Test drive Peugeot 308 GT vs. Citroën DS4 and Renault Mégane GT: domestication

Recently, in France, instead of crazy sports, children prefer to make softer exercise machines.

Oh la la! What wild deeds did the French do! Suffice it to mention the Renault Clio V6 - hard as a board, noisy as a herd of buffalo and quite difficult to manage. The small, mid-engined car is something that no one on the other side of the Rhine has had the courage to do, and 14 years ago it was already the third model. Or find an even crazier example from the past - the Citroën Visa Mille Pistes. A terribly shabby barn itself, but with an out-of-control pumped-up four-cylinder engine from a turbocharger. Unique dual transmission and group B homologation. Do you know anything about it? If not, do a Google search! Definitely! And then, of course, we have to mention the Peugeot 205, the GTI, which not only was called that, but unlike many who later came up with the name, it was. Entering a turn, playing with gas, mastering - in general, spectacular!

However, in recent years, this sweet past madness has dried up. Instead of real Frenchmen, they now make really good cars. And instead of giving them a stormy, and sometimes too sporty spirit, nowadays it seems that they are increasingly trying to put them in some kind of restrictive framework.

Peugeot 308 GT with 205 hp

Peugeot, for example, today distinguishes between three degrees of sharpness: GT, GTI and R - so far nothing unusual. However, the system becomes opaque due to the fact that redundancies are distributed randomly in different models. In RCZ, the top version is R, in 208 it is called GTI, as it was in 308. However, its new version was appealed to GT. You understand? Very good!

The reasons for this decline can only be guessed at. Maybe they wanted to keep the ground for the R-model, which is shown at all possible exhibitions as a studio ready for mass production - we think, for five years now. However, we believe that when the sporty 308 was already built and ready, Peugeot made several tours of Sochaux in it and concluded that it could never, in any way, be a GTI - in accordance with the current, and even more so - small in size. the old scale.

So, for starters, the Peugeot 308 GT seems somehow lost - a top-end version of the model without a trace of something top-end. Okay, the turbocharged 1,6-litre engine, which has so far made 156 hp, is constantly upgraded to GT, but the rest of the usability is limited to ten millimeters less ride height and (optionally) sport mode for engine response and noise. . We agree that his voice is a little hoarse now, but we don't feel anything harsh. However, since the introduction of Audi's S-models and BMW's M-Performance range, we've understood that less can mean more. Added to this is the fact that dynamics is a relative value, especially in relation to the environment with which it competes.

But even among its compatriots, the Peugeot 308 GT is difficult to fit into its role - which is obviously due to the fact that the roles themselves are not clearly divided, at least in terms of price and power. Citroën DS4 with round 200 hp - the weakest on the field, but the most expensive Renault Mégane GT, despite its 220 hp. its price is much lower than others, and the Peugeot 308 GT is somehow in the middle: with 205 hp. almost as weak as the Citroën DS4, but at least €4200 more expensive than the more powerful Renault Mégane GT.

Citroën DS4 with instant response

However, it was clear that simple logic did not help much here. In the case of the Citroën DS4, however, some ignorance of convention is needed, as well as a proper dose of francophilia. When asked what kind of car it was, my colleague Sebastian Renz some time ago formulated the ideal answer: "Slightly raised, but unsuitable for off-road, ambitious as a coupe, but equipped with a four-door [...] derivative of the C4." We are not talking about athletic qualities because we simply cannot talk about them.

However, the car is able to deliver some driving pleasure, but only the engine is responsible for this. The 1,6-litre turbocharger is the same as that of the Peugeot 308 GT and, despite its age, continues to be one of the happiest phenomena in the downsizing movement. It responds really instantly, pulls decisively despite the skinny 275Nm, and even its four-cylinder dialect sounds pretty decent. Above all, however, the engine is one of the few four-cylinder turbochargers that continues to rev up to about 7000 per minute.

Thanks to this, participants can almost have a romance with the Citroën DS4 - if every time the spark is ready to ignite, you are not in danger of the next turn. This is where the car loses all of its sporty charm, moving erratically, following inaccurate steering, plunging with the body into a soft and rough chassis.

Whether this is a consequence of its role as a crossover is unclear, but what is certain is that there are not only more comfortable and sporty models in its class, but also much more comfortable and sporty ones. In this way, the Citroën DS4 remains a model of life - and beautiful: with a panoramic windshield, fun controls, a massage function, polyphonic horns - one day you'll understand what they mean - and rear doors that do not roll down. down.

Here we will save the model with a detailed analysis of its caterpillar qualities. First, because the test pilot's comments cannot be published due to the requirements of the Child Protection Act. Secondly, because the sporty character, which we probably incorrectly attributed to him due to the power of the motorcycle, was not actually promised by anyone. Let's put it this way: despite its good slalom performance, the Citroën DS4 rounded the track at Hockenheim in 1.21,2:XNUMX minutes - but one wonders if the tragedy was in the lap time or in the fact that, despite much better preconditions, the Renault representative was only four tenths faster.

Peugeot 308 GT covers the short course in 1.19,8 minutes.

In its GT version, the Mégane is also a relatively sporty model like the 308 GT. The only difference is that there is another level above me that I can relate to. In other words, this is not a thoroughbred RS, but simply a GT with the addition of “by Renault Sport”. However, gentlemen, dynamics specialists must be careful what the marketing department prescribes. Because, although the Renault Mégane GT shows a relatively specialized chassis in the test, it stops terribly and pulls so hard that some conspiratorial people suspected it was using the real RS's engine settings, it loses by comparison to the last 4,5 seconds per lap. - so true: four, comma, five!

Even the steering and shifting give the impression that, due to limitations, they have had to reduce the accuracy of their work. But the main problem is ESP. It does not disengage and operates equally cautiously and clumsily, so it does not allow you to take advantage of either a sharp turn or engine thrust. It's a pity.

But despite the convenient pass of the eternal rival, Peugeot 308 GT managed to reduce the match only to a draw. This is mainly due to a more domestically produced engine and not as strong brakes, but it ends up distorting reality as well. Because on the track, in fact, only this car delivers real pleasure - primarily due to the small steering wheel, which, with a clear conscience, can be called an irresistible tempter.

As we said earlier, the Peugeot 308 GT also presents the softer side of the sporty character, but at least it doesn't limit it with its electronics. Instead, the car zips through the corners of a short track with youthful fervor, plays with its rear end when the load changes, and confidently gnaws at the asphalt with its front wheels. Finally, the stopwatch shows 1.19,8 minutes. It's good. As good as the whole machine, which ultimately only suffers from what we know, what they could have made of it in previous years.

CONCLUSION

In fact, there is little reason to be dissatisfied with these three cars. The 308 GT is a nimble, compact fun car, the Renault is a true hall on the straights, and the Citroën is a flamboyant character that is almost non-existent in Germany. But there are still hints of criticism in this story, and the reason is that the French athletes have become too meek compared to their turbulent past. Today there is only one "wild dog" - Mégane RS. And, looking at the developments of his colleagues, the prospects for him are not very good. That's why our call: try something like this again. Allez!

Text: Stefan Helmreich

Photo: Ahim Hartmann

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