All Things V6...

[DHallworth]

A massive thanks to Luke who picked us up from Belfast International Airport this morning and drove us to the car.

Looking at the car there were a few marks on it but nothing that was unacceptable on a 6 year old car.

Upon picking it up we needed to fill it with fuel as the light was on, surprisingly it only took 60 litres to fill. We then hit the road and aimed for the port in Dublin. Cruise control set at 70mph and the car was returning 33.3mpg average over 100 miles. There is a bit of wheel wobble from it on the motorway at 60mph but it's disappeared by 70. The seller told me that the front tyres were just legal... I checked these this evening and noticed that the drivers side front tyre was almost smooth in the middle but more to my horror it was showing the cord on the inside edge.

Tomorrow's first job is to phone around and see where I can get tyres from as there's no way I'm driving home to Glasgow with these tyres on it.

Have found somebody not to far away who is advertising 4 Pirelli P Zero Nero's for 155 quid a tyre which is better then the 191 I'm being quoted for Michelins that nobody has in stock.

The car itself is wonderful, it's so quiet, you can't hear a thing other then tyre noise from it when you're on the motorway. It really is a lovely place to be. Well impressed with it at the moment.

Will report more once I've driven it the 300 miles home from North Wales on Saturday.

David.

[KP]

You staying anywhere nice on your travels David? Theres a few good tyre places in Manchester if your struggling for tyres in north wales

[DHallworth]

Staying in a place called Ysbyty Ifan with family. Middle of nowhere with some nice roads.

Managed to get a set of 4 Pirelli P Zero Nero GT's for £150 a tyre fitted. It's had 4 done, has had the tracking done too as it was a smidge out. I haggled the seller down on price and told him not to worry about MOT'ing it so its currently sitting on a ramp in North Wales being MOT'd.

Fingers crossed!

David.

[DHallworth]

Well after a new set of boots the car has passed it's MOT with flying colours - not even an advisory!

The way the car drives has been totally transformed since fitting the new tyres and the wheel wobble that was existent before has completely gone after the tyres were balanced. The only thing the guy pointed out was the TPMS valves have seen better days as the aluminium valves were a bit scabby. Not to worry though you can now get repair kits for these so I'll get them sorted out.

Am really pleased with this car, it drives like a new car, there's not a clunk or bump from anything. I'd even go as far as saying I think I prefer it to my C6. The seats are much better.

David.

[lexi]

That is a breath of fresh air........quick and luxurious looking car.

[DHallworth]

Well that's us back at home now after a nice quiet week away.

I've now done 750 miles in the 407, all enjoyable, and trouble free. We got home at 16.30 this afternoon and I was reminded that I still needed to service Cheryl's 207 as it was overdue and I'd decided not to do it on Monday before we went so I got that out of the way.

I then decided that as I had a whole packet of genuine Citroen/Peugeot V6 oil filters and sump plug washers as well as oil I'd treat the 407 to some nice new oil and a filter so it's been done this evening too...



Over the last 750 miles the car has averaged 28.5mpg with mixed driving. Between Belfast and Dublin with the cruise control set at a steady 70mpg it averaged 33.3mpg. We then did a couple of hundred miles through the A and B roads of North Wales with some spirited driving and then we finished the week with a 300 mile drive home today with the cruise control set at a constant 80mph so am fairly chuffed with the economy too.

Got a couple of irritating bulb failure warnings to look into for bulbs that haven't failed, other then that the car is going great. Oh yea, the TPMS system was alarming correctly as the tyre was soft. The aluminium valves look a little past their best so I've ordered a repair kit from Peugeot for each valve so that I can keep them working properly too.

This car has impressed me much more so then I thought it would, I'm really taken by it, it's quick, comfy, smooth and whisper quiet when on a run. The suspension is nice when driving normally, it's not Citroen soft but it's not hard and crashy. Then if you press the sport switch on the dashboard everything firms up and the ride becomes much harder and it corners fantastically.

Anyway, that's enough of me rambling on for tonight.

David.

[KP]

Congrats David

Sounds like you got a lovely deal on it as well!
Does it have some sort of active suspension at all to stiffen up?

