How good is the Peugeot 308SW Sport? Here’s my owner report after 2,000 miles.
The Peugeot 308SW Sport is a triumphant combination of design and advanced engineering. It offers what seems to me a unique response to market forces driven by environmentalists and governments. Although classified in the small family car segment the 308SW has more room inside than Toyota‘s Land Cruiser Amazon, cruises effortlessly at well above the speed limit, incorporates all the safety features and electronic toys, carries a Road Tax charge half of that for equivalent cars and is unbelievably frugal. Our first 2,000 miles have been covered at an average of 53 mph and 52 mpg.
My Peugeot 308SW combination of economy, efficiency, functionality and enjoyability exceeds anything in my experience or expectation. I’m not just delighted. I can’t believe how good it is.
Just a few weeks ago we were faced with some challenging choices. Our two cars – Land Cruiser Amazon VX and Rav 4 GX were both in serious trouble. Toyota makes some formidable cars but apparently they don’t like living at the seaside much. The two had a combined replacement cost of £85,000 but before reaching 10 years old had deteriorated to not much more than scrap. A combination of corrosion and the price of Toyota’s replacement parts amounted to an immediate cost of £5,000, just to pass MOT tests. Road Tax, insurance and service costs would add another £1,500 within the next few months and 25 mpg. was a real disincentive to using the cars.
On the other side of the coin were other considerations. We no longer needed two cars – I don’t travel on business much these days, thanks to the Internet. But we did need a car which could do two jobs – a small run around for my wife to shop and socialise, and a big bus for our frequent 1,200 mile round trips from the Highlands to Oxfordshire, complete with luggage and Bennie, our 100lb Bouvier de Flandres.
We needed to find a new car and complete a deal within 3 days if we were to make the journey south for mothers 80th. birthday before flying to Chicago for a 4 week visit with son and family. Not an appealing prospect, especially since we didn’t want to take on debt. Whatever we did had to be paid for out of cash.
Happily Calum Ferguson of Ken’s Garage in Kildary solved all our problems in the space of an afternoon. He introduced us to the Peugeot 308SW, found us an attractively priced demonstrator we could pick up after the weekend and gave us what we considered excellent trade prices on the two almost dead Toyotas. That was Thursday afternoon. Friday we took a test drive in the 308SW and confirmed the deal. Monday was a bank holiday so we had to wait till Tuesday for the workshop to check over the demonstrator, but by mid afternoon we’d exchanged the Toyotas, paid the difference, introduced the new car to the dog (Bouviers can be choosy about the cars they ride in) and packed for our trip.
Bright and early Wednesday we started south and drove for 600 miles, only stopping for refuelling (for us, the car didn’t need it). Less than 11 hours later we arrived at mothers. The following Tuesday we reversed the trip. After 1,200 miles we were impressed.
In the next couple of days we made a couple of 100 mile round trips to Inverness for business and shopping. Then Monday we drove to Edinburgh – 200 miles – where the car was parked at an hotel for 4 weeks. Last Friday we arrived in Edinburgh from Chicago via London. The car started on the first turn and we loaded our bags, setting off on the return leg.
So we’ve only had the car for 6 weeks, but we’ve done a 600 mile trip twice, a 200 mile trip twice, a 50 mile trip four times, a little running around, and left the car standing for 4 weeks.
Here’s what I like about the Peugeot 308SW Sport:
- 2,000 miles averaging 53mph. and 52mpg.
- £110 Road Tax
- Effortless cruising at 75 mph.
- Docile handling for those shopping trips.
- Nippy acceleration and sharp handling for those sportier moments.
- Interior space with flexible seat configuration.
- Automatic wipers and lights, cruise control, trip computer, steering wheel stalk controls.
- Sleek, low, slippery shape for smooth, quiet cruising.
- 12 year corrosion guarantee.
- My wife likes it.
- My dog likes it.
- The tax man likes it.
- Oil companies don’t like it.
