2001 Peugeot 307 XSi from UK and Ireland - Comments

My tale with the 307 is a long and torrid affair. I took delivery of my first one in Sept 2001 on a 51 plate.

All seemed fine until January this year.

The clutch hydraulic system failed. It took the main dealer who supplied the car 6 weeks to fix it. He claimed parts availability was a problem.

The engine on three occasions refused to idle and had to be run at a high idle at junctions etc.

The radio system needed continual re-coding as it seemed to think the battery had been disconnected every couple of weeks.

The passenger front electric window had a mind of its own. Refusing to close properly some days.

At the first service the dealer using the diagnostic tester reported no fault found.

The faults continued to annoy and we asked the dealer to take the car back. He offered us a derisory amount for our 6 month old car. Citing recent auction prices he'd seen.

Then in April this year the ultimate failure. My partner was driving home when all power was lost and smoke was pouring from under the bonnet. It turned out that the starter motor had been energised during her journey causing excessive heating of the cables from the ignition to the starter motor.

We received the recall notice for the faulty ignition switch the ollowing day!!!

This we felt was the final straw, the car smelt as if it had been on fire. The dealer repaired the car and expected us to take it home. We refused and after 4 weeks of phoning and exasperated arguing they agreed to replace the car.

Now this should be a warning to every potential 307 owner.

I collected my replacement car 13 days ago. Now on an 02 plate.

After a little use I noticed that the drivers seat does not slide when tilted to allow rear seat passengers in.

Yesterday, 27th May 2002, the central display announced "catalyser fault" at the same time a decrease in power was experienced. My new car which has covered only 800 miles is in the garage with no hint of it's demise from the dealer.

The worst thing that upsets me is that the dealer can't even imagine how disappointing it is for me as a customer to spend so much on a car that has proved to be so unreliable.

The usual comment "don't know what your moaning about, at least we've given you a courtesy car". (Usually a £100 a month base model compared to my £200 a month top of the range car!!!)

To be fair when the car works it is a dream to experience. The seats are out of this world. The car has predictable understeer that is a joy to exploit.

Not too sure about the ESP in the new one. It makes the car feel very unstable in high winds and fast corners. I think it probably shouldn't be in a "drivers car" as it seems to lose it's way very easily. The dash light flashes to indicate you've gone outside of the envelope!!!

All 307s are alike. The only difference is the experience of the dealer at taking care of common problems.

I have experienced a problem similar to what you describe with the engine fault indicator lamp flashing and "catalytic converter fault" showing on display followed by rough running as if one cylinder totally missing. The dealer have 'repaired' the car four times without success. They say "You should drive more aggressive at higher revs because the valve springs are so weak on these modern low consuming engines" but with automatic gearbox it should not be necessary to drive at uncomfortable accelerations.

The next thing the dealer will do is to change the entire cylinder head, do you think this will solve the problem?

Mattias, Sweden.

I bought my 307 xsi on September 29th 2002 already the car has malfunctioned 3 times with engine warning light being displayed electric wing mirror behaving erratically returned to peugoet 3 times once on transporter with the AA instrument cluster problem was the answer!!! second time SPARK PLUG NEEDED CHANGING 3RD TIME COIL PACK!!! now when I say I have lost all confidence they tell me the car is fine never any thing wrong with it!!! I REALLY WANT MY NEW CAR IN THEIR GARAGE.

I've had the same problems too - catalytic converter and anti-pollution warnings, with the engine warning light staying on.

The car is 9 months old, and it's been back 6 times now. Each time it goes back, the diagnostic machine gives a different reason for the problem.

This week, it's been back twice, both times same fault, both times different diagnostic result.

The worst time was when they replaced the complete engine wiring loom. The car was off the road for 4 weeks, and we had a base model 206 or 307 replacement for my top of the range 307SW. The dealer assured that was the end of it - 4 weeks later, its back in the garage.

This week, the service manager told us they get on average 3 calls a week to his dealership with the same problems, and ADMITTED there is a problem that Peugeot will not acknowledge.

This is the first and last Peugeot I will ever purchase - now I just want my hard earned money back so I can replace it with a reliable car.

I have today just bought a 307 xsi after reading all the above comments I am really worried after paying 12k I pick the car up tommorrow 25th june.

It is not all doom and gloom I have been driving my Peugeot with no problems at all for over a year.The car has been excellent.

14th July 2003.

I'm picking up my Y reg 307 xsi (only ever owned by Peugeot and only 2500k) this Friday. After reading all the negative comments on this model I'm starting to have regrets. Please, is there anybody out there who has a few good words to say to put my mind at rest. Surely they're not all bad?

