PetrolBlogPetrolBlogPetrolBlogPetrolBlog
  • Home
  • 70s cars
  • 80s cars
  • 90s cars
  • 00s cars
  • Manufacturers
    • CITROËN
    • PEUGEOT
    • RENAULT
    • Alfa Romeo
    • Audi
    • Dacia
    • Daihatsu
    • Fiat
    • Ford
    • Honda
    • Hyundai
    • Lancia
    • Matra
    • Mazda
    • Mercedes-Benz
    • Mitsubishi
    • Nissan
    • Opel
    • Proton
    • Saab
    • Seat
    • Skoda
    • Suzuki
    • Talbot
    • Toyota
    • Vauxhall
    • Volkswagen
    • Volvo
  • Features
    • 10 of the best
    • CarTunes
    • General Bunk
    • It’s time to appreciate
    • Major Waffle
    • New cars
    • Regrets
    • Reviews
    • Save Our Scrap
    • Shatchbacks
    • Shednesday
    • The Barn
    • Whatever happened to?
  • Garage
  • Shop
0

William buys a Peugeot 106 Rallye

Published by Gavin Big-Surname at 5th July 2012
Peugeot 106 Rallye

It would be fair to say that the Peugeot 106 Rallye is a bit of a miniature hero on PetrolBlog and held in high regard by us all. Its mixture of lightness, pace and retro charm ensures that the Rallye is firmly on our radar.

The original series one 106 Rallye came fitted with a 1.3 litre, 100bhp engine and would take an eternity to reach 60mph (okay, over ten seconds to be precise). But outright pace isn’t the Rallye’s strongest asset. Like the AX GT, the 106 Rallye is at its best hurtling along a B-road or performing giant-killing acts on a track day. Yes, the series two Rallye may have had a bigger 1.6 litre engine and a tidy facelift, but PetrolBlog’s heart belongs to the series one.

So when a chance conversation on twitter revealed that a follower had gone and bought one, we were keen to learn more. So a few emails later, here is William Patterson on his latest acquisition. May we also suggest that you follow William on twitter @willp1987.

Why a 106?

For the past year I have putting away little bits of money here and there with a view to purchasing a ‘fun’ second car. I have a Skoda Fabia vRS as my daily driver which is perfect for my needs but I missed having something that I could chuck around, (and rev beyond 4k rpm), and also fancied having a go at track days without the risk of damaging my daily driver!

Before settling on the Rallye I considered dozens of different cars including a Clio 172, Charade GTti, and Mazda MX-5. Most of the Clios in my budget seemed to be pretty rough, the Charades are just so rare and after sitting in an MX-5, it became clear that they were not designed for my 6’6” frame (having said that, getting in and out of the 106 does require a bit of practice for someone of my size).

William Patterson's series one Peugeot 106 RallyePeugeot 106s hadn’t initially been on my radar but I was reminded of them by an article I came across whilst browsing the internet and I quickly decided that a 106 Rallye fitted my needs perfectly. It was light, high revving, cheap to buy and maintain, had suitably questionable decals and ultra-cool(?!) steel wheels. Having had a MK1 Golf GTI as my first car I was keen on the idea of something that would deliver similar levels of fun and would be great little B-road toy. The interior might not be to everyone’s taste but personally I love the red seatbelts and red carpets. I also like the eight valve engine, it pulls smoothly from low revs and there is a noticeable kick at 5k rpm and it then pulls hard to 7k. It is also surprisingly torquey for a little engine and pulls well in high gears from low revs meaning you don’t have to be revving it too highly in order to make steady progress.

Why this one?

Once I had decided that a Rallye was the car for me the search for a suitable example began. This wasn’t as easy as I had first thought; given the popularity of these cars many have been heavily modified or prepared for night navigation rallies and track days etc. I was specifically after a standard car and it had to be the S1 with its original 1.3 engine, nothing else would do. After a few weeks a lovely looking black S1 came up for sale in Kent, a bit of trek from East Yorkshire, but luckily I had won some tickets to the opening round of the BTCC at Brands Hatch so had made plans to travel down for the weekend. The car was located just a few miles from where I was staying so I made contact and arranged to view the car. However, a couple of hours before I was due to go and view I got a text massage advising that someone else had been to view and bought the car there and then, so it wasn’t to be! The black one had been a bit more than I wanted to spend anyway so I moved on and started looking again and that was when I found L189, this one was near Swindon, priced a bit lower and looked original.

