- Joined
- Mar 12, 2006
- Messages
- 2,608
- Car
- Mini Cooper S, BMW M140i
Greetings, Citizens.
Added another car to my not-wish list yesterday.. had to go to a meeting at another business unit first thing this morning and as it's 130 miles away I drove down last night and stayed in a hotel.
I booked a hire car as we are allowed to do so if there's a justification and mine is that I don't wish to wear my car out on business use
.
I asked for an automatic as a) I'm lazy and like the car to just get on with it and b) I hurt my left knee last week and it's still not 100%. Normally if we get a rental we get a Focus-class car (which is fine) but sometimes if you ask for an auto you get lucky and get something half-decent if that's what's in the yard at the time. Anyway, car turns up, a Peugeot 3008. Cue sinking feeling, not a fan of French cars.
The driving experience didn't make me fall in love either. It's been a while since I drove a duffer like this - 1.6 diesel with a semi-automatic gearbox. Pretty dreadful combination all round - tiny powerband and a gearbox that changes like a learner. In addition, it has a stop/start system that kills the engine if you're stationary with your foot on the brake - I thought it had stalled the first time it happened.
Anyroadup, so you're sat there at a junction with the engine stopped and see a gap. Lift your foot off the brake, engine coughs into life, press the throttle and - wait for it - the car may decide to move off. Or not, as the case may be. In desperation, you mash the pedal into the carpet, the revs rise until the turbo spins up and all of sudden you've got a bunch of torques trying to escape. The car panics, goes to change into second (cue another 1 second gap) and then almost stalls as the revs have fallen out of the power band
. Borderline dangerous, if you ask me.
On the plus side, although being a hideous town car it was pleasant enough on the motorway. Once the gearbox had finally managed to find its way into 6th and the cruise control was on, it wasn't a bad place to be. Seats were comfortable and it was pretty well equipped. I suppose if that's what you need it'd do the job.
Having checked out the specs on the Peugeot website tonight though I am sceptical about their claimed fuel consumption figures - they claim 60 MPG, I got 46 and wasn't exactly caning it - most of this was done on motorways too.
The other thing I noticed checking out the spec is that the list price (based on what I could guess from the Peugeot website) comes close to £23K. Now I realise that car rental companies get huge discounts off list as they'll take anything the manufacturers have lying about. Quite right too, because if anyone was prepared to cough up 23 large for this they need their heads examining..
This has been another biased and unsolicited review. Your mileage may vary.
Cheers,
Gaz
Added another car to my not-wish list yesterday.. had to go to a meeting at another business unit first thing this morning and as it's 130 miles away I drove down last night and stayed in a hotel.
I booked a hire car as we are allowed to do so if there's a justification and mine is that I don't wish to wear my car out on business use
.I asked for an automatic as a) I'm lazy and like the car to just get on with it and b) I hurt my left knee last week and it's still not 100%. Normally if we get a rental we get a Focus-class car (which is fine) but sometimes if you ask for an auto you get lucky and get something half-decent if that's what's in the yard at the time. Anyway, car turns up, a Peugeot 3008. Cue sinking feeling, not a fan of French cars.
The driving experience didn't make me fall in love either. It's been a while since I drove a duffer like this - 1.6 diesel with a semi-automatic gearbox. Pretty dreadful combination all round - tiny powerband and a gearbox that changes like a learner. In addition, it has a stop/start system that kills the engine if you're stationary with your foot on the brake - I thought it had stalled the first time it happened.
Anyroadup, so you're sat there at a junction with the engine stopped and see a gap. Lift your foot off the brake, engine coughs into life, press the throttle and - wait for it - the car may decide to move off. Or not, as the case may be. In desperation, you mash the pedal into the carpet, the revs rise until the turbo spins up and all of sudden you've got a bunch of torques trying to escape. The car panics, goes to change into second (cue another 1 second gap) and then almost stalls as the revs have fallen out of the power band
. Borderline dangerous, if you ask me.On the plus side, although being a hideous town car it was pleasant enough on the motorway. Once the gearbox had finally managed to find its way into 6th and the cruise control was on, it wasn't a bad place to be. Seats were comfortable and it was pretty well equipped. I suppose if that's what you need it'd do the job.
Having checked out the specs on the Peugeot website tonight though I am sceptical about their claimed fuel consumption figures - they claim 60 MPG, I got 46 and wasn't exactly caning it - most of this was done on motorways too.
The other thing I noticed checking out the spec is that the list price (based on what I could guess from the Peugeot website) comes close to £23K. Now I realise that car rental companies get huge discounts off list as they'll take anything the manufacturers have lying about. Quite right too, because if anyone was prepared to cough up 23 large for this they need their heads examining..
This has been another biased and unsolicited review. Your mileage may vary.
Cheers,
Gaz
