This week I drove to the Twelve Hotel in Barna, Co. Galway from the Naas Road in Dublin. I must have driven to Galway hundreds of times in my life. We were brought there to test drive two of Peugeot Ireland’s latest offerings in the updated 508 and the new 108. Usually at a launch drive we’re brought to a hotel for a day where we can test a car for about half an hour and get a very brief feel for the vehicle, but when you get a long route like this it’s generally enough to find out more about a car.

We gathered in Gowan House on the Naas Road and after a brief press conference we were paired up in teams to share the various test cars on offer. My first car of the day was the 508 which dons a new face, minor body changes and the "Lion Claw" rear lamps. This is a business-type car and it belongs in the very competitive D-segment. Its competition comes in the form of; the Insignia, the Passat, the Mondeo, the Avensis, the i40, and the soon-to-be released Skoda Superb. These are all highly-regarded cars, and for the most-part they are attractive looking machines too. So the face-lifted 508 gets its first tick here. It looks good. I won’t say it looks better than all of its competition, but it certainly holds its place. The new nose is nice and it does have a certain touch of class about it.

My driving partner and I started talking shop straight away and while I was concentrating on my driving I wasn’t thinking about my direction. It was only after we had passed the big ball outside Naas that I realised I was driving up the N7, the wrong road. We thought “hey, let’s just re-program the SatNav and we’ll get a chance to test the machine cross-country”

I’m glad that that was the decision we took. The 508 (1.6 litre diesel engine) with 115hp that we were testing is a good motorway cruiser. I was actually surprised at how well this small-enough engine was able to cope with the slight push we were giving it on the motorway. With an engine of this size I would have expected a small bit of pull or a bit of sluggishness making its way up to motorway speeds, but to be honest it was smooth and the interior was very quiet. It’s certainly not the highest-performing car I’ve ever sat in, but there was no real struggle from it.

So we took the route cross-country. During my half of the drive I encountered a few potholes between whatever turn off we took and Tullamore and the car soaked them up well. The 508 handled the many corners on our journey in good fashion too.

Interior
We had the Allure trim, which is the highest spec that Peugeot offers in this car. It’s nicely kitted-out with very comfortable heated leather seats, SatNav, Stop/Start technology, reverse park cameras and 18” alloy wheels.

There were a couple of small things that didn’t overly impress me about the interior. Firstly - although the infotainment system is very intuitive it isn’t presented as well as what you’d find in the same trim level of Passat (Highline Trim), or even in Peugeot’s own 308. The screen is at a slightly difficult angle in terms of touch control. The coffee-cup holders fold out of the dash, but they’re positioned in such a way that I found that it made indicating a little bit difficult - the space between the indicator and the holder was small. The centre armrest storage space too, it appears that it’s only easily accessible by the driver, as in it folds open on the driver’s side only.

My test model offered 115hp and a very economical 1.6 litre diesel engine. In terms of price for this model you will be looking at an “on the road” price of €31,495. For an entry level “Access” trim 508 the entry level is €26,750 (other prices and trims below).

Peugeot 108
Eventually we landed in Barna; we got ourselves a cup of coffee and then took the keys for the new 108. You may recall that earlier this week I reviewed Toyota’s Aygo. This car (along with the Citroen C1) shares the same platform with the 108. They are made of the same components and engines. My drive in the 108 was very brief, I drove from Barna to An Spidéal, but I noticed something about the 108 that was different from the Aygo. If you read my Aygo piece you’ll remember I said that one of the few things I thought was lacking in the machine was a bit of poke from the 1.0 litre engine. Well while the 108 offers the same engine they also offer a 1.2 litre engine which Toyota doesn’t. This offers some of the extra poke I was looking for. The cockpit was more refined too.

The 108 is a nice run around car and it will be marketed towards the younger female audience. Peugeot has said though that it is the type of car that appeals to a female audience of all ages.

Prices for the 108 start from €13,290 for the 1.0 68hp Active model and stretch to €14,870 for the 1.2 82hp for the 108 Allure. If you like a soft top you can pay from €15,870 for the 108 Allure TOP! Also available is a 108 Allure with ETG5 Ecomatique. To move from a 1.0 litre engine to a 1.2 litre engine can cost as little as €300 and my advice if you’re looking at this car would be to go for the more powerful engine at that price.

Peugeot 508 Trims & Prices
The 508 is well-priced against its competitors and they are well-spec'd across the board. There are three trims on offer, Access (starting from €26,750), Active (starting from €27,750) and Allure (starting from €29850). All engines are diesel (1.6 HDi, 1.6 eHDi and 2.0 HDi). The 508 SW, an estate version is also on offer and prices, based on trim are from €29,290, €30,990 and €31,495 respectively).