Peugeot 308 GT Premium Hatch 2024 Long-Term Review

UPDATED 5/06/2024: Our long-term run with the 2024 Peugeot 308 GT Premium hatch has been largely trouble-free. There was occasionally a failure between head unit and smartphone (Apple CarPlay), and once we had the infotainment screen black-out completely.

But, as you do with all consumer electronics, a switch off, a short wait, then switch on again righted things.

Over-the-air updates come and go without warning, alerting you to a required installation and urging you to simply get whatever it is that needs to be done.

Yes, it doesn’t actually tell you what the OTA update is for, just providing an ETA. The first one said it would take “0 minutes” but after 5min it got stuck on five per cent completed and then aborted the process, asking us to contact Peugeot’s assistance centre. I didn’t. It came good. It downloaded. (I think.)

During another update, the connection was lost but the system soldiered on and eventually succeeded 20min later.

At the time of writing, no recalls had been issued in Australia for the latest-generation 308.

There’s one significant aspect of the 2024 Peugeot 308 GT Premium hatch that hurts, if not ruins, the relationship, uttered in a single word: i-Cockpit.

A few months into our long-term test and, sorry Francophiles, but i-Loath-it.

Peugeot still boasts about its “bold and successful invention” that, starting with the first-generation 208 more than a decade ago, “dared to revolutionise one of the elements that has evolved least in the history of the car: the driving position”.

But the undersized oval steering wheel in front of the elevated instrument binnacle never allowed this driver – and, indeed, a few friends and colleagues – to have an unimpeded view of the digital display.

Long periods were spent adjusting the seat and steering wheel in an attempt to find an ideal driving position, to no avail. I eventually accepted that I’d never get a clear view of the instruments.

Pug’s claim of “revolutionary ergonomics” was also ringing in my ears for months, upscaled to pounding whenever basic functions required drilling into submenus. Yes, the touch-screen is a piece of art and helpfully large too, but it’s often just a front for time-consuming searches.

Swipe, tap, tap, swipe, etc… for seat warmers, various climate functions, turning off the aggressive lane assist. At least the screen is perched up high and you can hang on to the back of it while navigating through the menus with your thumb.

The row of lower ‘i-toggle’ shortcut buttons cover off some quick actions – recirc, front and rear demist, etc – but some of them are simply shortcuts to get to touch-screen submenus, where more tapdancing is required.

It would’ve helped to have a driver’s manual in the car. I downloaded a PDF via the brand’s website but a screen-based reference guide – whether on your phone, laptop or accessed via the car’s infotainment – is just not as handy or easy to use as a manual with a thorough index.

I decided against filling the glove box with my own 280-page print-out. Tried the ‘tutorials’ via the touch-screen for screen management and driving aids, but was still left wondering.

We rate the 2024 Peugeot 308 GT Premium hatch highly as a single person’s car, but for couples and families?

Two-up, there’s enough room but a few issues present themselves for the front passenger: the manual seat adjustment (fore/aft, backrest angle and height) – blatant cost-cutting in a vehicle this price – and the angle of dash towards the driver.

Front passengers that I routinely travel with are constantly interacting with the touch-screen and separate ventilation and other controls, which aren’t all easily accessed from the front-left in the 308 and so become an occasional source of frustration.

There rear seat is a confined area with enough headroom across the bench but negligible legroom when taller front occupants are in position. Make some compromises at the front-end and ‘generous’ still isn’t a word that comes to mind in terms of rear passenger space.

Foot space under the front seats is restricted and there’s no pull-down centre arm rest when four occupants – probably the most you’d ever want to carry – are on board. Three bodies across the bench makes for a very tight fit.

Two ISOFIX and three top tether strap points are provided to help with securing child restraints, while general amenities extend to two USB-C outlets, two small air vents, tiny door bins and seatback nets.

There are no coat hooks on the rear overhead grab handles, but you can order a scary-looking coat hanger from Peugeot that attaches to the back of the front head restraint ($76) – not sure if you should use it with kids in the back, though.

For a small family, there’s not really enough room. The boot is compact, the floor measuring 785mm from tailgate to the upright seatbacks, extending to about 1500mm if the 60/40 split-fold seats are ever folded. (This also creates a big step in the floor.)

Height from floor to parcel shelf is 500mm, and boot width is 1020mm.

There’s no power tailgate function and no spare wheel, both disappointing omissions in this car. A luggage compartment net is available for $153, bringing the four tie-down hooks into play.

UPDATED 17/04/2024: We’ve been racking up the miles in the 2024 Peugeot 308 GT Premium hatch, and there’s still a lot of love for the Frenchie. From friends, complete strangers – and us, too.

