I'm particularly taken by the fact that the stylists stayed with smooth curves rather than driving down the road of sharp and angled sculpting.
One downside is the windscreen rake, meaning my head has to fight with the door frame getting in and out. And, given how used we are to higher-riding crossovers, I felt the effort in standing up after a journey.
Still, the latest 508 is arguably the current best example of how to provide a sporty coupe look with an uncompromised saloon space. And it is just the latest in a recent line of vehicles that confirms the French company is on a roll.
The standout change from the previous generation is the incorporation of a version of Peugeot's i-cockpit instrument cluster, above a small steering wheel that’s strongly flattened top and bottom.
That means key information is as close to the driver's eye-line as you're going to get without a head-up display. The big advantage over the HUD is full information, solidly shown instead of being a reflection that’s fighting glare.
The centre screen is well placed, not obtrusively high. The mix of managing it by touch and well labelled piano style switches works well. A caveat is the absence of rotary knobs for changing cabin temperature and fan speeds. That's the space we're living in, but I’ll continue to complain on distraction grounds.
The review car was in GT Line spec, and that adds some sporty details. A techy finish to parts of the dashboard and door trim looks sharp. There's restrained stitching on the leather trimmings. The seats are ‘sporty’ but quite comfortable for normal use.
There’s a good cargo space, easily accessible with the lift-back format, though I thought some people might feel it heavy to raise.
Power was a 130hp 1.5 diesel, very quiet and refined as I’d expect from this brand group. Lined up with an 8-speed automatic it was an exceptionally smooth and unfussable combination.
The review car came with the usual plethora of driver assist systems, and they all worked as expected, including the lane-keeping/active cruise control which offered semi-autonomous driving where appropriate — the motorway. But I switched it off most of the time, including the separate lane-drift warning. It was nice to just pilot the car without constant ‘assistance’.
The drive was excellent — Peugeot’s suspension engineers are from the top drawer. It became one of those cars that I used any excuse to head out for a decent spin. In sales terms it missed the 191 main slot, so is not so visible yet on the roads. And it may never be very much so, as the segment has quite collapsed in favour of the SUV craze. But there’s always a customer out there for a really good car, and this is one of those.
PRICE: €40,370. WHAT I LIKED: Style and smoothness. RATING 4+/5.
