- Power
- 60 PS45–75
- Torque
- —
- Weight
- 800 kg790–950
- 0–100 km/h
- —
- Top speed
- —
- PS / tonne
- 75
Behind every legend sits a very ordinary car. The 106 that filled French streets was an XN, XR or XT: a 3-door or (from August 1992) 5-door hatchback weighing as little as 790 kg, with a 1.0, 1.1 or 1.4 litre engine, a four- or five-speed gearbox and almost nothing you could switch off.
That lightness is the point. Rossi's shape and the AX-derived platform put a great deal of usable room into 3.56 metres. The trims climbed a ladder — XN spartan, XR and XT adding trim, fabric and equipment — and the same ladder kept getting renamed: Graduate, Inca, Aztec, Independence, Zest.
After the 1996 facelift the range gained side-impact bars and, for the first time, airbags. When the 206 arrived at the end of 1998 the 106 stayed on as the cheap, cheerful Zest and the GTI, and sold on for another four years.
Specification
- Engine
- 1.0 TU9 · 1.1 TU1 · 1.4 TU3
- Gearbox
- 4- or 5-speed manual; automatic on some engines
- Drive
- Front-engine, front-wheel drive
- Brakes
- Front discs, rear drums
- Wheels
- 13–14 in steel
- Body
- 3-door, 5-door from Aug 1992
- Aspiration
- Naturally aspirated
Signature details
- Weighed from 790 kg
- Five-door added August 1992
- Airbags from the 1996 Phase II
- Power steering on right-hand-drive only from Phase II
Equipment
- Graduate, Inca, Aztec, Independence, Zest and other named editions
- Tilt-and-slide sunroof on many UK specials
- Air conditioning was never offered on right-hand-drive cars
About the data
- Figures are spreads across 1.0–1.4 litre engines; treat as a range, not a single car.
- 9/1991 — September 1991: the 106. Launched in continental Europe as a three-door hatchback; British cars follow in November. Entry engines are 1.0 and 1.1 litres; the XSi with 1.4 litres leads the performance end.
- 8/1992 — Five doors, and the first diesel. August 1992 adds a five-door body and the 1.4 TUD3 diesel (50 PS). Fuel injection begins replacing carburettors as emissions rules bite; sources differ on how quickly it spread across the range.
- 7/1996 — July 1996: Phase II. The facelift adds 114 mm of length, a rounded nose that follows the 406, side-impact bars and — for the first time — driver and passenger airbags. Right-hand-drive cars can finally have power steering.
