Peugeot 308 2017 Review

Blame car manufacturers themselves for the heat being turned-up on small hatchbacks.
Why? Because they've made ownership of crossovers and SUVs more affordable than ever, both in terms of driveaway purchase prices and day-to-day running costs.

French manufacturer Peugeot is now distributed in Australia by Inchcape (the same company handles Subaru) and sales figures clearly show its rejuvenated 2008 and the highly impressive 3008 and 5008, giving the whole Peugeot brand a much-needed shot in the arm in our SUV-dominated new vehicle market.

Nevertheless, Peugeot’s 308 hatchback is far from done.

A mid-life update for the 308 – sprinkled with plenty of cues to its SUV stablemates – is expected to arrive in Australia early next year.

Visually you’ll be hard-pressed to notice the changes unless you park the new and old car beside each other. Most obvious is a more upright and prominent radiator grille, just like that found on the 2008/3008/5008, with the Peugeot lion badge at the centre and Peugeot lettering above.

A redesigned bonnet is less obvious and there are two different front bumper designs - depending on which trim level you go for. Likewise, while all cars get LED daytime running lamps up front, the top tiers can be had with full LED lighting.

Speaking of illumination, the rear 'three-claw' signature is unchanged, but it does light up at all times, which helps the 308's cause during daylight hours. And that's pretty much it…other than a few new designs of alloy wheels and a new paint colour.

Actually, there is one final item of exterior design to point out and that's to the fuel filler flap, which we realise makes it sound like we're really struggling to find any differences - but this is more significant than it first sounds. The reshape (from round to vaguely rectangular, if you care) is to make room for an additional filler hole - for the AdBlue additive.

You see, Peugeot has spotted an opportunity to be one of the first to conform to new fuel economy and emissions legislation in Europe, the so-called Euro 6.c standard, which aims to bring real world figures closer to those achieved in standardised testing. It aims to match the 2020 limits two years early in terms of keeping NOx emissions in daily driving by ordinary people within 1.5 times that of the test figures.

To do that, a lot of work has been done on exhaust after treatment, including second generation Selective Catalytic Reduction and a particulate filter for diesel and a new particulate filter to go along with the usual three-way catalytic converter to deal with pollutants from direct injection turbocharged petrol engines.

The well-worn 2.0-litre HDi diesel, producing 130kW and 400Nm, mated to a new Aisin eight-speed automatic transmission, meets the Euro 6.c standards. This engine gives the 308 plenty of go, but it's a raucous unit unless you're at cruise on the highway.

And the highway is also where the eight-speeder is at its best as ratio swaps can be a little jerky using anything other than very light throttle openings. For now, this is the only powerplant linked to the eight-speed auto, but in time we expect the eight-speed 'EAT8' unit to replace the ‘EAT6’ across the range.

In our opinion, the updated Peugeot 308’s headline-grabbing engine isn’t actually the 2.0 HDi. We tried an early build version of the company's new 1.5-litre HDi diesel engine and it showed great potential. This variant produces 96kW and 300Nm of torque, so can't touch the 2.0-litre in a straight-line fight, but in isolation it never feels wanting - and certainly stands up well to comparison with any 1.6-litre diesel on the market.

But the 1.5-litre HDi’s star card is refinement. This is a silky smooth engine (relatively speaking - it's still a diesel) which exhibits no vibration or harshness through the driveline and, with a pleasingly linear delivery of its power, is very easy to drive in a smooth manner. It helps being mated to a slick six-speed manual gearbox with well-judged ratios.

The new engine doesn't actually go into production until September, so Peugeot is reluctant to release finalised emissions and economy data, only saying the new 1.5 will be four to six per cent more efficient than its 88kW 1.6-litre predecessor. As that powerplant emitted as low as 82g/km of CO2 and used 3.1 litres/100km, the new one could be as low as 77g/km and 2.9 litres/100km.

Even if, in reality, the 308 can't quite hit those figures, it'll still be one of the most efficient cars in the class.

Which is good because otherwise the 308 is largely forgettable from behind the wheel as Peugeot has enacted precisely zero changes to the car's chassis as part of the updates.

On larger wheels fitted to GT Line models, comfort wasn't really an issue (though the Bavarian test roads were exceptionally well surfaced), however body control was lacking, especially over, say, a mid-corner transverse ridge, which resulted in a disconcerting lurch of the body from corner to corner of the car. It's as if the 308’s dampers require one movement too many to settle down on the springs.

Outright grip is not in question, but the power steering system gives no feedback to the driver and always feels a little long-winded. Which is a disappointing outcome given the tiny thick-rimmed steering wheel seems to point to sporty responsiveness.

Again we suspect not everyone will get on with the Peugeot 308s cabin layout, which retains its 'iCockpit' design unchanged.

So you view the instruments (including a 'backwards' rev counter) over the top of the steering wheel. Theoretically, it's a great idea, as your eyes don't move so far from the road ahead to glance at the gauges, but the reality is the steering wheel is too small and many drivers have to compromise on the seat position to make sure they can see everything.

It's a shame Peugeot didn't implement the much better interpretation of iCockpit found in the 3008 and 5008.

Peugeot has, however, upgraded the 308’s electronics, going so far as designing a completely new wiring loom to facilitate the introduction of the company's latest driver assistance and infotainment systems.

Some of it will be optional and Australian specifications are not even close to completion, but new items include Active Safety Brake, Distance Alert, active lane departure warning, driver attention warning, automatic full-beam lights, speed sign recognition and suggestion (cleverly, if you have the cruise control set and the system detects a limit change, it will ask you if you want to reset the cruise to the new limit), adaptive cruise control and active blind spot monitoring. To prevent scrapes and dings there's also optional 360-degree view parking cameras and Park Assist.

Back inside, the touchscreen mounted up high in the middle of the dashboard is a new capacitive sensing item which is standard across the range, and notably quicker witted than before. However, it isn’t perfect and it's infuriating to contemplate pressing the screen three times in different places to, for example, alter the climate control temperature…when in most cars it's just a single press of a bespoke switch or dial.

Still, the satellite-navigation, now by TomTom, is better than before, and the Mirror Screen feature allows decent smartphone integration through MirrorLink, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

All these features are useful upgrades from the previous 308, but are not unique in the segment. Peugeot's focus on real world fuel economy may strike a chord with budget-minded buyers, but most of the rest may choose to stick with their SUVs.

2017 Peugeot 308 pricing and specifications:
Price:  Expected to start from around $30,000
Engine: 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged diesel
Output: 96kW/300Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual
Fuel: TBA
CO2: TBA
Safety rating: Euroncap results