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How very French: Peugeot's new 308 hatchback has been designed as the perfect tool to nudge, knock and scrape its way through clogged city streets. The long nose of the 308 has been engineered to withstand low-speed impacts with little damage - those massive "feline" headlights are engineered to move outwards in an impact, away from structural elements of the car, and are mounted on brackets that can easily be replaced.
Thanks to energy-absorbing parts that are screwed, not welded together, and features such as plastic front guards, Peugeot claims to have crashed a 308 into a slightly offset wall at 15km/h with absolutely minimal damage: clips were replaced on one headlight and fender, but there was no damage to the bonnet, foglight, bumper strip or front doors.
If you need to ask why Peugeot has taken so much trouble to ensure the 308 stays in one piece during low-speed crashes, you have obviously never driven in a French city.
But it's still nice to know you can cut a swathe through your local supermarket car park if need be.
There's certainly a lot more car to be aware of in tight manoeuvres.
The 308 has grown in dimensions and styling proportion to the extent that local importer Sime Darby argues it now straddles the small and medium segments. It's still a hatchback only, but at 76mm longer (all of it in front and rear overhangs) and 84mm wider than the 307 it replaces, it's easy to argue that the new car competes with some mid-size sedans for on-road presence and passenger space.
The entry price is still very much small-car money, though. The cheapest XS model opens at $29,995 but comes with six airbags, cruise control and climate air-conditioning. The only real omission is electronic stability control, which is standard on every other 308 variant but remains a $700 option on the price-leading XS. The things we do to stay under $30,000.
The XS is powered by an 88kW/160Nm 1.6-litre petrol engine co-developed by Peugeot and BMW.
The next-step-up $37,990 XSP gets a 103kW/240Nm turbocharged version of the same engine and extra equipment such as alloy wheels and driver's knee airbag - to make a total of seven - automatic lights/wipers and a full-length glass roof.
The star of the range is likely to be the $42,990 2.0-litre turbo diesel HDi with 103kW/320Nm. It carries the same basic specification as the XSP, but its diesel powerplant is mated to a six-speed automatic gearbox (the automatic variants of the petrol cars have four-speed transmissions). Darby predicts that the HDi will account for 60 per cent of 308 sales.
A top-spec 308 Sport model is on the way, with high-pressure turbo engine from the smaller 207 GTi, 18-inch alloy wheels and leather trim.
It's a bigger car, but there have also been big gains in cabin quality. The use of soft-touch materials and some rather elegant detailing have lifted the 308's cabin ambience significantly compared with the outgoing 307. The rear seats are mounted "amphitheatre"' style, slightly higher than the front for improved visibility.
