Peugeot 308 vs Hyundai Veloster

What's the difference?

The 308 GT Sport plug-in hybrid is a beautifully designed small hatch that is comfortable, enjoyable and easy to drive. The electric motor gives this hatch good acceleration and the equally impressive handling makes for a fun car to drive too. There's good storage, a decent boot and room for even tall people like me in those back seats.

There are two clear drawbacks, however: the price is steep compared to the petrol version; and you'll need to plug the vehicle into a power supply each night if you drive the car daily and want to achieve the 2.4L/100km fuel economy we did in this test.

Last, but probably the most important thing you'll read is that Peugeot will bring fully electric cars to Australia from the second half of 2023, from SUVs to (hopefully) the battery electric version of this very 308 hatch.

If it was my money, I'd hold on - you're going to have your next car for quite a long time so it's worth waiting for the fully electric versions.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals provided.

Another good bit of Berry wisdom was the idea that the Turbo is the sweet spot of the range. While the Premium is indeed packed with goodies, they're not must-haves - the Turbo has everything you need while the Premium adds the wants.

So, at its core, this Turbo Premium is good warm hatch fun in a wacky, head-turning body, wrapped around a good cabin that could be a little less plasticky. Best of all, the fun design matches the fun-to-drive personality. It's a thoroughly modern Hyundai and I want (even more) to drive the full-fat bonkers N version we look like we're not going to get.

There hasn't been a Peugeot in the last five years that wasn't stunning. There's the high quality feel in their build, and premium yet unique look - like a new Volvo but with more flair. And the 308 hatch and this hybrid version has all of that.

From the sinister looking LED tail-lights to the wide mesh grille, you really get the feeling that Peugeot is hitting its design stride.

This 308 GT Sport plug-in hybrid looks identical to the petrol version with its low, wide stance, and big dark alloy wheels that fill up its arches.

The cabin is sporty, lavish and minimalist with quilted leather upholstery seats, the digital driver display and media screen, and avant garde small angular steering wheel.

You do not have to find the Veloster pretty to think it's cool. You can see echoes of the i30 donor car that lurks under the more interesting metal, with a big grille, sharper headlights and plenty of black bits to up the aggro for the Turbo model.

The rear bumper sports a pair of drainpipe-sized exhausts that aren't afraid to bellow a bit.

It's different from right to left in profile, with the rear door almost disappearing into the rear haunches on the passenger side. The high rear glass may not be great for seeing out of but it helps keep the Veloster identifiable and influential - there are more than a few cars getting about sporting a similar high rump with big lights.

The cabin is, like its predecessor, fairly restrained and very i30-like. It's all put together very well and is only let down by the centre console's plastics being a bit hard, scratchy and insubstantial.

Peugeot's 308 is a small hatch, think Toyota Corolla, only beautiful and more spacious.

So, the 308 can carry five people with just enough head and legroom for a semi-giant like me (I'm 191cm) to sit behind his driving position.

There's good cabin storage with large door pockets, a long and deep storage box under the centre armrest up front along with two cupholders up there, too.

The boot has a cargo capacity of 361 litres, which isn't bad for this class.

To power devices there's a wireless phone charger under the dash, and USB ports for front and rear passengers.

A quirky Peugeot design feature is the low-placed angular steering wheel. I found had to squeeze my knees past to sit in the driver's seat. I'm not sure what size human was used as the test case for this but it wasn't somebody with stilts like mine, I can tell you that.

I think the Veloster is very clever. M'colleague Richard Berry thinks the third door is a bit silly - say, like a third armpit. I'm of the opinion it's an exceptionally clever solution to a problem: how do I have a funky car without throwing the baby out with the bathwater?

Something like a three door hatch (yes, I know they're out of vogue) makes moving people about difficult even if you only do it occasionally. The Veloster's third door provides relatively easy access to the two back seats for people under about 150cm, and you can get okay access to a baby seat. Try that in an 86.

The new door aperture is quite a bit bigger than the old car and there is a bit more rear headroom which I'd still call marginal for my 179cm frame. Leg and knee room are okay, sitting behind my own driving position.

The boot is a useful if not staggering 303 litres. You have four cupholders across the two rows and door pockets in the front doors. Ahead of the gear selector you'll find a tray with the Qi charging pad and two USB connections, but only one will work with the stereo and is marked as such.

Remarkably, Hyundai has just dropped the second-generation Veloster in Australia. I was convinced it would be a one-hit wonder, but here we are with the replacement for the SR Turbo of the first-generation, the $41,990 Veloster Turbo Premium with a seven-speed dual-clutch auto transmission.

It also has 18-inch alloys with sticky Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres, an eight-speaker stereo, sat nav, electric windows and mirrors, keyless entry and start, climate control, reversing camera, rear parking sensors, auto LED headlights, auto high beam, auto wipers, heated and ventilated electric front seats, sunroof, Qi wireless charging pad, head-up display, leather trim and a space-saver spare.

A 7.0-inch screen on the dash runs the media system, with a sat nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It all works very nicely and the generally ho-hum Infinity speakers do a solid if unspectacular job of filling the cabin with noise.

