KEY POINTS:
The Europeans, and particularly the French, are brilliant at designing vehicles that combine chic with practicality. Some are of little interest to Kiwis _ the Renault Scenic, for example, might be a work of genius, but it's also technically a people-mover and therefore largely ignored over here.
But others hit the sweet spot _ such as Peugeot's new 308 SW, which has touches of the people mover about it but comes wrapped up in the clothes of a conventional station wagon.
What's new? The SW (Peugeot insists it doesn't stand for "Station Wagon" _ yeah, right) is simply a longer version of the 308 hatchback with more passenger and luggage space.
Inside you get a full MPV-style seating configuration, with three mounted rear seats that will slide, fold, reposition (to make a super-spacious four-seater) or come out of the car.
The front passenger seat folds for long loads (it'll swallow something over 3m long) and you can even option-in third-row seating to make the 308 SW a seven-chair proposition.
The company line "Many [customers] have diverse needs from business requirements for load capacity and staff transport, to families who need to fit in up to seven passengers," says John Keenan, general manager of Peugeot in New Zealand.
"But they do not want to compromise values in respect to driving an attractive and fuel-efficient vehicle."What we sayThe 308 looks swish from some angles. Viewed from upon high, it looks well-balanced and pretty swish. Down low, or from the rear three-quarter, it seems a bit dumpy, with a bulbous bum and that Anglia-like reverse D-pillar.
But it is well-packaged and efficient, with Peugeot's torquey 2.0-litre turbo diesel engine and six-speed automatic transmission fitted as standard.
On the roadThe SW weighs 95kg more than the hatchback and is the better for it. The HDi engine is effortless, but the extra mass seems to settle the SW on rutted and undulating surfaces that little bit better than the lighter model.
Visibility is excellent and the SW gets a panoramic glass roof as standard. It's thinner than the one atop the HDi hatch, but stronger than a conventional steel lid. And you can block it off with an electric folding blind.
So what's stopping you?The starting price of $45,190 is just $2200 more than the 308 2.0 HDi hatchback, but that's still kind of pricey for what's supposed to be a compact wagon (albeit quite a big one).
And that's before you've added in options such as the Prestige (17-inch wheels, folding mirrors) or Luxury (Prestige plus leather trim and chrome detailing) packages.
