Peugeot 308 SW Review & Prices

If you like the look of the Peugeot 308 but need a bit more space, the 308 SW estate could be the right car for you. With the larger boot space and a higher roof line, it’s considerably more practical than the hatchback and goes up against the likes of the Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer, Volkswagen Golf Estate and Skoda Octavia Estate.

It’s a lot like one of the big blue Ikea bags – it’s large, practical and it stands out from the crowd. The Peugeot’s a bit more fashionable, though.

The exterior design incorporates a rather large grille with the new Peugeot shield at the centre and the headlights blended into the edges.

The car also has fang-like daytime running lights that add extra detail to the front, while you get sharp lines and cool alloy wheel designs down the side.

The SW’s rear lights have a 3D effect to them, while you also get more creases and thick cladding on the bumper.

Inside, you’ll find Peugeot’s iCockpit concept. You get two 10.0-inch displays – one for the instruments and the other for the touchscreen infotainment – as well as comfort seats, sport pedals, gloss black trim, a small steering wheel and interesting materials on the dashboard.

Room in the rear seats isn’t the best though. Unlike the spacious feeling you get up front, the rear seats are a bit cramped for adults, with head and knee room a little tight. The 308 SW also doesn’t have the widest door openings to fit child seats, and you then have to poke around in the seat base to attach the seat to the Isofix anchor points.

Conversely, boot space is pretty good. You get 608 litres in the standard SW, while the plug-in hybrid alternative’s area drops to 548 litres. That’s bigger than its chassis mate, the Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer, and just pips the Volkswagen Golf Estate. It does lose out to the Skoda Octavia though.

You can choose from a petrol, diesel or two plug-in hybrids – all of which are paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission. Both PHEVs can offer 40 miles of electric range, which can be held so you can use it when you need it.

In town, the 308 SW feels a little juddery when going over bumps and the engine feels a little out of breath when you initially get going. But you get decent visibility all-round and the steering is quite light to make manoeuvring simple.

On a long motorway cruise, the 308 SW comes into its own. The lack of comfort in town is swapped for a smooth ride at higher speeds, while all the engines will get you up to speed easily enough.

While the lighter steering works well in town, it feels quite remote when you go on a twisty road. Sure that’s not what the 308 SW is made for, but it feels a little out of its comfort zone. The suspension soaks up the bumps okay, but you can expect some body roll.

With a near class-leading boot and stylish looks, the Peugeot 308 SW is a decent estate car in many respects – but its interior space might not suit you.

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Being a newer model, the Peugeot 308 SW is a bit more expensive than cars like the Skoda Octavia Estate and Volkswagen Golf Estate, but manages to be cheaper than the Ford Focus Estate.

Built on the same platform as the Astra Sports Tourer, it’s around the same price as the stylish Vauxhall. With the prices all rather close together, you’ll have to look at the equipment and styling of each to see which suits you best.

For long distance driving, the 308 SW is very comfortable, but it feels a bit bumpy in town

In town

As a longer vehicle, you do have to be wary of your placement when turning into narrower streets with the 308 SW. But with sensors fitted, you can get through tighter gaps fairly easily.

You get light steering that makes manoeuvring fairly simple, and a tight turning circle allows for easy progress in tight car parks or streets.

Thanks to the larger windows either side of you and at the rear, visibility is good, helping you have a good view around you.

Even with the smallish wheels you can get with the 308 SW, the ride can feel a bit harsh at slower speeds. But once you get above 20mph or so, the ride isn’t as troublesome.

On the motorway

Where the 308 SW feels most at home is cruising. It’s very sure of itself here, taking road imperfections in its stride, so you won’t be troubled by all but the sharpest bumps.

Accelerating onto the motorway can make the engine sound rather strained. Even so, you reach higher speeds without much trouble and you can cruise long distances in comfort, as you have decent space around you.

Peugeot has done a good job of making the controls easy to use on the steering wheel, so setting the cruise control is a simple task.

On a twisty road

With comfort in mind more than anything else, the 308 SW isn’t the most dynamic estate around. For us, the light steering and small wheel don’t feel quite as useful here as they do in town, while the lack of feel from the steering means you don’t have as much sense of grip on the road as you might like.

As the SW is also quite long, it can feel cumbersome if you go round a corner too quickly, with body roll making you feel a touch unsteady.

But if you’re taking it easy, it’s more than capable and you get enough punch from the engines. The hybrid version will have electrical assistance to help you get out of corners, but it won’t make it an exciting sports estate.

While the boot and cabin storage are both good, you may feel a little cramped in the rear seats

If you’ve seen the cabins Peugeot has been making over the last few years, you’ll have seen that the French brand has gone in a unique direction. The iCockpit setup looks super modern and here in the 308 SW, it does give a decent amount of adjustment.

But what you’ll need to consider is that with the small steering wheel being low down so you can see the driver’s display, it then limits legroom, and vice versa if you put the steering wheel higher. You do have to compromise on one or the other, and we recommend you try it to see if the position works for you.

Storage around you is okay, with a sliding cover for the cupholders and a pad under the central displays for wireless charging or plugging in devices. There’s also a space under the armrest that’s a lot deeper. The doorbins, however, are quite shallow and the plastic they’re made of feels scratchy.

