Cheap Peugeot 306 Headlight

The Peugeot 306 ran from 1993 to 2002 as a single generation, but it received a significant facelift in 1997 which updated the front-end styling including the headlights, grille and bumper. This means a pre-facelift headlight (1993–1997) and a post-facelift headlight (1997–2002) are visually and physically different designs. When searching for a used headlight, knowing which side of that 1997 boundary your car falls on is the most important thing to get right.

Your 1998 car is a post-facelift 306 and a 1996 car is pre-facelift, so these sit on opposite sides of the 1997 facelift boundary where the front-end styling changed. Whether a specific headlight unit from a 1996 car will physically interchange with your 1998 car is something you should confirm with the breaker against your registration, as crossing that boundary is the key risk. Do not assume they will swap over just because they are both 306s.

The 306 was offered in hatchback, saloon and cabriolet body styles, but headlights are front-end components and the front-end structure was shared across body styles within each facelift period. So body style alone should not affect whether a headlight fits your car — what matters is whether the donor car is from the same pre- or post-facelift period as yours. Confirm this with the breaker using your registration to be sure.

Trim level — whether your 306 is an LX, XR, XSi, SR or any other variant — does not determine which headlight housing fits, as the front-end panels are shared across the trim range within each facelift period. You may find cosmetic differences such as chrome detailing or different bulb configurations depending on what the donor car was specified with, but the mounting and fit should be consistent across trims. One thing to confirm with the breaker is whether the unit is halogen or a different bulb type, as that can vary by specification and you will want it to match your existing setup.

Tell the breaker you need the OS (offside) headlight — that is the driver's side in the UK — for a post-facelift Peugeot 306, and give them your registration so they can verify the exact specification. Confirming it is post-facelift (1997–2002) is important because the headlight design changed at that point and an earlier unit will not be a straight swap. It is also worth mentioning whether your car is left-hand or right-hand dip, though all UK-registered 306s should be right-hand dip as standard.

Within the post-facelift 306 (1997–2002) there could be variation in how the headlight units are configured, for example in terms of bulb type or internal layout depending on how the car was originally specified. Whether a specific unit from a donor car will match yours exactly is something to confirm with the breaker against your registration, rather than assume all post-facelift units are identical. Giving the breaker both registrations — yours and the donor car's if you know it — is the safest approach.