Price: £26,555
Top speed: 155mph
0-62mph: 6 seconds
MPG: 47
I’m a dreadful cook with an almost preternatural ability to ruin even the simplest recipe. But I do know one thing: dip anything in chocolate and it tastes better. That seems to be what Peugeot has done with its new 308 GTi. Like a giant strawberry dunked in 70% cocoa, the hot hatch is perfectly bifurcated by colour – the “hot” front is lairy red, while the “hatch” out back is black. This crazy dip-dye is called “Coupe Franche”. If it makes too much of a statement, you can go for a regular one-colour scheme. But don’t be so boring…
When the 308 was launched in 2014 it was bombarded with awards, including European car of the year. It was well made and well priced and, for a family hatch, pleasingly pukka. A little poshness goes a long way with a fraught family. Two years on and Peugeot has given the keys to its legendary sport division so they could turn the regular 308 into something spicier – a bit like drizzling your salad with that dangerous-looking chilli oil. It’s a whole lot more exciting now and yet it’s still sensible – which is a bonus for anybody who occaisonally has to live in the real world of domestic chores and kid ferrying. It has a good-sized boot and decent back row of seats.
Peugeot has a long history of injecting performance into its off-the-peg models through its sport division – from the 205 GTi of the 80s to the more recent 208 GTi and the RCZ R. Peugeot Sport itself has now sold more than 800,000 cars with added raciness.
Now Peugeot Sport has done the same for the 308. At the heart of the new car is its specially engineered, turbocharged 1.6-litre engine. It comes in either the 250bhp guise or an even more powerful 270bhp version. They’ve lowered the car and stiffened up the suspension. In slow traffic this makes the ride feel a little jolting. It’s so firm, in fact, that at one point I actually got out to see if there was a puncture in one of its low-pro 19in wheels. But at speed, on a twisting road, well that’s when it all makes an awful lot of sense. The grip and acceleration is sensational. Swooping along, swinging from side to side, you feel you are dancing, not driving.
Inside, there’s plenty of leather and chrome and soft-touch plastics. It has a real sense of plushness. Peugeot’s “lion”, which has looked a little toothless in the past, is definitely clawing its way back into the premiership. The centre console looks as if a minimalist with final-stage OCD has had a field day: all the functions have migrated to a single touch screen. This gives a blissfully button-free and uncluttered dash. One of the few buttons that does remain, however, is marked “Sport”. Press it and all the dials in the instrument binnacle turn an angry red. I can’t say I noticed much difference in the car’s performance, but then it was already sporty enough for me.
The 308 GTi is a car you really want to drive. It’ll do all your family’s schlepping and shopping but then, when you are in the mood, it can pull the amazing Clark Kent trick of transforming itself into a super car. Come to think of it, that’s what the two-tone paint job really is – a pair of underpants over its trousers.
Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @MartinLove166
