We all love 406's but what do you hate about them?

[TehAgent]

Things i hate about the 406?

Well as its still not on the road yet (need that mot and tax for that bugger bloody postal strike has made my insurance docs late as well) But from what I've managed to do on the small bit of private land that i can drive it on, this is what I've noticed.

- Trying to find a exhaust that will fit a 2.0l turbo petrol that doesn't cost £575 (not naming the well known garage but dang!)
- Trying to find a second hand Bitron sender unit, that is described only as Electronic control box, by Peugeot
- Feeling like I'm driving in a land-rover as the seat seems very high for the lowness of the car? (are they supposed to feel like that?)
- The hand brake, mine too only engages fully on the last click.
- The clutch biting point being so high, makes me sound like I'm over revving it every time i change gear.
- Plastic clips instead of good old bolts holding the front grill in place.
- Dodgy electric speedometer that has a mind of its own, not good when you live in the speed camera capital of the world.
- Key pad immobiliser being hidden in a small flip down door, why not just leave it on show like Citroen did, least they don't have to break your windows to find out they need a code to start it.
- Alarm siren key hole in the boot that doesn't work using the drivers key. (found the key hole, just not the key)
- CD multi changer not fitting into its mounts forcing you to unbolt the mounts first to put the bugger back in when the previous owner had taken it out.
- Drivers handbook not saying how to change the keypad immobiliser code or anything about it to be honest.
- The fact it mists up as soon as you get in?

[STALLED]

The shitty factory sound system - distorts too easily when I put on my "doof doof" music!

[Welly]

I noticed the other day how you can see the car body colour from inside the car over by the wing mirrors where the door shuts against the dash. It's a bit that isn't covered by interior trim and looks a bit cheapo to me and is the only place inside where you can see a painted panel.

[steve_earwig]

- Feeling like I'm driving in a land-rover as the seat seems very high for the lowness of the car? (are they supposed to feel like that?)

Probably not, mine's cranked up high as it goes, maybe yours is too - telescopic lever on the side of the seat.

- The hand brake, mine too only engages fully on the last click.

Welcom to the 406 owner's club!

- Plastic clips instead of good old bolts holding the front grill in place.

Mine's fine, no danger of it falling off!

- Key pad immobiliser being hidden in a small flip down door

They don't have them here, maybe that's a good thing...

- Alarm siren key hole in the boot that doesn't work using the drivers key. (found the key hole, just not the key)

New one on me, you sure it's not some aftermarket addition?
-

- The fact it mists up as soon as you get in?

No air con?

[TehAgent]

- Feeling like I'm driving in a land-rover as the seat seems very high for the lowness of the car? (are they supposed to feel like that?)

Probably not, mine's cranked up high as it goes, maybe yours is too - telescopic lever on the side of the seat.

Electric leather seats so no leaver on the side of the seat, just the button, though i know that the 406 has the same cloth seats as the Xantia with that same leaver, just different trim.

The hand brake, mine too only engages fully on the last click.

Welcome to the 406 owner's club!

Thank you very much

- Alarm siren key hole in the boot that doesn't work using the drivers key. (found the key hole, just not the key)

New one on me, you sure it's not some aftermarket addition?

Definitely something that was added at manufacture stage.

-

- The fact it mists up as soon as you get in?

No air con?

air-con works, but i mean soon as you step in with out the engine running, poof mists up like 100 people are in the car..

**edit**

hooo, strange quote box around my replay, kinda looks funky

[steve_earwig]

Mine mists up too but the defogger button seems to do the trick pretty quickly, even with a cold engine. All the cars I've had in recent years seem to do this too. Maybe recent cars have better sealing but I'd hate to have them without aircon as you really need have to wait 'til the engine warms up before moving off.

As an aside, thinking about one of those engine preheaters...

[Welly]

One of the byproducts of air conditioning is condensed water droplets. When you stop and get out of your car the humidity of the interior builds up because of the wet heat exchanger in there. Then when the windscreen and back window cool down in winter the water vapour steams up the inside of the window until you use the a/c again to clear it.

Unfortunately at this time of year it becomes a vicious circle. Abstaining from using the a/c for a few days will dry everything out but that's then going back to the old days of no a/c.

This week I have noticed a problem with clearing the screen because when the outside temp is below 10degC the a/c compressor cycles on/off and leaves you with no screen-clearing power in between cycles.

I had a Ford Onion once which had a heated screen (that was the only note-worthy part about the car).

[steve_earwig]

I had a Ford Onion once which had a heated screen (that was the only note-worthy part about the car).

I had a Scrapio, likewise, pile of badly made junk in all other areas.

[Xanthic]

Handbrake!!! - I thought I was the only one!
No rear wipers - hate it so much, you know I have to squeegee the back window before I drive when it mists on the outside? I look like a tramp...
Insurance - seperate thread.
Parking - it's too big! It's the first 'grown up' car I've ever driven, I cant park the f*cker.
Rubber seals on door sills - My rear drivers side door doesnt have one, it's in the boot after many months of me telling people not to slam the door or open it too fast...

Other than that I genuinely love the car!

[jameslxdt]

The shitty factory sound system - distorts too easily when I put on my "doof doof" music!

turn the bass down
or try the JBL saloon or coupe system

[V6Exec]

No rear wipers - hate it so much, you know I have to squeegee the back window before I drive when it mists on the outside? I look like a tramp...

I had a D8 GLX that had a wiper but no wash jets!!!!

Now I have a D9 estate that has both

[steve_earwig]

Parking - it's too big! It's the first 'grown up' car I've ever driven, I cant park the f*cker.

My estates are about 4,7 meters long, my (joke on wheels) Ni$$an was over 5, as was The Bishop, but I've been driving things like Tranzits for many years so these things are a doddle.

You can buy aftermarket parking sensors, also electric mirrors mean you can point them down at your back wheels to get a better idea without leaving your comfy chair

[bargainbro]

Aaw, this seems the right topic for my first post...What do I hate about them? Well number one, I truly DO hate those fake-wood panels in the interior.Yak.Then
there´s the rumbling sound of the petrol engines.At least every ew10j4 I´ve heard sound like they´re gonna break down any second.And of course the mile-long gearstick

[Eric]

I had a Ford Onion once which had a heated screen (that was the only note-worthy part about the car).

I had a Scrapio, likewise, pile of badly made junk in all other areas.

I had a Scorpio (2.9 V6) and it was awesome!
Never broke down and I just couldn't break it - no matter how hard I tried.
Lovely seats too.

The heated windscreen blew up once when I put it on though, oh and the air-con didn't work.
And it didn't corner.

Oh and it was slow... well a lot faster than the HDi but still slow

So maybe it wasn't that good after all

[Eric]

Oh and the main thing I hate about the 406 (apart from the handbrake) is the total and complete lack of power and useless 1st gear!

Is there a car on the road that is slower than the HDi?
Not sure if I've met one yet.