Peugeot e-308 Review & Prices

Think of the new Peugeot e-308 as the concluding part of a trilogy: you can already buy a conventionally powered 308 and a plug-in hybrid, but now there’s a fully electric car to complete the set.

The electric version is the most expensive of the three, which is to be expected as an electric car, but it’s also more expensive than most of the other battery-powered hatchbacks you might consider, such as the Volkswagen ID3, Citroen e-C4 and Renault Megane E-Tech. And that’s for the five-door hatchback; there’s also an e-308 SW, which is something of a rarity as there aren’t many electric estate cars.

What do you get for your money? Well, aside from the usual 308 good stuff – stylish looks and an upmarket cabin – the entry-level Allure model comes with 18-inch alloy wheels, heated front seats and steering wheel, and satellite navigation is standard along with a rear-view camera. Safety kit includes autonomous emergency braking and adaptive cruise control to hold a safe distance from the vehicle in front.

GT models are about £2,000 more, adding full matrix LED headlights, 3D LED taillights, a GT-specific grille, and wider sills to add more aggression to the looks. The seats are trimmed with soft Alcantara, there’s aluminium trim on the dash and door panels, and you get front parking sensors. The 3D digital instrument cluster is a neat touch that adds cool factor to the cabin.

For a short period, there’s also a limited-run First Edition. This costs a fraction less than the GT and has an exclusive interior with upholstery that combines cloth, synthetic leather and Alcantara.

All three trim levels share the same electric motor and battery. The motor has 156hp, which should be enough for brisk rather than exciting performance – you won’t be keeping up with a Tesla Model 3, that’s for sure. The 54kWh battery offers an official range of up to 250 miles, though the higher-spec car manages a couple of miles less due to its larger alloy wheels.

That’s a little behind the Volkswagen ID3 Pro’s 266-mile range, despite the fact the Peugeot comes with a heat pump as standard to improve efficiency.

Using that 250 miles of range is a generally pleasant experience. The e-308 manages to be comfortable around town, yet still has a bit of fun about it when the road goes twisty. But only up to a point. For an electric car, it's not very punchy at all, with only 156hp on offer where 200hp is more of a base level for electric hatchbacks these days. It's fine, just feels a bit sluggish if you've ever driven any of those VW, Cupra, MG or Renault alternatives that pack a bit more power and therefore a more impressive acceleration.

When you do need to stop and recharge, the e-308 is capable of topping up its batteries from 20-80% in about 30 minutes using a 100kW rapid charger. A full charge from a 7.4kW home wallbox takes seven hours and 20 minutes.

So, is the Peugeot e-308 a good car? Well, the regular Peugeot 308 earned score of 8/10 on Carwow, so it’s off to a strong start, but there’s no getting away from the fact it costs more than the talented alternatives listed above, and can’t go quite as far as the best electric hatchbacks on a full charge.

But the interior quality is a step above the likes of the VW ID3, Vauxhall Astra Electric or MG 4, and it’s an all-round high-quality experience. Check out the latest Peugeot e-308 deals available through Carwow, or browse other new Peugeot deals, and you can also see the latest used Peugeot stock from a network of trusted dealers. Plus, you can sell your car through Carwow, too.

The e-308 is another example of how Peugeot is pushing itself a little more upmarket, with the entry price outpointing Volkswagen and Cupra’s electric hatchbacks despite offering less power and a shorter range than either. 

It’s only a couple of thousand pounds to step up from the Allure to GT trim level - the only two the electric 308 is offered in. Extra kit includes nicer 18-inch alloy wheels, full Matrix LED headlights, heated front seats and steering wheel and a host of other visual upgrades to make the car feel more expensive.

The e-308 is a nice well-rounded driving experience no matter what type of road, although it doesn’t have the power or punch of most electric vehicles

In town

It’s a shame that there’s no one-pedal driving option in the Peugeot, as you get in cars such as the Nissan Leaf, where you can drive the majority of the time just using the accelerator as the car slows and can be brought to a complete stop when you lift off (which also, via regenerative braking, recoups more energy to be put back into the battery. With the e-308 you only get the regular drive mode, or hit the ‘B’ button for increased regen, but it’s not as effective as full-on one-pedal modes.

