PEUGEOT 307 CC 2003 test drive - 2005 convertible

French hollow

French designers are still all right with imagination. The proof of you is an original, attracting gaze, in some way the avant-garde car of a very fashionable hybrid direction of the capricious compartment made from the usual golf-class hatchback.

 

The machine turned out to be non -trivial, the basic version is actually reminiscent of only the front part (from the bumper to the beginning of the doors). At first glance, 307 CC completely and completely captures your attention - magnificent shapes, a round roof, conceptual feed with mysterious large lanterns, the entire area of \u200b\u200bwhich is filled with points of LEDs. And so you go around the bush, look at this vivid creation of Peugeot designers.

 

With a folded roof, the performance begins anew. Now the salon, covered with light creamy skin, the front panel, the same leather chairs with distinct lateral support, elements of the finish for polished metal, a three -spitting steering wheel, white dials of devices, aluminum pedals with holes. The beauty! The process of folding the ceiling and racks in the trunk is also, by the way, a great show. However, very fleeting - the main roles are assigned to servo drives and electric motors, lasts only twenty -five seconds. Impressive.

 

Even in a black robe, in the state of the compartment, the machine rings the eyes, and if you purchase a car in order to always stay in the spotlight, 307 CC is what you need.

 

In fairness, we note that the image of the new car turned out to be somewhat unbalanced. Still, the front and back parts of 307 CC are designed in too different emotional settings.

 

The expressive face is not in the best way knit with the extremely calm, sloping and smooth stern. The profile seems too intrusive to the silhouette of a large round roof. In some angles, 307 CC looks like a real firing. An ambiguous design, recognizably French, catchy and contradictory. But we like it.

 

The car’s interior refers to the basic model with much greater certainty than the exterior. In fact, everything is the same as on the standard 307th, but the finish is completely different. Pulling with the skin of torpedo and door panels is an excellent solution that displays the quality of the interior to a higher level. As already mentioned, a sports attitude creates widespread inserts for metal, they are even on the steering wheel. However, the lamp, richly designed by chrome with a slot in which the automatic lever walks, recalls that 307 CC is not a sports apparatus, but a car for each day and for each. But sports accent, of course, takes place - take at least the same pedals. And look at what the chairs look like! Indeed, very sporty, but if you sit behind the wheel, you will not feel excessive rigidity. Harmony of sports and comfort? Or confrontation? You can only check this in motion.

 

By the way, the engine here is not the most powerful. Standard two liters and 137 horses. Now, if there was a forced version, and even with a manual gearbox, then we would ask this car in full! However, this does not mean that the black test 307 CC has a slight walk.

 

Capricobolet coupe is heavier than a standard hatchback, and we had serious fears that we would have to roll a convenient, beautiful, but boring slow car, which was only in a hurry to move his no less beautiful housewife on the route - a boutique - a fitness center. Will he be able to give the owner something more in terms of dynamics? It turned out that yes, it would be able, but you have to try. Not only Peugeot 307 CC, but also the owner.

 

If you want a drive, you need to move an automatic transmission selector to manual control mode and properly step on the accelerator pedal. By twisting the engine to maximum revolutions and switching gear before the restriction of the limiter, you can make this car go more or less dynamically. But only at speeds up to 100-120 km/h. The engine roar at high speeds, frequent switching and merciless handling of gas pedal will most likely give you the desired adrenaline sensations. But to move constantly at the limit of the capabilities of the car is tiring, so after a while you will lose speed and transfer the box into automatic mode. By the way, the roof can be lowered.

 

Dip the roof, raise the glass, and turn the stove on the maximum blowing! Autumn, cold, but you can quite heat -insulated to go to a speed of 80V90 km/h, not afraid to catch a cold (of course, in outerwear). Meanwhile, overboard about 8C. One must think that in the spring the open season can be safely started at 15C. In the meantime, the roof is upstairs, the good does not need to stop (the mechanism works at a speed of up to 10 km/h).

 

Suspension 307 CC is configured for dynamic traffic on European quality roads. Therefore, on the streets, where there are a lot of hatches or suddenly around the bend, construction work is found with the full removal of the roadway, you need to hold the ear in all. Seventeen -inch discs, alloy, rubber profile - 45, so not far to trouble on the unfriendly cut of asphalt.

 

In general, suspension settings allow you to move around the city with normal comfort. And when the time comes to twist the engine and go quickly, you understand that the rigidity of shock absorbers is just right. The car allows you to gambling with turning, reacting with a tricky to the movements of the steering wheel, filled with a distinct feedback. The machine strictly adheres to a given trajectory, forgiving even some provocative actions. In sliding 307, CC showed himself predictable and well -controlled. That's just the engine power is sometimes not enough. However, the company also offers a more energy -combined version - with a 177 -horsepower engine and mechanics.

 

Everyone knows that the absence of a roof reduces the rigidity of the body to twist, and this adversely affects handling, so the engineers additionally enhance the design of the body of such cars. To the honor of developers 307 CC, it behaves equally well as a compartment and a convertible. The body was strengthened with special pipes - they are laid from the thresholds to the upper edges of the windshield racks, they also did not forget about the bottom and sidewalls. All this, of course, has a positive effect on passive safety. In the case of a coup, protective arcs are fired (they are hidden under plastic covers behind the headrests), which form a kind of safety frame together with a frame of the windshield. However, in order to overturn 307 CC, we must work hard, because it is equipped with a complete list of modern electronic systems (stabilization, distribution of brake effort, APS) designed to monitor the stability of the behavior of the machine on the road.

 

The rear passenger places seem small and cramped. Let's try to climb there. To do this, pull the lever in the front seat and pull the back forward. The electric drive, such as, for example, in Saab 9-3 Convertible, which helpfully pushes the entire chair entirely, is not here. However, 307 CC - from another price category. If the front chair is occupied by a person of medium height, then another one can accommodate with moderate comfort. Accordingly, the higher the growth, the more problems. The threshold was 190 cm - then serious inconvenience begins.

 

As for the landing at the wheel, the adjustments are enough for a person of any complexion comfortably there. The adjustment of the steering column along the length seemed completely fantastic.

 

A car that has been on the test costs about $ 38,000. Actually, this is 307 CC in the maximum configuration. From the options that have raised the price of the machine, you can mention the system of automatic inclusion of wipers and near light, heating the seats, full decoration of the cabin with leather, cast 17-inch wheels.

 

In the basic version, a car with a 2 liter engine (137 hp) and a manual gearbox costs $ 32,000. Recall that for this money you actually get two different but equally stylish cars in a very good configuration.

 

Text: Leonty Tyutelev
 
 

 

Source: Motor magazine [No. 11/2004]