The 308 GT Sport plug-in hybrid has a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine making 132kW and 250Nm combined with an electric motor at the front wheels making 81kW and 320Nm.

The combined output of the engine and motor working together is 165kW and 360Nm, and sending that grunt to the front wheels only is an eight-speed automatic transmission.

Acceleration is good. We're talking 0-100km/h in 7.4 seconds which is more than two seconds quicker than the petrol-only variant.

The 1.6-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder is a familiar sight in Hyundais, in this case offering up 150kW at 6000rpm and 265Nm between 1500 and 4500rpm, which is a nice wide torque curve. Power goes to the front wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Performance is swift rather than startling, with the Veloster's 1350kg cracking the ton in the 7.1 seconds, 0.6 seconds quicker than the manual.

This is what it's all about right? Well, Peugeot says that after a combination of open and urban roads the 308 GT Sport plug-in hybrid will use 1.3L/100km.

At the launch I did a 34km test loop through Sydney's Northern Beaches with a good mix of morning traffic and hilly terrain. At the end of my journey the trip computer reported an average fuel consumption of 2.4L/100km.

I drove the entire loop in Hybrid mode, but there is a Sport mode, a Battery Save mode and EV mode.

If you were to drive in EV mode Peugeot says the electric driving range with a full battery is 60km.

At the start of my drive the battery was about three-quarters charged with the gauges displaying 38km of range.

A mileage of 2.4L/100km is still excellent fuel economy and from experience I can tell you a petrol-only variant would be up around the 8.0 or 9.0L/100km mark for the same trip.

There is a catch, and that is you'll need to plug in your hybrid 308 daily to charge the battery if you plan to achieve the fuel economy I did.

Charging will be slow, however, because Peugeot has fitted this hybrid with a small 3.7kW on-board charger. So, even using a fast charger you'll be looking at more than four hours to fully charge the 12.4kWh lithium-ion battery.

This charging time and small electric driving range in return could be a deal breaker for some and it's the reason why I've given the 308 GT Sport plug-in hybrid a lower mark. If you aren't always charging this car your fuel usage will rocket. New buyers unaware of this could end up using more petrol than ever.

A fully electric vehicle may be a better solution for city dwellers.

Hyundai claims you'll get 6.9L/100km on the combined cycle. As ever, Hyundai is unusually close to real world figures, with my indicated average landing at a very respectable 8.2L/100km in a fairly urban kind of week.

Once you've become accustomed to the strange, low steering wheel with its angular design the 308 GT Sport plug-in hybrid is superb to drive. The suspension is composed and comfortable, the handling is excellent, the steering is light and with the combination of both the electric motor and petrol engine, acceleration is good.

For those of you who haven't driven a plug-in hybrid before I think you'll like the quiet electric power at low speeds and the feeling of ‘instant' acceleration the electric motor adds, but compared to driving a regular petrol car the experience is much the same, just less noisy and smoother.

I was fortunate enough to have some time on my hands, so I volunteered to take the base spec Veloster to Hyundai to swap into the Turbo. And look, it's fine, but in the same way the second-to-last-Celica was fine - nothing to write home about, more show than go. Comfortable, quiet, hatchy.

And the Turbo is many of those things. Except, as in the i30, when you step up to the turbo engine it wakes up a chassis that is truly terrific.

While it rides really, really well, it also piles through corners with even more enthusiasm than a similarly powered i30 N-Line, which is no slouch.

The Veloster is lower and slightly lighter, adding to the fun. And it doesn't spend half the time hitting the bump stops like the old car.

There are almost no duds in the Hyundai range when it comes to ride and handling, but the steering is in another league compared to the outgoing model's.

It's quick and points the car where you want, the front end digging in and tracking clean and true. It's terrific fun.

But, like just about every other Hyundai, its compliance and daily drivability is super-impressive. Only bad roads upset the rear suspension but the front is largely unflappable.

Flappable is the dual-clutch transmission. It occasionally hunts around looking for a gear and I spent a lot of time pulling the paddles to get it to do the right thing.

It was particularly recalcitrant downshifting without manual intervention, no matter what drive mode I chose. It can also clunk a bit when it's confused. I reckon I'd take Richard's advice and stick with a manual.

This Veloster arrives with six airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, lane keep assist, blind spot warning, rear cross traffic alert, forward collision warning and forward AEB with pedestrian detection.

Although not rated by ANCAP at the time of writing, the Turbo and Turbo Premium are likely to score a maximum five stars.

The lower grade - as with other newer Hyundais with the lower spec AEB - is probably going to drop a star.

Both rear seats score an ISOFIX and top tether anchor point.

The 308 GT Sport plug-in hybrid is covered by Peugeot's five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty.

Peugeot will cover the hybrid battery with an eight-year/160,000km warranty.

Servicing is recommended at 15,000km or 12 month intervals and it can be expensive. Peugeot says the first service will be $425, then second is $771, the next is $425, then at 60,000km the costs will be $900, then $439 for the following.

As always, Hyundai's solid five year/unlimited kilometre warranty is along for the ride. Slightly annoyingly, you'll need to return to your dealer every 12 months or 10,000km for scheduled service and prices are capped.

Four of the five services cost $299 with the fourth year at $375. Over the first five services, you'll average $314.