First Drive of Peugeot 308

Peugeot Australia hopes the new Peugeot 308 rival for the Toyota Corolla will spearhead a return to form for the French Lion - and a revival of the brand's fortunes with consumers.

The Peugeot 308 replaces one of the most successful Peugeot models of all-time, the 307, that racked up 3.2 million sales worldwide since its launch in 2001. The 308 sits on the same basic framework, but is bigger in almost every dimension.

When the 308 arrives in Australia in February 2008 four engines will be offered; a new 110kW 1.6-litre turbcharged petrol engine, an 88kW naturally-aspirated version of the same engine, and carried-over 1.6-litre (80kW) and 2.0-litre (100kW) four-cylinder diesels.

The HDi engines will be mated to manual gearboxes initially - a five-speed for 1.6 diesel and six speeds for 2.0 diesel. Peugeot Australia is likely to eventually add the car maker's new six-speed electronically controlled 'robotised' manual gearbox that dispenses with the clutch pedal.

The 308 has been awarded the maximum five-star safety rating for occupant protection by independent safety body NCAP. Peugeot will offer the 208 with up to nine airbags in some overseas markets, and while exact Australian specification is not known, at least six will be standard on 308s in Australia . Antilock brakes and electronic stability control are likely to be 'no-cost' options.

Other options will include an electric panoramic sunroof that brightens the cabin considerably, as will sat-nav and a great-sounding audio system.

The Peugeot 308 will also introduce a lane-departure warning system. A camera mounted in the front end monitors lane markings and the driver's seat will vibrate if the car strays across white markings without the indicator being used.

Later in 2008, Peugeot will add a Touring (wagon) version and a CC (coupe-cabriolet) model to replace the 307 CC. In 2009 Peugeot is expected to launch a coupe rival for the Audi TT , previewed by the RC Z concept that debuted at this year's Frankfurt motor show.

The Peugeot 307 has driven the brand's Australian growth in recent years (it accounts for about 50 per cent of sales) and Peugeot is keen to build on this. Its replacement, the 308, looks more like a facelift on the outside. Stepping inside reveals a cabin reconstruction that answers the criticism levelled at the 307's quality, if not roominess.

Luxury is a word that described the ride quality of Peugeots of old, but the 307 was one of the prime examples of how the French brand has struggled with suspension tuning more recently. The 307's ride could be jiggly and crashy, but rarely compliant.

The new 308 refines the 307's suspension configuration to more effectively cushion occupants from rougher roads, at least on the models we test drove at the launch in France.

Our launch car was powered by one of the company's new engines, co-developed with BMW. The 1.6-litre, turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine was first seen in the new Mini Cooper S. Peugeot's version is not as powerful, producing 18 fewer kilowatts (110kW). Torque is the same, at 240Nm.

This engine replaces the 103kW 2.0-litre petrol as Peugeot downsizes its engines in the name of the environment. Despite the smaller capacity and having to shift more mass than the 307, Peugeot says the 1.6-litre turbo 308 is a tenth quicker (8.8sec) than the 2.0-litre petrol 307 from zero to 100km/h.

The engine responds strongly from low revs, and shows a willingness to utilise the engine's full rev range.

by JEZ SPINKS (www.drive.com.au)

Peugeot 308 XSE Turbo

Peugeot’s popular 307 has made way for new and improved 308, which can be had in three trim levels starting from $25,990. We tested the $30,590 XSE Turbo petrol, which gets a nicely generous serve of toys that includes climate control, cruise control, trip computer, auto headlights/wipers and 16-inch alloy wheels.

The 308 might be heavier than its predecessor, but the 110kW 1.6-litre direct-injected turbo four in the XSE Turbo shrugs it off with strong performance, impressive flexibility, excellent refinement and thrifty economy. The only real negatives are its less than amazing manual shift and premium unleaded requirement.

With its excellent visibility, nippy low-rev performance and respectably compliant low-speed ride, the Pug copes effortlessly with the urban grind.

