A womans car!! (Peugeot 106 Independence)

Member Name: GR-Design

Product:	Peugeot 106 Independence
Date:	27/05/03 (10582 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good on fuel, Cheap to run, Low insurance group

Disadvantages: Basic, Pedals are so close together

I suppose I better start by telling you this aint my car and is my girlfriends, I'm totally against buying brand new cars, but there we go, she aint, I am on the insurance though and have drove it round a fair bit, so here we have it a review on an 03 plate Peugeot 106 1.1 Independence!.

THE CAR

You see loads of them on the road, the smallest Peugeot of the road, the baby 306, the car Peugeot made for women!did I really just say that? Well it is, I'll tell you why later. The version I'm reviewing is the entry 106, the independence, stripped of all the usual 'comfort' features you find on a car these days, this car goes back to basics.

You see, the independence version of the 106 is a car, that's it, no creature comforts, and by this I mean theres no central locking, no air conditioning, no ABS, no electric windows, pretty much the same as my first mark 2 fiesta in those respects, it's a car that gets you from A to B and nothing more.

On the road it should cost you around £6500, this one was bought from the usual Peugeot dealer for £6395 with a years road tax and half a tank of petrol. That also included a CD player fitted as an extra and also a drivers airbag, both which didn't come included in the original price. There is a deal where you can get free insurance too, but you have to be over 20 to qualify for this. Once you've parted with your money, or signed a million bits of paper to get finance, the car's yours and off you can go and play with your brand new shiny toy.

The car can be bought on credit typically for £115 a month for 3 years, that's with a £1500 deposit and a final payment on the car of around £2000. I'm not going to go into all the details as there are so many different options surrounding the finance package that it's best to speak to the dealer about it. And so we move on!

THE DEALER

Ok, so your buying a new car, the dealers love y
ou, and they will do all they can to help you with your car purchase. Everything went smoothly as far as I'm aware and they were courteous at all times. However, a month into owning the car my girlfriend got a phonecall asking her to return the car to the dealer so that they could put some parts into the car that were not already there. They were actually going to charge for this too, but in the end they didn't, afterall, it was their own fault. My girlfriend didn't think to ask what they had forgotten, she just took it back and left it with them for a couple of hours.

It turns out that they had forgot to put the spare wheel in the car and also the jack and tool kit etc. Could have been a bit of a problem should she have had a puncture, however, we all didn't think to check the spare wheel, so it was the fault of all of us really.

However, this time the same people were completely different in their attitude towards her. No longer were they courteous, they were just straight to the point and it was a kind of 'well the parts are done, get on your way' type of manner. Pretty bad considering they had forgot a crucial part of the car and also she is on the passport scheme which lets you buy another new car at the end of the 3 years, you'd think they would want to keep her business, but oh well! It's only to be expected!

THE EXTERIOR

The exterior of the car for it's price is very nice to look at, especially when you compare the 106 now to the older, more squared 106's. Metallic paint cost an extra £250, but comes in much better colours, the bumpers are the same colour as the bodywork giving it that better look. The front lights are shaped and now square giving the front end of the car a very nice sexy appeal to it. The back end of the car, is well, just a back end really, nothing special.

There are no alloys on the independence, though the hub caps are of a better standard than they cou
ld have been for the price. The hub caps show albeit fake wheel nuts which just give it that extra appeal. However, I will tell you that the brake dust or whatever it is that normally cleans off will not clean off your new wheels! It does fade off in time, but it seems the same with all new Peugeots if you look around at their wheel trims and down the side of the body, you will notice lots of black blobs, this is something to do with the brakes, but it's not your normal dust.

The independence doesn't boast the side skirt kit, though looks damn good with it on. You can upgrade to this but it doesn't come as standard, leaving the car in my eyes look inferior when it's parked next to an upgraded model.

The side mirrors on the 106 look damn awful though! They are small, and stick out from the body quite a bit, and being a squareish shape do not do the body of the car justice at all. It's just one of those things Peugeot could have done much better and would have made the car look much better from the outside.

Overall impressions are good though, it's got some nice curves on the car and you can't really expect anything more.

INTERIOR

The interior is basic to say the least. No lush surroundings here, but for what the car is built for it does fine. The plastics are a good quality with the dash having all it's buttons (ok, all 4 of them thinking about it!) sitting on the centre console. The centre console finishes about half way off the floor though and then has a small gap before a free compartment behind the gearstick.