The car and where I found it?

After finding the car on the Rallye Register website I got in touch with the vendor and it became clear that the car was far from mint but was straight, had only had three owners and crucially hadn’t been modified. The car had been sitting in a shed for the past four years and it had recently been taken out for its MOT which it had passed.

Rear of S1 Peugeot 106 RallyeBut it hadn’t been washed in what looked like years. When I turned up to view it was covered in a layer of dust and dirt outside and dog hairs on the inside! I spent about 45 minutes looking around the car and although there were a few dents and scratches all the structural areas appeared solid (famous last words). What’s more, the engine was running well and I test drove it up and down a farm track where the only issue seemed to be a crunch into second gear.

On browsing through the history the first owner had the car for 18 months, the second for five years and the current owner had owned it for 12 years. The owner was open to a bit of negotiation on price and after a few minutes we arrived at a price that I think we were both fairly happy with and the deal was done. The next challenge was to get it home (or rather to my parents’ house in mid-Wales). After viewing I drove up to Wales and very nicely asked my father if he would mind getting up at 6am the next day and drive me back to Swindon to collect the car, a round trip of some 340 miles. Needless to say this wasn’t his preferred way to spend the April Bank Holiday but nevertheless he obliged and by 10:30 the next day we were back in Swindon and having got the tax and insurance sorted, we set off for Wales.

Peugeot 106 Rallye review on PetrolBlog

The journey home!

As anyone who has bought an old second hand car will know, the journey home can be nerve wracking! My past history of journeys like this hasn’t been great so I was somewhat apprehensive about making a 170 mile journey in an 18 year old Peugeot that had barely run, let alone had a service in over four years. I should firstly point out that it did make it home, although this wasn’t without incident:

  1. Whilst making my way up a busy M4 through some 50mph road works I ended up in stop start traffic and suddenly the car just switched itself off and all the dash lights came on, thankfully it started again immediately but given that we were only 20 minutes into the journey this didn’t fill me with confidence.
  2. Next, I noticed that one of the belts was slipping when pulling out of junctions, this came to a head in heavy traffic going through a small town when it started squealing so much that I had to pull over as the noise appeared to scaring small children and lots of people had started pointing (as if they somehow thought I wasn’t aware of the horrific noise coming from under the bonnet!).
  3. After waiting a few minutes for the traffic to clear I set off again and started to wind my way through some of the smaller roads that Wales has to offer and this is where it transpired that the car would shudder and jolt violently when coming off the throttle and the squealing belt had now started protesting when changing from 3rd to 4th gear. In typical Bank Holiday fashion the traffic was very slow and all the holiday makers were slowing down enormously for anything vaguely resembling a corner, this was rendering my trip very uncomfortable with all the jolting and shuddering. Anyway, Toyota drivers were the main culprits and no sooner had I despatched one I caught up with another one driving equally slowly. Eventually I cleared the traffic and was able to press on and get home.
  4. After a fairly arduous journey I eventually arrived home and immediately as I pulled onto the yard the car cut out and then refused to idle when started again.

All in all, this was a fairly unpleasant journey and one that had left me wondering if I had made the right choice.

Side view of S1 Peugeot 106 Rallye

Plans for the car?

The weather was awful for the weekend I was in Wales so I wasn’t able to spend much time with the car but before being able to bring it to Yorkshire where I now live it was going to need some work.

The car was booked into a local garage for a full service including a new cambelt and a couple of other small jobs. Whilst there they recommended a new engine mount and some new HT leads, once all this was sorted I arranged to go back and collect the car.

The 250 mile drive up to Yorkshire was far more pleasant and the car felt like a different vehicle altogether. The Jubilee weekend was spent t-cutting the car and cleaning the interior and although the paintwork isn’t in the best state, it does now look a great deal better and I have managed to buff out a lot of the scratches and contamination on the paintwork.

Interior of Peugeot 106 RallyeCleaning the interior was a long job but it is finally dog hair free(ish) and is now a much nicer place to sit. The immediate plan is to get a track day booked and see if I enjoy them. My enjoyment of the track day will then determine the long term plans for the car and whether I keep it or just have a bit of fun for a couple of months and move it on.