The e-308 is also made less town-friendly by its small rear window and average-sized wing mirrors, neither of which help lift all-round visibility, although a rear parking camera is standard. Front parking sensors are though only standard on the GT.

But the Peugeot rides over bumps and urban road furniture well, with no unpleasant thumping or banging rattling through the cabin despite the car being fitted with pretty large and attractive 18-inch alloy wheels as standard. And as with all EVs you get to enjoy cruising in serene and relaxing silence. Just be aware that car parks in particular are a place where EVs can creep up on unwary and inattentive pedestrians.

It’s also worth noting that Peugeot seems to have finally dropped its horrible auto wiper set-up where a single sweep by flicking down on the wiper stalk would disengage the auto wiper function, so every time you got a run of water you wanted to sweep away you’d have to double-flick on the stalk to keep the auto function enabled.

And the usual Peugeot warning applies to the e-308 as much as it does the other cars in the brand’s line-up, where the small steering wheel takes a bit of getting used to, and means you need to work harder to find the right driving position.

On the motorway

Electric vehicles as a whole are never at their best on the motorway as higher speeds take their toll on the battery’s range. But keep the speed under control, or accept you’re not going to get near the official range, and the e-308 is a pleasant way to cover long distances, although there is a surprising amount of wind and road noise for an otherwise classy car. That’s amplified by the absence of engine noise.

But as with around town, the Peugeot is a comfortable car for longer runs, with supportive front seats.

But the car being quite severely down on power compared to other electric cars, such as the 218hp MG 4 or the 204hp of Volkswagen’s ID3 and the Cupra Born, is clearly felt when you’re trying to get up to motorway speed on a slip-road, for example. The 0-62mph acceleration time of almost 10 seconds is a bit lacklustre when cheaper electric hatches have significantly more performance.

On a twisty road

When the road gets twistier, the e-308 is surprisingly fun for a fairly low-powered electric car. That 156hp means the e-308 isn’t surging from bend to bend, but that doesn’t matter so much as it’s a hatchback not a performance car, and the lack of body roll and a steering weight that isn’t too light gives the confidence to drive B-roads at a brisk pace. More powerful EVs that haven’t been set up as performance cars sometimes feel a bit out of their depth when they can bolt from corner to corner but haven’t had any upgrades to the likes of the suspension, so aren’t any more adept at taking bends.

The lack of body roll in particular is surprising because that would normally come hand-in-hand with a car that’s not great at absorbing bumps and ripples in the road. But while the e-308 isn’t the most cosseting of EV hatchbacks, it rides the bumps well and you feel them without them being uncomfortable.

There’s a decent amount of interior stowage, but rear passenger and boot space are no better than average

The front of the e-308 looks and feels cutting edge and classy, which is a good start. There are a couple of stowage areas including two cupholders and a little spot that works for keys or a phone. The under-arm storage area is small but does have a USB-C charging point to add to the single USB and the 12V sockets at the bottom of the dashboard.

A nice touch is that the big door bins are lined, so you don't get the scratch sound of anything that’s been put in them sliding up and down hard plastic, as you do with many cars.

As mentioned above, the small steering wheel does take a little getting used to, and adds another dimension to trying to find the best seating position so you’re not only comfortable, but can also see the dials.

Space in the back seats

A pair of USB-C points greet rear occupants, as do a pair of nicely sculpted rear seats. Neither head or leg room are excessive, but it’s comfortable enough for a pair of adults, though comfort would be increased if it were easier to get your feet under the front seats. Those big and supportive seats do also impact the rear room a little.

A third passenger will be less comfy, as even though the e-308 is an EV, it shares its set-up with petrol and diesel hatchbacks, so the floor isn’t flat in the middle, leaving a third passenger with a central tunnel to straddle their feet across.

Getting in isn’t as easy as you’d hope thanks to a high door sill that you have to lift your feet over, but at least you get some big door bins to drop stuff into. The rear headrests are big and comfy, which is great for rear seat passengers but not so good for the driver’s rear visibility when they’re left up and the back seat isn’t occupied.

