Peugeot held the Irish launch of their new 408 in Cashel recently and the car is now available to order.
The 408 is a fastback design with its five door body based on a lengthened 308. I Think the 308 is one of the more attractive hatchbacks on the market at the moment so it’s no surprise that the 408 is also a striking design.
The wheelbase has been lengthened to 2790mm, releasing a lot of legroom for rear seat passengers, although the lower roofline robs a little bit of headroom for taller passengers.
Luggage room is also very well catered for with 536 litres although PHEV models lose a little space to the batteries.
PHEV
Talking of plug in hybrids, there are two in the range, both fitted with an 81kW electric motor. The difference is that the 225 e comes with a 180bhp PureTech petrol engine while the 180 e is fitted with a similar engine with 150 bhp. Both powertrains drive the front wheels only through a conventional 8 speed automatic gearbox.
The battery in both is a 12.4kWh Lithium-Ion unit and the standard onboard charger can support up to 3.7kW but an optional 7.4kW charger is also available, allowing full use of a 7kW home charger.
A full charge with the optional upgraded charger takes around 100 minutes while charging from a three pin plug could take around seven hours.
If you want a pure petrol engine, there’s a 1.2 litre triple cylinder available that produces 130bhp. That too comes with the eight speed automatic and a stop start system.
It was the petrol model I drove at the launch but I didn’t drive it down from Dublin so didn’t have a huge amount of time in the car. Happily, my test car that week was the 308, so I was very familiar with the car the 408 is based on.
Interior
The cabin is very well appointed, with good materials and a solid build. Peugeot’s i-Cockpit features of course, so the steering wheel is small and the instruments are at the driver’s eye level. It all makes for a sporty, cosy driving environment. The driver’s instrumentation can be further enhanced by an optional 3D effect, which is surprisingly effective.
Below the central touchscreen, there are a series of what are called i-Toggles, touch sensitive buttons with customisable faces, so they vary, depending on the context. They are a very useful add-on to the touch screen controls and they should be more widely adopted.
Driving
The ride is comfortable and the 408 is enjoyable to drive on country roads. I found the 1.2 a little bit lacking in power at N road speeds and for that reason alone, I’d prefer one of the hybrids
Incidentally, a fully electric version will be here later this year and there will be no diesel, slightly surprising given Peugeot’s past successes with diesel engines.
Equipment
The 408 is pitched as a more upmarket variant of the 308, with generally higher trim levels. As in the 308, top spec GT trim models also feature a Peugeot badge on the front panel of the car, a confident move from the manufacturer that really makes the car stand out.
Of course the 408 features the latest safety kit, including adaptive cruise control with stop go, active lane departure warning/correction, driver attention alert, road sign recognition, blind spot monitoring up to 75m, rear traffic alert and an optional infrared vision system which can detect pedestrians or animals beyond the range of even the high beams, which are incidentally Matrix LED units.
360 degree parking assistance also features using four high definition cameras and the 180 degree reversing camera also comes with an integrated cleaning system.
Semi-autonomous driving is slated to appear later this year, which will add semi-automatic lane changing on the motorway and anticipated speed recommendation, which will suggest appropriate speeds according to the speed limit signs.
Other advanced features available include hands free access and start, motion operated boot opening, panoramic sunroof and a premium FOCAL hi-fi system with 10 speakers and a 12 channel amplifier supplying 690 Watts.
Pricing
Pricing starts from €39,995 for Allure trim with the Allure Pack from €41,995. GT trim starts from €44,995.
Those prices are for the base petrol engine. The price walk to the 180 bhp PHEV is €5,000 with approximately another €2,500 needed for the 225bhp PHEV versions.
