Peugeot 308 Allure 2015 review

Peugeot's all-new 308 is a belter of a car in basic hatch form and this station wagon has to work a bit harder to impress.

Value

The Peugeot 308 Allure, which stands for station wagon, opens the bidding at $35,490. This buys you 17-inch alloy wheels, a six speaker stereo, dual-zone climate control, reversing camera, parking sensors front and rear, keyless entry, cruise control, sat-nav, auto headlights and wipers, puddle lamps, power windows and mirrors and tyre pressure sensors.

Options include $3100 Nappa leather trim, 18-inch alloys ($700) and $1700 pearlescent paint, all of which we survived without.

The wagon is a very well-proportioned car, with a deceptively cavernous rear

Design

Explore the 2015 Peugeot 308 range

• Peugeot 308 Touring 2015 review
• Peugeot 308 Allure hatch 2015 review
• Peugeot 308 GT 2015 review
• Peugeot 308 2015 review
• Peugeot 308 Allure 2015 review
• Peugeot 308 Touring wagon 2015 review
• Peugeot 308 GTi 2015 review

The wagon is a very well-proportioned car, with a deceptively cavernous rear tightly clothed in a body that doesn't look too much longer than the hatch. While the hatch has a slightly awkward look about it, the wagon's extra length helps the looks no end.

The front is still a bit generic, but no more so than the Golf. A Hyundai i30 is far more distinctive.

Inside is standard Peugeot 308, which is to say excellent. Peugeot's interior team has worked wonders with materials and design, without going too French on the look. The clean, almost button free central stack looks good, but that oddball tiny wheel/high dash is an acquired taste.

Seats are comfortable front and rear, with great support in all directions. There's plenty of space for bits and bobs, with drink holders front and rear, as well as door bins.

The gigantic boot is equipped with tie-down rails and a cargo blind. Volume is 625 litres with the seats up, almost tripling to 1740 litres with the seatbacks down. The floor is flat but is interrupted slightly by the cargo rails and load securing apparatus. The aperture isn't quite as wide or welcoming as the i30 or Golf, either.

Safety

The 308's five-star ANCAP rating comes from six airbags, ABS, brake force distribution, traction and stability control, hill holder and brake assist.

Infotainment

The 9.7-inch touchscreen is responsible for a great many functions, including stereo, climate control and sat-nav. It's a huge improvement on the puzzlingly poor interface in the Peugeot 208 but still has a few problems to iron out. The software is mostly fine but the hardware itself is a bit slow and there are a few usability issues, like soft buttons without any tactile feedback to keep you from taking your eyes from the road. The six speakers won't be blowing the windows out but the sound is quite good for most ears.

Engine / Transmission

As with most petrol 308s, with the exception of the GT, the wagon is powered by a variant of Peugeot's accomplished 1.6-litre turbo-petrol four, generating a modest 110 kW of power and 240 Nm of torque. The six-speed automatic carries the 1315 kg wagon to 100km/h in just under nine seconds.

Peugeot claims combined fuel consumption figures of 6.5 litres per 100km, which isn't too far off the 7.8 L/100km we achieved, it uses premium unleaded to achieve this efficiency.

This is a tremendously smooth car

Driving

Buyers in this ever-contracting segment are pretty spoilt. The Golf wagon is good fun and rock solid, the Hyundai i30 is surprisingly punchy and hilarious to drive. Now the 308 wagon is here, there's a true three-way battle for hearts and seat-pants of drivers.

This is a tremendously smooth car. Ride and handling are super-competent and if you want to lean on it a bit, it responds with good grip at both ends before a steady decline into oversteer.

The steering is light and direct, with a body that stays with you unless you've a fondness for extreme pothole slaloming. Should you misjudge that slalom move and thump the pothole, there's just a light thunk from the affected corner and little else.

The turbo engine is smooth and has a quite lovely linearity, with a well-matched gearbox shuffling up and down the gears without fuss. A slight hiss from the turbo is about as loud as it gets, with all noises very well-suppressed.