Well, you could all mistake me for driving a hair dressers car, but I dont care! I had the privilege of driving my parents 307cc, face lift MY2005 (55). This is the 2.0l 140bhp (200nm), revised front and lip spoiler on the boot, and my first impressions were good. Hit the remote central locking and the folding wing mirrors open up, and its time to get in. Open the door, the window drops an inch and closes again with the door to aleviate cabin pressure niggles. The leather seats (optional) are very very snug fitting, some of the nicest i've sat in and that includes BMW, but they are cold, why, because my parents didnt opt for heated seats! 
Look around the dash, its a blaze of aluminium, gear knob, pedals, heater vent surrounds, but its not cheap, its good quality finish, shame about the dash, whilst solid, it just looks cheap. The steering wheel is chunky leather and feels good, I turn the key......
A soft purr from the 2.0l and you know shes ready, the white dials are horrible and have a stupid rev redline area that doesnt just cover the numbers, it protrudes from the middle of the dial right up to the edge and looks stupid!. The parking sensors (optional) kick in as I reverse down the drive, a little computer on the dash telling me everything I dont want to know and nothing I do want to know. However, with the PDC an image of your car appears on the computer and the obstacle behind you also appears so you know how far away from it you are, also, the beeping increases as you get closer, as in other cars with PDC. I pull away, instantly noticing the annoying PUG clutch which requires my knee to be by my ear before safely applying the throttle and not slipping. Then I approach my first round-a-bout and immidately remember good old PUG brakes. I stop what seems like 50 metres away from where I want to be. PUG brakes have always impressed me, a good solid feel to them, you could just sneeze into the footwell and the brakes would come on!!! The last PUG I drove was a 309, and I can safely say that the clutch and brakes really felt no different.
The 2.0l is sluggish IMO, there is a 180bhp variant as well as an HDi now, both of which i'd like to test. Put the car into second and nothing happens, a lovely engine tone that bears no relation to the speed you think you should be going! Up into third, you feel a bit more power, but still very lame. Don't get me wrong, this is a quick car which is easy to put into tripple figures, it just doesnt get there quickly.
Road Noise was horrific, and that was with the roof up! Even at 50mph you could hear wind and tyre noise, BUT, and I must honestly say, that could be counter acted by the very well equipped stereo. This thing is good, once you've gone through the thousand odd settings that could easily rival BMWs i-Drive, you've got a very good unit that reproduces bass very well with no hint of distortion.
Moving on, handling was not too bad, it probably would have been different with the roof down though. There was definately not enough feed back through the wheel when pushing it in the corners, but she did stick with no immediate tendancy to understeer.
The roof is a work of art, noisy at best, and can only be activated at sub 20mph speeds and you have to make sure you have the load net cover in the boot in place or the roof will not go down. It is also very power intensive and requires the engine to be running. It took about 17seconds to get the roof down and a further 17 for it to come back up. WATCH YOUR HEAD IF YOU ARE OVER 6ft!
Overall, a pleasant car to drive, but I really dislike it, why....? Feeling around the interior, you could physically move parts of the trim like the centre console that covers the gear knob and handbrake, the quailty was just not there on what is essentially a £18k car. Sluggish performance and no the best ride all put me off, but i'd happily stay in it for the stereo. Think what they could have got with that money, a 330cd, a second hand 328ci convertible, and others...
The ride was noisy but well placed on the road, and people did certainly look at it. (probably more the way I was driving it tbh!)
Final Conclusion.................Women, buy it, you'll love it because you'll have no idea about any of the things i've just talked about. But make sure you are short as if you want to take your friends shopping, then this alledged 4 seater is really only good for two! And thats probably a good thing, because if you want the roof down when you go shopping, you're not gonna get a lot in the boot, so you'll have to use the rear seats instead!
Men...........................dont!
Look around the dash, its a blaze of aluminium, gear knob, pedals, heater vent surrounds, but its not cheap, its good quality finish, shame about the dash, whilst solid, it just looks cheap. The steering wheel is chunky leather and feels good, I turn the key......
A soft purr from the 2.0l and you know shes ready, the white dials are horrible and have a stupid rev redline area that doesnt just cover the numbers, it protrudes from the middle of the dial right up to the edge and looks stupid!. The parking sensors (optional) kick in as I reverse down the drive, a little computer on the dash telling me everything I dont want to know and nothing I do want to know. However, with the PDC an image of your car appears on the computer and the obstacle behind you also appears so you know how far away from it you are, also, the beeping increases as you get closer, as in other cars with PDC. I pull away, instantly noticing the annoying PUG clutch which requires my knee to be by my ear before safely applying the throttle and not slipping. Then I approach my first round-a-bout and immidately remember good old PUG brakes. I stop what seems like 50 metres away from where I want to be. PUG brakes have always impressed me, a good solid feel to them, you could just sneeze into the footwell and the brakes would come on!!! The last PUG I drove was a 309, and I can safely say that the clutch and brakes really felt no different.
The 2.0l is sluggish IMO, there is a 180bhp variant as well as an HDi now, both of which i'd like to test. Put the car into second and nothing happens, a lovely engine tone that bears no relation to the speed you think you should be going! Up into third, you feel a bit more power, but still very lame. Don't get me wrong, this is a quick car which is easy to put into tripple figures, it just doesnt get there quickly.
Road Noise was horrific, and that was with the roof up! Even at 50mph you could hear wind and tyre noise, BUT, and I must honestly say, that could be counter acted by the very well equipped stereo. This thing is good, once you've gone through the thousand odd settings that could easily rival BMWs i-Drive, you've got a very good unit that reproduces bass very well with no hint of distortion.
Moving on, handling was not too bad, it probably would have been different with the roof down though. There was definately not enough feed back through the wheel when pushing it in the corners, but she did stick with no immediate tendancy to understeer.
The roof is a work of art, noisy at best, and can only be activated at sub 20mph speeds and you have to make sure you have the load net cover in the boot in place or the roof will not go down. It is also very power intensive and requires the engine to be running. It took about 17seconds to get the roof down and a further 17 for it to come back up. WATCH YOUR HEAD IF YOU ARE OVER 6ft!
Overall, a pleasant car to drive, but I really dislike it, why....? Feeling around the interior, you could physically move parts of the trim like the centre console that covers the gear knob and handbrake, the quailty was just not there on what is essentially a £18k car. Sluggish performance and no the best ride all put me off, but i'd happily stay in it for the stereo. Think what they could have got with that money, a 330cd, a second hand 328ci convertible, and others...
The ride was noisy but well placed on the road, and people did certainly look at it. (probably more the way I was driving it tbh!)
Final Conclusion.................Women, buy it, you'll love it because you'll have no idea about any of the things i've just talked about. But make sure you are short as if you want to take your friends shopping, then this alledged 4 seater is really only good for two! And thats probably a good thing, because if you want the roof down when you go shopping, you're not gonna get a lot in the boot, so you'll have to use the rear seats instead!
Men...........................dont!
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