306 Timeline FAQ

brenno

brenno

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Hi all,

I've been meaning to do this for a while. The introduction of the 306 in Australia can be confusing for someone who is interested in buying one. I decided to start this because I seem to remember silly little details about the sporadic changes Peugeot had made to the 306 in the 8 years it was here.

It is most definately a work-in-progress, and I wish to build on it in future, possibly with photos. Please feel free to suggest additions, changes, or feedback in general.

****************


Timeline of 306 introduction

April 1994 - Peugeot 306 launched in Aus

306 XR 1.8 (manual only)
306 XT 1.8

June 1994

306 S16 released

October 1994

306 Cabriolet 1.8 released

November 1995

306 XSi 2.0 release (8valve)
306 ST release (Sedan with 2.0)

April 1996

306 XTdt release (Turbo Diesel XT)

December 1996

306 ST 1.8 8v (77kw) released. 2.0 8v (92kw) motor dropped

January 1997

306 Cabriolet upgraded to 2.0 8v motor

July 1997

N5 306 Introduced.
Changes and facelift across whole range.
New nose and tail-lights.
Revised dashboard.

306 Style introduced to replace N3 XR. 1.8 16v replaces 1.8 8v (except for auto)
306 XT upgraded to 1.8 16v (except for auto)
306 XR replaces ST. 1.8 16v replaces 1.8 8v (except for auto)
306 XSi upgraded to 2.0 16v motor (auto included)
306 Cabriolet upgraded to 2.0 16v motor (auto included)
306 GTi6 introduced (note, there were no N3 GTi6's officially imported)
306 XTdt dropped

1998

No changes made

January 1999

2 millionth Peugeot 306 assembled arrives in Australia (Red Cabrio)

February 1999

306 XRdt released. (Turbo diesel version of XR sedan)

August 1999

N5 update introduced.
Minor facelift across range incorporating following changes;

  • Clear headlight lense + indicators (H7 bulbs)
    New tail lights for sedan (chrome strip
    Larger Peugeot badge on rear
    All cars now have GTi6 front bumper and skirts
    Door mirrors and protection strips are now painted (except for Cabrio)
    Dashboard gains metallic highlights. Gearlever + handbrake button now silver painted.
    Revised graphics on guages. White needles.
    Remote locking key changes to ultra-sonic, increasing range and reliability.
    Rear window wiper gains smooth look. Hatch window loses weather strips.

306 Style upgraded to 5 door body. 3 door dropped.
306 XT upgraded to 2.0 16v motor (including auto)
306 XR badge changed to XT. Receives same 2.0 16v motor (including auto)
306 XRdt badge changed back to XTdt (again)

March 2000

306 HDi introduced (sedan only). 306 XRdt dropped.

September 2000

306 XT upgraded. Added 15" rims and ABS
306 XT Sedan manual dropped around this time.
306 XSi Auto dropped.
306 XSi + GTi6 gain side airbags.

April 2001

306 Rallye introduced. Basically an XT with a sticker.

October 2001

306 Cabrio Limited. Body coloured hardtop standard.

By April 2001, 11,700 Peugeot 306's had been sold in Australia.
 
Last edited:
thanks for that, its quite useful. Wonder if you could tell me which country the 306's made for Australia were made in or were indivdual models made in different countries. I think my 306XR is made in Iran.
 
purrr-geot:
thanks for that, its quite useful. Wonder if you could tell me which country the 306's made for Australia were made in or were indivdual models made in different countries. I think my 306XR is made in Iran.
Click to expand...
I think most of our 306s were made in England, with the S16 and GTi6s being built in France. :confused:
 
Brenno,

can you edit the original posts with following additions/mods

My GTi6 was made in 1999, mid way through 1999 the GTi lost the "6" and gained new chrome "GTI" badges on doors only. Rear has "Peugeot" and "306" only. I have side Airbags and mine is 1999. Please refer to GTI124's Pug for photos. The black leather and ALCANTRA interior became standard for GTi spec.

<small>[ 18 July 2003, 09:04 PM: Message edited by: tekkie ]</small>
 
purrr-geot:
thanks for that, its quite useful. Wonder if you could tell me which country the 306's made for Australia were made in or were indivdual models made in different countries. I think my 306XR is made in Iran.
Click to expand...
I know they assemble 405's and 206's in Iran (and, until recently , 205's), purrr-geot, but do they make 306s too?