For others it’s the exotic design, but from our point of view the fondness is in large part due to the fact the 308 has primarily served as a car for one, so no stresses placed on the engine, cabin accommodation and the driver. Not yet anyway.

There’s a feelgood factor with the 308’s modern driver-centric cabin, soft-touch materials and premium feel overall.

The heritage nods are welcome – a line of red, white and blue across the lower instrument display screen, the Peugeot lion’s head in the puddle lamps at night – while green highlights across the dark grey interior (found in the stitching, ambient lighting, digital controls and display icons, for example) reek of elegant design and sophistication.

This does not come at the expense of practicality up front, where there’s a place for bottles, cups, phones and miscellaneous stuff, often with fine attention to detail: a sliding lid, deep centre console box with a light, an upright phone holder with space for the charging cord to run through, multiple power points, and so on.

Fingertip control for the transmission is also a nice touch.

It’s not all sweetness and light (as we detail below), but the driver’s seat is a high-grade feature with excellent bolstering, comfort and adjustability, and the massage system works a treat – no substitute for the human touch, yet surprisingly complex.

Solo driving is something to relish, too, when the roads twist and shout out to be taken at higher speeds. Here, the 308 responds with agility and composure, sitting flat, gripping hard onto tarmac with its 18-inch 225/40-section rubber (Michelin, of course) and tracking faithfully through turns.

Sport mode sharpens up the throttle response and steering, but the car’s Normal behaviour proves that the French car-maker still has chassis dynamics – and driver engagement – as a top priority at blueprint stage, right through to execution.

The small turbo-triple engine is smooth and responsive with the revs stacked on and passengers left at home. It’s by no means very quick, not making this a bona fide hot hatch as the styling and GT badge suggest, but it carries a sporting note and willing nature.

The top-end feels best, but there’s strength in the mid-range and some reward for effort when taking control of the gears via the paddle shifts and not leaving the auto – which can be slow to respond and reluctant to hold a gear – to its own devices.

Other areas of goodness to be found in the 308’s drive include the outstanding Matrix LED headlights and effective braking performance – both coming into play on several night drives with abundant wildlife in attendance – as well as its easy nature in the city with its compact dimensions, light steering, tight turning circle and generous crystal-clear camera views.

With lots of open-road driving thrown into the mix, and running on the required premium unleaded, the 308 holds true with its promise of high economy, averaging 5.9L/100km over the first 1000km.

Sticking with the drive of the 2024 Peugeot 308 GT Premium hatch, there are shortcomings that have come to the fore over our extended test.

This sporting-biased hatchback’s ride quality is always firm, which is no problem on well-made roads, and there’s enough compliance to iron out a range of imperfections when the surface deteriorates.

But at regular intervals on country back roads, the suspension simply failed to deal effectively with bigger hits.

The tyres are always noisy on coarse-chip surfaces, which becomes tiresome after a while, however it’s the damping that lets the side down most, especially over corrugations.

On one loose gravel road, heading to a favourite vantage point, the 308 almost ground to a halt on a modest incline, the traction control cutting power dramatically in a bid to prevent the front wheels spinning and the suspension hitting the bump stops, transmitting hefty thumps into the cabin. (That was the result when we turned the traction control off, so leaving it on and crawling our way uphill was the only option.)

At other times, we banged and crashed our way over parts of lumpy South Gippsland Highway at 100km/h, the noise from the Pug sounding like a plea to return to the city and smooth arterial roads.

In a similar vein, the advanced driver assist systems (ADAS) are very well calibrated for most driving conditions, but on narrow roads, where there are no painted lines, the lane assist is overly cautious at best and downright aggressive at worst.

That prompts the driver to turn the lane assist system off at frequent intervals, which requires three separate eyes-off-the-road actions to disengage – hit the shortcut toggle button, turn off at the touch-screen and, just in case you didn’t mean it, then confirm.

Load up the 308 with four adults and luggage, and the engine’s responsiveness tapers off and caution creeps in with attempted quick overtakes and when exploiting gaps in city traffic.

At low speeds, the transmission was clunky and slow to shift at times, and while the 360-degree camera view is great, we could only ever engage the forward view when parking by hitting reverse first, or diving into touch-screen submenus again.

Speaking of the touch-screen, it’s a magnet for fingerprints and at times impossible to read in certain daylight conditions, where you can see smudge marks and little else.

What’s more, the screen and the glossy black surrounding trim collect dust particles and dead skin cells like you wouldn’t believe, so keep a cloth handy to regularly wipe the surfaces clean.

