The Peugeot 308 CC is the French manufacturer’s entry into the compact-convertible market, competing with the likes of the Renault Megane CC and Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet. It uses an electrically powered metal folding roof to give all-weather protection, and offers improved refinement. However, the extra weight and space required to store the complex system does hold back boot space and performance. It’s not the most useful car in its class either, but the pretty cabin and smooth diesel engines make it a striking proposal.
The Peugeot 308 CC was given a facelift recently and now it looks great from the front, above all with the roof stowed. However, the windscreen and extended boot required to fit the complex folding mechanism can make it look awkward and uncomfortable from some angles. All versions come well equipped, with even base-spec Access versions getting alloy wheels and chrome trim as standard. Inside the cabin you’re welcomed by a trio of air-vents over the centre console and, although the design is attractive, the busy layout is difficult to find the way. The stereo controls are small, hard to reach and oversized steering wheel feels graceless, and none of the materials feel especially solid, especially lower down the cabin.
The Peugeot 308 CC is only available in powerful petrol and diesel engines. The entry 118bhp 1.6-litre petrol VTi feels slow. The turbocharged version is better but the e-HDi diesel, which has lots of torque and is quiet and refined. The soft ride and light steering make it a decent low-speed cruiser. There’s body roll in tighter bends, and road surface cam hamper the ride. The Peugeot 308 CC offers drivers real peace of mind in the event of a crash. It has given lots of detail to it safety and comes with six airbags, ISOFIX child seat mounts, traction control and pop-up roll hoops that activate on impact. All of this helped it to achieve the top five stars rating from Euro NCAP. Reliability is an issue though, with some electrical problems reported on earlier models. The metal roof can be stowed in around 20 seconds and can also be operated on the move, at speeds of up to 7.5mph.
With the roof in place, boot space is actually better than on the standard hatch but, at 465-litres, it’s around 25 litres short of the Renault Megane CC. The boot space goes down to just 266-litres when the roof is folded. Customers should be relieved about Peugeot 308 security and safety levels gratitude and appreciations to an all-embracing collection of mutually unreceptive and proactive systems. There will be the customary all-encompassing range of airbags including driver, passenger and side ones plus systems designed to facilitate evade a misfortune in the first situate such as anti-lock brakes, system to take full advantage of braking exertion and good association and electronic stability control to facilitate avert the car leaving into a skid. The dynamic cruise control system and emergency collision alert system with the emergency collision braking system is exclusively offered in the car as driver assistance system. The Peugeot 308 has additionally equipped with the blind spot detection system.
