Brog Blog

In a previous post I talked about the selection of my New Car, a
Peugeot 307 HDi.
Here is a brief account of our first trip in this car.

Just a quick reminder about the car for those of you that have not
read my article about the purchase process. This car is a five door
hatch, with a 2.0L diesel engine ( that’s right diesel ) providing
power through a 5 speed manual gearbox. On top of the normal specs I
had 16” alloy wheels and a tow bar fitted. It seems that
Australians in general cannot comprehend a diesel car that is not a
truck or 4WD. My wife and I find it very amusing when service station
attendants come rushing out to “warn” us that we will
damage our little hatch if we put that diesel in it. All my friends
and family could not understand or comprehend a diesel car, they
thought if would be rough, noisy, smelly and useless at any cruising
speed. They are wrong on all counts. The car is no rougher or noisier
than the petrol 307’s and provides excellent highway performance and
comfort. Our 307 was very miserly on fuel and gentle on the
environment, producing less carbon monoxide emissions.

We have owned the Peugeot 307 for about five months now but have
only used it around town and on weekend trips. I had two weeks
holiday at the beginning of July (winter here) and decided to go
north for the winter for about 10 or 12 days. Basically we had three
nights booked at a resort at Arlie Beach (in the Whitsundays) which
is about 1100Kms north of Brisbane, Australia. Then we spent five
days in Townsville where my little brother lives.

Having two children (10 and 4) along with my wife and myself we
decided to take the trip slowly and stopped twice on the way up and
back, having progressively shorter trips each day. Those nights we
stopped in cabins at caravan parks, supplying our own linen. This
meant carrying enough for four people over 10 days and included bed
cloths, so the car was full to say the least.

Even with the car fully loaded it did not feel sluggish at all,
acceleration was still good, ride handling and ride comfort seems
unaffected. It would have been easy to drive farther than we did each
day, with the climate control keeping things comfortable and our CD’s
keeping us amused. We took every opportunity to head of the highway
to check out dams, fairy cottages and lookouts and the Peugeot
handled all the different road surfaces and inclines without any
effort.

Here are some interesting facts about
our trip:

Early this year I decided to bundle a car lease into my remuneration package. I ended up making an interesting choice in both the make, engine type and size of car.

Firstly I would like to spell out the reasons for getting a new car. My previous car (by the way it is for sale, anyone, anyone?) is a very nice fully imported 1989 Nissan. It is large and has all of the mod cons, you know the list, climate control, electric everything, woodgrain dash, etc. It has a beautiful smooth six cylinder motor, which provides plenty of power and good economy on the highway. Around town, however it used more fuel than we thought acceptable (approx 13 L per 100Kms).

One of the things that concern me is the effect we are having on our planet. Our continued destruction and thoughtlessness is slowly killing the only world we call home. With this in mind I wanted to ensure that my new car enabled me to “tread lightly” on this world. Based on this I decided I needed a smaller and more economical car but still one that was practical for me with my family of two kids. It had to handle everyday trips to and from schools, shops and friends and family. We would also have to do some driving holidays to keep the total mileage up (Australian Tax laws) and see this wonder land that I live in. Our last, and most difficult requirement, is that this car would have to transport my daughters Double Bass to and from school. That’s right I wanted a small economical car that can transport 4 people and a Double Bass.
You should have seen the car salesmen go white when we told them that.

Anyway after searching around and reading some reviews of small 5-door hatches, I decided to look at the new Peugeot 307, as it had a lot of the features that I was used to and a wider wheel base then most of its competitors. These alone would make it more suitable for our longer trips then the rest of the contenders. However I did really want to reduce the fuel usage as much as possible and I spent a long time researching on the net and in car magazines. What struck me was that small cars from Europe with Diesel engines were by far the most economical and with very low emission rates. People in Australia, however have a preconceived notion that diesel is dirty, produces low power un-drivable passenger cars. This means that only Peugeot release a small car here that runs on diesel.

Based on this research I went to the dealer and asked for a test drive. To my dismay they had no diesels on the floor and would not have one for months. Not to be deterred I took one of the petrol cars for a test drive (which included confirming the Double Bass fitted in the back with only one side of the seats down). I found the build quality, ride, handling and safety features to be better than any other car I had tested to date. But I was still very unsure about buying the diesel without a test drive. Luckily the local paper (Courier Mail) had a review of the car I was looking at comparing the diesel to the petrol. The reviewer highly recommended the diesel engine over the smaller petrol due to it more usable power and torque.

So I bit the bullet and ordered a Peugeot 307 Hdi.

I have now had this car for five months and I have not once regretted my purchase. It has been economical averaging 7.5 liters per 100Kms in town and 5 along the highway, it is very comfortable on long trips (550Kms longest so far, with family, computer, microwave and suitcases), and carries a huge amount in the luggage area.

We are going on a long trip soon and I will keep you all posted on how it goes.

Links:
Energy Wise Rally
Peugeot 307 Technical Details