REVIEW PUBLISHED 12/01/2024: Perhaps because it’s already so close to the psychological $50,000 barrier – as a recommended retail rather than drive-away price – the 2024 Peugeot 308 GT Premium hatch hasn’t budged since the third-generation 308 was announced for Australia in October 2022.

It remains at $48,990 plus on-road costs – or $54,093 drive-away in Melbourne based on Peugeot’s online configurator. The entry-level GT hatch is $5000 cheaper, from $43,990 plus ORCs, and the wagon version (Premium spec only) is $1500 pricier, from $50,490.

You can also now buy a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) hatch, starting at a hefty $64,990 plus ORCs.

These are very high positions for a small car, which could explain why Peugeot sold only 280 examples of the 308 in 2023. But, then, the plight of the 308 runs deeper when you consider the vastly superior sales numbers for its major rivals – be they the more expensive Audi A3 (3300), BMW 1 Series (1750) and Mercedes-Benz A-Class (2390) or the similarly priced and premium-spec new Honda Civic (1320).

Other appealing Euro hatches – the Cupra Leon, Skoda Scala, Volkswagen Golf, to name three from the same stable – are also bigger sellers, and while Peugeot might contend that this is a profitability, rather than popularity, contest, we’re embarking on this long-term test to find some more answers for ourselves.

We’ve already driven the new 308 at launch and over short-term stints – and, let’s be quite up front about this, we’ve fallen head over heels for the French number. But can the feelings last?

Those head-turning looks, the sporting stance, the sparkling green metallic body paint are all immediate drawcards for the 2024 Peugeot 308 GT hatch, which also turns out to be well-endowed with standard features to help explain the outlay required – in Premium dress and without.

We’ll run over safety and tech in the next sections, but comfort and convenience items are, for the most part, carefully attended to in the Premium grade, extending to proximity locking/unlocking, a panoramic sunroof, eight-colour ambient interior lighting, electric park brake, push-button start, undersized multifunction steering wheel, Nappa ‘full-grain’ leather upholstery, dual-zone climate control (with air quality monitoring and filtration), one-touch electric windows (tinted at the rear), satellite navigation and more.

There’s two-position seat memory and full electric adjustment for the driver, but as is increasingly the case across some brands, Peugeot is perhaps banking on prospective buyers not noticing the absence of electric seat controls for the front passenger.

A car best suited for one, perhaps? We’ll see…

At least both front seats get heating, pneumatic massaging and electric lumbar support, and there’s heat treatment for the steering wheel too, but we can’t forgive the omission of electric assist for the tailgate – another significant oversight at this money.

The green body colour is gratis, but other paint options add either $690 (black, grey metallic) or $1050 (red metallic, blue prestige or pearl white) to the total.

Peugeot’s local warranty runs for five years/unlimited kilometres, with the paintwork covered for three years and corrosion protection 12 years. Roadside assist is included for the factory warranty period, while pre-paid servicing plans see the 308’s routine maintenance – at intervals of 12 months/15,000km – average out at $366 per visit (over three years), $400 (over four) or $380 (five).

The 2024 Peugeot 308 GT Premium hatch falls short of the five-star ANCAP safety rating expected of all new cars sold in Australia today. It received a four-star result based on testing conducted in 2022, marked down for its adult occupant protection.

It also misses out on a front centre airbag which is commonly found on new cars, preventing head-clash between the driver and front passenger in the event of a collision, while its autonomous emergency braking (AEB) functionality doesn’t extend to detecting and preventing/minimising the severity of a crash with a pedestrian when the car is reversing.

Otherwise, the independent testing results are encouraging and the standard equipment inclusions comprehensive, with AEB working at high and low speeds, at intersections and detecting pedestrians and (in some cases) cyclists and motorcyclists when moving forwards – even in low-light conditions.

You get ‘long-range’ blind spot detection, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control (with stop-and-go), driver drowsiness monitoring, automatic high beam on the advanced LED Matrix headlights, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, tyre pressure monitoring, traffic sign recognition/speed limit recommendation, rear cross traffic alert, post-collision braking and six airbags – dual front, front side and front/rear curtain.

Only the Premium models have active lane positioning assist and a 360-degree camera. There’s just a reversing camera on the entry grade, although all 308s have front and rear parking sensors. No models get trickery like automatic hands-free or remote-start parking.

The tech spec in the 2024 Peugeot 308 GT is a strong selling point, covering most of the bases you’d hope to find in a prestige hatch.

The headline items are the 10-inch high-definition central touch-screen and configurable 10-inch digital instrument cluster.

The infotainment system supports wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, other wireless phone mirroring functionality, ‘OK Peugeot’ voice command and digital radio, while personalised driver profiles can be added too.

