They can’t turn this beauty into a beast
MY favourite family car just got a shot in the arm. In the past if a manufacturer wanted to make a ‘hero car’ it just plonked in a powerful engine or tuned the one that was already there.
But it’s not so easy these days, unless you don’t mind paying fines for busting emissions targets. So when Peugeot decided it wanted to produce a performance version of its 508 saloon and estate (known as the SW), it had to approach the task differently – by making the car a plug-in hybrid.
Peugeot calls the hot 508 the 508 PSE which stands for Peugeot Sport Engineered. Our test car certainly looks the part.
I’m a big estate fan but a 508 PSE SW wasn’t available so we’re making do with this Selenium Grey saloon with yellow detailing, which includes brake calipers painted in ‘fluoro’ yellow that hide behind diamond-cut Exxar 20-in alloy wheels.
With an on-road price of £53,995 (£55,795 if like me you’d choose the SW estate) the 508 PSE needs to not just look sporty, it has to behave sporty. Which leads us neatly to the engine room. Conventional power comes from a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine that produces 200bhp.
Between this engine and an eightspeed automatic gearbox is sandwiched an electric motor.
There’s another, complete with a reduction gearbox, that drives the rear wheels. Each motor is rated at 110bhp but the total system power available from the ICE and electric motors is 355bhp. Top speed is 155mph and 0-62mph takes 5.2 seconds. On paper at least, the 508 PSE is a serious performance machine.
We mentioned plug-in hybrid at the beginning so naturally the 508 PSE has a lithium ion battery pack hidden away. The pack has a capacity of 11.5kWh and gives the car a WLTP electric-only range of 26 miles.
Incidentally, the reason that the combined power output from a 200bhp petrol engine and two 110bhp electric motors is 355bhp and not over 400, is that the battery can only output enough current for the motors to produce 158bhp between them.
We’ve tested plenty of 508s since the car was launched and as you would expect the PSE’s interior is broadly the same as the regular car’s, albeit with a few bespoke trimmings such as more fluoro yellow for stitching on the seats, centre console and steering wheel, plus some fake carbon fibre trim.
I’ve got used to Peugeot’s flat-bottomed steering wheel so no moans there. It all looks very smart, especially the seats trimmed in Alcantara.
The battery pack sits under the rear seats and although they seem to have pinched a bit of the rear legroom, the boot in both the saloon and estate are exactly the same size as before.
To partly justify the car’s price
Peugeot has thrown a lot of kit at the PSE with the company’s top audio system and infotainment arrangement all standard.
If you’re now ready for a fantastic high-performance sports saloon driving experience you’re going to be disappointed. Yes, the 508 PSE is more than fast enough for the road, even if a few of my fellow road testers reckon 0-62mph in 5.2sec isn’t quick enough for the car’s price.
What is more of an issue is that although this hot Peugeot is quick and has an abundance of grip, it just doesn’t feel that special to drive.
The eight-speed automatic gearbox is slow to change gear and doesn’t improve even if you use the paddles behind the steering wheel.
There’s more front end grip and the brakes, supplied by Alcon, work as well as they look.
A kerb weight of 1,850kg isn’t outrageous by modern standards, but it’s still a lot of mass and it’s that which gets in the way of the 508 PSE being a really terrific performance saloon.
The only direct rival to this car is Volvo’s S60 T8 Polestar Engineered which is also a PHEV and is available as an estate, too. The Peugeot has more pavement presence but is not significantly more fun to drive.
I’d choose the 508 purely because, to my eyes, it is such a good looking car. Particularly as an estate.