Peugeot 308 SW review

You’ll surely be familiar with Peugeot’s ‘i-Cockpit’ interior by now, with its small steering wheel and high-mounted instrument cluster viewed over the top of the wheel. The cabin environment is as striking as anything else out there.

On top-spec models you get a 3D ‘floating’ instrument cluster as standard, which projects speed just that bit more prominently than, say, revs or fuel. It looks and work superbly, and the whole lot can be endlessly configured to suit. 

What's the infotainment like?

Refreshingly free of frustration. You get a crystal clear 10-inch screen as standard, and from mid-spec trim upwards, a handy row of customisable ‘i-Toggle’ shortcut buttons underneath to help you navigate around. It needs to be seen to be believed, but think of it like Apple’s Touch Bar, allowing you to easily navigate to your media, climate controls, navigation and more, with a handy home button to return to the main screen. Just a shame it’s so prone to fingerprints.

Below that Peugeot’s trademark ‘piano key’ controls remain, offering quick access to the driver assist settings, climate controls, and to switch on/off the demisters and aircon.

There’s also voice activation, wireless screen mirroring, and two phones can be connected to the Bluetooth simultaneously. Top-of-the-range models get a 10-speaker setup, courtesy of French specialists Focal, if that’s your jam.

Can the boot fit the kitchen sink?

The SW can swallow 598 litres seats up or 1,487 litres with the seats folded, and gets a two-position boot floor for additional versatility. The PHEV, however, can only manage 467 and 1,483 litres on account of the internal gubbins. That’s on par with its sister car the Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer – but otherwise trumped by rivals.

Rear seat space is a little disappointing, but the seats themselves split 40/20/40, with space for loads up to 1.85m long. Go for the GT Premium spec and you get an auto tailgate, which activates if you do one of those weird foot sweeping jigs under the rear bumper. Or push the key fob if you have a hand free.