Keen turn-in, good balance and secure feel, meanwhile, make it respectably entertaining through the bends. If it’s not the sharpest tool in the small-car shed, its comfy, relaxed feel on the open road is a worthy payoff.

The 307’s cabin felt a little underdone but the 308’s looks and feels great, especially in our car’s light beige colour combo. It’s also functionally impressive, with comfy seating up front, plenty of space and plenty of adjustment, as well as a decent boot and good small-item storage. Only a slightly tight back seat and half-arsed cupholders sour the taste significantly.

All 308s get six airbags, anti-lock brakes, brake assist and a five-star NCAP rating, while the XSE steps things up with stability control and rear parking sensors. You can also option a driver’s knee airbag for just $250.

Vive Le Difference !

Peugeot 206 GTi 180

Recently, the only saving grace for the 206's sporting credibility was a World Rally Car that, in the hands of Marcus Gronholm, has made everyone else look distinctly second rate. Well, that WRC verve and character has finally spawned a road car, the new 206 GTi 180, which is even called the WR in its homeland. At first sighting, all looks well. Peugeot has eschewed the full rally-replica look of the Ford Focus RS in favor of a subtle makeover. The most obvious change is to the alloys, which now boast a diameter of 17 inches and come wrapped in 205/40R-17W Pirelli P7000s. They've been crowbarred under the wheel arches and lend the car a hunched stance that smacks of dynamic intent. The rear tailgate spoiler perpetuates this effect and is joined by chrome-plated dual exhaust pipes and carbon- fiber-effect wing mirrors.

Inside, the rally overtones are more potent. The GTi's seats have been replaced with a quartet of dramatic-looking chairs that grip like a pole dancer's thighs. Still, they cannot solve this car's awkward driving position. Taller drivers find that if the seat is in the correct position for their legs, they're unable to reach the steering wheel. The only solution is to adopt a crab-like posture. The leather-wrapped steering wheel is also tilted awkwardly away from the driver, but at least the aluminum gear knob and pedal set are sensibly cited. The cabin also comes packed with kit, including a CD autochanger, climate control and automatic headlights/wipers. It's certainly better equipped than the rival Honda Civic Type-R, but the plethora of cheap-feeling plastics belie its budget origins.

Together with the new tires and steering, these changes afford the car a subtly different character. The ride is firmer, particularly at low speed, but this is a small price to pay for the improvement in body control. Grip is plentiful and the 206 can be hustled along at considerable speed with complete confidence. Drive like a prat and the Peugeot flatters your ignorance.

But an enthusiast with even a modicum of driving ability will be disappointed with this car. The turn-in is soft and hesitant. The steering is muted and slow-witted. Equally disappointing is the lack of throttle adjustability. Peugeots of old could be balanced on the throttle with wonderful delicacy - to the extent that if you lifted off abruptly mid-bend, the car would need a swift dose of opposite lock to stop the rear overtaking the front. In today's politically correct world, such histrionics are deemed unseemly, but by tuning out the lift-off oversteer, Peugeot has made the car clumsy and compromises its character. Peugeot's PR moguls would accuse me of missing the point. They argue that such joys are of interest only to a small band of died-in-the-wool enthusiasts and that the company has moved on from the do-or-die attitude of the 205. They'd point to the plethora of toys, the safety kit and the price tag, which, at $24,027, seems like a good value. But we still think they're wrong. An airbag and a CD autochanger don't a dull car make. Refinement need not be the enemy of fun. Just ask that Gronholm guy.

