Used Peugeot 306 Cabriolet 1997 - 2003 review

What's the used Peugeot 306 like?

With styling by Pininfarina, an Italian design company more famous for designing Ferraris, the Peugeot 306 Cabriolet was a choice drop-top when it was introduced in 1994, being both classy and practical. It can seat four and its chiselled good looks have a lasting style.

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Overview

The Peugeot 306 Cabriolet has four seats and is fairly elegant, but it hasn't aged well

Pros

• It's stylish and practical

Cons

• The ride and handling are poor

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The 306 hatchbacks have a great reputation for precise handling and good cornering, but the loss of the 306's metal roof has a big effect - imperfect road surfaces cause the whole car to shudder.

Build quality is poor by today's standards and the cabin has a distinctly '90's feel. But, at least the insulated hood does a reasonable job of keeping out road and wind noise, and the heated glass rear window is better than the plastic ones on the 306's contemporaries.

Our recommendations

Which used Peugeot 306 should I buy?

There was originally only a 2.0-litre engine option available. With just 123bhp, the car wheezed its way from 0-60mph in a sedate 10.8sec. In '96 a roadster edition was launched which included a removable hardtop and a host of extra goodies as standard.

The whole 306 range was revamped in '97 and the car was both longer and better equipped than before; 1.6-litre and 1.8-litre versions followed, the roadster edition continued and multipoint fuel injection finally came along in 2000.

It's better to go for the post-97 vehicles, but the 1.6 and 1.8 are both fairly feeble, so it's best to stick to the 2.0-litre. There is an automatic option on the 1.6 and 2.0 cars, but this isn't recommended.

Go for the higher-specced SE or one of the limited edition models; private sellers are the best place to pick one up.

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