My wife is looking at buying a new 307 XSE? 2 litre auto (about $35,000). Are there any bad reports about the car? We currently have a 405 1.9 litre petrol which is a nice little car albeit gutless.
Is it worth getting a diesel noting that diesel cars are rare in Australia? Petrol is cheap enough here that buying a diesel may not be a good decision. The diesel doesn't appear to be available in an auto.
You will probably get people saying that they are great but it seems to be one of the worst cars that Peugeot have ever produced, judging by all of the reported problems with this model and it came in at 141 out of 142 cars surveyed in the BBC Top Gear annual survey.
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The results of the Top Gear Survey 2004's survey was even bigger than
2003, with 52,630 responses. Cars were rated for reliability, driving enjoyment and dealer service.
2004 Top Gear Survey - the Top 10
There were problems with the 307 to begin with here (UK) and in some cases lack of the right bits to fix it was one of them. Speaking as a Peugeot enthusiast of 44 years standing, IMHO someone on the other side of the world from the factory might be well advised to give it a bit more time. But, hey, you've got a Range Rover. . . ;-)
Sorry, forgot about the the diesel bit. If you are not covering miles like there's no tomorrow, be guided by secondhand prices. If you can't get the extra cost of the diesel back - and more - when you sell it, IMHO it's probably not worth bothering.
"The Becketts" wrote in news:41a17709$1$25116$ snipped-for-privacy@news.optusnet.com.au:
307 = lots of early bad reports unfortunately. No worthy successor to the 306.
Take a 307 for a test-drive: it's like driving a van! Entertaining enough though, and you get bells and whistles.
If diesel oil's difficult to source where you are, you could convert a derv to use vegetable oil instead: the way Diesel intended his engine to run on.
Are there any GOOD reports! Not many. It almost always come bottom in comparison tests with its peers, though most owners would probably be happy enough with the way it drives, if not the way it rides. Safety is excellent, and it's well equipped and good looking. Cheap too, if you get a discount, which is easy.
Unfortunately, all the customer satisfaction surveys report the same things: it's not built very well, and Peugeot's dealers are just about the worst there are.
It's a shame, in many ways it's a nice car, but anybody looking rationally into buying a car in this sector should probably not buy a 307. The competition is very strong: new Focus, new Astra, new Golf, new Octavia. The poor old 307 has been overtaken.
I had a Peugeot 406 2.0i as a courtesy car once, and I thought it was very underpowered.... When I took a look under the bonnet, somebody had fixed the throttle cable so it had limited travel and fiddled with some other throttle bits to limit power output. I would have a look if I where you, cos all of the focus' I have driven have been nippy, even the 1.4
Well my wife drives 307Hdi it was the first 307 our local dealer sold. Why
307 Hdi it was the only diesel car on Australia market at affordable price plus we live in the Centeral Victoria this means a lot of driving. After reading some reading some of the posting about the 307, it is no different to other makes they have their fair share of problems, we must have been lucky. Citiron(Peugeot) C5 is available with automatic and diesel. Diesel cars rare in Australia not anymore Audi, VW, BMW, Volvo all have realease diesel motor cars in Australia. Put good old Google to work and check out what is available in Australia.
OK, affordable diesels are rare in Oz (you forgot Mercedes)- all the above brands are out of my reach. In comparison with the number of brands sold, I still say diesels are uncommon in cars in Oz.
Don't forget the car has to appeal to my wife - it's her car.
The biggest sellers, Ford, Holden, Toymotor don't have any diesels in their range - not that any of their cars apeal to her.
You must have had the previous model Focus. The new one may not appeal to your eye, but I doubt you would find it 'tinny', and it does have the kudos of a five-star crash test result. In any case, the Ford is likely to be more reliable, and cheaper to fix than the 307. Can't comment on the sterol...
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