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If Peugeot had pressure to perform with 206WRC, a spiritual successor to legendary 205T16, they had similar pressure with 307WRC. Work on the car begun as early as 2001 though this was purely preliminary, the real development took off in spring 2002. Rumors about the car were flying from the start but Peugeot first showed the car in public a year and a half later at Frankfurt Motor Show.
307WRC is based on a cabriolet version of the road-going 307 and is by far bigger car than the almost too small 206WRC. Cabriolet version was hoped or dictated by Peugeot marketing and presented several questions marks relating to homologation issues like production quantities and cabriolet not having fixed roof. Neither were major issues and were soon resolved.
From strictly techical point of view one major change is the engine and in fact that was the reason behind retirement of the smaller car in favour of 307WRC. Power plant used in 206WRC dated back to 1980's and was approaching the end of it's homologation life. The engine of 307WRC is XU7, the same that is used on Citroen Xsara WRC too. Curiously enough, there are not many basic differences between the old and new engines.
In contrast to 206WRC, new car has bigger engine bay which allows not only more room for engine and ancillaries but also houses gearbox in transverse position. Peugeot was the first team to move from six-speed to five-speed gearbox and at one point 307WRC had only four-speed gearbox. Drivers did not like it and coupled with reliability problems, team soon developed five-speed gearbox anew.
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| Debut WRC event: | Monte Carlo 2004 |
| Best WRC result: | 1st by Marcus Gronholm in Finland 2004 |
| Rallies contested: | 16 | (works entries) |
| WRC starts: | 36 | (works entries) |
| Outright wins: | 1 | (wins to rallies ratio 6.3%) |
| Podiums: | 8 | (podiums to starts ratio 22.2%) |
| DNF's: | 15 | (DNF's to starts ratio 41.7 %) |
| Points scored: | 101 | (manufacturer championship points) |
| Avg points per rally: | 6.3 | |
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| Group and class | World Rally Car |
| Engine |
| Location: | Front transverse |
| Turbo: | Yes |
| Cylinders: | 4 in line |
| Valves: | 16 |
| Bore x stroke: | 85.0 x 88.0 mm |
| Cubic capacity: | 1997 cc |
| Power: | 300 hp |
| Torque: | 580 Nm |
| Dimensions |
| Length: | 4344 mm |
| Width: | 1770 mm |
| Height: | 1370 mm |
| Wheelbase: | 2610 mm |
| Weight: | 1230 kg |
| Transmission |
| Drive: | 4WD |
| Gearbox: | Transverse |
| Gears: | 5 |
| Sequential: | Yes |
| Clutch plates: | 3 |
| Clutch diameter: | 152 mm |
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New 307WRC is nothing like 206WRC was
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