Given that they are getting rare now I want to keep the car as original as possible. It is currently running 205 GTI ‘pepperpot’ alloys which I want to replace with the original steels but these need a professional refurb and a set of tyres as they are in an awful state. The gearbox crunch may become an issue and this is certainly likely to need attention in the future but otherwise I just want to address the cosmetic issues and improve the paintwork as much as I can without carrying out a respray. Some new decals would be nice as the front and rear ones are looking very faded and I also need to source a new parcel shelf as it is missing its original one.

But the main plan is to try and enjoy driving it. Finances are tight at the moment and I may not be able to keep it too long if it proves to be a ‘needy’ car so I’ll make the most of it and then see where things go!

Share
0


Related Waffle


Renault Avantime in Geneva

You won’t believe these facts about French cars

Aug 19, 2021
Renault 19 at the Cafe Real Madrid

10 of the best: the French cars of Conakry

Feb 4, 2021
1987 Peugeot 309 XS for sale

Bangers and Flash: Peugeot 309 XS Heads to Auction

Jan 20, 2021
Renault Clio Baccara

Posh in fun size: 10 of the Best Luxury Small Cars

Jan 8, 2021

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest PetrolBlog Videos:

https://youtu.be/fXRLAHLNX7M
https://youtu.be/0vnsNaXh7KM

PetrolBlog in print!

Classic.Retro.Modern

Support PetrolBlog – Buy Stickers

  • Tollfoolery sticker Tollfoolery car bumper sticker £3.50
  • Too Good to Scrap TOO GOOD TO SCRAP window sticker £3.00
  • French Tat bumper sticker #FrenchTat bumper sticker £3.50
  • PETROLBLOG laptop sticker PetrolBlog laptop sticker £3.00 £2.50
  • My car is the goat bumper sticker My car is the G.O.A.T bumper sticker £3.00
  • French Tat window sticker #FrenchTat window sticker £4.00
  • Tollfoolery sticker Tollfoolery car window sticker £4.00
  • PetrolBlog sticker PetrolBlog car sticker £4.00
  • Waffle & Bunk laptop sticker Waffle & Bunk laptop sticker £3.00 £2.50
  • GOAT My car is the G.O.A.T window sticker £3.00

What you’re saying

  • 1st August 2022

    Gavin Southwest commented on Buy this Renault Clio Baccara and be like PetrolBlog

  • 26th July 2022

    Volker commented on AMC Eagle: the original crossover?

  • 25th July 2022

    Alun Morris commented on The Autobianchi Bianchina Panoramica was a shooting brake for ladies

  • 22nd June 2022

    David Cooper commented on Whatever happened to the Talbot Matra Rancho?

  • 8th June 2022

    Astra commented on Has Top Gear wrecked a Matra Bagheera?

Fresh waffle

  • Citroen 2CV resting on the back of a truck1
    PetrolBlog: the chump is coming back
    13th May 2022
  • 2022 Dacia Jogger in Terracotta1
    The Dacia Jogger is a practical remix of the Matra Rancho
    14th December 2021
  • Toyota Land Cruiser No Time To Die2
    No Time To Die in a Toyota Land Cruiser
    13th December 2021
  • Fahnome Knight Rider build your own KITT0
    Sponsored: K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider is now available as a kit
    17th November 2021
  • Hyundai Heritage Series Grandeur rear light7
    The Hyundai Heritage Series Grandeur is the future we want
    12th November 2021
  • Club PetrolBlog most beautiful1
    Club PetrolBlog members at their most beautiful
    20th August 2021
  • Renault Avantime in Geneva0
    You won’t believe these facts about French cars
    19th August 2021
  • 2008 Citroen C51
    Berlin or bust: the Unmistakeably German ad campaign
    12th August 2021
  • Bridgestone Potenza Sport tyres1
    PetrolBlog looks at Bridgestone Potenza Sport tyres
    11th August 2021
  • Toyota Camry V6 and Porsche 9243
    An unexceptional day out in the Toyota Camry V6
    2nd August 2021

Newsletters

PetrolBlog
ABOUT | ADVERTISING / SPONSORSHIP | PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS & CONDITIONS | CONTACT US

The world’s least influential car blog since 2010.

Copyright © PetrolBlog.

0
We use cookies to offer you a better browsing experience and analyse site traffic. We also share information about how you browse our site with our advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you have provided to them or that they have collected for your use of their services.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT