There are many good reasons to buy or lease a new Peugeot 308 estate, or SW (for Station Wagon) as they call it, and few to avoid it. By far the most compelling, if irrational, is that this slightly ageing design is actually extremely attractive, and not just for a mere estate car. Indeed, given the ubiquity of the SUV/crossover these days, seeing an estate is a bit of a novelty, and makes one an avant-garde, individualistic choice.
As I’ve chuntered many a time before, an estate, ceteris paribus, is always superior to its SUV/crossover counterpart (in this case the Peugeot 3008) because it has a lower centre of gravity and therefore is better, ie more stable to drive. But in this case the looks match its sporting pretensions, and the relatively recent “facelift” of styling, dating back to 2021, is extremely successful.
open image in galleryThey’ve had some fun with the headlights, giving them the lion’s-claw, three-pronged “slash” treatment, and the Peugeot lion badge is now illuminated and adds to the classy, modernised vibe. (I have to intercede with myself here and point out that the dear old Wolseley, a once-familiar sight on our roads, had its winged W badge majestically lit up, and often called the “ghost light”, as long ago as 1932. The difference now is that the Peugeot’s badge includes the sensors for the semi-autonomous driving system. Like Peugeot, though, the Wolseley was a studiedly bourgeois marque with a showroom, recently a restaurant, on Park Lane.)
open image in galleryAnyway, the lines are sleek, dynamic, striking, elegantly scalloped along the flanks, and thus a minor miracle of sheet metalwork. Bathed as my test car was in a rich shade of “Elixir Red”, it has tremendous kerb appeal. So, by the way, did the very special “Olivine Green” paintwork once available as its “signature shade” but apparently now dropped. A great shame, in an automotive world of well over 50 uninspired shades of silver/grey.
The spec
Peugeot 308 SW GT Hybrid 145
Price: £32,745 (as tested, SW range starts at £31,195)
Engine capacity: 1.2l petrol, 3-cyl + 20 hp electric motor, 6sp auto
Power output (hp): 145
Top speed (mph): 131
0 to 60 (seconds): 9.8
Fuel economy (mpg): 62.6
CO2 emissions (WLTP, g/km): 102
The rest is more mundane, but extremely acceptable. You can tell it’s due for a more radical makeover because it still has so many big manual buttons to press and even a proper knob on the radio (insert suitable name of your choice here). This is, to my mind, no bad thing, and makes for a safer journey all round. I was also reassured that Peugeot is still persevering with its “i-Cockpit”, which places the dials relatively high up, towards eye-level, and keeps them clear with a dinky steering wheel, even though it struggles to accommodate the full suite of thumb-driven controls for the infotainment and driver assistance. For many, the Peugeot’s most welcome feature will be its highly restrained driver warnings for speeding and wandering out of lane – notably quieter than its BYD Seal rival I tried the other week.
open image in galleryThere are lots of 308 variants – hatches and wagons, trim levels, propulsion systems – but I did like my 1.2 mild hybrid, the “self-driving” version you don’t need to plug in. I’ve seen some people criticise the automatic transmission for being jerky, but I didn’t find it so. In “Sport” driving mode, it was eager and responsive, and the light steering had sufficient feel to make it a pleasure to run along country roads – and the suspension only added to the pleasure. For potentially more of an outlay, you can opt for the serene electric e-308, or the plug-in hybrid version, but if you don’t rack up high mileage and you don’t qualify for the business car tax breaks, the hybrid is a fine compromise. As for price, it’s especially important to look for discounts on the 308 from the online broker sites.
One big change Peugeot has made in recent years in its 308 models with the 1.2-litre petrol engine is the fitment of a timing chain in place of a timing belt. I believe that unless punctiliously maintained, the old belt could snap with catastrophic consequences. A chain is, generally, a more reliable companion for hard-working pistons and cranks.
open image in galleryI think we all know by now about the Chinese “invasion”, and I can testify that some of the makes – by no means all – are the match of their “European” rivals (such terms are getting less meaningful in a globalised world). Peugeot’s parent organisation, Stellantis, is a dizzyingly vast global organisation spanning everything from Abarth to Jeep, and that itself has Chinese partners and interests. It has to cope with these unprecedented challenges as best it can. I hope that as it does so, the essence of cars as nice as the 308 will live on.