We must admit, we’d almost completely forgotten that the old 308 SW was a thing. Sorry, Peugeot.
Anyway, this is the all-new 308 SW (that’s Peugeot-speak for estate, in case you hadn’t noticed) and it is a good-looking SW. The perfect antidote to all those baby crossovers we so often moan about on these pages.
For the new 308 hatchback (unveiled a couple of months back) Peugeot added 55mm into the wheelbase compared to the previous generation. And now, for the SW, it has stretched that extended wheelbase by yet another 55mm to allow for more boot space and more legroom for rear passengers. Lovely.
It’s simple stuff, really. As is the removal of the hatch’s black strip between the claw-like rear lights, which “increases the amount of perceived bodywork” according to Peugeot. The front end is extremely similar to the hatch too, with LED lights on all trim levels, that new family grille and the now-familiar daytime running light fangs.
Being an estate it’s fairly aerodynamic, with a drag coefficient of 0.277, and the all-important boot space stands at 608 litres with the rear seats up and 1,634 litres if you fold them flat. For reference, the Skoda Octavia leads the way in this segment (of course it does) with 640 litres seats up and 1,700 litres seats down, whilst the Peugeot almost exactly matches the Ford Focus estate.
On the inside, Peugeot’s i-Cockpit is back once again with another attempt to convince buyers that they should be looking over a steering wheel at the dials rather than through it. The screen for the dials is a 10-inch display here, as is the central infotainment touchscreen. The touch-sensitive shortcut buttons below the touchscreen can be customised to link to different functions.
Now, we best get onto the engines. Both the 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol and the 1.5-litre four-cylinder diesel make just 128bhp, but the plug-in hybrids can be had with a combined output of either 178bhp or 222bhp. Both get a 12.4kWh lithium-ion battery and manage around 37 miles of all-electric range, although said battery will eat slightly into your boot space.
“Although directly challenged by SUVs, this segment has remained constant since 2010, demand in Europe remains strong and sales forecasts are stable for the years to come,” says Peugeot.
“Long live the estate car,” says TG.
