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Peugeot 308 CC
7 Feb 2010
Peugeot presents an elegant coupe-cabrio option but can it be boulevard king? |
It’s hard to appreciate the finer attributes of a convertible when you’re slogging it through the urban jungle. Put the top down and you suddenly become prey to that street vendor who thinks you need another set of coat hangers. Then your nose gets subjected to the massive cloud of diesel smoke from the truck in front, and your ears suddenly have to contend with the music of hooting minibuses.
You really have to hit the open road to appreciate a convertible and luckily I had the opportunity to drive Peugeot’s latest CC on some magnificent escarpment roads in the vicinity of Tzaneen.
In settings like this, you start to appreciate the intimacy with the elements that an open-top vehicle provides and an advantage of something like the Peugeot 308 CC is that it has a folding hardtop that allows you to transform it into a coupe at the touch of a button when you want that roof over your head.
This car also strikes a good pose in either guise. It’s quite graceful from any angle and the only aspect we don’t like is that long boot that’s in place to house the two-piece solid roof.
Despite having turbo power at the helm, the 308 CC is more boulevard cruiser than speed machine. Its 110kW of power have an uphill battle against the CC’s reinforced bulk, but it does do the job admirably and with nothing in the way of lag, thanks to that twin-scroll turbocharger.
The six-speed manual gearbox is surprisingly good too and besides allowing for a smooth shifting action, it also has a nice weighty feel to it.
In keeping with this car’s positioning as a cruiser, it has a very nice ride quality as most bumps and ripples are damped out with little fuss while scuttle shake was also barely apparent.
We’d imagine road holding to be a secondary factor in a car of this genre, and to this end the 308 CC is predictable and accurate without offering much in the way of fun as the steering is more numb than communicative.
It’s hard not to be pleased by what this car’s cabin has to offer. It has an elegant design, clad with materials that create an upmarket feel and it’s also very comfortable for those in the front, even offering seat heating for those cold winter mornings.
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