Peugeot 508 SW 2.0 BlueHDi Allure

WE’LL BUY ALMOST any new car these days, it seems, in order not to buy a traditional family car. This market segment is shrinking slowly towards obscurity, while the niches in which new alternatives reside have  become the fastest growing in Europe.


There’s no lack of activity from the big players, though. This year brings an all-new Ford Mondeo and an all-new Volkswagen Passat. The Vauxhall Insignia was refreshed less than a year ago and now we’re getting an updated Peugeot 508.Exterior styling changes consist chiefly of new bumpers, new headlights, a squarer bonnet and a classier-looking chrome grille. Inside, a seven-inch touchsceen multimedia system has been fitted, freeing up extra space for oddment storage. New gadgets on higher-end models include a head-up display, blind spot monitors and a reversing camera.

Peugeot would have better spent that gadget budget on higher-quality plastics in lower areas of the cabin and around the steering column, and on more tactile primary points of contact than the cheap-feeling gearshift paddles that you get in automatic models. Still, the cabin is roomy, comfortable and, mostly, quite well appointed and finished.

The headline additions under the bonnet consist of two new 2.0 BlueHDi turbodiesel engines, the most important of which has 148bhp and 273lb ft of torque and, in the case of the saloon, makes for sub-110g/km  CO2 emissions. We tried the new engine in a 508 SW, the estate body style being the bigger-selling 508 across the Continent.

Refined at cruising revs, if a bit booming and breathless at higher crank speeds, it offered a decent balance of economy (low 40s to the gallon on a fairly testing mountain route) and performance. Soft throttle response and long gearing affected driveability at times, though and the flaccid shift quality of the six-speed manual gearbox didn’t impress.

Certain 508s do a better impression of a premium product on ride and handling but, unfortunately, not the versions that matter. Buy a £30k, 197bhp 2.2 HDi GT 508 and you’ll get a chassis upgraded with double wishbone suspension up front and tuned to produce pleasingly fluent and precise steering, a closely controlled, supple ride and decent, if slightly nose-led, cornering balance.

At the cheaper end of the line-up, cars get MacPherson strut-type front suspension, and although they have a softer chassis, they don’t ride, handle or steer as well. Our SW had stodgy initial steering response and a slightly underdamped ride that also failed to isolate the cabin from coarse surfaces and bigger lumps and bumps as well as it should have.

The 508 remains a likeable car, but the same commitment (and budget) that enabled the 308 to win European Car of the Year has clearly not been lavished on its bigger brother.

FIRST VERDICT

SO GOOD

Roomy cabin.
Engine is quiet at cruising revs.
Improved CO2 emissions.
Alternative French charm.

NO GOOD

Inflexible power delivery.
Imprecise ride and handling of lower-end versions.