Estimated Price:	$24,027
Engine
Engine Code:	EW10 J4 S
Type:	inline four
Valvetrain:	DOHC, four valves per cylinder
Displacement:	1997cc
Bore x Stroke:	85.0 x 88.0mm
Compression Ratio:	11:01
Claimed Crank Hp:	180 bhp @ 7000 rpm
Claimed Crank Torque:	152 lb-ft @ 4750 rpm
Redline:	7400 rpm
Drivetrain Transverse, front engine, front-wheel drive
Transmission Gear Ratios
1:	2.941
2:	1.87
3:	1.36
4:	1.051
5:	0.861
Final drive:	3.948
Exterior dimensions
Curb Weight :	2425 lb
Weight Distribution F/R :	64/36
Overall Length:	151.0 in.
Wheelbase:	96.1 in.
Overall Width:	65.9 in. (excluding wing mirrors)
Track F/R:	56.6/56.1-in.
Height:	56.1 in.
Suspension
Front:	Independent, MacPherson struts, springs and dampers
Rear:	Independent, trailing arms and transverse torsion bars, springs and dampers
Brakes
Front:	283mm ventilated discs, 11.1-in. single-piston calipers
Rear:	247mm solid discs,
Electronic driving aids/inhibitors:	ABS with EBA (Electronic Brake Assist) and EBFD (Enhanced Stability Braking System) and ASR (Anti-skid Function) and ESP (Electronic Stability Programme)
Wheels and Tires
Wheels:	17x7-in. aluminium
Tires:	225/40R-17W Pirelli P7000
Performance Acceleration
0-62 mph :	7.4 sec.
0-1000 m:	28.0 sec.
Max. speed (mph):	140
Fuel consumption Combined :	32.8 mpg

By Alistair Weaver (sportcompactcar.automotive.com)

Peugeot 207 SW Outdoor - Glass Act or Class Act

Peugeot billed this new release of the popular 207 range as being the car with room for a view!

Sounds interesting but is there any truth in this? For the un-initiated, the Peugeot 207 is categorised in what they call the “Super Mini” bracket of cars and the company unveiled this estate version of the car at this years Geneva Motor show and will be making the car available on the street by early 2008.

The new 207 SW Outdoor actually stands 20mm higher off the ground than the standard 207 SW and remains a front wheel drive as opposed to 4WD but probably won't cost much more than the basic hatchback, and it is reckoned that prices should start round about the £11,500 ($23,000) mark.

When you think of it this is probably about £700 ($1400) more than the conventional supermini and actually represents I think quite good value for money. As has been mentioned the supermini is a fast growing class of car where the end user actually gets the performance and economy of the small compact Mini type of car with the value and additional extras of the traditional family saloon and priced somewhere in between.

So let's take a look at the 207 SW Outdoor in brief detail.

Well first of all, the engine is a 1.6L 4cylinder. This provides 110 bhp and has a top speed estimated in the region of 121 miles an hour. The transmission system is a five speed manual with front wheel drive.

Standard equipment that comes with the car consists of driver and passenger air bags, air-conditioning, front electric windows and a versatile interior with a split folding rear seat that is controlled by a one touch lever.

The SW outdoor has a practical design and continues the sculpted theme and design of the mainstream 207. The rear end of the car is actually cleaner and much less complicated than the normal hatchbacks and some of the details such as triangular rear windows and gills around taillights make the back of the car almost as good to look at as the front.

The wheelbase of the SW Outdoor is virtually identical to that of the conventional five door version of the kill but the engineers have been working away like mad to give the car much more capacity in the boot. Not only that but through a fairly novel control system the back seat has been a tactic so that it splits and is controlled via a one touch lever system.

This loss fact alone actually is a godsend if you have to transport medium sized items around from home to any number of locations. Let's be honest who doesn't nowadays and for any musicians who wish to get one of these cars you can be satisfied with the fact that you can get a good-sized drum kit and all the trappings quite comfortably stored within the car.

The performance of the car on the road as has been mentioned is quite responsive but the ride quality of the caw is slightly affected by the longer springs and dampers which raised the car by 20mm.

Peugeot promised drivers that this car would be slightly better looking than the conventional hatchback with more importantly a much more spacious boot and a better and more comfortably developed interior.

They appear to have delivered on everything they have promised.

Stephen Morgan writes on a great many Auto issues on the Internet and more on the above can be found at Peugeot Dealer Manchester ,Texas Drivers Ed and The Auto Finance Business
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The Distinct Qualities Of The Peugeot 308

In 1983, Peugeot launched the pleasantly looking, mass-market 205 hatchback, discovered a cheaper type of plastic with which to trim its cabins, and started to pump out motors by the million. This is where the point at which Peugeots became seriously popular and world renowned, however, this is also the moment that they stopped to be a cut above Fords, Vauxhalls and Renaults.

