Hi All

[bikergaz]

Hi Folks, First post so please be gentle with me. I am currently driving a Mercedes 220 Diesel which although a fantastic car I have decided I might fancy a 206cc. I am hoping that you guys, as owners, can help me with the decision. I do around 500 miles a week and spend a lot of time in my car so it needs to be 1. reliable 2. comfortable and 3. economical so can you please give me your oppinions on those 3 also any other help hints or advice would be most welcome. I look forward to asking many more silly questions in future. Thanks, Gaz

[GrandadMonkey]

Our 206cc does about 2,000 miles a year as a second car. I wouldn't fancy doing 500 miles per week in it, week in week out, as the cabin is tiny and impractical for multi-purpose use. For that sort of motoring we use our VW Golf diesel estate which is more economical and versatile.

Our 206cc which is a 1.6 petrol, averages 42mpg overall, is comfortable but snug, and for us has proved very reliable. In the 8 years we have owned it I have had to replace just the reversing lamp switch on the gearbox and about 3 bulbs. It has only done 30,000 miles and is still on the original tyres except for one which got an unrepairable puncture.

Why not stick with your Merc as a regular workhorse and buy a 206cc as a fair-weather plaything? That way you'd get the chance to try it out, without burning your bridges on your existing fantastic car.

Welcome to the forum.

[Enright]

Reliability-wise: Build quality is pretty reasonable. We see a few roof issues surface at this time of year because the mechanisms are complex and rely on lots of microswitches, which if left un-exercised over Winter can get sticky and not operate the first time they should. This confuses the ECU which then decides it doesn't want to let you play. Usually pretty easily sorted with plenty of support available from this forum.

Engines, no problem as long as you observe the servicing intervals. Although for safety I would always recommend changing timing belts sooner than later.

The COM2000 unit which houses the driver's airbag clock-spring as well as all the lights, wiper and radio controls fails eventually. Easily fixed by replacing after taking the steering wheel off, but can easily cost £150.

Any other weird electrical issues can often be put down to ageing batteries.

The back end of the car is heavy and accelerated wear on rear suspension bushes requiring replacement is a matter of when rather than if. Pain in the bum of a job to do (or at least so I've read), and as a result it's easier to swap out the entire back axle. Only issue here is that good 2nd hand ones are getting less and less easy to find.

Comfort: well that's a matter of opinion, depending on where you have to sit, and how tall you are! For those in the front it's as good as any other 206. But when you start trying to put people in the back things quickly get interesting. The front seats virtually touch the back ones. You can make rear leg-room, but only by compromising front leg-room. Even my lad when he was 3 used to get claustrophobic in the back.

I've only driven a 1.6 petrol. It can be made to be econonomical - I managed to squeak an average of 45mpg on a weekend trip from Nottingham to Bournemouth and back, but more often you see mid 30's round town. While the engine is willing to rev, I could never consider the performance to be particularly sporty. So maybe the HDi would be a better bet for you.

[bikergaz]

Hi and thank you for your coments, I suppose the first thing to do is to is to actually look at and drive a couple to see what it is like for me. I have heard horror stories of leaky roofs and unreliability but people only seem to write about a car after it has let them down, thats why I am glad I found this site. I would love to just buy one for occasional use but motorbikes are my recreational fun and Im not allowed to have too many toys so was hoping I may have found a toy I could use everyday.