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• Peugeot has followed its recent practice of deriving vans from its hatchback cars by introducing a van based on the 309 called the Service. In the usual fashion, the van conversion consists mainly of blanking off the rear side windows and fitting a wooden floor panel.
The unusual shape of the parent hatchback — which has a semi-booted appearance with a wrap-around rear screen — is preserved in the Service. This obviously leaves the vehicle with a very odd-shaped load space whose maximum height of 0.895m is available only over a fairly short length. The maximum loadspace length, at floor level, is 1.63m, and the minimum width between the rear wheel arches is 1.10m — helped by the horizontal positioning of the coil springs of the independent rear suspension under the floor.
The Service has a claimed load volume of 1.28m3, with a maximum payload — excluding driver — of 400kg in a total permissible vehicle weight of 1.36 tonnes.
The 309 Service is powered by Peugeot's widely-acclaimed 1,769cc four-cylinder diesel engine, which develops 43.5kW at 4,600rpm and 106Nm torque at 2,000rpm. It comes with a five-speed all-synchromesh gearbox as standard.
The 309 Service is based on the three-door version of the 309 hatch, built at Peugeot's Ryton plant, but not British sales are planned yet.