Space up front on the whole though is rather good, with decent amounts of headroom and passenger legroom.

Space in the back seats

While you get a good setup in the front, the rear doesn’t live up to the same billing. Behind a taller driver, many adults won’t have a lot of wiggle room for their legs, while headroom can be tight.

For fitting a child seat, the rear opening can feel a little narrow for a bulkier unit, and the ISOFIX points themselves are behind zip covers in the seat base. It can also take a bit of stabbing around to eventually fit the seat.

Storage-wise, the rear seats have a fairly modest door bin, a well-sized seat pocket and charging ports for devices in the centre.

Boot space

The square shape of the boot allows you to pack things in easily, while the lip is level with the floor to make loading and unloading simple.

The 608-litre space of the unelectrified model is rather good compared to the likes of the Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer (597 litres) and is on par with the Ford Focus Estate (608 litres). The Volkswagen Golf Estate (611 litres) and Skoda Octavia Estate (640 litres) both outstrip it though.

If you go for the plug-in hybrid model instead of the petrol or diesel, you lose 60 litres due to the electrical system. That’s still better than the hybrid Astra and surprisingly better than the Skoda Octavia PHEV, which loses close to a quarter of the standard car’s boot space.

By folding the rear seats down, you get a continuous floor that’s almost flat, with the seat backs at a slight angle. You get 1,634 litres when you fold them down in the petrol or diesel car, with the PHEV getting 1,574 litres.

With the modern iCockpit layout, the 308 SW has a cool cabin, but the infotainment can be laggy and dark

As we mentioned earlier, the iCockpit layout is very modern-looking and unlike most other interior displays on the market. With the small steering wheel, sharp lines and clear displays, the 308 SW’s interior is one of the nicest-looking you can find.

Most trims feature a grey and black finish that have different textures and can make the cabin feel a little dingy. The GT version comes with three interior trim finishes, with all getting a very vibrant green detailing throughout – although it is the most expensive version available if you want it.

A lot of the materials are of a better quality than you’d expect for the price, and the touch and feel of the surfaces are nice too. You will find scratchier plastics lower down though, while the piano black plastics and screens show up smudges very quickly.

Talking of the screens, you get one behind the steering wheel for driver’s information, while you get two touchscreens in the middle – one that acts as the main infotainment and the second is a customisable panel with shortcuts to the menus you use most, which is a clever idea.

While we like the size and definition of the screen itself, you’ll find that the system isn’t the quickest and is a bit dark – even with the customisable colour options on offer. By connecting to it with your smartphone through Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, you’ll find it much easier to use.

There aren’t a plethora of options to choose from, but you can get a tow bar, additional drive assists and a 360-degree camera if you feel the need to include them.

You get the choice of a petrol, a diesel and two plug-in hybrids. All of them are paired to an eight-speed automatic and have front-wheel drive.

For the lone petrol, the 1.2-litre turbocharged unit produces 127hp and 230Nm. From that, you can achieve up to 51.9mpg and emit between 123-147 g/km of CO2.

The 1.5-litre diesel also gets 127hp, but offers more torque at 300Nm. Efficiency-wise, you can get up to 59.6mpg from the diesel, while it emits 124-148 g/km CO2.

On to the plug-in hybrids, both of which are made up of a 1.6-litre petrol and an electric motor, mounted on the front axle. You can go for the lesser-powered version with 177hp and 360Nm, or the top-end version that has 222hp and the same amount of torque.

With the 12.4kWh battery pack on-board, the 180hp version gets 43 miles of EV range, while the 222hp option gets 42 miles. As standard you get 3.7kW charging, but you can choose a 7.4kW option for shorter charging stops.

As with other plug-in hybrids, Peugeot has quoted efficiency figures well into the 200s for both, but the likelihood of you ever reaching those heights is pretty slim. You’ll need to find a consistent place to charge them up to get anywhere near those high mpg figures.

All but the top-spec GT with the highest-powered hybrid cost more than £40,000, so unless you pick that you won’t be paying an additional charge in VED from the second year onwards. For the lowest tax, you should choose the slightly pricier hybrids, but the petrol and diesel engines fall into the same brackets.

Unlike a lot of new cars, the Peugeot 308 SW has a four-star rating from the Euro NCAP safety tests. That was without the safety pack though, so could be improved if that was fitted – costing an extra £200. It had average scores on pedestrian and safety assist safety, with better scores on both occupant categories.

Although there are some quality safety features with the 308 SW, they’re mostly offered with the higher spec models. Features like adaptive cruise control, rear cross traffic alert and blind spot monitoring are fitted to the top two trim levels, but active safety brake, lane keep assist and regular cruise control are standard.

Safety features also include two ISOFIX points on the rear, all-round airbags and an immobiliser.

At the moment, the latest Peugeot 308 SW has yet to have any major issues. Peugeot does have a reputation of building unreliable models in the past, but its newer models have bucked that trend.

If you buy the vehicle through a Peugeot dealer, you get two years of manufacturer warranty with unlimited mileage, while you can get an additional year courtesy of the retailer network. An extended warranty is available from Peugeot if the car is less than 10 years old and has less than 100,000 miles on the clock for peace of mind.