What’s hot?
- A smart looking car in estate form and one that enjoys both a good on-road and corporate car park image.
- Performance from the 1.2-litre turbo-charged three cylinder 130 brake horsepower engine bright enough for such a large car with a 0-60mph time of 12.1secs and top speed of 127mph.
- The low revving engine, with an impressive 169ft-lbs of torque, makes for relaxed high speed touring free from any high frequency vibration plus good roll-on fifth gear acceleration.
- Even in the mid level Active guise tested, the build and finished appears top rate and a cockpit inspired interior focuses on the driver’s needs.
- A comprehensive infotainment package includes easy-to-use Bluetooth connectivity for both phone and audio files.
- With a wheelbase of 2.62 metres, the SW boasts an array of storage compartments including a cooled glove box of 12-litres and front door trays of 3.7-litres each able to accommodate a 1.5-litre water bottle.
- A boot capacity of 470-litres grows to more than 1,300-litres with the rear seats folded and these do fold flat for more secure storage.
- With a retail OTR tag of £19,045 for the Active model, the car is very competitively priced.
What’s not?
- Peugeot made great play over their experts achieving more than 1,100 miles on a single tank of petrol but on my 1,100 mile business trip, the car averaged less than 40mpg even before being caned round the Nordschiefe.
- Despite all the internal storage capacity this is not a car for caffeine addicts because there is just one cup holder!
- Fans of a great deal of cabin light may appreciate the optional ‘Cielo’ panoramic glass roof but not the rattling of its electric blind that plagued this review car.
- Handling, while nice and neutral in most situations, is not on par with the more dynamic Ford Focus chassis and reached its limits pretty quickly on old Nurburgring race track.
