PEUGEOT 307 Test drive 5 doors 2001 - 2005 hatchback

Infusion agent

The world press is unanimous about Peugeot 307: this French little thing frankly adopted a lot from Volkswagen Golf. Can I put up with this? Similar agents of special services are faced with a similar problem when they are opened with the duplicity of their owners ...

 

Recently, the book of French journalist Tiery Volton KGB in France was translated into Russian, which gives a curious story, how the Romanians fought behind the lag in the automobile field. In the late 70s, Dacia and Citroen entered into an agreement on cooperation, after which more than 150 Romanian engineers were invited to France. These agile guys without the knowledge of a partner photographed Citroen's documentation, which remained outside the contract. Over the past years, the political coloring of this episode faded, and it looks like an ordinary industrial espionage.

 

Previously, manufacturers were forced to purchase samples from each other to find out which one is better - they disassembled the screw, compared. Prose of life - today it is enough for this to read tests in several specialized magazines: all the work was already done by journalists armed with data and onokka. But what about technology? Here, after all, no wholesale-electronics will help! The way out is simple - no espionage. Technologically complex structural elements, car manufacturers have long been purchased from system suppliers, and often from the same. And if something happened, then they get together - as it was recently with Firestone tires.
 

Even, it would seem, the area most protected from penetration - design - and it turns out to be open: borrow - I do not want to!

 
And the designers themselves became a product. The creative finds of the British Keit Ryder could well go to Renault, but he arrived in La Garenn-Kolub, he first made the baby 106th, and then headed the Plate-Forme 2 department, where he created the Peugeot 307, a car that openly imitates his main competitor-Volkswagen Golf ...

 
If the PT Cruiser dudes is a more pumped up from VW Golf IV, and that in turn, replace the limp front with the muzzle from Pt Cruiser ... It would turn out something similar to Peugeot 307. Something Chryslerovskoye pees in its convex hood, clamped Between the cheekbone wings with slanting headlights. At the back, we have an unambiguous resemblance to the golf. Take a look, for example, at the place where the rear lamps, the lid of the trunk and the bumper are mating. There are angles from which the 307th seems to be accidentally falling into our hands by the next generation Golf mod. And it is unlikely that for this the French had to bribe one of the guys Hartmouth Varuss or to penetrate the electronic networks of the style center in Volsburg. They had enough approval of the leadership and Toliki of the Gallic relaxation. The machine turned out to be lobastic (designers call this Advanced Cab) and frying like the 206th. The developers obviously did not have the limited volume of the trunk obtained with such a silhouette - they did not want to run into analogies with mini -wenes. Yes, Peugeot 307 is not a compact mini -van. This is just a very high car of the first middle class, or, as the French call it, M1 (Moyenne-1).

 
In this section of the Golf IV automobile supermarket there is the most promoted product. Although for trips with households (the section is purely family), the German is clearly crowded. But who does not know the psychology of the economical hostess: dreams of Bosch, but Ariston uses, not at all regretting.

 
Peugeot, of course, has many advantages, thanks to which it has a lot of hot fans, but it is important for strategic success to lure opponents to its side. Which, in fact, happens with the advent of the 307th.

 
The car, possessing the muscles of the golf, can argue with a tall with compact mini-wenes, like Scenic and Pt Cruiser. Acceleration is now in fashion - Chrysler, for example, intends to return the production of Jeep to America in order to increase the production of hookers in Austria, which are released in Austria. (By the way: the mini-wen, which ten years ago did not know how to relate today, influence the classes of cars close to them. So, Fiat makes the body of the five-door family version of Stilo higher than the addressed individuals of the three-door. Honda went, which created on the Civic platform a three-door and standard five-door modifications, as well as a high-roof mini-van, a short-lived and standard five-door. Plus a sedan and a sports compartment. These models are also distinguished by the position of the seats: somewhere a vertical landing is provided, in another case - more sports.)
 

What do we find in Peugeot-307? Highly located seats with almost vertical backs - even deep retractable cules for road trifles fit under the front. Inside, the 307th attacks Golf even more: the instrument shield with its pale blue scales-the spilled Volkswagenovsky, and the font is similar, the upholstery was noticeably pulled in texture and quality of joints, the height of the pillow is regulated, like the German competitor, lever. The seats have become more flat and toughly tough, and the rear are folded according to the same algorithm as Golf. You immediately recall that the famous manufacturer of interior parts, the French company Faurecia, is supplied by PSA over a third of its products, and more than 20% - the VW group.
 

At the wheel of 307, you really feel like in a mini-wen or SUV: the world opens before you from a high point through a huge (1.46 m sq.) Lobe glass. To clean it completely, the oncoming system of wipers is used - the French call it Papillon (such as a butterfly). But even the right brush is shorter than the left.
 

The advantages of the new concept of Peugeot are manifested when you begin to adjust the steering column under yourself (adjusted by departure and angle of inclination) and a chair. From its pillow to the ceiling as many as 1019 mm. But many large sedans in this case are limited to three digits, and even S-Class offers only 1000 mm! The range of distance adjustment between the driver's seat and pedals is 22 centimeters - even a very large man will sit comfortably. The one who falls out to sit behind this big man will be satisfied: when the front armchair shifted backwards, more than 70 centimeters will remain back.

 
The front racks overlap the corner review - however, all the owners of modern mini -wene models inevitably face this. The schemes that the pilot Pokryshkin hung at the war during the war years over his bunk come to mind: dead zones, inaccessible to the fire of machine guns of an enemy bomber. And if you still somehow manage, stretching your neck, overcome the intersections without risk to run into Pokryshkin, then with intensive driving along mountain serpentines there is no time to look at the rack.
 

