I'll never question BMW part prices again after this.

[KimH]

As a good eldest Son my mother relies upon me to keep her banger going, and last week was time to get the Pug 106 through its MOT.

The local Halfords Autocentre obviously thought they'd hit paydirt with the failure report and a quote that included:

£129 for a rear brake cylinder
£157 for Brake shoes

Needless to say I got the parts and did the job myself for less than £40.

But the bit that made me glad I don't drive a Pug was the £14 the local Peugeot dealer wanted for the 4 M6 bolts that hold the brake cylinders to the backing plate.

I thought about getting a nice cheap 316 for her to run about in, but her parking skills rely upon sound rather than sight and it would soon get shortened.

[Cook318IS]

Peugeot was a piss take when i used to go there when i owned a 106. About as much use as a chocolate tea pot and the prices as you said - aren't cheap. The parts guys didn't have a clue what parts are on cars and what they are called. I always used to use their computers for them becuase they didn't have a clue! They had bad supplies too, i had one of the last gear linkage ball joints for one about 5 years ago!

[Brianmoooore]

I too have the misfortune to have to maintain one of these nasty little French boxes, and am well aware of parts prices! Wiring is a joke - colours don't mean anything, and regularly change if the wire passes through a connector. Identification is by numbers printed on the wire (occasionally still readable), and the numbers even change by a digit or two through the connectors. Fuse positions are different in many cases between cars of the same model just a couple of years apart.
A plastic bumpered E30 is ideal for the "park it by ear" brigade. You certainly won't damage an E30 giving lesser makes a little shove, as I've found out on a couple of occasions over the years when I've found my car boxed in.

[B7]

It's French. What do you expect? They've rarely ever been able to build anything decent, ever!