Peugeot 206 1.6 16v Roland Garros 5dr Review

Good Points
Low cost of ownership
High spec
Leather and suede interior
The way other people look when you show them the car for the first time.

Bad Points
Nigling faults and getting to know the service manager at my local peugeot dealer very well.

General Comments
Want a large, well specified car but can't have one for whatever reason? Buy the Peugeot 206 1.6 16v Roland Garros 5dr Family Car and you can have a small car with all the savings, while still having the toys, comfort and performance you would expect from a larger car.



This car stands out with it's - unique to the RG -"Tie Break Green" paintwork combined with it's oyster coloured leather interior. The spec levels are more 406 then 206 and include automatic rain- sensing windscreen wipers, digital climate control and electric windows all round. The car also has a 6-speaker stereo with 6-cd autochanger and steering wheel remote control made by Clarion which means that it doesn't sound too bad at all.



Driving this car is a pleasure and the performance is surprisingly good for a car with a 1.6 litre engine. 0-62 comes up in 9.4 seconds and just laugh as the average 2.0 litre family saloon driver struggles to keep up; even more so on the twisty bits! The handling is assured and the car is noticeably quicker and easier to drive quickly then my old 406 was. The leather clad sports seats help here too, supporting your weight and holding you in place no matter what the car does. The car feels even quicker just because it has white sports dials in the dash which really set it apart from the other 206's.



Safety wise the car looks after you well with ABS which works well. Driver and passanger airbags are present with a switch so that you can turn off the passanger airbag. The car got 4-stars in the Euro-NCAP tests and for the age of the design this is not too bad at all. There are seat-belt pre-tensioners and the rear seat-belts are all 3-point in design. The only point of concern that I had was the glass roof which goes from front to back but this is made of laminated glass which means that it is a lot tougher then normal toughened glass and will not shatter spraying glass all over the occupants.



There are a couple of niggles that I have with the car and these are based around space. Rear leg space is non-existent and the boot is useless; mind you I am comparing this to one of the largest cars on the market.



Reliability has generally been good and the car doesn't have any problems that would have me too concerned. After a service the car seemed to have shed it's oil all over the road but upon inspection it turned out that some over-zealous mechanic had overfilled the oil. The wing-mirror folding mechanism failed and the whole unit was replaced under warranty. The climate-control screen has a habit of not displaying any information when the car is started with the headlights already on, (my wife stalls) but this is resolved by turning the lights off before starting the car. The starter motor developed a fault where it would not dis-engage when the key was released, producing a horrible grinding noise; this once again was replaced under warranty. The most annoying thing however is the central air outlet on the dashboard; turn the temperature down to anything below 16 degrees on a hot day and when the air starts to pump out the vent closes: it just can't stay open when the air moves fast!



In conclusion this is a car that I have really enjoyed owning. It is cheap to run and yet still provides thrills and driving satisfaction that I thought only the GTi would. Despite it's little problems this is a car that I will keep for a while and has not put me off peugeots at all.