The country chosen by the Moscow representative office of Peugeot for acquaintance with the 307th, - Morocco - has the best possible to have such training. Berberes driving a truck do not favor strangers who emerge because of the turn, on the contrary, the kids, on the contrary, are very complaining: perhaps they saw a stretched motley cavalcade of the 307s with something like a Paris-Dakar or, at worst, WRC stage. The children greeted us with desperate gestures, goats, donkeys, dogs and poultry (they apparently commanded them to look after) - they were attached that the road situation did not improve ...
 

The steering PEUGEOT 307 is equipped with a hydraulic pump with an electric drive (what we expect to see on the new field) - now the force on the steering wheel depends on the engine speed, but on the program laid in the computer, and the steering wheel 307th systematically is filled with elasticity with an increase in speed . The car moves perfectly in a straight line, almost not requiring adjustment. It is equally easy thanks to such a steering wheel to prescribe protruding gentle turns, which are many in the foothills of the Atlas Range. But very soon we climb higher - the turns become cooler, more dangerous (in return for fences on local roads, stones are often laid out to help evaluate the curb). And the program begins to fail - with an energetic passage of the turns, the steering wheel sometimes relaxes, and just when you expect elastic opposition from it.
 

The main confusion in the behavior of the car is introduced by a new rear suspension. The former, with transverse torsiones, was distinguished by an outstanding energy intensity and the property of steering the wheels in the bend under the influence of lateral forces - its bushings and supports had programmed transverse supplies, the so -called elastokinematics. Therefore, the 306th (it was produced since 1993) drew turns, as for rails.

 
Now in the rear bridge, interconnected longitudinal levers are used - a much simpler (and cheap) design.

 
At a low speed, the suspension probes each fossa, sometimes it shakes you significantly - like in a boat on a wake from a nearby boat. But it is worth adding the gas, and the course becomes smoother, the car clings to the selected line - a completely different character. We are now on the shoulder and grader - we leave crushed stone drills, and broken asphalt - what is the matter filled with a return force to the steering wheel, how do tires with potholes communicate?

 
In turns, it becomes obvious that the car does not accept the middle: either you need to go slowly, or go through the turns of aggressively, in sliding, helping yourself with a steering wheel and gas. Not every potential client of the 307th will be able to fulfill the latter, but everyone heard about the proprietary tuning of the chassis like a sports car. AU! There is already another suspension here! Your attempt to simply attack the rotation will simply call the car at first a stubborn unwillingness to fit into the selected trajectory, and then, when there is no time for thought, a sudden breakdown of the rear wheels in the ski is followed. And here everything will depend only on the clarity of your actions - and on the lack of oncoming transport.

 
It seems that the machine makes titanic efforts to match the attached sports label. At the same time, it is focused on the leadership in the segment, which annually absorbs five million cars (third of the European market). It is naive to believe that so many sports driving masters will be found in Europe. It seems that at some point there was a misunderstanding between the developers and those on whom it depends on what sauce to supply the novelty to the market. It is possible, it is true that people from Peugeot, contrary to the changed conjuncture, became hostages of the previous image of the brand.
 

Of course, a lot depends on the configuration. So, a car with a 2-liter 70-horsepower HDI diesel engine (Common-Rail) is much closer to the 307th role initially defined by designers: a reliable family machine. The 307th diesel is distinguished by amazing sound insulation and, in addition, significantly softer on the road than gasoline (1.6 liters, 110 hp and 2.0 liters, 138 hp) version. In addition, you can’t call the acceleration of a diesel machine in any way. The programs in the five -speed box are stretched, it is not possible to stiffen the car. Quite a whole image. A good option for traveling to work, to the store and to the sea!

 
The undeniable advantages of Peugeot 307 include safety. Even on the basic version of XR Pressence, two front inflatable pillows, a pair of side and two more inflatable curtains are installed, as well as ensuring excellent slowdown in disc brakes with ABS Bosch 5.3 and electronic brake force distributor. Moreover, if the intensity of the slowdown in the machine reaches 8 m/s2, the emergency woman automatically turns on. Of the innovations in the field of active security, automatic wipers (they are commanded by the rain sensor) and headlights included in twilight without the participation of the driver deserve attention.

 
The Follow Me Home system can also be attributed to the same area: after setting the car for the alarm, it illuminates the driver with the house for the house for 45 seconds.

 
What is interesting in passive safety? Firstly, the design of the seats. The headrest is fixed on a special frame, which, when impacts into the car, opens the head back, which reduces the risk of damage to the cervical vertebrae. In a frontal collision, the steering column breaks, as a result of which the steering wheel goes forward 5 cm. The support of the left leg, usually threatening the lower leg with a fracture, after the collision moves so that the foot does not hold - pushing it out of the insidious niche. Peugeot engineers did everything to minimize the consequences of non -layer clashes. For example, the front wings are made of impact -resistant engineering plastic Noryl. The front bumper is fixed on crushed brackets that absorb the energy of the blow, in addition, they are screwed (and not welded) to the spar, which reduces the reversing of repair work ...
 

Every year, 550 thousand Peugeot 307 will go from the conveyors of factories in Muluz and Sosho. Of course, this model will affect not only the market structure, but to some extent will determine development paths for its class. The French are seriously configured: 14 options for configuration of the 307th are already offered, and this is only with three engines and two versions of a mechanical five-speed transmission. The introduction of a 1.4-liter HDI diesel diesel engine, developed together with Ford, and an adaptive four-stage Tiptronic type adaptive. You can wait for new body modifications - it is not by chance that the company anticipated the appearance of the 307th Cameleo pickup. It is therefore possible that work on the new VW Golf will now continue under strong French influence.

 

Text: Denis Orlov
 
 

 

A source: Motor magazine [No. 8/2001]