Peugeot 307 SW XS 1.6 HDi 110

Oh, the berzerk bit. I think I have figured it out.

When you have extra floor mats, things can get tricky. Applying pressure on the gas to get the responses you want sometimes makes the engine work very hard. And what actually happens is the car works harder trying to keep up with what you're asking from it, knowing it can do more. I think the E.C.U. adjusts the injection rate and stuff like that so if you push the gas two thirds of the way, the car readapts to that and so you can get up to 174kph. But the result is that you can almost hear the engine beg, and some SPECTACULAR smoke coming out of the rear, while the rattling turns into that of a W28 Diesel Benz or a 1980 Fiat Uno Diesel.

And so, once, I had asked myself, what if I surprise the car and see if that is really the problem? I was doing 90 kph on the freeway, and the thought just pumped into my head, and I floored it ( two thirds of the way with the extra floor mats making it three ), and voila. It took about 13 seconds to get to 160 from 90 kph, 13 exactly, and that was somewhat "quick", but you could almost swear the engine was going to cut off. But after it got a hang of it and figured out you wanted to keep it floored, you get a clear picture of what the problem is: The car jerks off all of a sudden, seems to give in at 150ish, and almost stalls, then picks up pace slowly like a boat at 174ish. After that, for some obscure reason, as soon as I had thought it was at its top breath, it cut off, all the lights came on, and some obscure warning about the engine came on. I thought I blew a piston or something.

I had also noticed, it is a very cute way of reachng 24l/100km figures.

Not to mention that it feels more like a flying rag than sitting "inside of a car", because the car is used to being driven slowly much of the time, I had thought of it as a home somewhat, but after the experience, the image was shattered.

It took some time for things to be readjusted, and trying the ignition a minute later, the engine started as if nothing happened. Bloody Hell, I know I did not imagine it happen!

So, I decided to have revenge. This time, it couldn't go over 160. Not until I reached the last turn of the tollway, and when I really didn't need any more thrill, just as I was about to pump the brakes 2 km away from home, it goes nuts, and because it's a turn, for some reason the "gas" pedal could sneak its way in all the way. The resulting nightmare can only be explained by a "NASA-ABORT LAUNCH" experience. Remember, this is not a very big car but it's not very well together either, and the "spaceship" shape does not help you feel very safe in recovery manoeuvres AT ALL. So, if I had any advice for people who "commute" a lot, I would advise you to avoid this car. This is more like a mother's car, driving kids to school. Because outside the city, it does not belong at all. Not with a 1.6 HDi. Not even at 1000 Breakhorsepower. The little engine is so overworked you know its limit is 130, meaning anything over that will cost you engine repair fortunes by the minute, and an injection diesel engine gone awry is one that you will have to replace, and you're looking at 5k figures+ here, almost a fifth the price of the whole car, BRAND NEW! ALMOST TEN YEARS AGO!

The feeling in country roads is different. As long as you "enjoy" fourth gear, and restrict your dreams to 80kph, then you will understand a thing or two about fuel economy.

Under the engine, a scary seight, looks messy now, lots of the plastic works have somehow either fallen off or evaporated, and it looks like the engine is getting exposed to all kinds of threats from the elements. But still, it never has given any signs of requirements for repairs, and even though it is worked very hard, people carrier, shopping van, also can amaze you with the availability of space in the boot and the back.

The only major problem is that, if this is a city car, then you have got to be patient finding a parking spot ( the car is quite long at any rate, at least the length of an American Sedan ), and then trying to fit the goddamn things there. So this is kind of a cruel punishment for peugeot. The solution? Either get rid of the 1.6 HDi and replace it with something more decent if you plan to use the thing outside of town, or get an axe and get rid of the boot everytime you plan to park the thing. Incidentally, for school trips and what not, it is amazingly agile because it's good for quick stop and go, even after all this time the doors open and close quickly and firmly and easily, the first gear is still responsive but tends to throw you off in search of a second gear to find the next one, and it seems like you're carrying the car, rather than it carrying you.

