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The Peugeot 508 has had a makeover – and it’s as comfortable as it gets in this range

HOW nice it is to be back on the Peugeot 508. It was my car of the year back in 2018, and I loved it because Peugeot was making a valiant effort to get us back into saloons, even as the crossover craze was already in full swing.

At the time, I wrote: ‘Gone is the traditional saloon look, and in its place comes a coupé-style fastback design with a longer bonnet, and a more streamlined cabin. Throw in the best designed rear end of any saloon I can remember, and a chequerboard grille up front, and it is little short of miraculous, a truly beautiful car.’

Did the audacious attempt to reignite sales of this sort of design in Ireland? Well, in a word, no. Last year, just 60 508s were sold, in no small part due to the fact that Peugeot itself launched the 408, a sort of catch-all saloon, estate and crossover all in one, which shifted, amusingly, 406 units without even the benefit of the January sales period. What a shame they didn’t sell two more.

So, who know, maybe this will be my last time behind the wheel of the 508, and if so, it will be a shame.

I really love the look of this car, and the space it offers. At 487 litres, the boot is generous, and with the rear seats folded, it is even better with 1,537 litres.

My test car was the 1.2-litre three-cylinder variant, a familiar powerplant in Peugeot and Opel cars. It offers the lowest performance in the range, only barely scraping my 10-second test for acceleration from 0-100kph, so don’t expect much in the way of sparkle.

If you want that, you’ll have to move up the food chain, which sees the prices rise exponentially in the plug-in hybrids with 180hp (€50,995), 225hp (€54,790 GT spec) or 360hp 4x4 (€72,495, Peugeot Sport Engineered). I drove the latter car in Spain last year and it’s an absolute dream, but that sort of money is a lot for a Peugeot, no matter how powerful.

Rather quaintly, there also is a diesel version, hardly a surprise since the car is drawn from the old PSA gene pool before Stellantis absorbed it, and diesel was the speciality there, to the point where they actually made engines for BMW. In the 508, the diesel unit also offers 130hp, and clocks in at €47,495.The justification for the price premium no longer exists thanks to pump prices that see diesel and petrol running neck and neck, so I see no reason to spend three grand over the price of the petrol model I drove when power output is identical.

So, what do you get for your money? Lots of safety stuff for starters, including six airbags, full LED rear lights with scrolling indicators, electric parking brake, dynamic stability control with trailer sway mitigation, rear window child lock, ISOFIX mounts for child booster seats, safety plus pack with emergency braking, front collision warning and driver attention alert, lane keeping assist with road edge detection, traffic sign recognition, blind spot detection, and adaptive cruise control to maintain a safe distance from the car in front.

In terms of aesthetics, you get black roof rails, gloss black side window surrounds, gloss black door mirror shells and mounts, and the Peugeot name across the trunk lid slip.

Inside, you have the now familiar iCockpit — maybe becoming just a little too familiar nowadays, and ripe for a bit of a revamp — pianolike keys for activating touchscreen functions, leather steering wheel with integrated controls for radio, volume, cruise control and so on, carbon-effect decor on the dash and door panels, and gloss black centre console.

The infotainment screen is a decent size, but is starting to look a little dated thanks to the arrival of the Chinese brands such as BYD, which are offering better systems for similar prices. One thing I

PEUGEOT 508 FASTBACK

do love, though, is the tweedy cloth upholstery, which feels indestructible, and has a clubby feel in the grey and black shade on my test car.

There’s drive mode select, for Eco, Normal and Sport, though the difference isn’t earth-shattering. Nonetheless, as saloon cabins go, this is as comfortable as it gets in this segment of the market, so if that’s your priority, you won’t do much better.

All in all, though, while I do still love the 508, there is the feeling that even this midlife makeover hasn’t gone far enough, and maybe there really is no reason to, if the segment itself in on the wane. If that happened, I would miss it, but maybe not as much as I would have done six years ago.