RE: The new Peugeot 308
Discussion
flattotheboards said:
is it just me or does it look very similar to the 207
..and the 107, 307, 407 and the whatever-the-MPV-is-7.I think they take the same 'Peugeot ugly car' picture and stretch of squeeze it to make it into the different sized models.
Then they simply add some weight, remove some style and find lots of boring people to sell it to!
OK guys, I dare to say for work I daily drive a 1.6 307 and it's blue as well . . .
It really is a step up from a Golf, but you HAVE to consider this is a car for the masses. So yes, it's bland. But trashing it it's safe indeed and fast roundabouts or fast corners are easy though not exciting. A big thumbsup for the engineers that did the roadhandling: it doesn't rock at corners and it's predictable when things go wrong.
The 205-days, well . . . those were the days cars could be felt and it's no coincidence I like my cars pre '85.
This 308 has the big Pug-mouth I don't like. But then folks, name me a car in the current top-25 that isn't bland and refers to the old days . . . surely those will never come back.
Although I must say the Beemer 1 feels OK.
It really is a step up from a Golf, but you HAVE to consider this is a car for the masses. So yes, it's bland. But trashing it it's safe indeed and fast roundabouts or fast corners are easy though not exciting. A big thumbsup for the engineers that did the roadhandling: it doesn't rock at corners and it's predictable when things go wrong.
The 205-days, well . . . those were the days cars could be felt and it's no coincidence I like my cars pre '85.
This 308 has the big Pug-mouth I don't like. But then folks, name me a car in the current top-25 that isn't bland and refers to the old days . . . surely those will never come back.
Although I must say the Beemer 1 feels OK.
It's not much about "the old days", it's more about the total lack of taste from the people who design them, from the people who give the green light for them being built and from the people who validate the whole process by buying them.
That incredible financial efforts are put into design offices which come up with such physical abominations remains a mystery to me.
Why would anything that ugly should necesarily hide behind the excuse of being mass-produced ? Fiat are doing pretty well - the Punto is ok, the imminent new Fiat 500 looks "nice" (at least as far as yoghurt pots are concerned) and the future Bravo looks ok too.
Why do Peugeot have to keep on with these simply plain ugly egg shapes flanked with this big grille ? That's a 2.0 HDI behind it, not a Porsche V8TT !
In term of uglyness the 307 set a new benchmark. Why does the 4 door Citroën C4 built on the same platform happen to look SO much better ? Peugeot are just PLAIN wrong.
That incredible financial efforts are put into design offices which come up with such physical abominations remains a mystery to me.
Why would anything that ugly should necesarily hide behind the excuse of being mass-produced ? Fiat are doing pretty well - the Punto is ok, the imminent new Fiat 500 looks "nice" (at least as far as yoghurt pots are concerned) and the future Bravo looks ok too.
Why do Peugeot have to keep on with these simply plain ugly egg shapes flanked with this big grille ? That's a 2.0 HDI behind it, not a Porsche V8TT !
In term of uglyness the 307 set a new benchmark. Why does the 4 door Citroën C4 built on the same platform happen to look SO much better ? Peugeot are just PLAIN wrong.
Edited by Thom on Wednesday 6th June 20:16
You all talk about hot hatches, the 308 is a family car and peugeot arent trying to hide this. I went out in a 207 GTI for the first time yesterday and i have to admit i wasnt expecting much after the GTI 180, but i have to admit i was pleasantly suprised. Even though the new gti has only 175 bhp like most turbo cars that has very little relevance to the actual power this car has.
The grunt in mid gear is fantastic and the useable power is great for round the lanes. In all honesty its not a 205 gti but its a good alternative given the modern day safety regulations and restrictions given to manufacturers.
Lets face it peugeot couldnt produce a 205 gti even if they wanted to with the amount of safety features they have to build into their cars under regulation.
The grunt in mid gear is fantastic and the useable power is great for round the lanes. In all honesty its not a 205 gti but its a good alternative given the modern day safety regulations and restrictions given to manufacturers.
Lets face it peugeot couldnt produce a 205 gti even if they wanted to with the amount of safety features they have to build into their cars under regulation.
Why is the front overhang on Pugs so damned long? Don't give me all those boring pedestrian safety/crush zone/transverse engine excuses. Other manufacturers live with the same constraints and don't produce Pinochio noses like this. I think the reality is that there is a stylist, hidden away in the Peugeot attic, who actually believes that a snowplough beak and guppy mouth looks attractive. Yes, I know this is a ridiculous thought, but how else can we explain it? Time after time they churn out hideous-looking me-too cars with one major difference: Not svelte styling, not superior engineering, not a stack of clever features, but a huge, ugly, speed-hump crunching gravel scraping proboscis. How Gallic....
Can't quite see what's gallic about that though...
Having said that Pugs or Renaults are essentially made for their very conservative home market and other markets have to adapt to the product. This is strange in a global age and for such pan-european players. Both companies are very profitable though, and not many countries can claim to have a duopoly of profitable domestic mass car makers.
It does not matter how unreliable and boring French cars have become, French people buy them out of habit. What IS very strange (and very gallic) IS why on earth so many Brits/Italians/Germans buy them too...
Having said that Pugs or Renaults are essentially made for their very conservative home market and other markets have to adapt to the product. This is strange in a global age and for such pan-european players. Both companies are very profitable though, and not many countries can claim to have a duopoly of profitable domestic mass car makers.
It does not matter how unreliable and boring French cars have become, French people buy them out of habit. What IS very strange (and very gallic) IS why on earth so many Brits/Italians/Germans buy them too...
Gassing Station | French Bred | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff