Test drive Peugeot 308 GT Line
In the new PSA coordinate system, where Peugeot took the semi-premium place, there is no place for French charm with constant experimentation. The French have created a hatch equipped with an excellent chassis and good motors, which in Russia has become hostage to its own qualitative leap ...
“In order to adjust the airflow for the legs of the rear passengers, we drove from Moscow to St. Petersburg in the cold,” Peugeot Product Manager Gregory Firul explains how the very European 308 hatch was adapted to our conditions. Attention to detail and a hint of premium did not turn the novelty into a bestseller: from October to June, Peugeot dealers sold only 700 hatchbacks. Six months after its debut in Russia, the car received two important additions. Now you can order a hatch with a 135-horsepower engine - this version is almost no different in dynamics from the top-end 150-horsepower, but at the same time, a 308 with a medium engine will cost almost $1 cheaper. There is also a new top-end GT Line package, created according to the patterns of the 301 GTi hot hatch. Thanks to her, the model added quality and came close to premium C-class hatchbacks.
The GT Line version differs from the base 308 only in light styling - the technical part remained unchanged. You can distinguish a car by a different radiator grille with chrome strips, rectangular exhaust pipes and openwork door sills. Inside, there are red stitching on the seats, black headlining and aluminum pedals.
Another indispensable attribute of the GT Line is 17-inch alloy wheels with 225/45 tires. The wheels look perfect in the hotel parking lot, but this Peugeot is unexpectedly very stiff on the move. On the roads in the vicinity of Gelendzhik, which are more reminiscent of a washboard, the shock absorbers are repeatedly triggered on rebound. The hatch is flawless on a flat surface and even provokes to add gas in a long corner, but as soon as potholes and bumps begin, the suspension is immediately helpless.
In the case of the 308, this behavior seems justified: a stiffer suspension, coupled with an increased ground clearance (a standard adaptation package for Russia) would affect dynamic performance and worsen handling. Peugeot 308 - honest, no fake and very French.
The model debuted on the Russian market in October with a price tag of $ 10 and even then seemed too expensive. After the fall of the ruble, 506 rose in price to $ 308. That is how much the basic modification with an atmospheric 13-horsepower engine, "mechanics" and a minimum of equipment now costs. The top GT Line will cost at least $ 662.
The most powerful and fastest C-class hatch in Peugeot history debuted at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in late June. The new 308 GTi is equipped with a 1,6 turbo engine that can develop 250 or 270 horsepower. The more powerful version can accelerate to 100 km / h in 6 seconds - two tenths faster than the 250-horsepower car. On sale in the European market, the novelty will appear in the fall - immediately after the debut at the motor show in Frankfurt.
In the new PSA coordinate system, where Peugeot took the place of semi-premium, there seemed to be no place for French charm with constant experiments in the interior. At first glance, this is exactly what happened: strict features, well-thought-out layout and the absence of unusual solutions. This, after all, is not a Citroen C4 Picasso with a lot of screens and adjustments, and not a first generation C4, where the steering wheel rotated separately from the hub. But in a very serious Peugeot 308, there was also a place for non-standard solutions. The interior of the hatch, called the i-Cockpit, features a very compact steering wheel and a dashboard that sits above the steering wheel. In 2014, the car received the prestigious "Most Beautiful Interior of the Year" award for its unusual interior layout.
In fact, the i-Cockpit takes some getting used to - especially for short drivers. In order to fully see the dashboard in front of you, you need to either stand up or tilt your head and peer into individual segments through the steering wheel. At the same time, i-Cockpit has one important advantage: such a tidy can replace a projection display. It is very high, so you can hardly take your eyes off the road.
In the new 308, the fundamental build quality impresses. In the cabin, made with a minimum of buttons, expensive materials are used: soft plastic, alcantara, thick leather, rubberized tunes. Wait, should the soft plastic be near the driver's knees? In Peugeot, expensive materials are found even where you don't expect them.
The new 308-horsepower turbo engine should increase the demand for 135 in the current market situation and not the most democratic price tag. Until recently, the top engine for the 308 was a 1,6-liter supercharged unit with 150 horsepower. In the middle rev range, there is a perky pickup: overtaking on the track is very easy for Peugeot. In the urban cycle it is also inappropriate to talk about the lack of power, and fast sprints from a traffic light are generally a favorite occupation 308. In sports mode, the “automatic” barely noticeably jerks when switching, but this only spurs on. According to the passport characteristics, acceleration to 100 km / h in a hatch takes 8,4 seconds. This is one of the best in the class considering the discontinuation of the 2,0-liter Mazda3 and the departure of the Opel Astra.
The intermediate 135-horsepower engine, which is announced as new, in fact, is not. This is the same supercharged 1,6-liter engine that has been “strangled” for lower customs duties. According to representatives of Peugeot, on the one hand, this will make the price tag for the 308 with a turbo engine more attractive, and on the other hand, it will satisfy the needs of customers in this class. In fact, it is not very easy to feel the difference between the two motors. The absence of those 15 "horses" is felt only in the upper rev range - the engine spins up cheerfully, but at some point the car stops picking up speed just as dashingly. According to the passport, in dynamics the 135-horsepower version loses to the top-end one by only 0,7 seconds.
Peugeot 308's turbocharged efficiency figures are almost identical. In city mode, during the test, the hatchback burned an average of 10 liters of gasoline, and in mixed mode - 8,2 liters.
With the practicality of the 308, not everything is clear. The hatch has one of the largest trunks in the class (470 liters). The Opel Astra, for comparison, is 370 liters, while the Volkswagen Golf has 380 liters. The comfort on the back couch was sacrificed. The "Frenchman" has a minimum distance from the back row cushion to the back of the front seat, and the backrest angle is too large. Even in the central tunnel, the hatchback has no air ducts, which is why the rear of the cabin cools very slowly in hot weather.
“During the crisis, hatchbacks in Russia turned into a niche segment,” says Furil, demonstrating a list of Peugeot 308 direct competitors at the presentation. At the moment, the “Frenchman” has to argue for buyers with Kia cee'd, which does not claim to be premium. For the price, the Korean hatchback remains out of reach: basic versions cost $9. The top-of-the-line version with a full range of available options and a 335-horsepower engine sells for $130 - almost the same as the base 14. On the other hand, there are Mercedes-Benz A-Class, Audi A463 and BMW 308-Series on the market. But none of these cars has yet been recorded as a competitor to the semi-premium Peugeot. In fact, the new 3, starting at $1, is in the semi-position. The French created a well-equipped hatch with an excellent chassis and good engines, which in Russia became a hostage of its own qualitative leap.
