307 - any bad reports?

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.

Ron Beckett
Emu Plains, Australia
1995 P38A Range Rover HSE 4.6 Litre V8

 

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.

see http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/survey/

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

(Ranking: Model - Score out of 100)

1: Honda S2000 - 94.0
2: Jaguar XJ series - 93.6
3: Lexus IS 200 - 93.1
4: Honda Jazz - 92.2
5: Skoda Octavia - 91.7
6: Toyota Yaris - 90.6
7: Toyota RAV4 (New) - 90.4
8: Mazda 6 - 90.2
9: Skoda Fabia - 90.1
10: Honda CR-V - 88.9


2004 Top Gear Survey - the Last 10

(Ranking: Model - Score out of 100)

133: Fiat Stilo - 73.7
134: Renault Megane - 73.6
135: Citroen Xsara - 73.5
136: Peugeot 206 - 73.5
137: Citroen Saxo - 73.4
138: Fiat Bravo - 70.7
139: Renault Espace - 70.6
140: Renault Laguna - 70.3
141: Peugeot 307 - 69.8
142: Mercedes M-Class - 69.8


The 10 most unreliable cars

There were 142 cars listed in the final survey, of which the following
10 were ranked as the most unreliable.

Citroen C3 (133rd)
VW Polo (New) (134th)
Citroen Xsara (135th)
Citroen C5 (136th)
Fiat Stilo (137th)
Renault Megane (New) (138th)
Mercedes M-Class (139th)
Peugeot 307 (140th)
Renault Laguna (141st)
Renault Espace (142nd)

Please note that I am not anti Peugeot and drive a 106 XR but I would
look elsewhere! I can't comment on running a diesel in Australia.

Bob

 

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. . . ;-)

Ron Robinson

 

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.

Ron Robinson

 

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.

http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_svo.html
http://www.dieselveg.com/rudolph_diesel.htm

 

If I lived in Australia, with the much cheaper fuel prices I would most
definitely get a Holden HSV......

Andy

 

there any bad reports about the car?


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.

Androo

 

The

I disagree on the Ford Focus. My 307SW is in the bodyshop (I dented it)
right now.

I have a Focus as a courtesy car - it`s an estate.

The sterol is brilliant - but the rest of the car is definitely not on a par
with the 307.

It`s tinny, plasticy, under-powered and ugly.

Never driven any of the other cars you mentioned, so can`t comment.

 

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

Andy

 

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.



Keith

 

Diesel cars rare in Australia not anymore Audi, VW, BMW, Volvo all have

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.

Ron Beckett
Emu Plains, Australia

 

I disagree on the Ford Focus. My 307SW is in the bodyshop (I dented it)

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...

Androo

 

You must have had the previous model Focus. The new one may not appeal to

Nope. It`s brand new. 4000 on the clock. And it`s a hire car, so cant be
that old at 4000 can it ?

I`ve owned a Granada, Fiesta and Mondeo in the past and did used to love
fords until I got an audi.

Then finally, the 307Sw

sterol ... LOL

 

Well for a start VW have just release the Golf with a 1.9 or 2 litre turdo
diesel under $35,000 so Peugeot and VW both have diesel cars under $35,000

May be off the topic earlier in the year there was report of Holden looking
at dropping Volvo diesel engine in the Commodore.