Review : Peugeot 308 GT

Car Review Peugeot 308 GT -  Peugeot 308 has been tweaked to reflect the aesthetic sporty attitude and for that reason it gets a decrease in ride height (7mm at the front and 10mm at the rear) along with a set of 18-inch alloy wheels. Each of the 308 GT is equipped with Driver Sport Pack and there are two engine options for the GT.

The changes of Peugeot 308 GT looks set to bring 308-2014 the European Car of the Year - up to 'warm hatch' (or indeed SW estate) status. By that we mean not going to be a hard-edged performance car like the Renaultsport Megane or Astra VXR, but something a little softer like the Kia Ceed GT or SEAT Leon FR trim.

Hot or not?

And after driving it, we can confirm that the 'hot' it certainly is not. There are some very interesting aspects - as can be seen, the level of standard kit and how comfortable it - along with some attributes which are less impressive. We found the handling of the left we want, and the diesel version seems to make no sense at all.

That said, as a statement of intent there is every indication we're dealing with a lot of potential here. This is a car that feels like a decent chassis set-up and a strong engine from becoming hot hatch really great, so here's hoping rumored 308 R (tweaked by Peugeotsport racing team behind both RCZ-R) appears immediately and confirms our suspicions.

Looking the part

Peugeot 308 has been tweaked to reflect the aesthetic sporty attitude and for that reason it gets a decrease in ride height (7mm at the front and 10mm at the rear) along with a set of 18-inch alloy wheels. The suspension is too stiff and a set of high-performance tires and bigger brakes fitted to get the most out of the car chassis repair.

Bespoke body styling does not stop there, with a redesigned front grille flanked by a pair of top-spec LED lights and some clever new indicator that moves from inside to outside the car.

In the back you get a pair of exhaust pipes - do not be fooled though, they are not functional, real exhaust small and pointed down under the car - and the gloss black lower rear bumper, while a special paint called blue Magnetic exclusively offered to the GT and GT Line customers.

Red stitching and aluminum detailing reminiscent of their occupants driving something more special than the conventional 308, and 'i-cockpit' look at all the 308S gets special programming to reflect the sporty nature of the car.

The final piece of the puzzle is a perforated leather steering wheel with GT badging.

The driver Sport Pack

Each of the 308 GT is equipped with Driver Sport Pack, which includes a variety of features to further accentuate the sporty pretensions car.

For example, the engine noise in the cabin with amplified speakers (more on that later), and display instruments illuminated in red. Parameters such as power, torque and accelerative figures displayed on the instrument panel, while the engine and steering performance has been honed for sporty driving.

This package can be 'disabled' as well, for the moment more convenient set-up is more suitable.

A pair of engines and gearboxes

There are two engine options for the GT. We chose the 1.6-liter petrol is attached to a six-speed manual gearbox. Dubbed 'GT 205', it offers a 0-62mph sprint of 7.5 seconds and emits 130g / km of CO2 and returns 50.4mpg claimed. This machine is not available in the SW estate version or with an automatic gearbox, though.

A diesel models are available as well, called the GT 180. As the name suggests, this one closer to 180bhp but also got 400Nm of torque so as to accelerate fast enough. This is coupled exclusively to the new automatic gearbox Peugeot 'EAT6' six-speed. While it was a fair bit more efficient than gasoline, we would avoid this one.