Stellantis - Wow!
Discussion
For context; I was out car shopping with a friend yesterday looking for a replacement for a MY19 Seat Alhambra 2.0 DSG. I expected it would be a relatively straightforward trip to the local VW / Skoda / Seat franchise which is all on one site - but what a let down! A forecourt full of poorly prepped cars at less than a year old, often with significant paint / interior / wheel / tyre damage. Anyway, the cars didn't feel like they'd moved forwards much from the Alhambra, save for a slightly larger nav screen - lots of switchgear was the same / less powerful engines / jerky DSG gearboxes.
We ended up looking at a few other dealerships, including Kia, Hyundai and Citroen / Peugeot. It was the latter two )on one site) that I'm mightily impressed with!
We ended up driving a Peugeot 5008 with their 8 speed auto - what an absolutely lovely car! The interior feels a bit space-age at first, but it all makes lots of ergonomic sense. The switchgear feels absolutely great - a real step up in quality over the Skoda Kodiaq & equivalents. What struck me is just how smooth the drive was. The gearbox - while it's a torque converter 'box - was buttery smooth and the ride quality was very very good as well.
I could be very, very tempted by a 508 for myself, based on the car I drove yesterday. Has anyone bought a recent Peugeot? How do they stand up to the test of time? They felt like very well engineered and put together cars.
We ended up looking at a few other dealerships, including Kia, Hyundai and Citroen / Peugeot. It was the latter two )on one site) that I'm mightily impressed with!
We ended up driving a Peugeot 5008 with their 8 speed auto - what an absolutely lovely car! The interior feels a bit space-age at first, but it all makes lots of ergonomic sense. The switchgear feels absolutely great - a real step up in quality over the Skoda Kodiaq & equivalents. What struck me is just how smooth the drive was. The gearbox - while it's a torque converter 'box - was buttery smooth and the ride quality was very very good as well.
I could be very, very tempted by a 508 for myself, based on the car I drove yesterday. Has anyone bought a recent Peugeot? How do they stand up to the test of time? They felt like very well engineered and put together cars.
Indeed. The 3008 and 5008 have gone up market in terms of design, fit and fish, ride, NVH etc..
I was mocked on PH by one of the usual weirdos for suggesting that Peugeot had moved away from cheapo cars to higher margin products positioned somewhere between their Opel brand or VW and the usual "premium" products. But it's a reality.
I was mocked on PH by one of the usual weirdos for suggesting that Peugeot had moved away from cheapo cars to higher margin products positioned somewhere between their Opel brand or VW and the usual "premium" products. But it's a reality.
I work in the car warranty business and VW's aren't that reliable anymore. I also think the interiors look drab compared to the competition. I can't tell if the downfall in quality is due to the accessibility and popularity of the brand, leading to deferred maintenance due to owners not really being able to afford them or owners who don't care enough to get things fixed as and when they break. It could also be that VW are making cars cheaper now but still keeping that perception of a premium brand.
SebastienClement said:
For context; I was out car shopping with a friend yesterday looking for a replacement for a MY19 Seat Alhambra 2.0 DSG. I expected it would be a relatively straightforward trip to the local VW / Skoda / Seat franchise which is all on one site - but what a let down! A forecourt full of poorly prepped cars at less than a year old, often with significant paint / interior / wheel / tyre damage. Anyway, the cars didn't feel like they'd moved forwards much from the Alhambra, save for a slightly larger nav screen - lots of switchgear was the same / less powerful engines / jerky DSG gearboxes.
We ended up looking at a few other dealerships, including Kia, Hyundai and Citroen / Peugeot. It was the latter two )on one site) that I'm mightily impressed with!
We ended up driving a Peugeot 5008 with their 8 speed auto - what an absolutely lovely car! The interior feels a bit space-age at first, but it all makes lots of ergonomic sense. The switchgear feels absolutely great - a real step up in quality over the Skoda Kodiaq & equivalents. What struck me is just how smooth the drive was. The gearbox - while it's a torque converter 'box - was buttery smooth and the ride quality was very very good as well.
I could be very, very tempted by a 508 for myself, based on the car I drove yesterday. Has anyone bought a recent Peugeot? How do they stand up to the test of time? They felt like very well engineered and put together cars.
I did some IT work for PSA France a good few years ago. Their automotive engineering division has always been very good, even if manufacturing wasn't (partly this is just the sector of the market they sell into). If they move upmarket along with everyone else, I'd expect them to do quite well, but without the brand to match (something like Skoda).We ended up looking at a few other dealerships, including Kia, Hyundai and Citroen / Peugeot. It was the latter two )on one site) that I'm mightily impressed with!
