| Week at the Wheel | Peugeot 308 CC HDi |

Inside & Out:

From most angles the 308 CC looks like an over-styled 307 CC. With its massively gaping grille and fake rear diffuser, the car relies on showy detailing to garner road presence.

In the cabin there are some chagrining ergonomic oversights. The seat is set too high below a shallow roofline, so taller dudes will find their Mohawks grazing the ceiling. The pedals are too high and positioned poorly, and the steering wheel is too far away.

Perceived quality is decent though. There's a solidity to the build and the switchgear that's a step above the 207 CC, and it's styled neatly. The seats are comfortable (good looking, too), and there's even a big boot - if you're not planning on putting the roof in it - with a large aperture. And assuming the front occupants are quite short legged, there's a passable amount of rear legroom too.

Engine & Transmission:

Peugeot is still good at making diesels of the older school, so what you lose of the smooth quietness of, say, a VW Group common rail unit, you gain in a decent slug of torque. There's only 112bhp from the 1.6-litre HDi engine, but it's nice and gutsy at the low end so it doesn't feel overwhelmed by what is, after all, a heavy great hard top convertible. Thank 180lb.ft of torque at 1,750rpm for that.

That's good because you won't be changing gear too often; the six-speed gearbox is springy, slack through the gate and topped off what a horrible ball of 'aluminium' (we're not certain of its authenticity). Within 30 seconds it's clammy.

Ride & Handling:

'Scuttle shake' is a pejorative largely consigned to the auto journalism history books. However, there will always be a penalty to pay for losing some of the load bearing structure of a roof. In the Peugeot's case it is occasional mild vibration through the seat and wheel over poorer roads, and that ever-present rear view mirror buzz.

But it's acceptable. As are the ride and handling. Sure, the ride is quite firm, even though there's also quite a lot of roll around corners, and there's no joy in directing it around corners quickly - the chassis doesn't like telling you what the wheels are doing underneath. But you'd expect that, right? What it is decent at, despite the oddball driving position, is being a nice quiet convertible. There isn't a load of wind swirling around the cabin with the roof down, and with it up (which will be most of the time in Britain) it's very nearly as quiet as a fixed roof car most of the time.

Equipment, Economy & Value for Money:

The SE specification we're testing here is just the sort of mid-spec, mid-power diesel that we think most 308 CC customers will plump for. It costs £22,495. Is that good value? Well, it's not too expensive, quite well equipped, and you'll probably feel like you're getting your money's worth on a hot Saturday afternoon. You definitely won't be spending too much time at the filling station either, because 53.2mpg from a convertible is decent.

What we would say, though, is that it's not really much better than the 207 CC. Ask yourself if you really need the extra boot and rear space (the latter of which hardly takes the 308 into family car territory) and if the answer is 'no', there's a cheaper and no less classy way of getting the top down in the smaller car. A 207 CC with the same engine in Sport specification is more economical and costs around £18,000.

Overall:

It's surprising how much reaction the Peugeot 308 CC gets. It's always from women, and it invariably involves the word 'posh'. And while it's very easy for the cynical palms of a road tester to lambast the Pug for its dynamic and ergonomic deficiencies, for many this car will feel special. For those, its flaws probably won't matter; the 308 CC looks good, is comfortable if you're under six-foot tall, and is cheap to run. Not great, but not bad either.