At present, Peugeots are not notable for being of high-quality, classily and well built furnished cars, and that makes it all the more surprising that the Peugeots new 308 hatchback has a cabin that's a lot nicer even just to sit in compared to that of the Volkswagen Golf. The Peugeot 308's dashboard is more elegantly sculpted, and skinned with pleasantly tactile plastics and elegant faux aluminum creating a beautiful ambience of near luxury and riches.

The area is large, meekly retro-styled, a sensibly sited sat nav screen, though this one is an option, air-conditioning controls that is comparable to an Audi, and most importantly very comfortable seats that would make for a delightful cabin. This Peugeots is generally spacious and a little roomier than the class average. This vehicle can also be optionally crowned with a huge pane of tinted glass.

Peugeot has truly made its quest for improved quality and this has been very well projected with the emergence of the 308, it enhanced cabin ambience, and in these respects the 308's 307 predecessor fell well short of the mark. The 307 was sleekly finished and practical, but some of its early versions and models have met serious electrical problems. Extensive fixes had already been sorted and the component of the 308 is considered the enhanced and is deemed far better than the 307.

Although silhouette and great height is comparable to 307 owners, the 308's excellent exterior and finer detailing gave it a more classy and elegant look, and its extra restraint and "open-mouth" grille produce an assertive look. The newer generation Peugeot 308 is really too large because of the spacious area, but this one is very distinctive and unique.

This modern-day evolution of 80s hot hatchery bears a reputation for being practical and easy to live with in even in town or country and boasts the interior space to accommodate passengers and their belongings with great ease. The lack of high-speed noise is complemented by the suppleness absorbing most bumps other than the short, sharp kind acquired from broken surfaces.

This soft suspension produces safe, fluent progress over twisting roads and corners, even if the 308 is neither as poised nor as deft as the best-in-class Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf. Keen drivers would certainly enjoy this particular vehicle with its unique and distinct characteristics.

Passengers would prefer to have the 308's airy interior, roomy at both front and rear. The Peugeot 308 has great space for everything and this is one of its diverse qualities. If the space it provides is on a par with the VW and Ford, then the discretionary glass roof and pleasant trim colors make it a nicer environment.

The Peugeot 308 is yet another fine effort and innovation showing that, despite the changing rules has emerged a dictated and more grown-up approach. The French car maker has lost none of its edge in the search for quality and excellence.

Written on behalf of Total Fleet Services by John Eva
Peugeot Car Leasing - Peugeot 308 Car Leasing
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An In-Depth Look at the Peugeot 307

The Peugeot 307 is a family car which has been in production since 2001. In the year 2002, it was awarded the European Car of the Year title. Production continues to this day for the Peugeot 307, despite the launch of the 308, the intended successor to the Peugeot 307. The hatchback production models were first introduced back in European markets in 2001as the successor to the 306. The Peugeot 307s were sold worldwide in Australia, New Zealand and Asia, but not in Canada. Peugeot 307s were even sent to Mexico and were sold in a 1.6 and 2.0 liter engines which were gasoline powered.

The Peugeot 307 made use of a reworked 306 platform, which is consistent with the Citroen Xsara and the Citroen ZX. Despite using the same platform, the 307 is much larger than the 306 in every direction. The styling consistent with the 307 was first seen on the Peugeot 206 and Peugeot 607 models. The Peugeot styling came with upswept headlights and a highly sloped windscreen. The styling seen on the 206 was the first departure from the Pininfarina styling and the 307 is consistent with this departure. The Peugeot 307 has a height of 59.4 inches which lands itself in the middle of the spectrum between small family cars and compact MPVs. Some people even consider the 307 as a low compact MPV because of its height and profile. The wedge shaped body of the Peugeot 307 gives it a very long front end, but the car is equipped with four doors, making the Peugeot 307 a family car.

