307 owners in Australia

Hi all,
Just wondering if there are any Australians in this group who own a 307.
Would like to hear how you've liked your cars.

Paul.

 

Well my wife has a 307 Hdi brough back 2002 one of the first 307 diesel
sold in Victoria. It can without cruise control ( sore point with her )
she would never use it. Done 40,000 k in it and never had any trouble
what so ever, the back tyres need replacing (a bit too soft for the bush
roads). Very easy to drive, comforable, very easy on fuel. A couple
of things need looking at reversing lights petty poor and the turning
indicator stalk on the wrong side of the steering column. It the first
Pug we owned but I can remenber 203,403/404,504/505 all great cars go
anywhere.

Keith


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Thanks for the reply Keith. I currently travel about 140 kms per day
and drive a Corolla. Love the Corolla's reliability (now up to just
over 130000 kms since 2002) but want something with better fuel economy.
Have to admit that I like the looks of the 307 but just not sure about
their long-term reliability.

Paul.

 

If my 307 DTurbo is anything to go by in the UK, fuel economy isn't
one of the 307's strong suits for a diesel. I'm getting ca. 40 mpg
(about 7.0 l/1000km I think); on motorways probably closer to 35 mpg
(~8.0 l/1000km), albeit at around 90 mph (140 km/h). I know of other
diesels getting better than that.

I don't think it's long-term reliability is too much in question, just
mainly niggles about electrics.

 

RE: Diesel Economy

My 307 SW HDI 2000 does around 35mpg round town and about 45 on the
motorway. Mixed motoring returns anything from 34 to 39. This is according
to the display of course!!

happy new year

Iain

 

Not only Peugeot sell diesel cars in Australia you also have VW Golf,
Citroen may have introduce the C3 with 1.4 litre diesel very similar to
the Corolla but the big C5 is available very similar to 407 plus Audi, BMW
all sell diesel cars.
If your pocket stand the strain look at 407 Hdi it may be a little too
big but it is a loverly car. I think the type of driving you do would
suit a diesel car. Diesel are renown for reliability and fuel economy
but on the down side they are exspenive to repair plus they need
specialist oils you can not use just any motor oil. If any thing goes
wrong with the modern diesel it will electonic more than mechanical but
there are lot pro for a diesel. Overall we are very happy with the 307Hdi
Keith


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Hi Keith,
I was attracted by the sales pitch that the 307HDI has exceptional fuel
economy. Looked at 407HDI and must say that I love it, but it's just
too big to justify. 307 looks good, a bit roomier than my Corolla and,
hopefully, a lot better fuel economy.

Paul.

 

So far you've had a cheerful Englishman and a bitter Toyota driver
reply. Here is an Australian with a 307XSi 2 litre automatic, driving
around New Zealand. Love it, wonderful car. Fuel economy isn't a concern
in NZ as it is still cheap. Diesel is even cheaper, but I like the
power, cleanliness, reliability and quietness of the Peugeot petrol
engine. The Toyota Corolla is a home appliance, a clothes drier on
wheels (I have owned two new Toyotas and they are neither cheap nor are
they reliable to own). The Honda seats are the worst in the world and
spares are more expensive than BMW. The Peugeot and Citroen are
relatively cheap to run and have excellent design and handling. The
roads here are as badly made as they are in France, winding, pitched and
chaotically cambered, and the 307 just shrugs them off with typical
Gallic aplomb. If you're worried about reliability, don't buy French -
buy something Romanian. If you want a sleek, generous, forgiving car,
try the 307.

Ed.

 

Thanks Ed,
I've test driven a 307 2lHdi and loved it. What you say about Toyota's
reliability suprises me. I've had 3 that have gone over 300000kms with
no major trouble. But the finish inside is now rather rough. My
current Corolla is a good car, but as you said, it's a home appliance.
Gets from a to b but no real enjoyment. Given that I drive 140 km a
day, I'm after economy and I think the 307 diesel will be the way for me
to go. Just can't wait for my current lease to expire, I'll be into a
307 straight away.

Paul.

 

Gets from a to b but no real enjoyment. Given that I drive 140 km a

I bought a 307 2.0 diesel wagon a few weeks ago - after 3000k's (!) it
gets about 53mpg (er, 18km/L) on the highway at 100-110km/hr with the
A/C on. It gets about 1100k's on a tank, I'm on my third fill now :-D
Haven't really done much round-town driving yet.

Only niggle I have with it is that the rain-sensing wipers are a little
paranoid - they wipe like crazy, and shut off about a minute after the
last tiny speck of water has been wiped from the windscreen I'd take
it back to the dealer to see if he can wind them down a notch, but the
closest dealer is 900km away.....

But apart from that, it's great - plenty of pull up hills in 6th. With
the cruise control at 110 it goes up hills that need no throttle going
down the other side without any dramas.

Dave

 

HI Everyone,

I have put together a response to some questions and also my own review
to the P307. Please read if you can be bothered. I would like that
most of the comments I have made here are of my own opinion. If you
would like to add or disagree or inform me otherwise, please feel free
to. I'd like to learn as much as possible.

