Wednesday 6th June 2007

The new Peugeot 308

The last 'big' Peugeot

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The new Peugeot 308

This is the new Peugeot 308, the car that, predictably, replaces the 307.

Details on the car are currently sparse, with Peugeot simply referring to it as being “a very environmentally friendly vehicle”.

It will be produced in France, at the production sites of Sochaux and Mulhouse and you can expect three and five door versions. The Engine range will probably feature 1.6 litre petrol, diesel and the turbo petrol engines co-developed with BMW.

Styling heavily influenced by the 207

Peugeot boss Christian Streiff has been reported as saying the 308 is the last of the heavyweight Peugeots. The 307 ushered in a new era for the firm when it was launched, with a high roof, lots of electronic features and a concentration on safety. The firm’s traditional sporting values and lithe cars were left behind. However, Streiff has indicated that Peugeot will now pursue lighter, sportier and greener models in the future.

We get the feeling there isn't much hope of a 306 Rallye successor within the 308’s sensible genes, but maybe the long-term future looks brighter for hot hatch enthusiasts.

Can Peugeot continue to improve the quality of their interiors?

[toys]

What an awkward looking car, and I suspect a bland car to drive.

Come on Peugeot, dust off those engineers who have been sitting in the corner for the last 15 years, and get back to building great machines again.

[MattPatch]

Too true mate! lets have some more 205's!!!

[Stut-G]

I nearly fell asleep reading that.....then i saw the picturezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Podie]

Jeez, did the paper get stuck when they photocopied the design...?

[hugoagogo]

can't wait for the 309

erm......

[Hendry]

Nice of Peugeot to show the results of a heart rate monitor attached to someone taking a 30 second drive in the 308 in the backgorund of some of the pics.

[Alfanatic]

[quote=toys]What an awkward looking car...quote]

Completely agree, except for the nose, which I think looks far worse than awkward.

[Thirstyboy]

Gross - fromage

[mazspeed7]

I'm getting fed up with this sort of MPV/Hatchback-style blomonge design that more and more manufacturers keep on churning out, they look overweight and contrived. This has to be one one the worst yet!

[FlossyThePig]

I have also read that the is a strong possibility of a diesel hybrid version comming as well.

See autobloggreen

[E39M52003]

Why would anyone buy a Peugeot? Their models have many of the worst JD Power results and they are so boring and ugly.

What are Peugeot thinking?!

[runnersp]

I really hope this is the last of the Peugeots with the big gobs... 307/407/207/308, all IMHO suffer from looking like startled fish, never mind being as boring as watching golf on tv... Can we please please have a new 205gti?

[bob1179]

Is it me or does it look like an ever so slightly different 307?

Why don't Peugeot pull their fingers out and make a proper sporty hatchback again? They obviousley realise that they have lost their way but they still decide to produce this new and yet even lardier arsed motor.

My first car was a 309 btw

Anybody know why they called it a 309 and not 306 at the time?

[zetecuk]

I think the 309 was never meant to be a direct replacement for the 305 - hence they distanced the name a bit. It was originally going to be a Talbot, so it didn't benefit form the Pininfarina styling of the 205 and 405. Was my first car too

[bob1179]

zetecuk said:

I think the 309 was never meant to be a direct replacement for the 305 - hence they distanced the name a bit. It was originally going to be a Talbot, so it didn't benefit form the Pininfarina styling of the 205 and 405. Was my first car too

Ahhh, I remember the Talbot bit, mine had the rattley old 1.1 litre E1A engine used in the Horizon that mustered all of 55bhp! Plenty for a 17 year old mind.

Cheers for that

[Mr Whippy]

What gets me is that on my street there are two 307's, both are driven by people who are almost always on their own. Never seen one filled up.

Secondly the women who own/drive them are about 5ft tall, so the space above their head, ALL that space (probably over 12 inches) is for bugger all except making it roll around more and weigh more, along with more drag.

Why don't Peugeot just make an MPV, and then make the hatchbacks proper cars again.

I guess it's the dumbass/can't spot the obvious nautre of some people.
My brothers girlfriends parents ran a Ford Galaxy for years, because ONCE a year they went to France with all the kids, but 99% of the time it had one person in it. After many comments and stating the obvious by my brother they finally bought a normal car (Mondeo) and now rent a car when they go away. Clever!

I guess with the JD Power survey of the 307 being soooo bad, the 308 will not be warmed to in the same way the 307 was from the rather good example (306) that preceeded it.

Stupid Peugeot.

Dave

[Davemurphy007]

Gimme a B
Gimme an L
Gimme an A
Gimme an N
Gimme a D
Gimme a zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

NEVER been a fan of anything French and this isn't exactly about to SUDDENLY make me change my mind.

Did/Do Peugeot make a single 'decent' (even remotely sporting), car in their entire 'X'07 model lineup? At least the 'X'06's had the 106 GTi, 106 Rallye, the 306 GTi-6 and 306 Rallye (the 206 was pretty pants and so was the 406 by all accounts - even in coupe form) all of which are regarded in generally postive lights!

[FlossyThePig]

Mr Whippy said:

Why don't Peugeot just make an MPV, and then make the hatchbacks proper cars again.
Dave

307SW - can have two extra seats in the back - 7 seats
807 - 7 seater in Ford Galaxy class
New Tepee - looks like a transit with glass, up to 9 seats
Partner - 5 seat, converted van, loads of space

edited to add
4007 - the new 4x4

Edited by FlossyThePig on Wednesday 6th June 14:06

[astrsxi77]

bigger and Bigger and BIGGER.
What has happened to the French hothatch?! The Grande Clio 197, the Whateverthehell Citroen and now this....

Back to basics everyone please...

[Mr Whippy]

FlossyThePig said:

Mr Whippy said:

Why don't Peugeot just make an MPV, and then make the hatchbacks proper cars again.
Dave

307SW - can have two extra seats in the back - 7 seats
807 - 7 seater in Ford Galaxy class
New Tepee - looks like a transit with glass, up to 9 seats
Partner - 5 seat, converted van, loads of space

edited to add
4007 - the new 4x4

Edited by FlossyThePig on Wednesday 6th June 14:06

Fair point, but it hasn't free'd them up to make any car lower than about 6ft bloody high

It's going to start getting very difficult to wash the middle of the roof more than anything

Dave Murphy has it right in his post above. How can a company go from making a range of cars that did so well in the mid 90's, with most cars winning or coming near top in group test, and in the case of the 306 being pretty damn reliable, end up getting it Soooo wrong now?

205Gti, top of the pile back in the day. 306Gti, top of the test from 93>2001 when they stopped making it (ref to almost all Autocar and Evo group tests of the time), and then the 206GTi180, crap ish, and now the 207GTi, absolute rubbish!

I genuinely think Peugeot thought they had to compete with the VAG cars, and in doing so got into a half way point where they threw away their good looks/handling, and got half way to good engineering/quality.
Now they are in a limbo where they don't look good, or drive well, and are not good enough to compete against VAG in their qualities.

Ah well.

Dave