I am lucky enough to have a father that owns his own car business which means i have access to a lot of different cars.

In a fit of stupidity, I bought myself a 94 'L' Cherry Red 106 Xsi, to carry me around my busy student schedule.

Don't get me wrong, the 1.4 engine was fun for... ooh... 5 minutes, I even managed to enjoy the Go-Kart like handling for a while. I don't wish to sound too harsh, the 106 Xsi is a fun car, if you're under 6 foot, which i am not.

So, lack of head room can always be overcome if you open the sunroof. Be careful when it rains though, what am i saying? If it rains you will get wet anyway because of the poor quality peugeot build. I could honestly say that my 'sieve-like' Pug is not a one off, I have driven a number of 106's, including the latest Rallye and Gti, and they all do/will suffer from dodgy seals at some point.

Fuel consumption is not too good either, but if you're just pootling around town, you'll get approx. 30 mpg, which is pretty good i suppose.

The 1.4 is quicker than the 1.6 ('95 onwards), this has been proven on a number of occassions, much to the dismay of the 'newer' car drivers. The tight suspension will also give cars with much bigger engines a run for their money around the twisty bits.

Reliability was never a real problem, I had resigned myself to the fact that when something did go wrong it was not going to be cheap. As I said, I have a father in the business so I get all my parts trade price, I would HATE to have to pay full price because peugeot bits are NOT cheap!! Having said this, the only problems were with the suspension, which I can take part responsibility for.

If I was to share some advice on ownership of a 106 (any model)it would be:

a) Be short
b) Oil and Filter Change every 8-10,000 miles (PLEASE!!)
c) Get the tracking checked every 3 months (If you are prone to cornering fas
t)
d) Keep it clean and waxed to prevent the inevitable rust in the future
e) Sell it as soon as possible and buy a proper car.
f) If you're a bird or a wimp, the steering is heavy (thanks to 185, 60, 14 tyres on a car only slightly more substantial than a wet paper bag)

Please note, these are just my opinions. I could have had a really bad experience with this car. But I have driven many, many 106's and they are all the same!

Sorry if I burst anyones bubble.... buy Japanese if you want hassle free motoring.