There is good and bad news for this new 308 SW.
It's not the most spacious in it's class, the Civic Tourer is.
The good news: it doesn't really matter.
It still offers 610 liters space,
And these cars are also bought for the way they look,
Which is good in my opinion: it looks elegant.
This car has a secret weapon:
it comes with new engines, including this 1.6 BlueHDi.
120 PS, combined with 85 g/km CO2.
This means a rare amount of tax benefits in The Netherlands.
But first, die 'SW'-part, estates are very important in NL.
Boot size 610 l, quite a lot for its segment.
With the rear seats down, you get 1660 l.
But it also gained space on the back seats.
Its wheel base is 10 cm longer than the hatchbacks.
This means sitting here is much better.
Enough legroom, frugal headroom.
This is also due to the glass roof, which takes some space.
It's acceptable, but clearly not as spacious as an Octavia.
Of course, the dashboard is the same as in the hatchback.
So it still looks good: clean design, nice materials.
Ergonomics aren't great,
For example: everything is controlled via this multimedia-system
Even the climate control, and that's quite complicated.
The rev-counter works counter-clockwise,
Very 'Aston Martin', but not very intuitively.
Driving at low revs, it points to the right side,
so it looks like it's in the rev limiter.
Then, there is the very small steering wheel.
It makes the steering very direct,
But for many people, the size and position aren't optimal.
Of course, you get used to it, but I don't see the added value.
Why would you redesign something that works very well?
The 1.6 BlueHDi is an even cleaner version of the earlier HDi.
Thanks to AdBlue, it's a Euro 6-engine with only 85g CO2/km.
You don't sacrifice anything for the Dutch tax benefits:
it's a very nice engine.
It deliveres 120 PS and 300 Nm, more than enough.
And it's very silent, which is nice if you drive a lot.
The performance is very good as well
It's very easy to come along with other traffic.
Very good.
One of the causes of it's smoothness is its lower weight.
thanks to the EMP2-platform, it's 100 kg lighter than before.
This makes it nicer to drive.
It clearly aimes on comfort, is not very dynamic.
The suspension is very soft and easily filters bumps.
This makes it a good car for long distances.
The soft suspension has one drawback:
On large bumps, for example a railway crossing, it's a bit unstable.
Apart from that: comfy car, sophisticated engine, very nice.
With this engine and body, Peugeot really attacks the C-segment.
The only competitors with the same tax benefits,
the Seat Leon ST and Skoda Octavia Combi,
are a bit more expensive.
For the lease-market, Peugeot offers BlueLease-versions.
The BlueLease Executive, with a. o. glass roof, satnav, is 26350.
A bit less than the other 2.
Ergonomics might not be perfect,
but is that going to keep this car away from being successful?
I don't think so.
+ Nice engine; Big luggage compartment
- Ergonomics; Glass roof decreases headroom.