Peugeot 308 long-term test: report 5

The car Peugeot 308 Hybrid 180 Allure Premium e-EAT8 Run by Kiall Garrett, senior videographer

Why it’s here To find out if the plug-in hybrid version of this family hatchback can be an efficient day-to-day workhorse

Needs to be Comfortable on long journeys and uber-efficient on short ones while having the space for lots of camera equipment

Mileage 10,872 List Price £38,640 Target Price £35,974 Price as tested £38,460 Official economy 281.1mpg Test economy 48.1mpg

5 November 2023 – Flat out

“Well, this isn’t a very good bit of Tarmac.”

Nothing much shocks me about the state of our roads in Britain, but recently I was travelling along a dual carriageway that seemed particularly bad.

I was only aware of this because I could see the moon-like craters; my Peugeot 308 was actually soaking them up surprisingly well. But sadly the same ultimately couldn't be said for one of its tyres, which suffered a blow out.

Aware something suddenly wasn't right, I angled my door mirror down, and sure enough the reflection confirmed that there was a bit of rubber flapping away.

It was a busy dual carriageway on a weekend afternoon, so my first thought was to get off it as quickly as possible. Luckily, it didn’t feel like I was riding on pure alloy, and I was just approaching an exit, so I was able to safely escape and pull into a bus stop farther down the road.

It turned out there was virtually no damage to the alloy wheel apart from a small scrape – amazing considering the state of the tyre.

I rang for breakdown assistance, and within an hour a recovery van was with me and able to fit my 308 with a temporary replacement wheel so I could get the car home.

All very exciting, whereas in my experience life with a 308 is usually drama free – and I mean that in a good way. My role as a What Car? videographer requires me to cover a lot of miles, yet I emerge at the end feeling relaxed, not only due to the comfortable ride, but also because of how smooth the car's hybrid engine is.

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