Cars from my life, with Boyricer. #3
After my Peugeot 206, I was looking for more power. I found a Peugeot 307 s 1.6 16V, at the time, I didn't really want to go for another Peugeot, however, the car seemed right, after having such good reliability with the Pug 206, and so I bought it for £1800, a black 5 door 2007 Peugeot 307 S hadn't.
Petrol heads have a term for a car being a "money pit", this car was no exception, when you work out how many faults I had per month of owning this shed, it ends up being 1.2 faults a month! Being a modern car, it wasn't cheap to fix. Upon buying the car, I knew the paint work had seen better days, and I could see it had been crashed, as some panels weren't correctly aligned, but the luxury's of the car, and the speed and practicality drew me to buying the car.
Taking up the work car park!
Housing a TU5J4S, the same engine as a Citreon Saxo VTS, and a Peugeot 106 GTi, meant this car had plenty of power, and a fantastic rev range. With me being 18 (at the time), and able to get a DOHC 1.6 for cheaper insurance than my 1.1 206, I was happy as could be at 1st! Then, I changed the radio in the car, and this is where the original problem began, the car immobilised itself!
Before someone says it, no the filter isn't on in this picture!
The 1.6 S model, came with the a lot of extras, to keep a young boy racer happy. From coming from a 1.1 206, which only came with electrics windows, and no ABS, this meant the 307 had a lot of toys to play with! (and a lot of toys to go wrong.) My model came equipped with front fog lights, electric windows, trip computer, white dials, digital oil temp, 6 way speakers, cruise control, A/C, bucket seats, ABS, ESP, heated wing mirrors, outside temp and airbags everywhere!
This 307 was surprisingly fun on B roads!
If the car didn't encounter all the problems which I did have, I'd still have it and be enjoying it! 1.6 16v models have 120HP & 150NM's of torque to unleash at the front wheels, which often span due to the lack of a LSD, which meant the car would do 0-60 in just over 10 seconds! With a 5 speed box, equipped with a hydraulic clutch, quad vented disc brakes with twin pot callipers, and good firm, road holding suspension. All this seems to be a perfect formula for an ideal commuting vehicle as you can have great fun, enough to get you into trouble, and ever forgiving suspensions and brakes which can get you out of trouble again.
Doing all this and retaining over 42MPG, which is a nice figure to see on your trip computer! However, I can't help but feel my car was just mistreated by previous owners, hence the problems. I had problems with my exhaust, rear suspension, "anti pollution" misfires, clutch, engine mounts, airbags going faulty, whinning diff, drinking oil, electric boot failing to open, and the killer which forced me to give the car away for repairs for £700, the gearbox broke.
White dials added to the 'sporty' feel.
I'd recommend this car, however, I'd strongly suggest going for a 308, both cars haven't got bad reliability reviews, mine just must of been a bad egg. I'd like to add, it's been months, and the car still isn't on the road, I don't think the guy knew quite how much was wrong with her.
The twin headlights and front fog lights lit the road up!
This only applies for the facelift model, like mine. The car looks modern and fairly posh for a family hatch! 3 Door models obviously, looking better than 5 door. But it's amazing how practical it is, often we carried 5 adults, and 4 dogs in the boot, no strain on the engine either.
The car has all you need to make you feel sure you'll be stuck to the road well, however the suspension is set for comfort, and the car often cocks a rear wheel around corners due to this! With big 205 tyres wrapped around 16" alloys, it certainly helps with every effort.
The 1.6 variant is very quick for the engine size (1587cc), The car will give most 1.8 and 2.0 litres a run for their money. If you opt to buy a new 307 or 308, go for a diesel model, simply because the diesel retain the same horsepower as the petrol, but allows for far more torque! I'd only ever achieved a top speed of 105MPH in the car, simply as the car isn't built for speed 90+. I can't help but feel, the car need a 6 speed gearbox.
Defiantly some of the best brakes I've ever used! The quad vented discs stop the car from any speed almost instantly! The handbrake is perfect, I found 1 click would hold the handbrake on any hill. I'd never experienced any locking of the wheels, in fact, the braking is so harsh that the "oil pressure low" warning came up on the screen!
While the pre face lift model has loads of rice-tastic body kits, the face lift model doesn't have much going for it in the favour of mods. In the time of owning the car I only put a K&N filter on it, as that's the only mod I could find that was worth the time, that didn't break the bank.
OVERALL SCORE 28/50 (56%)
The car is a brilliant mix of practicality, economy and speed, however I'd strongly recommend going for a 308 instead. If it's a bigger car you need, don't let the outside trick you into thinking it's a small car, it's not!
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