Faults:

Recall at 1st 12000 mile service, since the odometer was not corresponding with the actual service indicator - 400 mile inaccuracy.

At 50mph or above the wing mirrors vibrate in the air flow, which oozes poor build quality.

Poor panel alignment between front wing and doors is slightly out which makes the car look as if it has been involved in a minor fender bender- when it hasn't!

At 37,000 miles the Mass Air Flow sensor failed, causing poor performance while the engine is warming up - i. e no acceleration and unable to shift the car past 20 miles per hour until the coolant temperature reached 70 degrees. In addition to this, on cold winter mornings you get thick acrid white smoke from the exhaust while this is happening, sometimes accompanied by an 'Anti-Pollution System Fault' message on the screen.

The windscreen developed a crack, without being struck by anything, have been told that this was stress induced.

Horn operation leaves a lot to be desired since the horn works intermittenly, suspect the switches on the steering at fault, since you have to pound the steering wheel to get a hoot.

Suffered complete bulb failure on all my rear lights one evening - to replace, you have to remove the entire plastic clusters from the body work - try doing that when its wet and cold!

Clutch makes a moaning and groaning sound at times; this has occured from 45,000.

The engine has always sounded squeaky and rattle when pulling off with low revs - does not sound like a new car at all, neither does it sound well screwed together.

The air conditioning leaves a very foul cheesy odour when switched off.

The multi-function display washes out under even the most minor of temperature increases, leading to missing pixels.

The outside temperature display is grossly inaccurate since it seems to be out by a good 5 to 6 degrees.

Audio quality is completely rubbish, even the most moderate of bass tones will drive you crazy as the door trim panels rattle with distortion. The high end notes are too clear making it hard on the years as the tweeter speakers are a little too effective, despite changning settings on the stereo.

General Comments:

Though in fairness, the air con is very effective on very hot days- just don't switch it off until you reach your destination.

Handling is pretty good for a car of this class, where you can have a reasonable amount of fun throwing it into bends on twisty roads.

For long distance cruising the car is very quiet, and the engine delivers moderate fuel economy - around 45MPG on the motorway.

Parts are very expensive for this car, it's a Peugeot 307 not a Mercedes/BMW/Jaguar. Oh and don't trust the dealers, took my car for a service and all they did was change the oil - £150 for that, when in the owners manual there is a whole list of things they should have done.

This car is great when it works properly - though being a french car, don't expect that reality to last too long, since it will give you nasty little surprises - you fix one thing and then 1-2000 miles later another little niggling issue will start to develop. It has never broken down on me, it has just left me with a very bitter taste in my mouth regarding the marque and generally the entire french car industry. That's why the car I just aquired is German! ;-)

Faults:

Nasty wobble in steering wheel when traveling at more than 60MPH; allegedly repaired four times by dealer, but still doing it.

Airbag fault when purchased, repaired under warranty.

Setting number 2 on heaters doesn't work.

Underside engine cover cracked and fell off, dealer wouldn't repair it under warranty.

2 wheel nuts missing, replaced under warranty.

AND ALL THIS IN FIRST 2 MONTHS OF OWNERSHIP.

General Comments:

What can I say besides think very carefully about purchasing a 307. It is a lovely looking car in black with the 16" Peugeot alloys and aggressive slanted headlights, but you WILL have something go wrong with it.

I'll start with the good points; Fuel economy is good, handling is good, and the ESP system makes it a dream to drive in the wet. 110 horses for a 2.0 litre diesel is not a lot compared to all of the 150 and 170 units in most new cars, but it puts the 110 down very well, and will take you too 70 from 30 pretty quickly in 3rd; great for getting past trucks and tractors on windy back roads. The comfort and space in the cabin is also very impressive.

BAD POINTS TIME

Most of these are detailed in the faults section above, but I cannot express my disappointment enough in the dealer I bought this from (which isn't a dedicated Peugeot dealer by the way). The fact that I was told it was wheel balancing that caused the wobble 3 times, before they finally decided to replace the roll bar linkages, which STILL hasn't completely fixed the problem.

The windscreen was chipped quite badly, which I hadn't noticed before purchase, so they said 'no way' to replacing it as it would cost them 200 pounds.

A Peugeot engineer told me that usually to repair the roll bar linkage they may have had to remove the underside engine cover; the same part that three days after the repair, cracked and dropped off at 70MPH on a motorway, but when questioned, the dealer said they didn't remove it and I would have to pay for a new one (even though still in warranty).

I am currently in communication with my finance company to return this vehicle so I can buy something more reliable, and the dealer have also another customer claiming 2000 pounds through trading standards for a service on a vehicle that was paid for, that then turned out never to have been done (not even the oil and air filters were replaced). What really annoys me is that I have had a 150 pound Sony CD head unit fitted, which as I sold the old unit (only for 40 pounds too), I will lose.

I will never buy a Peugeot or go to this dealer ever again! If the dealer had sorted everything out before I originally collected the car, everything now would probably be fine. Long gone are the days of customer service.