Peugeot 306 Rallye - long-term review

I want to get the 306 handling more crisply. I know, I’ve been saying that for the last three months. The trouble is that other things keep getting in the way. The 306 turned 20 this year, it hasn’t been cosseted throughout its life and what this chiefly means is that I can’t just ‘sort the handling’.

No point fitting nice new springs and dampers when it won’t fix the more pressing issue – the wheel wobble. It begins at 60mph and gets worse from there. I’ve struggled to track it down – the wheels have been refurbished and had new tyres fitted, I’ve had the tracking and balancing done. Next step was an expert opinion. Andy Reid is a Peugeot specialist based a few minutes from where I live.

Within five minutes he’d given me the low down – and pointed out an issue with the gearbox I didn’t even know I had. Three possibilities with the wheels, each a step up in cost and seriousness. “First thing to do is swap the front and rear wheels over, see if that solves it. After that try a fine balance – usually balancing is done to the nearest five grams, but a fine balance will do it to the nearest two, and these wheels are light so need accurate balancing.” After that? “It’s likely to be the driveshafts, not the wheels.”

Step one is free, requiring only 20 minutes of my time, a flat piece of ground and a pair of jacks. I haven’t lost the locking wheelnut, so that’s a bonus, and all the wheels drop on and off a treat. But the naked wheelarches tell a different story. A symphony in brown. A very well matched colour palette, but between rusty brake discs, corroded calipers, deteriorating suspension arms and a general air of decay, it’s a reminder of what lies beneath.

I re-conceal my shame and set off down the road. Nothing’s changed. Still the same vibration at the same speed. So similar is it that I can’t imagine fine balancing is going to make a blind bit of difference, but maybe I should go through the motions. The bigger trouble is that winter is here, and my enthusiasm is waning. I really enjoy the 306, I like the fact it’s so different to most modern stuff I drive. But after large initial gains progress has dragged and stalled and costs have risen.

It’s made me realise that before I even think about upgrading the suspension, I need to sort the basics – the wheel vibration and stiff clutch action (it basically has three positions: in, out and off-with-a-lurch), plus an occasional tendency for the brakes to bind ever so slightly after I’ve released the pedal. And then Andy mentioned the seemingly random gearbox clonk – caused by movement in the engine bushes if I change gear while they’re under load, apparently. And cured by packing out the bushes with a couple of spacers. A cheap, relatively easy fix. I’m not sure others will be.