Report 2

I drove 520 miles in the 308 yesterday. From my mum’s house in North Wales (happy birthday mum) to Sussex, and then back up to Birmingham. That’s with a day’s work somewhere in between. And boy did the French estate look after me, or my wallet at least, sipping diesel frugally and delivering a whopping 61.5mpg for its trouble. That was mostly on motorways, but the wheels did caress town tarmac, some sweeping and twisty country B-roads and Welsh hills – oh and all with a boot full, too. Filling the car up after the trip, the range proudly displayed 783 miles. I admire optimism. I hate to be that guy that bangs on about economy figures, but when they’re this good, it’s rude not to celebrate. Well done, Peugeot!

Those figures also help me forgive a few shortcomings I’m uncovering with our 308 SW. Firstly, road noise, and I’m pretty sure the Michelin tyres are to blame. I say the tyres, as it feels like it to me. I’ve discovered that the 308 has pretty good soundproofing, having spent a good chunk of time in another 308 with a different brand of tyres – it was quiet as a dormouse. And driving on roads I know pretty well, I’m noticing a change from the other car, with the tyres seemingly quite susceptible to noise on differing road surfaces and how much sound is deposited into the cabin. Traverse the newest or smoothest of tarmac and the 308’s cabin is all but silent, but anything else and there’s no respite from the road noise. The standard sound system is pretty good if you want to try and drown it out, if not quite as up there with its bigger 508 sibling.

The second shortcoming is, I suspect, very much a me problem and down to my build. After initially getting on well, I’m struggling slightly with the front seats now I’ve settled on the right adjustment. They are proper living room armchairs, but there’s not enough lumbar support for my top half and not enough bolstering for my backside and legs, leaving them a bit achy. It’s not much of a problem for shorter journeys, but a decent stint behind the wheel will give me a bit of discomfort. I do, however, love the way that you can drop the seats down super low, so that you feel like you’re sitting in the seats and not riding on top. That’s a big feather in the Peugeot’s cap.

Do you use your car’s built in navigation system, your phone, or an ‘old fashioned’ contraption suckered to the windscreen? I hate those sucker marks that gets welded onto the screen. Since Apple CarPlay became a ‘thing’, I’ve always favoured Waze on my phone to help me avoid jams, or indeed from picking up speeding tickets. But recently, it’s let me down on more than one occasion. So with that and having a new navigation system to play with in the Peugeot, it seemed a perfect excuse to give it a whirl. It’s excellent. It’s a TomTom system, so it works. With live traffic updates, diversions, and route options, testing the system side by side with Waze on my iPhone, the Peugeot’s navigation system gave me a better route and has done the few times I’ve gone head-to-head with them both. So much so that I don’t really use my iPhone anymore for route navigation. Plus using the car’s in-built navigation system allows me to have the map directly in front of me on the i-Cockpit. That’s not available with Apple CarPlay.

Mileage 10,030
Arrived 9th January 2023 (Registered 30th March 2022)
Price when new £29,985
Price as tested £30,530
Economy 65.7mpg (combined) 60.9mpg (on test)
Costs None Faults None