The drive of your life (Peugeot 106 GTi)

Member Name: x-cupcake-x

Product:	Peugeot 106 GTi
Date:	31/08/09 (168 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can be cheap to buy, Excellent fun to drive

Disadvantages: Can suffer from reliability issues and poor image

Where do I start on a review of the Peugeot (Pug) 106 GTI?

This is a car that I have loved since I first saw one 7 years ago, but I will try not to omit the bad points from my review.

I have owned my little beastie for four months now and it is the second one (and third 106) that I have owned.

I wasn't really looking at replacing my Rover Mini but a friend of mine was looking through Autotrader for a new car and I spotted a little black 106 GTI looking for a new home. It was priced at around the same amount I would get if I put my Mini on the market, and having never truly got over losing my first GTI after crashing it I knew that I would have to go and take a look at this one.

After five years out of the drivers seat of one of these pocket rockets, sitting in it on the test drive I felt like I belonged again. I had taken my car loving OH with me for a second opinion and after agreeing that it was worth the asking price of £1900 (standard with 77k miles and full service history) a deposit was laid down.

Jeremy Clarkson once described these cars as one of the best handling cars in the world coming second place to a Ferrari 550 and it's easy to see why, nearly every one who has owned one of these describes them as handling like go-karts.

There are two cars for me discounting the ones I'll never afford which make you grin from ear to ear when you're driving them - this and a classic Mini. You really have to drive a Pug 106 GTI to understand why people love them so much.

With a 120bhp and weighing less than 1000Kgs the 1.6 litre engine really makes this car move, surprising a lot of people who just look upon them as a shopping trolley car.

When they were first released in 1996 they came with a cloth interior and bump strips on the door, Peugeot gave it a mini face lift getting rid of the bump strips and replacing the interior with leather and alcantara trim.
Giving a luxury feel for a relatively small budget now.

The 1.6litre engine can give almost 400 miles to a tank (45l) of petrol if driven in a more refined manner.

Unfortunately these beasties are not without their problems and many are prone to ignition coil problems which can cause them to have a lumpy idle, there are other things which may go wrong too such as the fuel pump or stepper motor. But as the oldest of these cars are now 12 years old it would be naive to expect them to be without problems.

They can also suffer from image problems of being a boy racer's car as they become cheaper to buy.

The 106 GTI is insurance group 13 which is slightly higher than the Citroen Saxo VTS despite being almost the exact same car.

Poorer examples of the GTI can be picked up for around the £600 mark where as some are still fetching above £5000.

I would recommend looking for a model with as much service history as possible, and check for the original interior as these can fetch a small fortune so some people remove them and put cheaper interiors in or replace them with bucket seats.

Particular colours - Cherry Red, Bianca White & Sundance Yellow are more sought after and seem to cost more than other colours.

The 106 GTI was produced from 1996 - 2003. Mine is a 1998 and falls into the old road tax brackets at £104.50 for 6 months or £190 for a year. The later one are £118.25 6months or £215 1 year.

Peugeot 106 1.6 GTi
(1996-2003)

FUEL TYPE: petrol (gasoline)
ENGINE CAPACITY: 1587cc
CYLINDERS: In-line 4
VALVES: 16
POWER: 120bhp
TORQUE: 107 lb-ft
DRIVEN WHEELS: front (FWD)
STANDARD TRANSMISSION: 5-speed manual
OPTIONAL TRANSMISSION: none
BODY STYLES: 3-door hatchback
SEATING CAPACITY: 4

MAXIMUM SPEED: 128mph
0-60: 8.4 seconds
AVERAGE FUEL ECONOMY: 33mpg

LENGTH: 3678mm [144.8 in]
WIDTH: 1594mm [62.8 in]
HEIGHT: 1383mm [54.4 in]
WHEELBASE: 2385mm [93.9 in]
KERB WEIGHT: 950kg [2093lbs]

CO2 EMISSIONS: 201 g/km
UK INSURANCE GROUP: 13

Summary: Fun on four wheels

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Reliability:
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