First drive: 307 facelift brings it on

PEUGEOT is taking on the popular VW Golf, Ford Focus, Holden Astra and Citroen C4 with its facelifted 307 small car.

Cleaner styling, revised cabins, improved engines, more standard equipment, new features and the availability of two automatic turbo-diesel models are the weapons it intends to employ.

On sale from October 13, prices will remain the same as today, meaning that the range will start from $25,990 for the base XS 1.6 five-speed manual.

However Peugeot declined to divulge specific model pricing and configurations until the car’s Sydney motor show launch next week.

Aping its larger 407 brethren with a gaping bumper-level air intake, the 307’s new corporate nose features an aluminium bonnet that is shorter than before even though the proboscis itself extends 10mm further forward.

Along with the redesigned bumpers, there are repositioned fog lights, revised taillights on the hatch and Touring wagon, redesigned hubcaps/alloy wheels and a fresh colour palette.

Inside the instrumentation and centre console is new, while the ambience has been lifted with more upmarket trim. On top-line models leather trim ensconces the upper dash.

Literally reflecting its loftier market aspirations, the 307 can now be bought with Xenon headlights, along with tyre pressure monitors, dual-zone air-conditioning and Bluetooth communications compatibility, among other items.

More money also buys better 2.0-litre petrol engines.

The standard 80kW 1.6-litre single-cam 16-valve four-cylinder unit remains as before. Maximum power peaks at 5750rpm while the 147Nm torque output tops out at 4000rpm.

But the twin-cam 16-valve 2.0-litre sees a 3kW power (to 103kW at 6000rpm) and 10Nm torque (to 200Nm at 4000rpm) hike. Now more of the latter occurs earlier – 92 per cent of it at 2500rpm.

Even better is the arrival of a 130kW Sport version of the above, featuring a variable valve intake mechanism to help that 27kW power increase peak at 7000rpm. Torque rises only slightly, to 202Nm at 4750rpm.

However this engine is only available with a five-speed manual gearbox, unlike the others that offer the existing AL4 four-speed automatic fitted with a sequential-shift facility.

On the HDi turbo-diesel front there’s the DV6 TED4 1.6-litre twin-cam 16-valve four-cylinder unit launched in the outgoing 307 in May. It produces 80kW at 4000rpm and 240Nm at 1750rpm, and is Euro IV emissions compliant thanks to particulate filters.

So is the larger 2.0 HDi version, also released this year, that takes on the 103kW/320Nm VW 2.0 TDI motor.

Now available in the hatch as well as the Touring, it produces 100kW at 4000rpm and 320Nm at 2000rpm – with 20Nm extra on tap in the lower four gears when a quick burst of oomph is needed, to bring the total to 340Nm.

The big news for the HDi is that a four-speed automatic transmission is coming in the second quarter of next year. Until now they’ve both been manual-only (albeit a six-speeder in the 2.0 HDi).

On the safety front improved airbag performance, better windscreen wiper design, seatbelt buzzers and more protective head restraints for the front seat have been incorporated.

Over 2.2 million 307 units have been produced since 2001.

Peugeot is keen to cut a larger slice of the burgeoning small car market for itself.

It intends to sell around 4200 307s next year – 1600 petrol hatches, 500 petrol Tourings, 600 CCs and 1500 HDi cars split among the 1.6 and 2.0 variants.

In fact, according to the company, the latter’s numbers have the potential to increase significantly over this conservative figure.

"We can see the growth the Golf has had and we intend to get some for ourselves", says Mathew McCauley, Peugeot’s PR boss.

"In the past large companies have expressed strong interest in the HDi models, particularly for the Touring. But the lack of an automatic has held us back… until now" he added.

Peugeot 307 pricing will remain consistent with today’s models, meaning a range from $25,990 to $56,990 for the facelifted 307CC Sport range-topper.

DRIVE IMPRESSIONS

STOP right there.

If you’re expecting the new 307 Sport, with its 130kW 2.0-litre petrol unit, to challenge the car of the moment – VW’s reborn Golf GTI – then only disappointment awaits.

It’s just not that sort of car.

Yes, while the twin-cam 16-valve four-cylinder engine is a fast and furious revver, scaling the 6500rpm-plus red line with absolute ease, it doesn’t have the support from the rest of the car.

For starters, the suspension is just too soft and roly-poly for serious hot-hatch shenanigans. And the same goes for the standard steering set-up. So while the general handling and ride dynamics are perfectly class-adequate, they’re not honed for pin-sharp appeal.

Plus, while the alloy wheels look great, there’s the regular 307’s vague five-speed gearshift. And there’s no auto either to keep up with the VW’s brilliant DSG gearbox.

Which is all just a shame really, after previous fast Peugeots like the 306 GTI6. At least that late-‘90s classic one had a six-speed manual gearbox and steering to die for.

The point is, the mindset needs to be firmly placed under ‘luxury’.

Tagged ‘Feline’ in Europe, the 130kW 307 is meant to be a swift, salubrious small car in the vein of an Astra CDX or Focus Ghia.

There are niceties like smart leather and alloy-like trim, racier instrumentation, tyre pressure monitors and Xenon headlights.

As a smartly appointed and good-looking alternative to such rivals, the 307 Sport might be just the tonic to those one-time 205/306 GTI-ers who’ve gone soft in their old age.

But for everybody else the lack of an auto is a hindrance. Just as the Golf GTI, Mazda3 SP23 and upcoming Focus ST are.

All is not lost though.

Because the sportier and more enjoyable 307 is still attainable in the form of the 2.0 HDi turbo-diesel hatchback, making its debut on the local market with the Series II.

Like most modern-day derv-mobiles, the HDi is a torquey delight, piling on the thrust through the gears like there’s a long gradient and strong tail-wind behind you.

And it’s so responsive at the lower rev range there’s no need to wring its neck for jack-rabbit like acceleration either. Plus, at 100km/h, you’re sitting pretty on 1800rpm and not 3500rpm as you do in the petrol Sport. That’d be the HDi’s six-speed manual gearbox talking.

Sometime before the middle of next year a four-speed automatic HDi version is coming, finally filling a much-needed gap in the 307 range.

Quite rightly the company expects the diesel engine models’ popularity to skyrocket as a result. In all honesty the HDi feels no less sporty than the petrol Sport.

Drawbacks are few. Firstly the auto’s still up to eight months away.

The HDi is a little coarse when given the boot compared to most of its rivals, but it does have a particulate filter for Euro IV emissions compliance, so that’s forgivable.

And pricing will be a factor. Peugeot needs to realise that part of VW’s big diesel success has been their smaller 1.9 TDI’s competitive pricing.

Sampled over snaky yet smooth Spanish roads, the revised 307s have just enough freshness to them to make premium small car buyers take notice.

If they’re canny they’ll stop as soon as they’re standing in front of the HDi-badged Peugeots.

Now image what a 2.7-litre twin-turbo V6 HDi 307 would go like!