Peugeot 408 review

The relationship between seat, wheel and instruments is significant in modern Peugeots, so we've talked about it on the driving tab. The dials themselves are pretty clear, but you're mostly relying on digital readouts; the circular graphics don't actually give more than a vague hint of how fast speed is rising or falling. On the hybrid, though, the power-regen dial is more useful.

Top-spec 408s have Peugeot's '3D' cluster, where a second transparent screen is overlaid a couple of centimetres closer to your eyes than the main one, giving a visual depth that clarifies the graphics.

The main centre screen has the usual reconfigurable tiles. But Peugeot also has a screen to control the screen: a shallow wide touchbar where you can add shortcuts to the menus you use most. The system could go further (we want to set one to go direct to the audio settings, but it will only go one level up) but it is undoubtedly helpful for keeping your eyes on the road for longer, as are physical climate and driver-assist keys below that.

Vents are at the top of the angular dash, meaning they aim at your actual face not your elbows. Always helpful.

Peugeot uses expensive-feeling trim materials where it counts – seats, door pulls, the main dash roll – so it feels a smart cabin, and disguises the cheaper slabs of plastic elsewhere. The buttons have a nice clicky action too, including the ones on the steering wheel.

The front seats are well-bolstered and have plenty of adjustments, and a massage in the top versions. The rear bench is shaped for two. The poor fifth adult is squeezed between a raised hump in the middle of the seat and the falling roof-line.

Behind that, the boot has a good floor area but isn't that deep, at least in the PHEV version. In the base petrol with no fancy hi-fi it's a big 536 litres; with the hybrid battery and Focal hi-fi it's an OK 454 litres.