It is our 5th time visiting Peugeot showroom and sat on the Peugeot 308 Turbo. With 2 times I am only as passenger and 3 times as driver. For the previous test driving, the excitement and thrills are with the Torque it offers, the push / kicks that are impressing when wanted a responsive speed gain.. the amazing handling and the feel for the Fast and Furious. I have no doubt, it is a very capably car if anyone looking for the 5 starts NCAP test result that comes with ESP, DSC, TC, BA, EBD, 6 airbags. Car of the year in Family car categories recently.
Since all of our previous test drive are like crazy drivers.. flooring the acceleration to test the high speed driving, to test how good / easy is it to gain speed to overtake cars when necessary and forgot to test the most basic comfort if driving it as a normal family car .. which is pretty true to have this to be the real driving experiences in Malaysia’s city driving. Those bumpers to bumpers jam, heavy traffics flow that probably move and stop with speed among 20km/h ~ 60km/h.
So, for this round, we chosen a more heavy traffic road ( which we called a normal road ).. trying to drive like what we are going to drive in everyday heavy traffic road. I tried pretty hard to get a smooth drives due to the impulsive torque that kicks in and the really biting brakes. Can feel that the car consistently undergoing acceleration and braking under heavy traffic and due to the repetitive cycles.. my wife started to feel dizzy only after 5 mins on the road… she confirmed that she got car sick sitting in that car under normal driving style ( well all the trills while speeding during previous test drives are not there anymore when trying to use it as a normal family car )
– I am guessing maybe I am not used to the handling / controls of the THP.. especially the torque and the brakes that actually caused her dizziness
– I am also guessing if it is true that the gear system is an adaptive system ? would it because being a test drive unit that have been abused by a lot of heavy right foot driver.. the car hence have the impulsive reaction even with me lightly press on it.
– During the drive, when i turn my head looking at my wife during the bumper to bumper drives.. i can see the momentum, shaky of her sitting on the seats which may be the causes of her dizziness.
We made a conclusion that it is not the ride for us…since she does not felt comfortable sitting in it.. especially in the situation that would be the majority driving scenarios in city life with my wife and my mom are both a bit sensitive and got dizziness easily.. have to consider ferrying them pretty often also.
I voiced out this in the Autoworld Forum about the driving experiences and thanks to some existing owners, they shares and are suggesting that to drive this car in the jam / bumpers to bumpers / slows moving traffics. It is advised to turns on the “Snow” mode which suppose to avoid the over powered torque and gaining a smoother drives. Another is do not need to press on the acceleration and just let the car rolls off with the D positions. I don’t think I will give it a test again as felt not so comfortable to ask for the 6th test drives. :p
We are sticking to our decision made earlier to take this car out from our shopping list
my comments in my blog http://mypeugeot308.blogspot.com/2009/12/peugeot-308-is-not-small-car.html
Hi KH,
Optical illusion makes the 308 looks small. 308 is in fact more than 1 inch wider [interior dimension window to window measurement] than Merc E-class W124 and have overall front volume more than the new Merc E-class W212! Merc C-class is of course much smaller.
In term of boot space, even without folding down back seats 308 has more luggage volume than peugeot 407!
As a family car, the hatch can be an advantage. With the back seat folded down, u can even carry a washing machine or a dish washer. As a cyclist I can carry three bicycles in it.
As for the performance and fuel consumption pls read the related pages.
Nevertheless, 308 back seat legroom is a little bit handicapped to give more space for the boot. Not an issue if rear passengers are no taller than 5′ 6”.
Rgds
p/s as for me, I bought the 308 just because I’m a family man and travel alot to places.
Wan,
thanks for sharing these information. They are very useful but however it is too late for me since the decision has already been made earlier. The information is in deed will be very useful for those to be buyer. I shall contact you in near future to ask you on some items that I saw on your blog.. e.g. how you measured and producing the graphs, those sprint tests and also the DIY brake checking is an interesting stuffs to learn from you too.
The side by side comparison you put on the 308 with other D segment cars are in deed an eye opening things to see. I hopes I actually saw that earlier before I made my decision but since the decision is made, I shall not feel regret on it and will be enjoying the car I chosen.
Hi Wan,
I just book a 308THP last night….hope i did not make a mistake on it.Anyway how de 308 you bought,got regret?
Nice review on your 308THP FC,gain alot of insight on that.Very interesting and educating webie blog you have here
Hi there, thanks for the input. We tested the car at Naza World on Sunday. Myself and my wife are saticfied with the torque it offers but do you guys think the after sales service provided and parts are an issue?
Ryan,
I did experiences some negative areas where the after sales services and spareparts supplies are on the bad side. My personal experiences with a burned bulb went into a nightmare where they do not have stocks for even just a brake lamp that time ( earlier this year ). In addition to that, they have caused the rest of the rear electrical to shut down while checking if the lamp is burned. I spent > 6 hours with them when i initially went to change a burned bulb, and that was the day i actually intented to drive back to my hometown before the CNY holidays.
At the end, i worked together to figure out what happened to restores functionality to the electrical but at the end of the day, the burn bulb is not replace due to no spareparts. I am going to have my first service sometime in 1 to 2 weeks time. I shall know more about it on the servicing part.
hi guys.
i am very interested in pug 308 turbo.
actually i was aiming for accord 2.4; but my decision shaken when i tested de 308 turbo. thus doing some reviews on de net.
so guys, i believe it must have been some time since you all got de pugs.
how is it?
worth it?
will appreciate to have some of your feedbacks and comments after being de owner of de pug for some time.
mchart,
I actually went for the 407 rather than 308 as I am looking for a more comfortable ride vs the trills on the 308. Don’t get me wrong that 407 is not providing a good driving experience. 407 actually delivers a different trills + comfort + elegant if you are looking for something more mature. 308THP has more “Wah” effect everytime you steps on the gas pedal. So far, the 407 has been serving me well for the last 10 months of owning it. It is however the 407 has rather small cabin size and leg room if you are looking for those espect as Accord’s chassic does has larger volumn if compares to the Peugeot. Another thing to worry is the headroom in the 407 is pretty tight if you are a six footer guy or your passengers are rather tall.
So far, it wasn’t a regrets in terms of choosing the car and if you ask me.. the only regrets probably is the extra RM36K worth of instalment that i have to add on to my original budget on selecting a RM100K car but ended up with a RM136k car… so, it is an extra financial burden to me… these feeling will just gone when enjoying the drives on the road though.
Can’t wait for my 308 Turbo (156bhp) in January 2011..
Booked after third test drive 🙂
Tarmeze, Congratulation on your choice. So you will be getting a six speed version ?
Yes Sir, 6 speed….
I’ve been driving Honda Accord 2.0 i-Vtec since 2005, but sorry to say, 308 is a better car..
Hi all Peugeot 308 owner,
Can anybody tell me, how’s d condition for 308, can it be a long term car? At least can be owned for 9 years for family car. How d spare parts now, can buy/claim easily? Pls let me know asap, cos I still can’t decide what car should get, honda Insight or 308 thp 🙂
Lily,
I didn’t own a 308 but the 407. So far not much problems. There are however some mixed comments on the 308 THP/vti which have both good and bad feedback. I don’t dare to say much as the more i say, the more you will think you will want to get away from the 308 ( oops.. i just said it ).
I suggest that you do some reading at Autoworld Forum to get more information but do prepare your mindset for that as things can get pretty ugly.. but still most owners love their 308.
Good luck to your shopping :p
Hi KH
Thanks a lot for yr advices. 🙂
Lily, no problem. Good luck on your car shopping.