One of the difficulties with the "where was it made" question these days is deciding what you mean by "made". I think most of the stiff that goes into the assembly of an Iranian Pug is still made in France.

Cheers

Rod
 
I was reading another thread a while ago in regards to Peugeot production in England - i think it was about build quality of the 206. Someone mentioned that 306's were manufactured in England (except perhaps GTi-6 and S16) until the 206 was introduced. RHD 306's were then manufactured in France (not sure about Iran etc.)

Is there some way of telling from the car's VIN?
 
i have been told by a few in the know that the easiest way to tell is french built are dipped and english built are sprayed hence the english ones can tend to have a little orange peel a lot of the time
 
So i should be asking "where my car is being assembled" as oppose to "where my car is made" correct? :D

on the last melb cruise someone mentioned how there was a website or some sort of database where you just type in the Vin No and it' would tell you where your car was assembled. Anyone know about this?
 
The PSA videos I have of Mulhouse and Sochaux have cars spray painted - either by hand or robot.

Who dips the cars in paint these days anyway? Sure people do that for undercoat, etc, but for the colour base?
 
There is this ...

<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/ca/TORONTO/VIN/WMI.html" target="_blank">http://www.angelfire.com/ca/TORONTO/VIN/WMI.html</a>

Mine starts in "VF" so I guess that means it's built in France .. but 206's VINs also start in "VF", and those I know are built in England. I think it details the country of the origin of the manufacturer, and not the actual factory it was built in.

It seems the 11th digit specifies the factory -- mine is a "2". Then again that web site tells me my car is a MY2003 build, which it definitely isn't :confused:
 
WOW! nice work brenno.
I can only realy contribute to the S16 bit,.... here goes
* All aus deliverd S16's in RHD are built in the UK. There is stamped plate in my engine bay to indicate this.
* There was 2 series of S16's and that ruffly happened at very late 94.
* The 94 S16 is different by the front grille badge, its a little smaller and not trimmed, similar to the early XR's. And the later S16's had slight diferent suspention bits. Like the Swaybar links and brand of egine mount. There is very few earlies left on the road, well in sydney anyway.
* S16's had optional Full leather seats, Pirellis instead of Michelin (but varied yard to yard), factory electronic sunroof, CD stacker (only on 95 models, and dealer fitted), Drivers seat Lumbar pump, Special S16 floor matts, although ive NEVER seen them in a car.
* S16 badging consisted of a chrome lion in the front grille, in the earlies it was silver, lates chrome.
out the back they had silver on black "peugeot" and "306" with a small "S16" in red over black.
* They featured a diffrent ECU than most pugs, using a Magnetti Marelli in the later S16's.
* The S16's had standard 15x6 inch peugeot alloy wheels with a matching spare. like the XSi
* They used very bolstered and pumped front seats, similar to Recaros etc. Which i think were unique to the N3 range of 306's. Using seat belt magentic pre-tentioners, but i think all XSi's had this too.
* The Tacho read to 8000rpm and a 240+ kph speedo, all the milage was done in k's via mechanical means (ie no digital display like the Gti6's)
* S16 colour range was basicaly White, Red, Burgundy, Blue, Silver and Black. Sources at Inchape (now a diferent name) also told a story of yellow being offered, but never delivered to Aus? true/false? not sure.
* Last funny item is apparently the S16 was the least selling of all 306's in Aus, this includes, the sedan and the gti-6. With about only 85 in the 2 years they were sold, here in Aus.

*common known faults, Intake actuators, top drivers side and lower rear engie mounts, rear window water spray, Sparkplug coils and dirty ABS sensors on the brakes, most are easy fix.

Known, S16 owners here in AF are, Brad/phasis (nice blue one), Stone perfect A1 blue), Gem (neat i red) and S16 (don't know his clolour though)...
Stones would make for great archive photos as its near perfect.
Hope this helps. Cheers Xq
 
I have a theory about working out the place of build based on my experience with Volvos. I've copied an excellent example from the Volvo Owners' Circle detailing Volvo VIN numbers for Model Year 2004 <a href="http://users.bigpond.net.au/skystar/Volvo-VIN-MY04.htm" target="_blank">here</a>. Now why can't Peugeot provide this kind of info online for owners :)

Based on reading the above, I'm going to try to decipher a Peugeot VIN. Here is a hypothetical one (but technically correct) I've made up for a 307 1.6 auto 3 door hatch. Something which isn't sold here, so I'm sure noone has one here. Having tried to work out some differences between 307s, I'm only familiar with 307 VINs, but I'd imagine they are similar to other current Peugeots.