Oh, the corners. This thing is very nimble. It can corner pretty sharply. Which is why, God Forbid, I had never had the guts nor the courage to test it anywhere near danger. Why? Because I figure anything above 90 can be very tricky. Add to that the factors of wind, snow, rain, black ice, ... and you could end up with a very ugly picture. This is more like a convertible, not very good to play games with it. It can go forward. Then forward, then forward, then forward. Keep that in mind.

So this brings us to the newer generation Pugs, replacing this one.

I had not seen anything close, however, the 307 still does not match up to, for example, the 405 Break, which is more realistic if you plan to use it for work as a carpenter for example. And also, because it will tend to be cheaper to repair if you dent it. The new 208 has probably an upcoming SW version, but that is probably even worse: remember the 206 SW?

Moral of the story is, where are we going with these "cars"?

What is the purpose of a car in the first place? I think people are just inventing useless things. We need to redefine to ourselves the meaning of transportation, because it is not about shape, it is not about what the buttons do, but it is about the person sitting behind the wheel and their companions, and their destinies.

And somehow all these new cars block the view.

Oh, the berzerk bit. I think I have figured it out.

When you have extra floor mats, things can get tricky. Applying pressure on the gas to get the responses you want sometimes makes the engine work very hard. And what actually happens is the car works harder trying to keep up with what you're asking from it, knowing it can do more. I think the E.C.U. adjusts the injection rate and stuff like that so if you push the gas two thirds of the way, the car readapts to that and so you can get up to 174kph. But the result is that you can almost hear the engine beg, and some SPECTACULAR smoke coming out of the rear, while the rattling turns into that of a W28 Diesel Benz or a 1980 Fiat Uno Diesel.

And so, once, I had asked myself, what if I surprise the car and see if that is really the problem? I was doing 90 kph on the freeway, and the thought just pumped into my head, and I floored it ( two thirds of the way with the extra floor mats making it three ), and voila. It took about 13 seconds to get to 160 from 90 kph, 13 exactly, and that was somewhat "quick", but you could almost swear the engine was going to cut off. But after it got a hang of it and figured out you wanted to keep it floored, you get a clear picture of what the problem is: The car jerks off all of a sudden, seems to give in at 150ish, and almost stalls, then picks up pace slowly like a boat at 174ish. After that, for some obscure reason, as soon as I had thought it was at its top breath, it cut off, all the lights came on, and some obscure warning about the engine came on. I thought I blew a piston or something.

I had also noticed, it is a very cute way of reachng 24l/100km figures.

Not to mention that it feels more like a flying rag than sitting "inside of a car", because the car is used to being driven slowly much of the time, I had thought of it as a home somewhat, but after the experience, the image was shattered.

It took some time for things to be readjusted, and trying the ignition a minute later, the engine started as if nothing happened. Bloody Hell, I know I did not imagine it happen!

So, I decided to have revenge. This time, it couldn't go over 160. Not until I reached the last turn of the tollway, and when I really didn't need any more thrill, just as I was about to pump the brakes 2 km away from home, it goes nuts, and because it's a turn, for some reason the "gas" pedal could sneak its way in all the way. The resulting nightmare can only be explained by a "NASA-ABORT LAUNCH" experience. Remember, this is not a very big car but it's not very well together either, and the "spaceship" shape does not help you feel very safe in recovery manoeuvres AT ALL. So, if I had any advice for people who "commute" a lot, I would advise you to avoid this car. This is more like a mother's car, driving kids to school. Because outside the city, it does not belong at all. Not with a 1.6 HDi. Not even at 1000 Breakhorsepower. The little engine is so overworked you know its limit is 130, meaning anything over that will cost you engine repair fortunes by the minute, and an injection diesel engine gone awry is one that you will have to replace, and you're looking at 5k figures+ here, almost a fifth the price of the whole car, BRAND NEW! ALMOST TEN YEARS AGO!

The feeling in country roads is different. As long as you "enjoy" fourth gear, and restrict your dreams to 80kph, then you will understand a thing or two about fuel economy.

Under the engine, a scary seight, looks messy now, lots of the plastic works have somehow either fallen off or evaporated, and it looks like the engine is getting exposed to all kinds of threats from the elements. But still, it never has given any signs of requirements for repairs, and even though it is worked very hard, people carrier, shopping van, also can amaze you with the availability of space in the boot and the back.

