PEUGEOT 307 Test drive 5 doors 2005 - 2008 hatchback

Gallic cock

The lion's share is when someone gets everything or almost everything. Time will tell what share of the automobile market will go to the one whose king of animals is depicted on the radiator - Peugeot 307.
A couple of years ago, French cars could not keep up with the Gallic perfumes and cognacs in popularity. But the fashion is changing, like the mood of the French with a warm Parisian night. And come to the Peugeot 206 to a fashionable restaurant in order to grab tequiles, is considered if not a rule of good tone, then a prestigious habit. The youngest representative of the Peugeot family, 206th, conquers the freshness of design and good sledge qualities. One but - they are small for a person whose youth habits are already starting to conflict with a solid image and who prefers, say, Volkswagen Golf or Bora, as a kind of higher level of motorization, but nevertheless does not bind to a constant wearing of a business costume like from Inexpensive, striped.
HIT BELOW THE BELT. And then the Peugeot 307 arrived in time, who, with the ingency of a fighting rooster, flooded the feathers and pecked Golf, his direct competitor in the market, right into the trunk. With a clear desire to glue him to death and joyfully buy him at the dawn of a new automobile fashion. Stop! Only the lazy journalist did not compare these two cars. I don’t want to repeat myself, and therefore consider it just subjective notes about a particular car - Peugeot 307 with a 2.0 -liter gasoline engine in the XT Premium configuration. Its engine is the most powerful in the range, and in the salon I could enjoy all the delights of the equipped being: a climate control system, audio with a CD changer and a steering wheel switch, hatch and so on. In short-almost a top version, only the seats are not leather.
But first, after all, a few words in defense of the frog. Firstly, everyone criticizes the 307th model for having lost the branded features of the 206th and looks like any other car. Personally, I do not agree with this - family features are visible in it quite definitely. And this car with a Japanese or German can only be confused by a very indifferent person to the world car industry.
Secondly, I do not agree with the statements that inside it is the same Golf (nevertheless burst out!). Yes, the dashboard is similar. But if it is convenient and practical, then why invent a bicycle? And the rest I consider the design of the salon as a certain challenge of the conservative of the German style. This is not a copy - this is a very successful parody.
Trifles, but nice. Opening the door in the parking lot near the hotel, I literally fell into the driver's seat. Obviously, a man was distorted by a very tall car. We will configure for ourselves. To begin with, I had to move the seat forward to several clicks. It is already not bad, since in most cars I sit in a position back to the stop (not because of gigantic growth, but out of bad habit). This means that the rear passengers will get a place, but, by and large, I, as a driver, excites me little.
The steering wheel moves only back and forth. Therefore, you can select the optimal landing only by moving the chair. Fortunately, there is a jack on the left that pushes it up and down. I put forward up to the stop and am surprised at once with two things. Firstly, I did not catch on a massive watch for the upholstery of the door. In the 307th, a very wide salon, and in order to find the seats of adjustment on the sidewall, you do not have to open the door, as in ... (well, you yourself understand). Secondly, the driver’s landing in the 307th is more vertical than in other cars of this class. I like it - it’s more convenient to follow the road.
The interior finish is consistent with the car class and its price. Ground plastic, tree inserts or titanium. Well, everything seems to be in place, the legs are comfortable on the pedals, hands on the steering wheel. The lever of the checkpoint is where it is necessary. Claims arise to the remote control of the radio and to the display of the on -board computer. The first is completely overlapped by the steering wheel, the second is practically not read due to the bright sun. But this is so, small injections. And the owner will get used to the switch, and the bright sun is not the most frequent guest in our latitudes.
Having pushed his journalistic property (I carry all my own with you) on numerous pockets and shelves and making sure that everything is at hand, and the music and climate management algorithm is simple and understandable, I touch the road, having previously attached a couple of bottles of water to the glove compartment with cooling from the air conditioner - overboard +30 degrees.
Red mountains Morocco. The journalists evaluated the running qualities of the new Peugeot not on the reference roads of France, but in a situation close to the combat, on the mountain serpentines of the Atlas mountains in Morocco. The quality of the roads there is quite comparable to the Moscow -Peter tract. This is a cocktail of even asphalt, unexpectedly emerging in front of a hood of a border guard, small holes scattered in a checkerboard pattern. And - the complete absence of civilized roadsides. Shake, but not mix.
A 2.0 liter engine is frankly good. Spitting on a strict warning of the organizers that it is better not to violate the speed limit, we pressed all the way to the gas pedal of all stupid power. Still, this is the only opportunity to secretly find out who is cooler. After all, we cannot check who is better to write-too many countries are presented on the international test drive.
The main struggle on the highway unfolded between cars with a 2.0 liter engine. Leaving far behind the competitors on versions of gasoline/1.6 liters and diesel/HDI, we enthusiastically swallow kilometers, covered with red dust of Morocco. In even areas, the 307th confidently holds a speed of 170--180 km/h. Under the pedal is a clear supply, but we will consider it as strategic. The abundance of cyclists who write eights on the roadsides and are ready to collapse under the wheels at any time discipline a slightly discipline. Although the brakes on the Peugeot 307 inspire confidence. They themselves even include emergency braking with two legs on the floor.
It accelerates to the notorious 170 km/h the car is fun and very evenly. On the first - up to 60, on the second - up to 90, on the third motor begins to howl a little in the region of 110 km/h, but such a stretched transmission pleases. This means that in a dilated city cycle you can lazily listen to the French chanson, and not bother yourself with a frequent gear shift. Moreover, the engine is confidently pulling the car from 1500 --2000 rpm.
French side dish. PEUGEOT steering wheel with an electro -hydraulic power steering. It is driven by its own motor and does not take the power from the engine. Plus, it is noticeably heavier at high speeds. This a little corrects a common mistake when the driver sharply pulls the steering wheel when an obstacle appears or simply from fatigue. On PEUGEOT, such a fortel can go sideways - a couple of times, flying two wheels on the ground or in a very steep turn, we clearly broke into the skid, and the trajectory could only be neat with neat movements of the steering wheel. Well, the discharge of gas, of course. Here the Macedonian journalist jerked too sharply and made sure that all six airbags are working!
The suspension on the 307th is overly European. Noticeable irregularities swallow only at a speed of more than 70--80 km/h. It significantly shocks on the high car, and having flew 120 km/h with the front wheel into a small but insidious hole on the asphalt, we clearly heard the sound of a amorter breakdown and even scared a little.
Give - take it. At first I wanted to devote this article to my many friends and acquaintances, who regularly harass me, as a kind of automobile guru, with the same question. To take or not take Peugeot 307 I will answer this way. First, do not take, but buy. Secondly, if I liked it, then I recommend a version with a diesel engine, which I also managed to test during a test drive. Frankly, there are disadvantages: the diesel Peugeot is not as fast as gasoline, especially in lower gears. With maximum speed, the French also booked - up to 150 km/h, we unwound him, but no more. But there are advantages: diesel is very quiet and familiar plasticism in the cabin is not heard. And most importantly - do not consider for work, read the line in the table where fuel consumption is indicated. Well, they appreciated, with other almost equal ones?
     
Text Nikolay Kachurin, photo of the author and Peugeot
 

Source: "Autopilot"