By EWAN KENNEDY
THE Peugeot 308 GTi isn’t just a dress up kit added on the assembly line, its engineering was done by Peugeot Sport.
This hot French GTi is offered in two specifications: the Peugeot 308 GTi 250 has a recommended retail price of $44,990, the 308 GTi 270 is sold at $49,990.
The 250 and 270 refer to the output of the engines in horsepower.
Our test car was the GTi 250 and came without the added-cost extras that crop up in a lot of our test vehicles.
The Peugeot is powered by a responsive turbo-petrol engine that drives through well-controlled front wheels, and chassis dynamics that sit with the best of them.
The French designers have given the 308 GTi a shape that’s stylish, but certainly not overdone.
The sports grille and revised side skirts look good.
The rear features a gloss-black section incorporating twin exhaust pipes that are finished in chrome.
These Peugeot GTi models are lower by 11 mm than the standard 308 and have wider tracks – 1570 mm at the front and 1554 mm at the rear. The 250 has 225/40 R18 Michelin Pilot Sport 3 tyres on Diamant alloy wheels. The GTi 270 sits on 19-inch Carbone light-weight alloy wheels with wider, lower-profile Michelin Super Sport 235/35 R19 tyres.
Interior trim is in a combination of mock leather, and alcantara in dark grey with red stitching on the seats and door trim. The gear knob and steering wheel also get stitching highlights.
Both models use the same 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine, but in two different states of tune.
The numbers 250 and 270 in the GTi’s title refer to the output of the engines in horsepower. Metric power is rated at 184 and 200 kW.
Torque is more important than power in real life driving and is a strong feature of this powerplant; both versions of the engine develop peak torque of 330 Nm from just 1900 rpm. In other words top torque is on hand virtually all the time.
The 250 engine has a zero to 100 km/h acceleration time of 6.2 seconds, the 270 stops the timer at 6.0.
Peugeot GTi only comes with a six-speed manual gearbox.
The GTi 270 uses of a Torsen limited-slip differential and its Electronic Stability Program puts more emphasis on driver skill by cutting in later.
The ESP system can be fully disconnected, though this is only recommended for track days.
Peugeot’s 9.7-inch touchscreen gets a Redline finish in a red and black theme.
Satellite navigation is standard, there’s 6.9Gb Jukebox for music storage, AM/FM radio and a CD player. Two USB ports and Bluetooth connectivity complete the package.
Sound quality is good and we found the radio picking up signals at greater distances than we often experience in other cars.
However the latter isn’t exactly a scientific back-to-back test and audio input is obviously influenced by atmospheric conditions.
The front seats are a Peugeot Sport design and support nicely, though not to the extent of making ingress and egress a chore.
They appear to be slightly bulkier in their backrest design and therefore reduce rear-seat knee room.
I’m a six-footer and anyone of the same height would find barely enough knee room behind me unless I was willing to give up a notch or three on my seat.
All seat adjustments are manual, something I’m happy with in a sports model as cutting a few kilos by leaving out electric motors is always nice.
I enjoy the tiny low-set steering wheel that you look over the top of, but find Peugeot’s description of this as being a ‘head-up display’ a bit imaginative.
A feature I love is that the speedo and tacho needles rotate in opposite directions. Some people find this irritating – but they fail to see the challenge is to get the tips of the two needles as close to one another as possible. Having said that, we never did achieve the ultimate needle position of 250 km/h at 6500 rpm!
Engine response is very good for a high-performance turbo engine, the small capacity probably helps here. The ability to get out and around slower cars quickly and safely is always welcome.
Pressing the Sport button on the centre console switches the instrument display from white to an angry red, it shows additional information on the central read-out (power, torque, boost, lateral and longitudinal acceleration).
Even better, using Sport mode enhances the engine’s throaty growl. A little more volume would be appreciated, though.
Steering is fast, intuitive and predictable and the ability of this hot French machine to cling on in bends and change direction quickly when asked to do really pleases those who enjoy driving.
On smooth roads the Peugeot can carry you long distances with ease thanks to the well-known ability of the French suspension folks to combine handling and comfort.
But road roar on coarse-chip surfaces is probably too high if you just want a sporty looking cruiser. We’re sure keen drivers will put up with the noise for the added grip.
Serious drivers should try the Peugeot GTi 270 if they are considering track days. Those simply looking for an excellent on-road performer will probably be satisfied with the 250 and save $5000 – why not test drive both before making you your mind, though?
Model range
308 GTi 250 1.6-litre turbo-petrol five-door hatch: $44,990 (manual)
308 GTi 270 1.6-litre turbo-petrol five-door hatch: $49,990 (manual)
