Written by Luke Wilkinson Updated: 29 March 2023

If you need a load lugger, then Peugeot’s 308 SW could be right up your street and a tempting choice.
To find out what it’s like to live with, Parkers content guru Steve ‘Percy’ Lawman is running one for three months.

Jump to:

• Update 2: Driving and specifications
• Update 3: Buying and owning

Introduction, equipment and options

Well, here’s my first Peugeot long-termer and I’m really looking forward to driving it. The most recent offering of the 308 SW from the ‘Stellantis’ stable was launched to the UK market in May 2021 and comes in one petrol, one diesel and two hybrid variants. The later top-spec PHEV producing up to 225ps.

There are five trim levels, these being Active Premium, Allure, Allure Premium, GT and GT Premium. Our own car [KM22 DZB] is the mid-spec Allure Premium with a 1.5 BlueHDi 130ps EAT8 auto diesel power unit and part of the range which the manufacturer thinks will be one of its most popular sellers.

The ‘SW’ moniker refers to the Station Wagon model range although this acronym is pertinent more so to the North American market. Back in ‘Blighty’, we know it more as the ‘Estate’ variant. As rivals go, there’s some fairly heavyweight contenders in the SEAT Leon Estate, the Ford Focus Estate and Skoda’s Octavia Estate.

Looking at the car, what is firstly very apparent is that it enjoys some nice modern styling touches. With the world awash with SUV’s, this is a refreshing take on an estate car and it really works well.

The list of standard equipment is very generous including front and rear parking sensors, 17-inch alloy wheels, lane keeping assist and Peugeot’s i-Cockpit to name but a few. Our own car also had a handful of factory-fitted options including the very useful Tow-Bar [£790], the Drive Assist Pack Plus [£200] and the Visio Park 3; a 360-degree colour camera system and semi-automated parking assistance at £500.

The car is long at 4635mm being also 6cms longer than the previous generation car. Boot volume is a very impressive 608 litres, or up to 1,634 with the rear seats folded down – although the Hybrid is slightly less. Width wise, you’ll be able to accommodate the car in a garage of around 2m in width as with mirrors folded, the car is a slim 1.85m wide [2.062m including mirrors].

What I did notice is that as an estate car, the roof height is quite low at only 1.475m. I’m a 6-footer and easily tower well over the top of the roof. I feel that potentially, this could be a possible issue when using the car to lug larger or bulkier items as you may be restricted by the roof height. On the flipside, the length seems to go on forever so no worries on that score about a run to the tip!

Logo and badge fans won’t be disappointed as the new 308 SW sports a chunky ‘Roaring Lion’ head in the centre of the very distinctive front grill which, so we understand, also houses the radar sensors used by some of the autonomous onboard electronic gizmos.

So, onto the inside of the car. It’s airy and spacious and the new 308 SW interior feels as upmarket as any of its premium rivals. On the Allure Premium, ‘Falgo Tri-Material’ fabric is used to good effect and is perfectly adequate and comfortable. On higher spec trim levels, Alcantara leather seems to be the order of the day.

In the cabin, there’s an 8-colour [user selectable] LED strip in the door panels. We noticed the colour change particularly at night when moving from ‘Normal’ drive mode [Green] to ‘Sport’ [Red].

This is also reflected by the ambient background colours shown on the 3D digital head up instrument panel with ‘Sport’ mode shown in a vibrant fiery red.

When seated there’s plenty of adjustment in the seat and steering wheel but what is apparent, is the rather unusual driving position which doesn’t seem to suit everyone. It’s been mentioned on reviews by others and I’ll admit – it took a while to get used to. Saying that, after a couple of weeks in the ‘chair’ – I now don’t really notice it.

What is worth a mention though and more importantly, is that the unconventional driving position means that when viewing the head-up instrument panel, you find yourself trying to peer over the small steering wheel rather than through it. The design of the steering wheel [with a flat top section] doesn’t really help either.

The issue seems to pan out worse for mainly taller drivers. Personally, I found it blocked most of the display out. Whilst driving, the speedo, rev counter and much of the displayed data was not visible and unfortunately, I couldn’t really find an acceptable way around the issue.

In the rear, the passengers have a good amount of room even for those at the 6-foot mark and there’s enough room to carry 2 adults and a teenager in the rear. We would say though, 3 adults may be a bit of a squeeze.

Update 2: Driving and specifications

Out and about on the road, the 308 SW feels the part. Load it with some weight and the softer than average suspension soaks up the bumps with ease and the car feels very much at home. If anything, it’s a little bit too light and without any substantial weight in the rear, you feel like there’s quite a bit of body roll especially on some bumpier ‘B’ and back roads. On ‘A’ roads and motorways you’ll find it a pleasant drive in any configuration.

