Peugeot 508HDi180

REPORT 4 £ 36,439 OTR/£37,314 as tested/£467pcm WHY I T ’S HERE Can avant-garde style save the saloon? DRI V ER Jason Barlow CLOSE TO 400 MILES IN ONE DAY IS PUSHING IT. ESPECIALLY IN THE

UK! and there are meetings interspersed" That means roadworks roulette"

Bruntingthorpe first! to drive Citroen’s #$_#$ Concept and Ami One" The little one is a shared%ownership urban runabout! with enough design smarts to make you smile but cheap enough for it to be worth making in the first place" Then you flee the city in the #$_#$! with each occupant treated to their own individual experience"

Onwards to Crewe to see the Bentley EXP #&& GT! a '"(m%long! copper% infused super%luxe behemoth aimed at Jeff Bezos! Mark Zuckerberg and the other as%yet unknown hyper%rich circa *&+'" Then back to the here and now! stuck on the speed camera%regulated '&mph zone on the M,! then down to -& for a while! while work on the upgrade to the allegedly ‘smart’ motorway progresses at a rate equivalent to a stoned snail’s passage across a garden patio" More heartening still is Highways England’s penchant for shutting chunks of motorway or dual carriageway! at (.+&pm not +am! and sending hapless / and by now rather weary / motorists #* miles back in the direction they’ve just come" When did that become a thing?

The '&(? It’s a brilliant car" On the B%roads leading to the motorway! its chassis made me hanker after a makeover like the one that made its -&' Mi#, ancestor one of the Eighties’ great unsung heroes" The '&(’s steering isn’t as good! and its gearbox can shuffle around irritatingly! but for an ostensibly regular saloon it steps up to the plate very convincingly"

Using the i%Cockpit to access the entertainment is an entertainment in itself! the ‘piano key’ array working well and offering a haptic adjunct to the touchscreen" And the seats are fantastic. no hint of an ache after four hours on the road" Well! not a physical one! anyway"