Peugeot 306 1.4

Just so that you know before you begin to read this opinion, I am about to tell you all about our car but don’t expect any technical specifications because all that side is completely lost on me! I will just be telling you what she is like from a traveller’s point of view! I don’t actually drive.

Our first car was a second hand Nissan Bluebird. She had been well looked after and suited us well for a while. Her only real problem was her insatiable thirst – she drank leaded petrol by the tankful!

So, regretfully we decided that we had to part with her and we began looking at options for buying another car.

We visited all the local dealers to get information on second hand cars that were about 12 months to two years old as we thought that was where the best bargain would come.

We also made a list of all the things that we would like the new car to have such as air bags, 5 doors etc., and we split these into two categories – those we MUST have and those we’d rather like.

We decided that our top price would have to be around the £10,000 mark. We’d saved a fair bit and could afford a small car loan as well.

On our visits to various car showrooms we saw quite a variety of cars that were nearly right for us and we had some laughs along the way. We went to our local car supermarket and it is one of those places where the salesmen hunt in packs and pounce on you as soon as you get out of your car.

One such gentleman said to us ‘What are you looking for?’ almost before we’d switched off our engine so Dave answered him by saying ‘A car’ – the salesman never cracked his face!

Anyway we looked at all the second hand cars and some of the new ones at various places and eventually decided to take a trip to Regal Motors at Bilston from where we had been hiring Peugeots before we had the Nissan.

And there she was ……………

It was as though someone had put the car we wanted there at a price we could afford, just to wait for us to find her. God works in mysterious ways.

She had 5 doors which was THE main requirement as far as we were concerned as we have elderly parents who are not now agile enough to clamber over a folded front seat to get into the back of a car. Come to think of it – I struggle these days!

She had ABS (Antilock Brake System) which I had seen demonstrated on the television a few weeks before and I was amazed at the difference it made in the ability to control the car. Dave has really noticed the benefits, particularly when driving along winding roads. The handling on the corners is much more accurate and as a result safer.

There are twin air bags again an excellent safety feature, but one I hope never gets used.

She has electric windows and sunroof but no air conditioning, which is what we wanted as the air conditioning tends to use up a lot of fuel and we wanted the new car to be as economical a possible.

An immobiliser is fitted as standard, so we didn't need added security.

In fact the only thing on either of our two lists of requirements that she didn’t have was a CD player and we thought we could manage without one of those! We can always have one fitted at a later date if we want to anyway.

I have just realised – I haven’t actually told you what the car is! Mind you I suppose you could guess by which category I have posted this opinion in!

She’s a V reg Peugeot 306 1.4 in Ocean Blue, so even the colour was one that we liked.

It was May 2000 when we first saw the car and the date of registration was the previous December which is why there was about £2,000 knocked off the asking price, as the new registration letter was about to become available.

Even better was the fact that she only had nine miles on the clock! And we got a discount card to get 10% off spares when we purchased them from the same dealer.

We have never regretted buying this car for an instant. Dave loves to drive it, I am happy and comfortable as the passenger (and map-reader), there’s plenty of room for mom and dad in the back and there’s plenty of luggage space too. If we need to move something bigger than usual we can split the back seat one third or two thirds or lie it completely flat and there’s a LOT of room in the hatch back then!

Add all this to the fact that she only uses about half as much petrol as the old one and she uses unleaded too (the old one needed LRP) and we’re well pleased!

Touch wood we have ahd no problems with her so far. She has had two main services and sailed through both with very little to be done, and the servie at the garage where she was purchased is excellent.