The only major problem is that, if this is a city car, then you have got to be patient finding a parking spot ( the car is quite long at any rate, at least the length of an American Sedan ), and then trying to fit the goddamn things there. So this is kind of a cruel punishment for peugeot. The solution? Either get rid of the 1.6 HDi and replace it with something more decent if you plan to use the thing outside of town, or get an axe and get rid of the boot everytime you plan to park the thing. Incidentally, for school trips and what not, it is amazingly agile because it's good for quick stop and go, even after all this time the doors open and close quickly and firmly and easily, the first gear is still responsive but tends to throw you off in search of a second gear to find the next one, and it seems like you're carrying the car, rather than it carrying you.

Oh, the corners. This thing is very nimble. It can corner pretty sharply. Which is why, God Forbid, I had never had the guts nor the courage to test it anywhere near danger. Why? Because I figure anything above 90 can be very tricky. Add to that the factors of wind, snow, rain, black ice, ... and you could end up with a very ugly picture. This is more like a convertible, not very good to play games with it. It can go forward. Then forward, then forward, then forward. Keep that in mind.

So this brings us to the newer generation Pugs, replacing this one.

I had not seen anything close, however, the 307 still does not match up to, for example, the 405 Break, which is more realistic if you plan to use it for work as a carpenter for example. And also, because it will tend to be cheaper to repair if you dent it. The new 208 has probably an upcoming SW version, but that is probably even worse: remember the 206 SW?

Moral of the story is, where are we going with these "cars"?

What is the purpose of a car in the first place? I think people are just inventing useless things. We need to redefine to ourselves the meaning of transportation, because it is not about shape, it is not about what the buttons do, but it is about the person sitting behind the wheel and their companions, and their destinies.

And somehow all these new cars block the view.

Did I say 130 kph? Ok, the engine is 'loud'. Somewhat. But I have just discovered that the three layers of floor mats have been obstructing the accelerator. It can only be summoned 2 thirds of the way, even less. So what I have tried is getting rid of the extra two floor mats and found the 307's original, still looking brand new and smelling just as fresh. Good. Now to the good bit. The 307 can do more than 130! Yeehaaa. Yeehaa even more because the engine does respond a lot more quickly too, because of extra throttle available through full acceleration. This vehicule is amazing. The judder and shake from the steering wheel, even though it is barely noticeable, it seems is not the 307's fault either. Earlier in its life, one of the front wheels had hit, or rather, slammed a broken sewer, thus blowing the tire and damaging the steering. With realignment, the steering should be perfect, 'again'. I say 'perfect' because even though its not 100 percent aligned, and although it does seem to pull a little bit, just a tiny tiny bit in the direction of the damaged tire, it doesn't make the 307 any less stable that you would have to actually drive up to 80 kph to feel a little bit of vibration, nothing more than you would if you had your hand on a table and your phone was vibrating at the other end of that very table. And to notice the misalignment you would have to drive above 130, and since I could entirely let go of the steering wheel in a busy highway through that for a good minute before I had to correct the steering, this only means one thing: the 307 has taken a hard hit very well!Apart from this lovely glitch which made me appreciate the car, I note that the car still hasn't skipped a single beat. Usually, I say things like this about cars and then cross my fingers thinking this IS the time around which things seem to go wrong. But not the 307. The engine is always good, never even given a warning signal and despite cold starts seems to manage better than average, in fact, better than a 2.0 liter pertrol engine from a 90s Vectra in cold conditions, even though both engines are about the same age. Add to that, every morning the car has to, cold, climb a steep hill for two levels to get out of its 'home', the garage, its amazing torque never makes one notice, the engine NEVER stalled in a 40ish degree climb broken into two, manages to take off again without spin or lack of power even if you halt in the middle of the climb, and impressively too. The gearbox is a darling once you do get to understand it and get used to it, because in first gear, nothing, and I repeat, nothing, save for things like lamborghinis, can overtake the 307. And I have seen it in action too from outside: the front seems to go up, the rear sinks, and the car literally just takes off, the driver often having to 'break' in order to avoid smashing vehicules 'obstructing' his way in the front. What is more, the car is just lovely and despite the fact that it was bought back in 2006, a 2005 model still looks, behaves, and feels like a modern car. And with the panoramic roof and automatic aircon, you can literally take this thing anywhere. I previously said that the rearmost seats, if you opt for the seven seater option, are very awkward and offer little space for legs. Correction please, the second row seats adjustability means that the third row CAN have proper legroom even for a person like me, 1.78m tall ( 5f 7in ) - so, designated driver in a pub, are you? Let'em all climb in! It's like a magic flying saucer. You decide what kind of sauce to put in it. Pun intended.

