With a concise and newly designed brand logo, the future Peugeot 308 SW shows its family affiliation to the outside world. The futuristic-chic compact class station wagon can not only be beautiful, but also work properly. We are already seated.
As soon as the completely newly developed Peugeot 308 sedan appears on the scene, the French are already adding their useful variant called SW. The station wagon, which costs between 25,880 euros (110 hp petrol engine) and 43,310 euros (225 hp plug-in hybrid), can be ordered immediately and will be delivered from the beginning of next year.
According to the WLTP, it consumes an average of around four and a half liters (diesel) and around five and a half liters (petrol). Where the journey is going on the drive side can be determined quickly when studying the model range: According to this, there is only one diesel variant with 96 kW / 130 PS at prices from 27,580 euros, but two PHEV versions, starting with 180 PS from 36,360 euros. With the PHEV, a 12.4 kWh lithium-ion battery is standard, which allows around 60 kilometers of purely electric travel according to the WLTP cycle. If you use them diligently, you can actually travel in an environmentally friendly way.
Similar to its predecessor, the station wagon is primarily utility-value oriented, and particularly attracts with a large rear compartment. The electrically powered trunk lid conceals 1634 liters of cargo space, which puts the Frenchman on a similar level to the Volkswagen Golf. Clever details such as boxes of different sizes in the loading compartment also optimize loading management.
Creative feature of the operating system
The first contact with a pre-production model certifies that the new 308 station wagon has a very high quality appearance and, above all – that catches the eye – a technoid orientation. It’s not just that the touchscreen in the center console is ten inches, that’s now common practice. But at the lower end of the monitor there is a touch-sensitive display “bar” that can be variably assigned so-called shortcuts in order to access the personally preferred functions more quickly. These touch surfaces are comfortably large. From the operator’s point of view, however, it would not have hurt if there was a direct interface at least for the air conditioning system and you didn’t have to go through the menu to briefly change the temperature. But the aesthetes have prevailed, and the subtle interior design can also pass as successful.
Incidentally, the instrument cluster, which consists of a display area with a 3D look, can now be configured in a more versatile way than was previously the case with Peugeot, and many different views can be put together. However, one overlooked the fact that this is not a video game, but an information display for drivers: the graphics are overloaded and too playful.
It is obvious that the newest Leo has modern assistants. Assisted functions such as active cruise control have been around for a long time in the group, but what is new is an alarm that reports when the vehicle is reversing out of a parking space, for example, when the traffic is still flowing – a simple but useful tool that definitely helps avoid accidents.
Top: The rear view camera finally meets the usual requirements, this update was long overdue and will now also be carried out successively in the other brands. This now also includes another camera to show the surroundings with the 360-degree view as soon as reverse gear is engaged. In the past, you first had to cover a distance to build up the camera image – by then it might have been too late and the obstacle had been hit.
Other comfort features include, for example, a heated windscreen that makes lantern parkers sit up and take notice, and frequent drivers with a lot of budget are welcome to let the front seats knead them with a massage function.
In addition, there are now adaptive LED headlights with matrix technology for the 308 in order to be able to be on the road with optimal illumination even when there is oncoming traffic.
Anyone who orders the practical French with the striking LED taillights now has to wait a good six months before delivery. It will be on the streets at the beginning of 2022. But then, above all, it will make the street scene a little more colorful, because the extroverted color “Avatar Blue” will be available as standard. A little hint at the end: It has already been decided that the new Peugeot 308 SW will also be launched on the market as a battery-electric version at a later date.