This car is an excellent price/ quality relation. I think all problems which occurred with you and pointed out in this forum are due to multiplexing, in which this car is one of the first.

I'm writing from Portugal were in this segment the fashionable cars are VWs, Audi and Seat. Peugeot 307 is far better than those models and as reliable. I think most of the situations described are minor problems and situations that may happen with EVERY make. Buy the car if it is appealing to you and I guarantee you that the diesel engine is one of the best in the market. This motor equips many 406 taxis here in Lisbon - I think this means we're talking about a very reliable engine.

Regards.

Having purchased a October 2001 registered Peugeot 307 HDi 2.0 on 25/06/03.The first thing that required changing was the Indicator/Lights stalk. When operating the Right Hand Indicator it decided once the steering was turned back to straight ahead to activate the Left Hand Indicator.

The most major fault occurred on 08/11/03 (last Friday), I had been on the motorway, and after leaving the slip road and slowing down in town traffic the centre console displayed "Anti Pollution Fault" along with the Engine Warning light on. The car lost all power, would not rev over 2000rpm and on one roundabout the engine completely stopped without warning. I managed to limp the car back to work, then called out the RAC who advised me not to drive the car any further. The RAC roadside mechanic then arranged for the car to be towed to the Peugeot dealer.

They didn't have a Courtesy car available so the RAC arranged one for the weekend. The dealer did get me a car for Monday, a 307SW 2.0HDi that was only a week old, so no complaints there!

They were a little unsure what exactly was causing the problem so have decided to replace the entire fuel system, this includes Fuel Tank/Lines/Injection pump/Injectors and all associated sensors.I'm glad it's still under warranty!

One of the things they did ask is if I had experienced any stalling of the engine or loss of power before this happened, earlier that week this is exactly what occurred.

Hope to get my car back next week, hope this is the last problem I have with it?

James.

I bought a 'y' reg 307 1.6lx manual April 2002,and it was recalled by my dealer for the ignition barrel to be replaced. since then, the indicator stalk will not stay in position when turning right (wonder if anyone else has had this problem) also the passenger front seat back cover has come loose and I cannot get it to stay in position.

I have had so many problems with my peugeot 307 rapier I wouldn't know where to start mainly the indicator stalk which needs to be replaced yet again, windows having a mind of their own, doors unlocking, lights coming on or off on their own, clonking on the front end of the car and to think I bought this car because I thought the 307 would give me the drive of my life!

My 307 2.0HDi has been nice - on the whole - from new last autumn, although there's a constant slight steering bias to the nearside which I've yet to find time to sort out. Recently though it's begun to beep at me when I first accelerate away from cold in the morning. Nothing shows up on the warning panels, it seems to run OK, there's plenty of diesel in the tank and all the other fluid levels are OK. Once the engine is warmed up all's well. My garage has offered a 'diagnostic' but I have my doubts whether this is going to prove worthwhile. I guess there's a sticky sensor somewhere, I worry a little in case there really is a problem, but the warning isn't appearing. Any thoughts, anyone?

I bought my 307 XSi in July this year and although love the car, have been severely disappointed with the dealer service and niggles that have occurred.

On several occasions one of the wing mirrors does not fold out when the vehicle is started.

The alarm 'beeps' sometimes when activated, as it does to warn a door or boot/bonnet is open, though no doors etc are open.

Anti-pollution faults (faulty coil they said), slightly variable idle (coil/brake vacum hose they thought), throttle stuck open (no reason at all) are additional faults that have occurred and been fixed for now.

Peugeot dealers have been terrible in helping and it is becoming increasingly frustrating.

As I say though, the car is fun to drive if a little slower than I anticipated, and the traction control sap's power just when you hint at wheelspin, though you can turn it off if you wish (plan your move from the lights!!)

I bought my 307 XT-Premium in November of 2003. Although Greek roads are even terrible to walk, my car has made 9150 km until now, with zero problems. I'm quite surprised from your experiences however, I must admit, I have a colleague with many problems (bought 2001). It seems to me that earlier versions, as long as everything that comes first, have bugs. I trust no company to be one of the first buyers when a new model appears. Thank U!

I have an 02 pueguet 307, had it for two years bought in 05.

Drives OK, clutch not very good quite hard to start on steep hills.

Exhaust fell of after 1 year, blapunkt 5cd changer failed has o buy new radio, antenna fail.

With all these faults car is OK, but driving once and engine light came on started to loose power and it doesn't look too good.

Wish I had bought something else, but I need to keep for some more years so hopefully nothing serious goes wrong.