Peugeot 408 review

It's a well-equipped car; go for the mid-spec Allure Premium and you'll want for little unless you're fussy. That's £32,175 for the pure-petrol and a big step up to £39,325 for the 180 hybrid or £40,670 for the 225. Can you justify the hybrid? On BIK, probably – it's eight per cent versus 32 per cent.

But on driving cost, the saving is marginal. In electric mode you'll probably get 20 miles off-motorway. Otherwise, assume you'll use fuel at the rate of 45mpg, plus those 20 electric miles if you charged up.

So if you drive 65 miles, you'll use a gallon: 45mpg plus 20 electric means 65mpg average. Drive 110 miles and it's 90 hybrid miles for two gallons, plus the 20 miles battery equals 55mpg average. But the electric miles aren't free. At 30p per kWh they cost about £3.50. Not vastly different per mile than the petrol. So to make sense of it you need to be a short-distance commuter (20 miles a working weekday equals 4,500 miles a year) who wants to travel in low-CO2 silence.

Servicing is more on the hybrid too. A three-year/30,000 mile service contract is £18 a month for the petrol, and £21.60 for the hybrid.

Warranty is three years and unlimited miles, and it's eight years/100k miles on the hybrid battery (to 70 per cent capacity).