50,000 miles before replacement." A part, which can only be bought through a Peugeot dealer and which costs with fitting and VAT over £1000. They can't quote an exact price as they have never fitted one before and don't know how long it will take. This was the final straw, I left the dealership, swearing never to buy a peugeot ever again, and have traded in the four year old car for £2150 and will take delivery of my Lexus this Wednesday.

£2150 trade in on a four year old car really says something about Peugeot. There's a reason their cars are quite cheap and highly specced, and you really should steer well clear. Their cars are bad, their service staff are worse and to own a Peugeot like this one is an utter nightmare. My mistake, was to buy this car from a car-supermarket, who only offered a three month warranty. Never again will I go to a car-supermarket and never again will I buy a Peugeot.