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2015 Peugeot 308 GTi Teased

Between June 25 and 28, Lord March’s Goodwood estate will host this year’s edition of the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Last year, the Blue Oval proved its Focus ST on the 1.86-kilometer long hill climb, but 2015 will see the live debut of the long-awaited Peugeot 308 GTi hot hatchback.
Peugeot 308 GTi 11 photos
Photo: Peugeot
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Internally designated codename T9, the second generation of the Peugeot 308 is an interesting alternative to the usual suspects in the C-segment. When we tested the 308 with the fuel efficient 1.6-liter e-HDI turbo diesel with 115 HP, it left a surprisingly good impression on us. But at the end of the day, an oil-burning hatchback will never live up to the fun offered by a 308 hatchback wearing the GTi badge.

Earlier this month, the 2015 Peugeot 308 GTi was spied in France completely camo-free and it’s promising a lot. Then the French manufacturer shared a teaser video of it on its official Twitter account with a few blips of the throttle. We sure hope that raspy engine note will be mirrored by the GTi in real-world driving conditions. Our fear lies in the fact that the not-so-hot 308 GT is pumping a fake-sounding exhaust rumble through the audio system’s speakers.

It’s anybody’s guess if this contraption will be applied to the Peugeot 308 GTi as well. We sure hope it won’t, even though bigger and more powerful cars like the 2015 Ford Mustang EcoBoost use exhaust enhancers as well. From the teaser video provided by Peugeot, we learn that the social media department created the #Peugeot308GTi hashtag to popularize the hot hatchback on Twitter. There are snippets with the design of the headlights, taillights, instrument cluster and Dynamic driving mode as well.

Thanks to a 1.6-liter turbo petrol engine with anything from 240 to 270 horsepower, the most powerful Peugeot 308 to date will come with a six-speed manual transmission and, if we’re lucky, a mechanical limited-slip differential. A set of Michelin 235/55R19 tires will be offered for maximum grip when the going gets fast and twisty. The styling isn’t too bad either, as you can see in the adjacent photo gallery.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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