The ISOFIX fitting on the two outer rear seats are hidden behind quite fiddly zips, which will annoy anyone that has to switch car seats in and out frequently. And there’s no front ISOFIX fitting.

Boot space

The boot drops from 421 to 361 litres when you go from petrol or diesel 308s into the electric version thanks to the battery packaging - another compromise of sharing the same design of car across multiple powertrains. But that’s still a decent size, out-pointing the MG 4, and within range of the 385 litres offered by both the Cupra Born and VW ID3, and the Citroen e-C4’s 380. But the Renault Megane is the handiest hatch for boot space at a huge 440 litres.

The rear seats drop to reveal a 1,271-litre space, and you’ll find a net for small items to one side of the boot, along with four tie-down points, but there are no bag hooks, power sockets or other cleverness, apart from a small under-floor area the charge cables will fit into.

The e-308 impresses for interior quality and design in particular, although the infotainment system isn’t the most intuitive despite improvements over previous attempts such as handy shortcut buttons 

First impressions are excellent when you drop into the e-308’s cabin, with a neat and modern design backed up by some high-quality materials. You can tell Peugeot is trying to push itself upmarket with the step forward in cabin quality. 

The infotainment across Peugeot models has been something of a recent bugbear for usability reasons, and while diluted in the e-308, they’re still there. The 10.0-inch touchscreen is not the easiest system to navigate around to find the various functions, especially when on the move, although the addition of big shortcut buttons is a very welcome one in lieu of actually taking the climate control out of the touchscreen system, which would be the ideal solution. A nice touch is that the switches change colour when you engage sport mode. 

Peugeot keeps it simple with just the one battery and motor combination, but it’s a shame it’s all a bit middle-of-the-road in terms of efficiency and range. The 54kWh battery gives the e-308 an official range figure of 250 miles, which should mean around 200 in the real world. And that’s not a bad figure. It’s just that the similarly priced VW ID3 and Cupra Born eke out another 15 or so from a similar-sized battery on the official figures, and can offer pricier versions with bigger batteries too, while the Renault Megane goes up to 280 miles on its 60kWh battery.

The story is slightly worse when it comes to charging rates, with the e-308 only able to charge at a maximum of 100kW, which is pretty slow by modern standards. The Cupra Born and VW ID3 are slightly faster at 120kW, the Renault Megane can take power at up to 130kW and the MG 4 and BYD Dolphin are as high as 150kW. It’s not a big difference, but will impact how much time you spend waiting for the car to recharge at high-powered charging points. 

Efficiency is also not quite up with the best either. Based on the number of miles each kilowatt can take the car, the e-308’s official figure is 3.8 miles per kWh, which is better than the MG 4, but a little off the others, with the VW ID3 sitting at up to 4.3 miles per kWh, likewise the BYD Dolphin, and the Renault Megane at 3.9.

But at least the EV running costs benefits are alive and well, especially if you take the e-308 as a company car, due to the huge benefit-in-kind savings. A higher-rate tax payer would be looking at savings of around £1,500 for the 2024-25 tax year on the electric 308 versus the plug-in hybrid version, and that rises to savings in the region of £3,500 in company car tax alone versus the diesel 308 hatch. 

Then there’s road tax, with EVs sitting in the lowest Vehicle Excise Duty band. 

Although the e-308 hasn’t been tested specifically, the internal combustion-engined hatchback was tested by safety expert Euro NCAP in 2022 and scored a slightly disappointing four stars from the maximum of five. Protection of vulnerable road users wasn’t great, and the adult occupant score suffered from some marginal protection of the driver in the front impact test. 

Safety equipment includes the Active Safety Brake system that detects pedestrians or cyclists, even at night, as well as lane keeping assist, cruise control and six airbags.

Peugeot’s warranty offering is the industry basic standard of three years or 60,000 miles, although the mileage limit doesn’t come into effect until the third year. But the battery on the electric car gets an additional eight-year/100,000-mile warranty backing it to be performing at at least 70% of original capacity.