Road noise suppression is adequate although the 1.5 BlueHDi diesel engine can sound a bit harsh if revved towards the higher end of the range. Low down, the SW has oodles of torque [300Nm at 1750rpm] as per the manufacturer spec and this shines through with plenty of pulling power even from very low revs.

On cars with the EAT8 automatic gearbox, there’s’ the option for the driver to manually move either up or down the gears using paddle shifts on either side of the steering wheel. I found this useful on cold mornings when the automatic gearbox wasn’t that keen in changing ‘Up’ the box. This can be typical of auto boxes on cold mornings primarily just after a start-up.

On faster roads the 308 SW makes a great cruiser and will happily sit at motorway speeds for hours on end effortlessly. For a longer journey and even with a full crew on-board, the car makes for a great longer distance tourer.

We found the onboard electronic driving aids were in the main not overly sensitive apart from the ‘Obstacle Detection’ sensor which seemed to think you were going to hit something every 5 minutes, reminding you with a bright orange glow on the 3D head-up instrument panel.

For example, the ‘Lane Keeping Assist’ worked well and wasn’t super critical which is something I’ve experienced in other marques. In all instances, both the ‘LKA’ and the ‘Stop-Start’ could be manually disabled with the push of one switch should it be required.

On the right-hand side of the centre console is the drive mode selector, which allows you to switch between eco, normal and sport mode. Sport mode stiffens up the power steering feel and shortens the gearshift time holding the revs in just that little bit longer.

When parking into tight spaces, we like the reversing and 360 degree all round cameras. The later giving you a total view around the car – akin to viewing from a drone-cam.

Out-and-about at night the onboard lighting worked well although when the headlights lights were in the ‘auto’ position, we felt that the response time to ‘dip’ from ‘main beam’ when faced with oncoming traffic was marginally slower than we would have preferred. We experienced the [odd] ‘flash’ to dip from a handful of drivers – but 80% of the time it seemed to be about right.

Specs – 1.5 BlueHDi Diesel [130ps]
Top speed: 129 mph
0-62mph: 10.9 seconds
Fuel Economy [WLTP Data]: 56.9 -65.0 mpg
CO2: 121g/km
Torque: 300Nm @ 1750 rpm
Fuel Tank Capacity: 52 Litres

For full specifications on the complete Peugeot 308 SW range, see our Parkers data sets here.

We’ll have another update in mid-December which will focus on buying or leasing and will discuss in depth, the various options on how you can get your hands on a brand new 308 SW.

Update 3: Buying and owning

The 308 SW range starts off at £26,470 for the petrol rising to £34,870 for the hybrid. Sandwiched in the centre ground, our own mid-spec 1.5 BlueHDi Allure Premium Diesel came in at £31,165 including the factory fitted options [£30,620 as a base spec car].

Current VED rates are £190 for the first year and £165 standard rate annual tax. BIK banding is 29% and the insurance grouping 19E.

For complete Parkers VED data on the whole 308 SW range, see our Parkers data sets here

The most common modern way of getting your hands on a brand-new car is to lease the vehicle. This means you don’t have to find 1000’s of pounds trying to purchase the car outright from the start. There are two main methods of leasing, these being ‘PCH’ and ‘PCP’.

Car leasing – Personal Contract Hire [PCH]
We don’t always have the cash on hand to buy a new car every three years – that’s where car leasing (or Personal Contract Hire – PCH) comes in. In essence, it’s a ‘Renting Agreement’ and when the rental period is over – you hand the car back. Car leasing offers an alternative to purchasing a car up-front or arranging finance. You can adjust the length of the term, your expected annual mileage and the upfront amount you pay (known as the Initial Payment) to find a monthly payment that suits you.

On Parkers, we’ve teamed up with leasing experts ‘Zen Auto’ who are the home of all things PCH.

Zen Auto are part of Zenith, who’ve spent 30 years working with some of the UK’s biggest businesses to provide intelligent fleet solutions. They now extend offers to personal contract hire so private buyers can get a slice of the action. Check out the very latest leasing deals on the new Peugeot 308 SW here

Car leasing – Personal Contract Purchase [PCP]
‘Purchase’ is the key word here. With PCP you have the option buy the car at the end of the agreement. PCP stands for Personal Contract Purchase. It works by spreading the price of a car across a deposit, a series of monthly payments, and an optional final payment. Typically, a PCP finance agreement lasts between 24 and 48 months. PCP deals are in abundance at main franchised dealerships.

Unlike with a bank loan – where you pay for the whole cost of the car over the contract – with PCP you just pay for the depreciation. That’s the difference between the initial price and what the car is expected to be worth (the Guaranteed Minimum Future Value GMFV) when you hand it back.