When my girlfriend bought the car she asked for a CD player to be fitted, otherwise you get a tape player. The CD player which has been fitted has no make written on it, but produces an ok sound as do the speaker. Nothing startling, but again, it does what it's meant to do. The CD player doesn't have a detachable front, but then I can't see anyone wanting
to nick it.

The seats are covered in a very acceptable cloth which come in all different colours depending on the colour you chose on the outside. They all come with a square motif on the drivers and passenger sides though which is basically four faces laughing at each other for some reason. Just don't ask me why!

One thing I did notice when driving this car for the first time is how minute everything was. I'm not used to big cars, I'm used to fiestas and the hatchback I have now, but the 106 is tiny inside. The steering wheel is smaller than all other cars I have ever drove. The gearstick is also tiny, no good for resting your hand on when your driving (ok, so your not supposed to do that, but it's comfortable). It doesn't give me that feeling of having full control over the car, I just change the gears with my fingers instead of using the palm of my hand as I usually do.

The instruments are in a good position and are easily visible at night, glowing orange. You have the rev counter and speedometer as the main focus, with the fuel gauge being in the centre of these across the top (of you get what I mean!). One thing I found really strange is the lack of a thermometer to tell you how hot the engine is. Indeed, you have no way of telling how hot the engine is or worse, if it's overheating! Surely it wouldn't have been that hard to include one, I've never known a car not to have one personally, but there we go, the 106 does not have a temperature gauge.

Space is at a minimum at all times. Leg room isn't that good width ways for the driver, though ample in terms of length for me (I'm 6ft). The passenger leg space is ok, but nothing startling, you certainly won't be able to stretch your legs on a long journey and you'll no doubt always have them bent . The back is worse, but then again, this is no family car. Head space is fine though, no hitting the roof for me.

The boot is
of an ok size ,what you'd expect, it's not huge but neither is it tiny.

THE DRIVE

Ok, so this is what it comes down to. This car was built to get someone from A to B with the minimum of fuss. It drives well, but it damn well should do for a brand new car. I was surprised getting into the 1.1 and giving it a bit of boy racing how responsive the engine is as you climb up the gears. It's not so good up hills and you will find yourself changing gears more if your used to a more powerful car like I am. It's no good for overtaking, but at the same time does pick up speed extremely well for the engine that's carrying you.

Suspension is good, not too firm, not to soft, I haven't noticed feeling insecure when turning corners, but I haven't attempted turning corners to fast, it's not my car! Road noise however is a bit of a problem and something I picked up on instantly, it seems to bring the noise of the tyres on the road straight into the car, especially at around 40mph when it seems to be more noticeable.

What I find most frustrating is for me, this car is hard to drive, I have to concentrate on what I'm doing all the time. You see, this is a women's car through and through, or a mans car if you have small feet. The amount of room you have down by the pedals is tiny. The accelerator is positioned right next to the wheel arch, meaning for me (and I'm only a size 10, nothing huge) I found myself hitting the side of the brake pedal as I'm accelerating. The same happens when you took your foot off the accelerator, it gets stuck on the underside of the brake, which is obviously a huge danger. The same applies with the clutch on the other side, it isn't positioned so close to the brake, but is positioned extremely close to the centre console, you really do have to be precise when aiming for whichever pedal you need. My girlfriend doesn't find it a problem, but she has smaller, narrowe
r feet. Another bad thing about this for us men is that we need to have our right legs at funny angles when were driving, causing pain I should think on a long journey. It certainly isn't comfortable, but I'm sure I could get used to it. Just remember, the wheel arch is not the accelerator!

MAINTAINANCE

I can't comment on breaking down and parts and it's never needed them, it's only done 1,300 miles so far. It needs a service (which is free) at the end of the first 6 months or at the first 6,000 miles, whichever comes first. It then has service intervals every 20,000 miles, which is extremely good.

The car tells you how many miles the car has left to run before it needs a service via the instrument panel when you first start the car up, it will then change after about 3 seconds to the amount of miles you have recorded. A handy little feature and probably the only feature the car has!

OVERALL

Overall it's a good car for women, not for men. It gets you from A-B without any hassles and at the same time, without any frills. It's an excellent second car choice for the family and an excellent first car. For £6,300 -500 it's a bargain brand new, and the depreciation won't be that much in terms or percentage because of it's low 'new' price.

I wouldn't buy one, purely because of it's pedals. Everything else on the car would do me fine if this was the type of car I was looking to buy (it's not!). It get's 4 out of 5 from me, the positioning of the pedals taking off that final point.

Other cars to consider:
Citreon Saxo (which is basically the same)
Ford Fiesta
VW Lupo

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