Peugeot 308 SW (2014) first official pictures

By Ollie Kew

First Official Pictures

06 January 2014 11:00

This is the new Peugeot 308 SW, the station wagon variant of the new 308 hatchback. Like its hatchback sister, it’s much lighter, more spacious, and smarter looking than its immediate predecessor. In fact, it could be about to pull the rug from under the VW Golf Estate and Seat Leon ST’s tyres…

A huge boot! Seriously, what else do you want from an estate? Peugeot claims the 308 SW sports a 610-litre load bay with all five seats in place. That’s five litres more than in the Golf’s boot, and 23 litres better than the new Seat Leon wagon.

Although Peugeot proudly crows that the rear seats can be folded completely flat by tugging a lever inside the boot, the French marque hasn’t yet disclosed the maximum load space this allows. It could be humongous though, thanks to the 308’s new ‘EMP2’ platform.

‘EMP2’, co-developed between Peugeot and Citroen, might sound like a droid from Star Wars, but it’s actually carrying the hopes of a new generation of French cars. The ‘Efficient Modular Platform’ will underpin several family hatchbacks, MPVs and crossovers from the two brands and already sees duty in the Citroen C4 Picasso.

The architecture saves 140kg in weight versus the old 308, and crucially for this SW model, it’s more space-efficient inside too. That liberates precious litres behind the tailgate…

The dashboard is of course identical to the 308 hatch: it’s minimalist, touchscreen-centric, and bound to divide opinion with that love/hate-it small-diameter steering wheel. It’s a high-quality cabin though, and that avant-garde design is a reassuring sign of life from Peugeot’s beleaguered ranks. Though why they've coined it 'i-Cockpit' is anyone's guess...

Engines will be shared with the hatchback, including a ‘BlueHDI’ turbodiesel variant to compete with the VW Golf Bluemotion and Ford Focus Econetic. It emits 85g/km of CO2 – another class-beating figure for the car – and dodges road tax as a result.

By Ollie Kew