Peugeot 308 long-term test: report 5
The plug-in version of Peugeot's 308 family car can officially travel up to 37 miles on electric power. However, now we're finding our what it's actually like to live with...
The car Peugeot 308 Hybrid 180 Allure Premium e-EAT8 Run by Kiall Garrett, senior videographer
Why it’s here To find out if the plug-in hybrid version of this family hatchback can be an efficient day-to-day workhorse
Needs to be Comfortable on long journeys and uber-efficient on short ones while having the space for lots of camera equipment
Mileage 10,872 List Price £38,640 Target Price £35,974 Price as tested £38,460 Official economy 281.1mpg Test economy 48.1mpg
5 November 2023 – Flat out
“Well, this isn’t a very good bit of Tarmac.”
Nothing much shocks me about the state of our roads in Britain, but recently I was travelling along a dual carriageway that seemed particularly bad.
I was only aware of this because I could see the moon-like craters; my Peugeot 308 was actually soaking them up surprisingly well. But sadly the same ultimately couldn't be said for one of its tyres, which suffered a blow out.
Aware something suddenly wasn't right, I angled my door mirror down, and sure enough the reflection confirmed that there was a bit of rubber flapping away.
It was a busy dual carriageway on a weekend afternoon, so my first thought was to get off it as quickly as possible. Luckily, it didn’t feel like I was riding on pure alloy, and I was just approaching an exit, so I was able to safely escape and pull into a bus stop farther down the road.
It turned out there was virtually no damage to the alloy wheel apart from a small scrape – amazing considering the state of the tyre.
I rang for breakdown assistance, and within an hour a recovery van was with me and able to fit my 308 with a temporary replacement wheel so I could get the car home.
All very exciting, whereas in my experience life with a 308 is usually drama free – and I mean that in a good way. My role as a What Car? videographer requires me to cover a lot of miles, yet I emerge at the end feeling relaxed, not only due to the comfortable ride, but also because of how smooth the car's hybrid engine is.
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