[Hell Razor5543]

I had an occasion on a Skoda Octavia that told me the OS brake light had failed, and then it cleared the warning. I checked the bulb, and it looked ok, and tested out ok as well. The same thing happened a few days later. I changed the bulb, and checked the suspect one. It still looked ok, until I tapped it a few times while looking at the filament, when it seemed to have a weird vibration. As I had no intention of using it again I decided to crack the bulb and have a closer look. I found that the filament was loose at one end, only touching the stem.

[DHallworth]

KP, it's got a system called AMVAR.

The V6 HDi model that we tested is fitted with the Peugeot’s AMVAR electronically-controlled suspension. Shock absorption is therefore variable and each damper is controlled independently. A wheel travel sensor controls each wheel in accordance with 9 damping settings, with changes possible every 2.5 milliseconds. Damping control software means that progression to firmer settings occurs quickly to achieve improved control of pitch, bounce and roll movements under all driving conditions. Should the normal mode not be up to the job you can push a button on the central console to place the suspension into ‘Sports’ mode which noticeably stiffens the damping settings and improves the handling.

The bulb failure warnings on the 407's are a common problem. Apparently it's to do with an earth fault. Peugeot have released a revised wiring loom for the rear clusters with a separate earth or there's guides on the net advising how to sort it so will have another look in day light tomorrow.

David.

[KP]

Looking around there isn't much info about on it other than it's like manually adjusted sports dampens but uses a motor and 4 height sensors with some logic software to respond.

Could be a good little party trick for people when try work out a way to set the dampers to full stiffness with a manual switch nice track day fun then lol

[DHallworth]

The Citroen Car Club held an event today at the Riverside Museum in Glasgow where they had a line up of Citroen's ranging from a 1955 Traction Avant right up to a 2013 Citroen DS5 that was provided by Glasgow Citroen.

Was a great day with the sun shining and was actually hot! I've come away with sunburn too! Anyway, here's a few pictures that i took

























If anyone wants a look at them all, here's the link: http://s15.photobucket.com/user/David30 ... t=3&page=1

[CitroJim]

Very tasty collection of cars David

[DHallworth]

When I got the 407 I put a parts request out on 24/7 spares for a passengers door glass as this one has started to delaminate.

Peugeot want £600 for one which I wasn't prepared to pay. Today I got an email from a breaker in Lancashire offering me a passengers door glass for £25 delivered. Hopefully that'll be here in the next few days and I can sort the window out properly.

David.

[KP]

That is very cheap indeed David! Fingers crossed it survives delivery

[DHallworth]

Bit of a strange/dangerous update tonight...

Tyres are something that I have never scrimped on in my life. I always had it drummed into me that you get what you pay for and as tyres are the only thing between you and the road get good ones.

Everything I've owned has always been shod in Michelins until recently when we put two Pirelli P Zero Nero GT's on our 207 GT when we got the car. When it had two new tyres the other month we put Michelin Pilot Sport 3's on the back as they were more readily available then the Pirelli's. The Pirelli's initially performed incredibly well and I had no complaints about them what so ever so I put a full set on the 407 Coupe as well.

Tonight I got a phone call from Cheryl saying that her tyre looked a little odd and it had "little wire like things" sticking out of the sidewall. She got home and I had a look at the tyre she was talking about and was absolutely mortified to see what she was talking about...

This tyre still has about 4mm of tread left on it and has done about 18k - 20k of motorway miles. We live just west of Glasgow and Cheryl commutes to Edinburgh and back every day so it's doing about 110 miles a day of motorway driving at 70 with the cruise control on so it's had a fairly easy life. When we put these tyres on initially I also reinstated the TPMS system on the car so I know these tyres haven't been run short of pressure...









The tread has started to part with the tyre in several places. To say that I'm not impressed is an understatement as this could of been lethal had it come apart on the motorway. I've never seen a premium brand tyre do this before. This is one reason I'd never trust remoulded tyres, but is not something I'd ever expect from a brand like Pirelli.

Needless to say it's two Michelins I've ordered tonight and I won't be buying Pirelli's ever again. I'll also be watching the ones on the 407 like a hawk from now on.

Will be writing to Pirelli UK as well.

David.