Hi everyone - I’ve been looking round at 4 seater Cabriolets and really like the look of the Peugeot 306 (1993 -2002). Anyone had one ? or even better, know where a good one is for sale ? Don’t think I’ll be getting rid of the MX-5, - but as these 306s are so cheap, (though I realise they’re not in the same league as my Mazda), I thought I’d give one a go as way of a change. All replies gratefully received. Thanks in advance, Colin
Just be careful with 4 seater convertibles the rear passengers can get seriously battered.Had a loan 2019 Audi A3 convertible for a weekend,dreadful car with the roof down my daughter in back virtually in tears till swapped her round with my wife then I was nearly in tears with the abuse my wife gave me when we got home.
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Hi Colin. A had a 306 cabby and have to say although it looked great, metallic green with cream leather, the drive wasn’t great…
I had issues with a leaky roof that at the time I couldn’t resolve and had to change the rheostat in the heater three times in my 5 years of ownership…
Day to day she was a decent drive and crackin lines with the roof down…
These 306 cabroets are a bit thin on the ground, and seem to be generally decrepit condition. Good luck on sourcing a new soft top for one of these. But they follow on from the old 304 Cabriolet. Not exactly much choice.
A few years ago my father, before Alzheimers, treated himself to a post retirement cabriolet. He looked at the Peugeot 27cc, the Astra cabriolet, the VW Eos, the Renault Megane cabriolet, before settling on a 6 month old facelift top of the range Ford Focus CC3. He enjoyed it for 9 years, without any particular fault. When the Alzheimers set in, we sold it on for £900. Seemed like a lot of car for the money.
The conversion work was originally done by Pininfarina, but Ford were hit by the compalints about leaks, something Ford wasn’t used to. So they literally brought back every one of the old Mk2-Focus based cars, took over Pininfarina’s plant, overhauled the whole process, including the leak test process, making the facelifted Focus CC probably the most intensively tested folding metal top cabriolet on sale at the time.
The Eos was a well finished car; supposedly baed on a Golf, but not sharing any panels.
The 307 felt cheap and nasty inside. Rear seat was unuable due to the sloping roof. The Megane was just horrible inside. The Focus interior is well known. Its a bit plastiquey, but everything is screwed together well. Its lifted a bit in the CC3 trim (leather interior); they did a camel leather interior that looks a bit expensive Clarkon like the Ford, and appreciated its styling. Back seat, roof down, is fine.
If I was looking for a 25 year old cheap but quirky 4-door cabriolet, I’d be considering the Saab 9-3, its basically a Cavalier underneath (cheap machanics), they seem to be classily appointed inside, with Saab quirks such as where the ignitiion key is located. Always seem to be £1500-2000 or less, depending how lucky you feel. Both cars are probably going to be modern classics, by the 306s are just so rare now. While a corny choice, BMW E36 convertibles might be on the rise.
I seem to remember it having a very high encap rating compared with other cabriolets, if that’s something of importance to @colindash.
Of course depending on what the actual budget was (I see those 306s’ range somewhat), you could likely get a 4 seat classic car for similar money.
Before buying my 5 I did look at 4 seater convertibles; but it was clear from the reviews that in order to avoid air buffeting, those within my budget all required one of those wind deflectors that block the rear seats when the roof is down; so, in my opinion, there was no point in having rear seats.
If you must have them, here’s what my searching also taught me: VW Eos are renowned for their leaking roofs. Just look at own many used ones are advertised as having had their seals replaced…
I would have considered a Vauxhall Astra Twintop or a Volvo C70.
What about a SAAB 900?
The 900s are crazy money, the 9-3s look similar, and are still banger money. But maybe not for much longer.
Thanks for all replies - very interesting. These do seem great looking cars - but roofs are very unrealiable. They don’t suffer much from tin worm (galvanated so I believe), and £3000 is top money for a garage queen - so has to be worth a look. My daily drivers for the past 20 odd years have been various Berlingo WAVs, and I consider the 306 to be a bit similar in some respects, so don’t expect any suprises. I would be using the wind deflector - no back seat passengers ( a variety of reasons for this, seems a bit counter productive - but it should work for me ) All the best, Colin
Also consider the Mercedes CLK 4 seater cabriolet, but the later model 2003 onwards W209 model.
Theses start from £2k.
Avoid the small kompressor supercharged mods as they have timing chain issues, the V6 240, 260 and 320 models are more reliable.
Plenty of independent Merc specialists and the parts are not too pricey.
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