This means that you can run a brand-new car for an affordable monthly payment with the option to simply hand the keys back with nothing left to pay at the end of the contract – provided the car is in good condition, below the agreed mileage limit and has been serviced as stipulated by the manufacturer.

If you want to buy the car outright, however, you simply make the optional final payment. And then it’s yours.

Buying a car outright from the start
With the very many options now available to buy a car, buying a car outright has fallen out of favour over the past few years. There are however, still some die-hard buyers that prefer to buy outright.

For credit-card owners, buying on your card has many advantages. ‘Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act’ protects buyers for purchases between £100 and £30,000. This means if in the unlikely event something goes wrong [say the dealer goes insolvent and has taken payment], then you are covered up to the maximum of £30,000. It’s akin to having a cast-iron insurance policy.

We’ve a comprehensive rundown of top buying tips which buyers may find useful before marching off to do a deal.

Buying from a main franchised dealer – or through the manufacturer
Here you get all main dealer thrills and peace-of-mind. Chances are though, you won’t find the lowest actual price for the car. Main dealers effectively represent the manufacturer and are geared up to sort out any issues quickly and effectively.

Buying from an independent dealer or internet outlet
Here’s where you’ll find the keenest prices. Independents don’t have the same outlay that main dealers have, so can offer much keener outright ‘Buy’ prices than main dealerships. Whilst this looks to be the magic bullet, not all independents are the same. Most dealers you’ll have no trouble with but you are unlikely to get the same level of attention to detail of a main franchised dealership.

We’d say buy on credit card from an independent as you’ll be covered should something go wrong. Expect ‘Cash Buy’ prices to save you quite a lot. Normally, you’ll find the greatest savings from an independent dealer.

As an example, we found a similar model 1.5 BlueHDi Allure Premium [130ps] EAT8 and Stop/Start from Nationwide Cars for £26,684. This is a saving of £4944 on the standard car and options can also be included as required.

Buying using a cash loan from a finance provider
In the past, many people would consider an independent loan from a bank or alternative loan outlet. This purchase method is still valid for some, as the idea of owing your car outright still has that big zing factor about it.

Buying your car and personally owning it has advantages in that [unlike PCP], there’s no limitation of the number of miles you cover. Effectively you buy the car and it’s yours to keep.

On Parkers we’ve sourced the market and have found some pretty keen personal finance deals.

*Whilst we can’t advise on individual deals as everyone’s circumstances are different, we’ve found these very keen deals from outlets such as Tesco Bank. Tesco Bank has always been a firm favourite here on Parkers, consistently offering the consumer a low APR. Saying that, the recent rise in interest rates [Oct 2022] has pushed up loan prices somewhat.

We couldn’t find our magic 3.2% rate [that’s a figure of the past], but Tesco continue to offer a very low 5.1% APR on loans up to £25,000 although above this figure, the rate increases to 8.4% which we would not recommend as it’s too high.

Repayment figures are shown using their online calculator and we found we could borrow up to £25,000 based on the following criteria.

• Loan Amount – £25,000
• APR – 5.1 %
• Monthly Payments – £471.60
• Loan Period – 5 years [60 months]
• Total Repayable – £28,296

In essence you choose the amount to borrow, loan period and the agreed payment per month then the company lend you the cash and you pay it back as per your agreement. In most cases [once the loan is approved], you’ll have your money fairly quickly [normally within 5 working days]. It’s then up to you to do the donkey work and begin your search for a new car.

*Deals are correct at time of publication. Everyone’s financial circumstances are different and credit is not always available – Parkers cannot recommend a deal for you specifically. These deals are indicative examples of some packages available this week [13/12/2022].

Check out our full Parkers guide on PCH Leasing here
https://www.parkers.co.uk/car-leasing/advice/how-does-car-leasing-work/
Check out our full Parkers guide on PCP Leasing here
https://www.parkers.co.uk/car-finance/advice/what-is-pcp-finance/

So, to round up, here’s a brief run down on what we thought of the new 308 SW
Derivative: Peugeot 1.5 BlueHDi [130ps], Allure Premium, EAT 8 with Stop/Start

What we like:

• Peugeot’s i-Cockpit and infotainment system. Clear, precise with excellent sharp graphics and easy to use.
• Modern sharp and sleek styling
• 360 degree all round ‘Drone-mode’ camera – makes difficult parking manoeuvres easy
• Nice high resolution reversing camera
• Torquey 1.5 BlueHDi and fairly refined diesel engine
• Great fuel economy – over 70mpg on longer runs
• Good load-lugger over longer distances and with full occupants

 
What we don’t like:

• Odd driving position means that is some cases the driver can’t see the display correctly as its obscured by the top of the steering wheel
• Ride can be a little ‘bouncy’ when travelling empty on not so well surfaced back roads

Reviewed by Percy Lawman – Nov/Dec 2022