Safer, leaner, smarter. Still gorgeous.
The Peugeot 308 has been given a facelift for 2017, and with it brings a raft of updates to various aspects of the car. It seems very little under the skin has been left alone, while the exterior remains largely similar to what we’ve come to recognise as a new 308. The Pug’s updates seen on this UK-spec car should make its way to our shores soon, though how many of the upgrades and how soon remain unknown.
The UK-spec 308 now comes with a selection of Euro-6 compliant engines, with the range kicking off with its buzzy 1.2-litre three-pot Puretech unit. The Puretech 130 seen here has been revised to include a better particulate filter and catalytic converter, for greater environmental red.
The 1.5-litre BlueHDi 130 diesel, likely to sell healthily in the UK, was engineered with the same piston geometry as the diesel 908 HDi FAP engine from Peugeot’s 2009 LeMans racing car. It features a six-speed manual transmission, which is also employed by the lower Puretech 130. Move up a notch and you can bag a 2.0-litre BlueHDi 180, which comes mated to a class-leading eight-speed automatic gearbox.
While the 2.0-litre BlueHDi is the range flagship, the 1.6-litre turbo-petrol 308GTi still sits above that, and maintains the same engine and performance stats as before. While going faster is all well and good, the 308 is pretty adept at keeping you out of harms way. Speed limit recognition, intelligent cruise control, blind spot monitoring and automated parking have all found their way onto the new 308, making it even safer and more convenient than ever before.
The cabin of the 308 has been revised, but only mildly. When the 308 first launched not-too-long-ago, it debuted a new cabin design for the brand, which they dubbed ‘i-Cockpit.’ Several years and several awards later, Peugeot has taken the opportunity to not fix what isn’t broken, and has updated the entertainment system to a 9.7-inch touchscreen with smartphone mirroring and a tweaked interface. The materials employed throughout are now much richer and plusher too, helping the Pug’s upmarket pretensions hold water.
UK deliveries are expected to commence in September, while we still wait timeline confirmation from Peugeot Australia on the introduction and sale of the updated 308 range.
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