I have 2003 307 Xsi 3 door hatch with 4 speed tip tronic auto and 2.0lt
petrol engine. It has 85,000kms on the clock and I have owned it since
September 2005. These are some things I have found. I had some
knocking in the front when I pulled up at lights and took off again,
PUG dealer found it was loose engine mounts - not a known problem. I
had a buzzing in the exhaust when I accelerated; exhaust needed welding
- known problem. This was also fixed. In hot weather, the display
screen used for your radio/trip comp/outside temp fades to almost
unreadable. Any 307 owner who lives in a hot climate will tell you
about this. This is a known problem and according to Peugeot, nothing
can be done about it whatsoever. The display clears itself after about
15 mins of driving with AC switched on - give or take 10 minutes
depending on how extreme the heat is. On cold mornings, my engine was
shaking severely until it warmed up slightly, was found to be damaged
lifters. Luckily the car was still covered by the 5 year factory
warranty and these parts were changed and now all is working well
again. Would have cost me over AU$1000 to pay for this repair myself.
I have a Clarion single disc CD player with the Blaupunkt 5 disc in
dash stacker. This constantly loses its radio stations. It programs
101.9FM as it's favourite on preset 1. I have had PUG look at it.
They fiddled around with it and gave me a far fetched excuse as to why
this keeps happening. They told me because I had all the same stations
programmed into all the 6 presets (107.5FM), this is why the radio
keeps going back to 101.9FM. Makes no sense to me why this would
happen. They adjusted it for me only to find the next day it did
exactly the same thing. My radio seems to really like FOX FM -
it's a really pity that I don't. One more thing I had done was
replaced the cam belt. This needs to be done every 80,000kms. With
the 80K service, this cost me AU$1400. Definitely not a cheap repair.

Apart from these problems and expenses, I have really enjoyed owning
the 307 and I WOULD buy another Peugeot again. I am fussy, so any
little noise or abnormality in the car needs to be checked. After
owning an Australian built 1998 Ford Fairmont Ghia, I can honestly say
that European built cars far exceed the quality levels of American,
Australian and Asian built cars. As for what Sargasso said...you
really can't compare the Corolla. They are cheap unenjoyable cars to
drive. Yes, they are very reliable...but that's where they stop.

Recently my Peugeot dealer gave me a new 407 SW to drive for the day
while my 307 was in for some work...what a difference. This car was
clearly a bigger, better performer. It felt like a new BMW. The
stereo sounded better, the engine has much more powerful and responsive
and the 6 speed tip tronic transmission gear changes were so much
smoother then mine. Everything in this car felt like it worked better
than the 307. The wipers cleaned the screen perfectly with no annoying
dirt patch along the side of the windscreen... but one thing it lacked
was compactness. If they could channel the 407 comforts, features and
level of design and finish into a 307...then we would have the perfect
car.

Keith Holly mentioned that his 307 has poor reversing lights. That's
because the car is meant to be a left hand drive, that's why the
reverse lamp is on the left side of the car. Something that no car
manufacturing company has ever changed to my knowledge. This is the
same for rear wipers...notice on European cars, the rear wiper rests on
the right. In a left hand drive car, it rests on the passenger side.
You will also notice on the 307 the front wipers clean the screen
better on the left side. The right side can leave a good 8cm from the
edge of uncleaned screen. Very annoying when the car is dirty as you
can not see properly. It has something to do with the way the wiper
arms fold on top of each other...they need to be the other way around
for right hand drive models. Another thing you will notice is on the
tip tronic auto...the SNOW and SPORTS mode buttons are hard to
reach...this is because the buttons are on the wrong side.

If you're still thinking of buying a 307 Paul Griffiths, I can say the
307 petrol is "reasonable" when it comes to economy My huge 4.0ltr
petrol engine I had used to clock up around 9.0ltr per 100kms on the
highway...this 2.0ltr petrol does about 7.5...not a huge difference
considering the Ford engine was literally double the size. But, in the
city...the Ford clocked up around 14ltrs per 100kms...the 307, only 9
tp 10. So clearly this is a good city car. I'm not too sure about
diesel engines, I hear they're more economical when it comes to
litres per 100 kms...but I believe they are more expensive to service
and their service intervals are sooner. Every 20K for petrol and every
15K for diesel.

If anyone has any more questions about my experiences, please email me.
I would love to hear from you.
Dan.

 

Yes the 407 is a loverly car as for the diesel 307 very cheap to run yes
diesel in Australia cost a lot more than petrol but you use so little of
it. My wife 307Hdi is coming up for a 40k service so far we had no
trouble what so ever (touch wood). We are lucky in that we have very good
Peugeot dealer in Ballarat (he is the only Peugeot dealer in centre of
Victoria). Hopefully sometime in the coming weeks I will get a change
to look at the new 307 Hdi with 110 motor is should be interesting.

Keith


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Hi Keith,
Let me know all about the new 307 HDi. I'm ken to learn more about it
also.
Dan.