Peugeot 308 SW Allure 1.6 BlueHDi

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for the winter to end. Christmas and New Year were great but give me a warm spring day any time. My biggest problem with winter is the cold there’s nothing worse than finding your car under an inch of ice as you head out in the morning, screen thick with frost, doors frozen shut. It’s a pain. Once you’re in the car, it seems to take an eternity for everything to warm up all I can say is thank heavens for heated seats! One thing I can’t heat though, is the car’s gear knob it looks great and underlines the quality of the 308’s cabin, but on these chilly mornings, it’s absolutely freezing, and almost too cold to touch. So much so, I’ve taken to putting a sock over it to make it warmer!

Chilly gearshifts aside, the 308 continues to prove itself a willing family workhorse, most recently taking the Sloman family Christmas tree to the local recycling centre. With the rear seats split 60/40, the tree was quickly stowed. Though the 308 does boast roof rails, they’re not the kind you can tie on to and require extra equipment that I don’t have.

The Peugeot’s performance remains good, while fuel economy seems to be getting better quite what has led to this improvement is beyond me it could be down to the fact that the 308 has now passed the 6,000 mile mark, and the engine is starting to loosen up nicely, it could be down to the fact that my right foot is getting a little lighter, or it could be because the majority of my driving has been longer runs along the likes of the A303 and M5. Either way, my consumption has nudged over the 60mpg mark for the first time.

One thing I’ve grown accustomed to with the car is the reversing camera I was always one of those people who thought they were unnecessary, but it’s surprising how handy it is, especially during reverse or parallel parking. When you go back to a car without one, it’s surprising how much you miss it. Obviously it’s not a replacement for traditional mirrors, but is a welcome addition, though keeping it clean in the wet and muck on rural Devon roads has proved to be something of a challenge.

While the 308 has largely been faultless, one area that has caused some irritation is the car’s Bluetooth system. It works well for phone calls and music, most of the time... I use Google music via my phone frequently, especially when the children are in the car (I know all the words to the Frozen soundtrack) and every now and again the car will refuse to stream music much to the annoyance of the kids, and the frustration of yours truly. There’s no rhyme or reason as to why it won’t work, and the only way around it is to switch the car off completely and restart everything. I’ll get over it, I just need to learn to let it go…