Over-the-air updates are routinely conducted, while the myPeugeot App allows you to remotely access data via Bluetooth services such as fuel economy, maintenance schedule and vehicle location, along with the free three-year subscription (extendable for a fee) to the TomTom internet-connected navigation system that provides 3D mapping, traffic alerts, selective real-time service station pricing, and so on.

The 308’s connectivity doesn’t extend to emergency services such as SOS accident assistance and stolen vehicle tracking.

A wireless phone charging pad is provided on the centre console under the dash stack, close to a USB-C socket and 12V outlet, while a second USB-C point is found in the storage box between the front seats. There’s another two outlets for rear seat passengers too.

The Premium grade features a high-end Focal audio system with 10 speakers including subwoofer and 690W amplifier.

The 2024 Peugeot 308 GT Premium uses a 1.2-litre ‘Puretech’ three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine that produces 96kW of power at 5500rpm and 230Nm of torque at 1750rpm.

It drives the front wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission.

Peugeot claims the 308 can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 9.7 seconds, on its way to a 209km/h maximum speed.

As you’d expect from a small-displacement, turbo-boosted engine, aided by relatively light tare weight (1258kg) and aerodynamic design (0.28Cd), the 2024 Peugeot 308 GT Premium hatch has economy on its side.

Peugeot’s official lab-based figures suggest 5.3L/100km is possible, based on the combined city/highway cycle. Split them up and the city cycle is naturally higher at 6.1L/100km and the highway lower at 4.6L/100km.

That translates to a CO2 emissions average of 120g/km, while the 52-litre fuel tank allows for a theoretical driving range of almost 1000km across mixed conditions – but it’s not an accurate reflection of driving in the real world, as we’ll detail in future updates.

Running costs are also impacted by the need to fill up using premium unleaded fuel (at least 95 RON).

We have many miles of testing ahead for the 2024 Peugeot 308 GT Premium hatch, but our local launch review and follow-up seven-day tests of both the five-door hatchback and station wagon have been largely positive in the driving department thus far.

This third-generation 308 hatch is built on the French car-maker’s EMP2 (Efficient Modular Platform) and measures 4365mm long (with a 2675mm wheelbase), 2063mm wide and 1465mm high.

The suspension layout comprises pseudo MacPherson struts up front and a semi-independent torsion beam axle at the rear, while braking hardware includes 283mm front ventilated discs and 268mm solid rotors at the back.

All models have 225/40R18 Michelin tyres on 18-inch alloy wheels, with a matt black finish and slightly different design on the Premium grade. There is no spare wheel, just a tyre repair kit, so that’s an early black mark against the car.

If you want to lug a small trailer around, the 308 has a maximum braked towing capacity of 1400kg (680kg unbraked). A dealer-fit tow bar and wiring harness will set you back $1548.

The 2024 Peugeot 308 GT Premium hatch cabin is a predominantly dark space, with a sharply angular design to the dashboard and door surfaces and high-grade materials found throughout.

It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but that’s probably the point as far as Peugeot is concerned, as it’s not intent on taking everyone for a ride – just those who love the car’s unique design and accept the high asking price that’s arguably commensurate with the spec level.

We’ll have more to say about that in future updates after the honeymoon period wears off, but for now first impressions are favourable as we settle into the large and supportive front seats and start working our way through the infotainment menus to find the settings that suit best.

There is a lot of contact to be made with the touch-screen but, right from the get-go, Peugeot’s voice command system has become a valuable and faithful ally.

Build quality is excellent, but although the new platform has brought claims of more interior and luggage space, there’s no sense that this small European five-door hatch is anything special in terms of accommodation.

Let’s see how things go when we load people into the back and set off for long-distance tours, but provision of air vents, charging points, door bins with bottle holders, and the usual child seat anchors (outboard ISOFIX and three top tether strap points) is duly noted.

The rear backrests are large and have a 60/40 split-fold action, extending cargo space from the usual 412 litres (rear seats upright) to a maximum 1323L.

If you’re the type of person who bases their purchase decision on looks alone, and like what you see here, then all we’d ask is that you consider your financial position before setting up a date to meet the 2024 Peugeot 308 GT Premium hatch in the flesh.

Our relationship with the car is different, as you’d expect, although no less emotive and unashamedly more analytic.

We’re playing the long game here, so come along for the ride over the weeks ahead and we’ll see how things turn out.

2024 Peugeot 308 GT Premium Hatch at a glance:
Price: $48,990 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 96kW/230Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 5.2L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 120g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Four-star (ANCAP 2022)