Initially, the Peugeot 307 was a 3 and 5 door hatchback and was not made into a sedan until the year 2002 with the release of two estate models. The Peugeot 307 Break and 307 SW are externally identical, with the SW version having silver roof bars and a length panoramic glass roof as standard equipment. The Peugeot SW is much more versatile than the Peugeot Break model as the SW features an optional third row of removable seats, which makes it of the MPV configuration. The Peugeot SW only exists because a compact MPV was not developed by Peugeot, unlike Citroen. Citroen developed the Xsara Picasso to exhibit a flexible but road stylish car.

The 2005 models of the Peugeot 307 were revised to compete with the rivals that emerged in the market since the original release of the Peugeot 307 in 2001. Among styling changes, the Peugeot 307 featured a larger air intake which was first established by the Peugeot 407.

Rally racing in the form of the Peugeot 307 WRC based on the 307 CC, which replaced the very successful Peugeot 206 WRC in the World Rally Championship in 2004. The vehicle was nicknamed, The Flying Frog and The Whale was plagued by transmission problems and only came into its racing prowess as the model was discontinued at the end of 2005.

More articles written by the author related to Peugeot Dealer, Robins and Day, Peugeot 206 and Peugeot 207 which can be found in the web.

An Overview of the Peugeot Cars

The Peugeot 206 was created in the early 1990's with the replacement of the preceding 205 model. Peugeot changed their model under the idea that super mini cars were no longer profitable, therefore a change was in order. The Peugeot 206 did not immediately follow the 205 as the Peugeot 106, 306 and 309 models to capture different levels of sales from prospective customers. The Peugeot 106 was rivaling the Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Polo with the 306 and 309 models taking the mid and top end sales from the discontinuation of the 205. Because of this, many Peugeot enthusiasts believe the 206 should have been named the 207. The 206, although created early was not released until 1998.

The Peugeot moniker indicates that the 206 immediately followed the 205, but this is not true as other models were released before the 206. The eventual successor, the 207, was finally launched n 2006, but Peugeot recently announced that the 206 will stay in production until the year 2010. The 206 is the best selling Peugeot of all time but the end of the model in the upcoming years will end the '06' generation of Peugeot cars in almost 20 years. The 206 was initially produced in France and England but production switched to Slovakia. The closure of the British plant matched with the closure of the Ryton plant, which Peugeot took over when Peugeot bought Chrysler's European division in 1979.

The Peugeot 306 replaced the 309. The 306 is very similar to the Citroen ZX, which was released to the public two years before the 306 model. Both cars used the same structure and floorplan. The 205 was styled after the Pininfarina styling and has been a better seller. In the 1974 oil crisis, Citroen went bankrupt and Peugeot took over Citroen. This led to the similarities and identical cars produced by both manufacturers.

The 306 Phase 1 came to the market in March of 1993 as a 3 and 5 door hatchback with three different models being offered. The five door was more of a station wagon and was dubbed the "sw" for station wagon. Although not nearly as stylish as the 205, the 306 offered many practical uses in the vehicle. The sw estate model was not a hatchback station wagon, but a sedan with luxurious European styling to accompany the Peugeot racing spirit.

The engines used in the Peugeot cars were offered both in a gasoline and a diesel model. The gasoline engines were four cylinder units, which gained their outstanding reputation from being the power plant in the ever popular Peugeot 205 model. The idea for the Peugeot engines was to have a fair trade off between performance and excellent fuel economy. Three larger capacity engines were available but were restricted to automatic and performance models.

The diesel engines in Peugeot came with an excellent reputation and were largely available in turbo charged models. The original engine displacement for the diesel engines came in a 1.8 liter, but was soon upgraded to a 1.9 liter. The turbocharged Peugeot diesel became an excellent fitting engine to match the 306 as the performance matched similarly sized gasoline cars. The considerable extra weight was overcome by the turbocharged performance.

The Author writes articles on Peugeot Cars. More articles written by the author related to Peugeot Dealer, Peugeot 206 and Peugeot 207 which can be found in the web.

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