And there are two things I don’t like about it
- The owner manual is ridiculously complex and virtually useless.
- Nobody else knows just how good this car is and therefore just how smart I am.
Do you have Highlands experiences you can share with our readers? Please add your comments, suggestions and memories in the Comments box. The more news and views the better!
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Peugeot 308SW – Owner Report
by stevensreeves
The Peugeot 308SW Sport is a triumphant combination of design and advanced engineering. It offers what seems to me a unique response to market forces driven by environmentalists and governments. Although classified in the small family car segment the 308SW has more room inside than Toyota‘s Land Cruiser Amazon, cruises effortlessly at well above the speed limit, incorporates all the safety features and electronic toys, carries a Road Tax charge half of that for equivalent cars and is unbelievably frugal. Our first 2,000 miles have been covered at an average of 53 mph and 52 mpg.
My Peugeot 308SW combination of economy, efficiency, functionality and enjoyability exceeds anything in my experience or expectation. I’m not just delighted. I can’t believe how good it is.
Just a few weeks ago we were faced with some challenging choices. Our two cars – Land Cruiser Amazon VX and Rav 4 GX were both in serious trouble. Toyota makes some formidable cars but apparently they don’t like living at the seaside much. The two had a combined replacement cost of £85,000 but before reaching 10 years old had deteriorated to not much more than scrap. A combination of corrosion and the price of Toyota’s replacement parts amounted to an immediate cost of £5,000, just to pass MOT tests. Road Tax, insurance and service costs would add another £1,500 within the next few months and 25 mpg. was a real disincentive to using the cars.
On the other side of the coin were other considerations. We no longer needed two cars – I don’t travel on business much these days, thanks to the Internet. But we did need a car which could do two jobs – a small run around for my wife to shop and socialise, and a big bus for our frequent 1,200 mile round trips from the Highlands to Oxfordshire, complete with luggage and Bennie, our 100lb Bouvier de Flandres.
We needed to find a new car and complete a deal within 3 days if we were to make the journey south for mothers 80th. birthday before flying to Chicago for a 4 week visit with son and family. Not an appealing prospect, especially since we didn’t want to take on debt. Whatever we did had to be paid for out of cash.
Happily Calum Ferguson of Ken’s Garage in Kildary solved all our problems in the space of an afternoon. He introduced us to the Peugeot 308SW, found us an attractively priced demonstrator we could pick up after the weekend and gave us what we considered excellent trade prices on the two almost dead Toyotas. That was Thursday afternoon. Friday we took a test drive in the 308SW and confirmed the deal. Monday was a bank holiday so we had to wait till Tuesday for the workshop to check over the demonstrator, but by mid afternoon we’d exchanged the Toyotas, paid the difference, introduced the new car to the dog (Bouviers can be choosy about the cars they ride in) and packed for our trip.
Bright and early Wednesday we started south and drove for 600 miles, only stopping for refuelling (for us, the car didn’t need it). Less than 11 hours later we arrived at mothers. The following Tuesday we reversed the trip. After 1,200 miles we were impressed.
In the next couple of days we made a couple of 100 mile round trips to Inverness for business and shopping. Then Monday we drove to Edinburgh – 200 miles – where the car was parked at an hotel for 4 weeks. Last Friday we arrived in Edinburgh from Chicago via London. The car started on the first turn and we loaded our bags, setting off on the return leg.
So we’ve only had the car for 6 weeks, but we’ve done a 600 mile trip twice, a 200 mile trip twice, a 50 mile trip four times, a little running around, and left the car standing for 4 weeks.
Here’s what I like about the Peugeot 308SW Sport:
And there are two things I don’t like about it
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Do you have Highlands experiences you can share with our readers? Please add your comments, suggestions and memories in the Comments box. The more news and views the better!
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Tagged as: advanced engineering, cars, combinations, economy of france, family cars, france, hatchbacks, land cruiser, new cars, peugeot, peugeot 308sw sport, road transport, speed limit, sport, top gear, toyota, triumphal