Peugeot 307CC 2.0 Review

[Thorburn]

While in Germany last week I had a Peugeot 307CC 2.0 rental car off of Hertz.

I'm not going to lie, I was tempted to take the Fiesta they offered but then I figured I've had a couple and have test driven the Mk6 in the past so why not go for something a bit different and see how it compares.

The car in question was silver and pretty much brand new, 200km on the clock when I picked it up.

Now I don't know about what everyone else thinks but to me the 307 looks pretty nasty in hatchback form, grafting on a coupe roofline and a strangely shaped boot doesn't do it many favours really. Pretty it isn't.

Getting behind the wheel and it looked up a bit, its nothing special in there but its pleasant enough to look at and the plastics feel sturdy enough to last literally weeks. I never did get the heater to produce any kind of useful heat however, I could simply make it either incredibly loud or turn it off but even when the display said 30c it proceeded to spew out cold air.

The driving position is terrible however, you sit so high you feel like your driving a people carrier, I couldn't get the seat far enough back and everytime I went for the brake pedal I caught the pedals mounting point which proved surprisingly ineffective, the first time I had to really brake hard was when someone pulled out in front of me on the autobahn and I almost went smack into the back of them as my foot found an immovable object where I expected the brake pedal to be.

The gearshifts throw was very long but with what seemed like relatively little sideways movement, perhaps it was just me not being used to left hand drive but I had a habit of finding 3rd instead of 1st and 4th instead of 2nd. The shift didn't like to be rushed either and it simply wouldn't engage 1st if the engine was going to be above 2000rpm even when blipping the throttle on the downshift.

All the other controls where completely overservo'd, the clutch felt the same whether you pressed it down or missed it completely and the biting point was completely imperceptible, steering felt the same regardless of whether the car was stationary or doing 100mph and the brakes when I could find them appeared to either be on or off making it near impossible to keep up a smooth rhythm on unknown roads.

Out on the road and things didn't improve a great deal.

With the roof up things were smooth enough, wind noise was acceptable, certainly better than the MX-5's but drop the roof and the turbulence was comical especially since there was no windblocker.

Handling was responsive but only in nautical terms, through fast corners you could get it to lean over onto the bumpstops meaning if you found a rut or compression it would rebound up and generally become a bit of a handful.

Slow corners were a test of faith, the steering providing no real indication of when it was going to lapse into understeer, not a big confidence builder around armco'd hairpins. The ride however was pretty comfortable assuming you didn't run out of suspension travel.

The engine itself was I believe the same as the original 206GTi but the combination of being a little tight and the extra weight of this car meant it never felt anything more than acceptable, fast it certainly wasn't.

So an total disaster then?

Well I don't know, as soon as I stopped trying to drive it like a sports car and took a more sedate approach it began to make a lot more sense. As I said before the ride is pretty good and did a decent job of playing the autobahn cruiser when you put the roof up.

So one for posers then?

Well yes I guess so, so long as they like posing in something thats really a bit ugly and significantly better with the roof up than down

[sayerbloke]

[ QUOTE ]

The driving position is terrible however, you sit so high you feel like your driving a people carrier, I couldn't get the seat far enough back and everytime I went for the brake pedal I caught the pedals mounting point which proved surprisingly ineffective, the first time I had to really brake hard was when someone pulled out in front of me on the autobahn and I almost went smack into the back of them as my foot found an immovable object where I expected the brake pedal to be.

The gearshifts throw was very long but with what seemed like relatively little sideways movement, perhaps it was just me not being used to left hand drive but I had a habit of finding 3rd instead of 1st and 4th instead of 2nd.

[/ QUOTE ]

I sat in one at the motorshow and couldn't get comfy in it... I found the 407 coupe was a lot better.

Wouldn't consider owning either of them though

Good review

[simonb]

I only have one because it's free!!

And the other choices were:

Corolla

Megane

Xsara Picasso

Golf Estate (68 bhp)

Golf hatch (75 bhp)

Bora (90 bhp)

Ashtray (100 bhp)

Discounted the Corollas and Xsara Pic first! No way jose!

Then the VW's seemed all under-powered.

So that left the Megane, Astra and 307.

Megane was ok but couldnt decide on the good spec but with 100 bhp engine or the bad spec 120 bhp engine so didnt bother with either.

Astra ok too but couldnt get used to the way the indicator works, plus every other car will be one in 4 years time when i come to replace it!

I'm now just under 2 years in to my 4 year sentence with a company car. No major grumbles with the 307. I've got the 1.6 110 bhp HDI estate model.

Good points

- Plenty of load space

- Comfy drive

- Very torquey

- Great on the motorway at 70

- Economical

- Euro 4 compliant - so other than fuel (80p a litre biodiesel!!), only costs me £26 a month all in!!

Bad points

- Unfashionable

- Poor acceleration to 40 mph ish.

- Not greatly spec'd/equipped

- I chose aegean blue - every other 307 you see is bloody aegean blue!!

Problems experienced (45k)

- 2 bulbs replaced

- Catalytic convertor came loose and needed tightening

- 1 recall - something to do with possibility of car catching fire

- Fuse went in heater in middle of winter meaning de-misting windows was a bloody nightmare!

Other than that, i'm happy. Drove the 1.6 petrol the other week - not bad either!

Definately consider again if on car choice list!! (although there's talk of new civic and Mazda 3 sport on as of next March!!)