The vehicule has now some 20,000 clicks on it. The engine still showing no signs of major distress, and, when warm, seems to do just fine for smooth drivers ( unless you plan on taking this thing for rides above 130 kph ). The engine has a mind of its own sometimes present and smooth, sometimes icky and 'heavy' ( something wrong with the ECU? ). Peugeot have been rambling about the fact that I took the car for engine oil change at Total ( which is recommended by Peugeot here ), and so that should cost a bit more than expected, having to service it at the dealer's every time. The interior trim is still 'intact', but you could tell everything is just 'asking' for an excuse... Especially the electric window controls which now only understand 'all the way up' or 'all the way down', with the occasional 'ok stop right there' nudge. The roof no longer operates when the car is off, and if you leave the car exposed to the sun for long periods, you find out very quickly that you have a nice little sauna parlor. The car seems bigger than it is so manoeuvres in tight spots seem to get harder as you get used to the car, especially if you decide 'Ok, I'm all over it now and I can just skim to my parking spot in the garage', which usually ends in a tragedic dent on the 'fragile' body of the 307. There are no electric problems which is quite surprising, but the A/C is starting to give out ( probably needs refilling the gas ). The Pirelli tires fitted are somewhat of a joke ( I had one 'punctured' and explode after hitting the sidewalk ), but luckily the rims didn't absorb any damage. The front wheels give some sort of vibration when you take on swift turns ( 80 kph seems to get the steering wheel shaking a bit ) and the same effect can be experienced when braking heavily. The ABS though does very well and even though the 1.6 isn't THAT much of a performer, you can find yourself doing 130 kph very quickly even in fourth. Beyond that is pushing the engine. The first gear is 'awkward' or almost useless, but unfortunately the second gear doesn't replace it in any way ( the first gear is very short and very strong as opposed to the second gear which is somewhat on the upper end ).Quick turns ( 60 kph + ) are somewhat on the dangerous side especially inside the city ( but who would do that ? ), but generally speaking, the handling is very 'OK' for a Peugeot, despite the age.One thing that I find surprising is that the 'Panoramic' roof hasn't got a scratch on it while a 'bird' has caused such a huge crack on the windshield. My Peugeot dealer says the glass roof is pretty tough and that they have rarely had anyone come in for a repair, but I think that's more due to the fact that most owners are skeptical and tend to be wary about where they park their car. Otherwise, this car would be a great second hand buy, especially with the bigger 2.0 engine, especially if you plan to do a lot of 'touring' with it.

The car is a few months old now ( 6 more precisely ) and has done around 5.000 km, and had the first servicing done at 1500 km. To begin with, the sound of the engine does not seem to age very well, and the whistling, present on larger HDi engines ( 2.0 in 406 or 407 ) is now a heavy rattling. The Peugeot 307 seems to be a bit of a struggle for the 1.6, which fights back promptly, making you barely notice it, but you can, nevertheless. The quality of the interior trim and fittings seems to hold on and age pretty well, the windows work perfectly and the panoramic roof lid functions without delay. The only thing I can say about the car is that it now sometimes goes berserk with all the symbols on the dashboard flashing ( ABS, Hand Brakes, Oil, Fuel, Temperature, ... there's about 15 of those that flash in all sorts of colours ), but it apparently has no impact on the working of the car. The electric fittings under the steering wheel are a bit exposed as well, which could have played a role in this issue, as well as the awkward maneuverability of the steering column height adjustment controls. If you plan to own the seven seater version then know this: unless you plan to take war amputees on-board, or really young children with legs the size of large coke bottles, then forget about this car being a seven seater. The seats, which are slightly smaller than the second row ones, offer no space. The edge of the seat is about 3 or 5cm at most from the ones in front.