Peugeot E-308 review: Who needs an SUV when hatchbacks are this good?

Peugeot e308

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Year: 2026

Fuel: Electric

Verdict: A bit pricey in GT form, but the new battery has unlocked seriously good range, and the E-308 remains pleasing to drive and to look at.

Was life really that much better before we all started buying SUVs in their thousands?

Think back to when the Golf, the Focus, the Corolla, and the 308 were all bestsellers; the planet wasn’t on fire, Donald Trump was just a TV personality, and Formula One cars had proper engines. Okay, so Mayo were still winless, but you can’t have everything.

Trying to sell hatchbacks to a modern audience raised on nothing but a sludgy diet of SUVs is Sisyphean, but at least some are still prepared to make the effort. It probably doesn’t hurt this Peugeot 308’s business case within the broader Stellantis Group that it shares its platform, engines and pretty much everything but the bodywork with a crossover, the Peugeot 408.

For 2026, Peugeot has given the 308 a bit of an update and an upgrade. You’ll notice this most at the front, where the grille that used to be inset into the bodywork now spreads broadly across the face of the car, rather in the manner of a child smearing chocolate cake around its lips (but rather more handsome than that sounds).

The headlights have been split into two units, leaving glowering three-section LED running lights up high, while the main beams shine from separate lamps lower down.

It certainly looks more distinctive than the older version, with its long, drooping “fang” LED lights. Around the back there is a set of slim brake lights, but less in the way of overall newness. Gotta love the new colours, though – this shiny, rich “Lagoa Blue” (which looks much more green to us…) is the standard, no-cost colour option.

Inside, there’s really nothing new here, or at least I thought so until it was pointed out to me that the driver’s digital display has new graphics and view options. They’re nice, but the main touchscreen – set low in the dashboard, with some handy physical shortcut buttons and the customisable “I-Toggle” shortcuts above those – is a bit sluggish and can sometimes take too long to make up its mind.

You can’t fault the comfort in the front of the 308, though, and while many will still struggle with the way the small, hexagonal steering wheel is supposed to more or less sit in your lap, it’s never bothered me.

Material quality is very good, and the cabin looks and feels notably classy – backing up Peugeot’s recent strong showing in various reliability surveys.

In the back, the 308’s case as a “you don’t need an SUV” car does start to fall apart a bit. Legroom is notably on the short side (it’s adequate, but no more than that), while the boot, at 412 litres in the hybrid version, is eclipsed by rivals such as the Skoda Octavia.

It’s worse again in this E-308 – just 361 litres. Happily, you can rectify all that by picking the very handsome 308 SW estate, which has a longer wheelbase than this hatchback model (meaning a little more rear legroom) and a massive boot.

Either way, you’ll have a very pleasant car to drive. You can have the 308 with a 145hp 1.2 litre hybrid petrol engine, which is pretty efficient, but to be honest it’s getting on a bit now and feels a wheezy at times.

It’s far better to go for the updated E-308 electric version. This has just gained a new battery pack, which gives it a critical increase in range. Previously, the E-308 had an official range of 411km and struggled to get much past 350km in real-world driving. The new 55kWh (net) battery stretches the official range to 450km.

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Better yet, in real-world conditions you should pretty easily reach 420km or 430km – this is a seriously efficient car, easily able to duck under the 15kWh/100km efficiency level even with lots of strenuous motorway driving. Charging isn’t quite so impressive (11kW on AC power is okay, but 100kW on DC feels a bit slack) but the genuine range is so good that you probably won’t mind much.

The steering is light and sharp, and so the E-308 is very pleasant to thread along a challenging road, but it’s also reasonably refined on a longer motorway run. The ride quality allows the large alloy wheels of our GT-spec test car to bobble and jiggle around a bit too much at lower speeds, but you could probably cure most of that by picking a more basic Allure version and specifying smaller alloys than the 18-inch rims of our test car.

There is one final hurdle for the 308 to leap, and that’s its price. A starting price of €33,995 for the (admittedly well-equipped) hybrid Allure model is slightly high, but that makes the €39,190 for our GT test car seem quite chunky. Possibly better to go for the Allure E-308 at €36,390 and forego such niceties as heated seats and steering wheel.

Still, either of those cars, or the 308 SW estate, just make so much more sense and are so much better to drive than almost any equivalent SUV model. An SUV certainly can’t transport you back to a happier, simpler time, even if it is only for a fleeting moment, and who could put a price on that?

Lowdown: Peugeot E-308 GT

Power: 115kW e-motor developing 156hp and 270Nm of torque, powering the front wheels via a single-speed automatic transmission.

CO2 emissions (annual motor tax) 0g/km (€120).

Electric consumption: 14.9-15.1 kWh/100km (WLTP).

Electric range: 450km (WLTP).

Electric range: 430km (Observed).

0-100km/h: 9.3 sec.

Price: €39,190 as tested, 308 starts from €33,995.

Our rating: 4/5.

Verdict: A bit pricey in GT form, but the new battery has unlocked seriously good range, and the E-308 remains pleasing to drive and to look at.