We ended up driving a Peugeot 5008 with their 8 speed auto - what an absolutely lovely car! The interior feels a bit space-age at first, but it all makes lots of ergonomic sense. The switchgear feels absolutely great - a real step up in quality over the Skoda Kodiaq & equivalents. What struck me is just how smooth the drive was. The gearbox - while it's a torque converter 'box - was buttery smooth and the ride quality was very very good as well.
I could be very, very tempted by a 508 for myself, based on the car I drove yesterday. Has anyone bought a recent Peugeot? How do they stand up to the test of time? They felt like very well engineered and put together cars.
Just my tuppenceworth.
A word of caution on Peugeot from real world experience (these are 2019 diesel models, so might not be fully relevant to the OP). We have a fleet of them at work (100+ cars) and have suffered a much larger than expected number of total engine failures, cambelts snapping and other serious faults. Admittedly, they're now 4+ years old and the mileage is getting near 100k on the majority of them but they are all on fully maintained leases so serviced by Peugeot whenever needed with no expense spared.
The interiors tend to stand up really well, it's the oily bits that let them down. They do feel cheap though, and I can't get on with the tiny steering wheel and binnacle above it. Having owned an Octavia for a couple of years I'd say it was the far better car, although I haven't driven the latest models from either manufactuerer.
Incidentally, I've never had a problem with VAG cars, the Skoda was entirely fault free for 3 years without a single warranty item, same story for both my parents' Audi's and now my Porsche - all bought new and zero faults so far. Perhaps we've been lucky!
The interiors tend to stand up really well, it's the oily bits that let them down. They do feel cheap though, and I can't get on with the tiny steering wheel and binnacle above it. Having owned an Octavia for a couple of years I'd say it was the far better car, although I haven't driven the latest models from either manufactuerer.
Incidentally, I've never had a problem with VAG cars, the Skoda was entirely fault free for 3 years without a single warranty item, same story for both my parents' Audi's and now my Porsche - all bought new and zero faults so far. Perhaps we've been lucky!
I was in the Stellantis employee car scheme for a few years so had a few 5008, 3008 & a 2008, previous to joining the scheme I had a leased 5008 for the wife.
Never had any issues, would say engines choice is poor for a big car, 1.2 3cyl petrol or 1.5d, 2.0 are quite rare nowadays. All were autos.
I'd have another and found the tech good to be fair.
Never had any issues, would say engines choice is poor for a big car, 1.2 3cyl petrol or 1.5d, 2.0 are quite rare nowadays. All were autos.
I'd have another and found the tech good to be fair.
RazerSauber said:
I work in the car warranty business and VW's aren't that reliable anymore. I also think the interiors look drab compared to the competition. I can't tell if the downfall in quality is due to the accessibility and popularity of the brand, leading to deferred maintenance due to owners not really being able to afford them or owners who don't care enough to get things fixed as and when they break. It could also be that VW are making cars cheaper now but still keeping that perception of a premium brand.
A colleague of mine who has owned several Golf GTI's from over the years, including the current model being his daily driver, his favourite being the MK5, called the current model a "cheap imitation of a Golf". He likes the way that it drives but the interior and general quality is sub par, I've sat in it and have to agree that it's not all that.
Dashnine said:
OP, what makes you think the DSG gearbox is jerky? I've driven a few now including my current Formentor and never found them jerky.
I've driven around 30 DSG equipped cars - a mixture of diesel and petrol and never found them to be smooth boxes. It's a.lot worse if you use autohold, and is really quite horrible when accelerating away from a stop with autohold disengaging and the DSG clutch engaging.If you want quick gear changes then nothing beats a dual clutch setup, but I can drive a manual with much smoother results.
Objectively the Peugeot 'box was much smoother than the DSG equipped cars that we tried yesterday.
SebastienClement said:
I've driven around 30 DSG equipped cars - a mixture of diesel and petrol and never found them to be smooth boxes. It's a.lot worse if you use autohold, and is really quite horrible when accelerating away from a stop with autohold disengaging and the DSG clutch engaging.
If you want quick gear changes then nothing beats a dual clutch setup, but I can drive a manual with much smoother results.
Objectively the Peugeot 'box was much smoother than the DSG equipped cars that we tried yesterday.
I always prefer torque converters, I like the way they pull away from standstill much better than a manual or a DSG type box. If you want quick gear changes then nothing beats a dual clutch setup, but I can drive a manual with much smoother results.
Objectively the Peugeot 'box was much smoother than the DSG equipped cars that we tried yesterday.
Once they are moving there is not a huge difference. It does depend on the engine it's paired to though. My wife has the 1.3t 163 bhp variant of the Mercedes A200 and it has a tendency to drop a gear even on the motorway, when increasing speed by only a few mph. Also that one is a bit jerky pulling away, owing to poor mapping I think.
I'd always vote torque converter. The trade offs are worth it for me.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff