How reliable are the 306/307 diesels?
Do they have DPF?
No DPFs or DMFs and Turbo’s can be had for under £220. There are plenty on ebay with almost 200k on them. The only real big bill is the cambelt service which is around £80 in parts, but around £300 in labour as it’s a pain to get to in the engine bay.
The bodies are galvanised, so rust isn’t a worry, the electrics are typically French…my 306 occasionally needed a quick tickle of the under seat electrics to stop a dry connector from flashing an airbag light on the dash.
The real beauty of the 2.0 is that it’s not highly tuned, it’s well understood, very simple to operate and cheap to repair. Also, being a Pug, they’re pretty comfy and drive okay. The 306 drives better than the 307, but the 307 feel nicer inside…as much as a 10 year old French car can.
Keep an eye out for a low mileage one on ebay. My 306 was bought for £1100 with 66k on it and sold for £1435 2 years later with 90k on it.