VF33ANFUE82387489

VF3 - Manufacturer.

The first few digits will tell you who the manufacturer is. Here are the French manufacturer codes:

Peugeot - VF3
Citroen - VF7
Renault - VF1

3A - Model

3 - series
A - body type

In this case, we have a 307 3 door hatch (3A). A 5 door 307 hatch is a 3C. I know 206s have a code starting with 2.

According to Peugeotlogic.com, a 306 would be:

7B - sedan
7C - 3 door hatch
7A - 5 door hatch
7D - cabrio

Don't ask me why Peugeot swapped the Cs and As when the 307 was launched!

NFUE - Powertrain (1.6 auto)

N - TU5.
F - fuel injection
U - engine series (Z is the old TU5JP, U is the TU5JP4 (16V)
E - gearbox type. E is the auto gearbox. B is the manual.

Other examples are RFNB (2.0 manual) - R is the EW10J4. F for fuel injection makes sense. N is probably engine series related and B, like in NFUB, signifies a certain manual gearbox.

So in short - first 3 letters are about the engine. Last letter is about the transmission.

8 - model year?

2 - plant.

If someone with a 206CC can post the two digits after after the 4 letter code, I can start working out plants. Similarly, a Pom 306 should have the same number as a Pom 206 (non CC).

Given this 307 has a 2, it's either Mulhouse or Sochaux. It's French.

387489 - "serial number"

This is the 387,489th 307.

Now 306 owners can go and try and work out their VIN's based on this. You don't have to post the whole lot - basically the last few digits are the only things unique to your car. The first part is all generic.

Cheers,

Justin

[edit: added 306 specific model info]

<small>[ 19 July 2003, 09:29 PM: Message edited by: Pug307 ]</small>
 
xqisid:
Drivers seat Lumbar pump
Click to expand...
Don't want to confuse matters, but my mum's cousin has one of these in his N5 306 Sedan. That would be a 306 XR going from Brenno's info. It is definately the 1.8 16v

Derek
 
Yeah derek im not sure exactly wha features are unique to the S16, but im pretty sure all the FULL leather models have this pump.....not 100% on this though. My normal S16 seat definatley has one.
I was going to mention, that there was about 4 to 5 2000 gti-6's sold with a chrome S16 badge on the front guards, this was a mistake, but somehow not all got recalled and changed...
cheers chris
 
I think you might be on the money with your VIN details Justin.. here's the start bit of mine:

VF3 = Pug
7C = 3-door 306
RFSW = XU10J4RS w/ 6MT
3 = ?? (my car is a MY00 made in late '99)
2 = bona fide Frog

All this VIN mystery stuff is like playing a game of master mind :)

xqisid:
* Last funny item is apparently the S16 was the least selling of all 306's in Aus, this includes, the sedan and the gti-6. With about only 85 in the 2 years they were sold, here in Aus.
Click to expand...
Which is pretty strange, since I see a heap more S16s on the road than GTi-6s..
 
Thanks for that.

If more people post the first generic chunk of their VIN, we can crack the mysterious Pug VIN code!

The two digits after the 4 letter code are what we need especially.
 
rek:
xqisid:
* Last funny item is apparently the S16 was the least selling of all 306's in Aus, this includes, the sedan and the gti-6. With about only 85 in the 2 years they were sold, here in Aus.
Click to expand...
Which is pretty strange, since I see a heap more S16s on the road than GTi-6s..
Click to expand...
Can't believe we both live in Melbourne.

I hardly see any S16s :) Seen a good handful of GTI-6s though.
 
ok
here is mine
VF3 = pug
7C = 3 door
RFSH = XU10J4RS engine

according to my book i have here
7C = 3 door
7A = 5 door
7S/7T = 3 door van/5 door van

now then you also have
7CRFVE and 7ARFVE = manual
7CRFVP and 7ARFVP = auto

both with the XU10J4R engine

then you have diesels
7CDJYE
7CDJYT both have the XUD9A engine

7CDHYE
7ADHYE both have the XUD9TE engine
 
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