£20,000-£23,000
WITH only four contenders in the £20,000-£23,000 price band, the result here was close. But it was the Peugeot 308 SW Active Bluehdi 120 that walked away with the silverware.
Even though the 308 SW is a practical and comfortable estate car, we were still impressed by its performance when hooked up to a two-berth Bailey Pursuit 400-2.
The ride is soft and supple and leaves passengers cosseted, even when hauling a caravan. And it makes a great motorway cruiser, as this combination wafted round the high-speed bowl with ease. But the pay-off for such a soft ride is a fair amount of body roll when cornering. Not all of our testers could get on with the high-set dials of the 308’s i-cockpit design, either.
Once hitched the 1.6-litre diesel engine struggled a little on the twisty hills as well, with lots of shifts required from the six-speed manual gearbox to stop it running out of puff on steeper inclines.
Yet the Peugeot fared much better on the brake test – an impressive stopping distance of just 25 metres from 40mph to 10mph was outstanding, and the best of all our category winners.
When unhitched from the caravan, the 308 SW is a good all-round family car with plenty of space. Its 660-litre boot is the biggest in class. Fold the seats and drop the base, and you can create a completely flat load area with a massive total boot space of 1,775 litres.
And it’s efficient, too. With a claimed solo fuel economy figure of 88.3mpg, you shouldn’t have to make too many trips to the filling station. To sweeten the deal further, Peugeot also offers a greatvalue three-year/35,000-mile servicing package for as little as £12.99 per month.