WITH its series of flashing LEDs, strobe lights and blinking indicators, you'll like the way the Peugeot 308 CC unlocks itself.
A fellow passenger reckoned the gloriously extravagant lighting on this £26,000 motor makes it Blackpool Illuminations on wheels but when you combine it with its overwhelmingly white paintwork, club-class rear legroom and the open-air experience it warrants a much better nickname. It's the Airbus!
The reason why there's another Peugeot with a folding metal roof on Life On Cars just a fortnight after I drove the smaller 207 CC was to see whether the French firm's other open-top suffered from its sister's drawbacks of having extremely limited rear legroom. Predictably, it's far less Ryanair in the back than the smaller car, so it's definitely the Pug for the family man and any rear seat passengers who happen to have legs.
It's a far nicer machine to be in than the 207 for everyone involved, with an airier feel and more space to stretch out on longer journeys. When you've got the metal origami stowed in the boot on sunnier days, it may as well be in a different county.
But you'll soon notice the tradeoff is the sheer size of the thing; it's not in any way difficult to drive, but that feeling of it always being a little wider than you'd want means you just can't coax it through the narrower country roads with the same confidence you can other cars. But it is superbly smooth on faster roads, with the diesel powerplant and sixth gear going a long way to cutting fuel costs.
I also like the way the Airbus looks like a pint-sized Mercedes CL when parked against the stunning backdrop of Meols Hall, in Southport, and the space you get in its bulbous boot, but as a machine your passengers will enjoy it far more than you will.
I'd take the smaller car instead because I don't have kids or luggage, but if you do and you like your motoring al fresco the 308's definitely a bright idea.
As published in The Champion on April 14, 2010
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