2001 Peugeot 406 2.2 Sri

My new car!

With both my insurance settlement for the Saxo, and the compensation check from the other party, it was time to but a new car. I wanted something bigger as my dad retired and lost his company car (pug 406 Hdi 110) so I no longer have access to a usefully sized vehicle. The Saxo had been fun, but too noisy and cramped on long journeys. The Granada was a bit of a test to see if I would enjoy a big car and could afford the 30mpg it does.

Then I saw this car advertised.... It's a 2001 X reg Peugeot 406 2.2 Sri estate in monaco blue. Its a rare car as well - theres usually around 10 for sale nationwide and it was only sold for 2 years. The car has quite a high spec, with a fantastic half leather interior, climate control, 6 disc CD changer, 16" alloys and most things are electric (I miss my powered heated seats though). The engine is a 2.2 litre 4 cylinder 16v engine, driving the front wheels. It makes 160 bhp and 160 ft/lb, with 85% of the torque from 1900rpm. 283mm discs on the front with ABS + EBD stop the car in a serious way.

The car is actually very nice to drive, with speed sensitive power steering and stiffened suspension it handles well and the power means it does go quite quick - deceptively so. The car is very comfortable on long drives and just eats the miles up. My new HP Ipaq will soon be providing sat nav in the car and I will be installing some stereo upgrades as well. More to follow on this car - I intend to keep it for quite some time now.

Update: 09/09/2004:
I've now had the car for several months and I thought its time for a update. The trip counter shows 3000 miles at 30.7 Mpg after my usual driving with the odd long trip. No actual problems with the car, the speedo turned off 3 times in 5000 miles and hasn't done so lately. Otherwise all is good. THe car overtakes briskly and cruises well on the motor way, you just need to keep an eye on the speedo as its rather deceptive and wants to hit the ton all the time.

I now have my HP IPAQ 1940 in use as a sat nav device using the TomTom sofware and TomTom Bluetooth GPS unit. Its been working well with the exeption of trying to find a postcode in the lakes. It works if you have the house number and street name else its pot luck. With the addition of a database of speed cameras it tells me where cameras are as well. All in all not bad when you can get all the bits for £400ish including a good PDA....