In-depth reviews

Peugeot 508 owner reviews

"Peugeot has upped its game with its latest 508, a big hatchback that could give premium rivals a fright"

Carbuyer Rating

4.0 out of 5

Owners Rating

4.4 out of 5

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Reviews

Owner Reviews

  • 5 out of 5
  • 4 out of 5
  • 3 out of 5
  • 2 out of 5
  • 1 out of 5
thumbs up80%of people would recommend this car to a friend

Common Problems

  • Electrics (1 case)

Review 1 of 5

5 out of 5

Car Details

Model

GT - 1.6T 225 Petrol

Year

2018

Avg annual mileage

5,000 – 9,999

Owned

Less than a year

Bought Car

New

Typical MPG

48
Tell us what you think about your car?
We purchased a 68 plate Peugeot 508 Fastback in December 2019. The car is GT Spec with optional red Pearlescent paint, night vision and sunroof. With 8500 miles on the clock and one owner the car was priced at just under £25,000. With regards to design, my personal view is that the car is stunning. On roads that are congested with grey SUVs, this red fastback really stands out and is a true head turner. From the front, a large chrome plated grill, with “508” stamped proudly on the bonnet and black detailing sits proudly between two fang like day running lights that flow into aggressive, slim LED headlights and merge into bold lines, sweeping roof line and sharp creases that flow along the body of the car into wide haunches at the rear. This blends seamlessly into a gloss black LED light bar which reaches either end of the rear and is complimented with modern lighting that dances across the bar when you unlock the car. This is enhanced by a gloss black diffuser, gloss black wing mirrors, dark tinted windows and black glass roof which add to the aggressive sporty styling and give the car an overall appearance of being planted, muscular and ready to launch into action. It’s finished with 19-inch diamond cut alloy wheels that suit the car perfectly. Once you step inside the car the class leading design continues. The seats are upholstered in real leather, black, with a diamond pattern. They are big, comfortable and fantastically supportive. In this trim, they also benefit (driver and passenger) from being electric (driver’s memory), heated, massaging, electric lumbar support and extendable thigh support, even taller drivers can get comfy easily. I’m 6 foot and a friend in the passenger seat had no issues at 6 foot 7 inches. The massage function is truly fantastic and has a range of options and pressures. The dashboard has a two-step cockpit design upholstered in faux carbon fibre, leather and gloss Black trim. The centre has a 10-inch touchscreen with piano style short cut keys and touch sensitive keys for quick access to heated seat settings, demister and stop/start functions underneath. In front of the driver is a high definition fully digital instrument cluster, set higher than in a typical car with a small go-kart like steering wheel which you look over rather than through. This is fitted with some shortcut buttons, chrome effect paddle shifters and a cruise control stick. The centre console benefits from a concealed wireless charging pad with ambient lighting – in my opinion perfectly positioned to reduce distractions caused by mobile phones – out of sight out of mind, two USB points, two cup holders with ambient lighting rings, smaller cubby next to the gear stick with a 12V socket and a decent sized arm rest with split opening cubby. In addition, there is a glovebox, but this is next to useless due to the fusebox not being moved over to the driver side when it was converted for right hand markets. In the rear there are two USB points, air vents and centre arm rest with two cup holders. The rear bench also has Isofix points, they are neatly hidden away under zips, but these are stiff and difficult to access. There are decent door bins in the front with blue ambient lighting strips across the door and adequate bins in the rear. For some reason in Europe they have fitted ambient lighting to the length of the dashboard which is absent from UK cars and is somewhat disappointing. There is no ambient lighting at all in the rear, which is again disappointing as it is very dark with black leather, black roof lining and dark windows, not ideal for children. Peugeot also offer other materials in lieu of the gloss black in Europe, which would be preferable as the gloss black is susceptible to scratches, dust and fingerprints. The nets on the back of the front seats aren’t the largest and feel a little cheap. However, overall everything is solidly put together with soft touch materials everywhere and a reassuring clunk when you shut the doors. To the rear, the large boot is electrically operated with gesture operation. In the boot are four tethering points, a carrier bag hook and 12v socket. With the seats folded down the 508 offers plenty of space and an almost flat loading bay. There are no clever storage spaces in the boot but there is a space saver spare wheel. The boot is large enough to accommodate a medium sized dog and pushchair together. It would not suitable for a large dog to be able to sit up in due to the sloping boot. This car is packed full of technology; automatic parking, adaptive cruise control, automatic lights and wipers, spotlights, cornering lamps, auto dip main beam lights, auto dimming rear view mirror, auto dimming and power folding heated wing mirrors which dip in reverse, front and rear parking sensors, front and rear cameras, night vision, Apple Carplay, Android Auto, voice control, dual zone climate control, keyless entry and ignition, navigation, individual profile settings, a fantastic Focal sound system with a sub in the boot, connected apps and customisable instrument cluster. All of this is very impressive but it not without fault. At the time of writing this review there is a known “glitch” with the climate control system. When set to mono, so both sides are set at the same time, you have to switch the mono function on and off manually every time the car is switched on and off or it won’t allow you to adjust the temperature. The system can be laggy for the first couple of minutes, you must wait for it to fully load as all the cars functions are controlled through it. The automatic parking function is very clever, but in all honesty is only suitable for quiet roads and car parks as the process is a bit of a faff. The system can be a little over complicated with lots of menus and sub-menus, but once it is set up how you want it, it is easy to use and works very well. It would be nice to have more options linked to individual profiles such as personalisation of the instrument cluster and radio settings. It would be better if these were linked to each key rather than being something you need to select through the screen. Apple carplay and android auto work well with the system. It would be good if you could use the project the navigation onto the instrument cluster in lieu of the Peugeot TomTom system. There is nothing wrong with the TomTom system supplied by Peugeot, guidance is clear, fluid and utilises traffic information well, but after three years there is a fee to keep it updated and when I updated maps, it took 50 minutes to install a 17 GB update that required the car to be left running, I couldn’t lock it either! Another oversight we noticed is the auto wipers can’t be adjusted. Most of the time they get it right, but occasionally they go wild and this can’t be adjusted with anything other than manual operation – they also neglected to fit a single wipe function so you have to turn them on and off to wipe the windscreen. Finally, the cameras are a little low definition but work well enough. Due to its position the rear camera could benefit from either being retractable or equipped with air/water nozzle to clean it in bad weather. These minor oversights aside, the system is very good and instrument cluster is clear and concise. Front wheel drive, eight-speed automatic gearbox and a 1.6 turbo petrol with 225 brake horsepower. Wow! What a surprise! The adaptive suspension and choice of driving modes genuinely shift the way the car drives. In eco mode it is firm but comfortable, provides reasonable response for day to day driving when accelerating and can easily achieve in excess of 55 MPG on the motorway. In comfort mode you can enjoy a very supple ride with improved throttle response and a very small sacrifice in MPG. Click it into sport mode, and everything changes – it holds the gears right to the top of the rev range, the exhaust sounds fantastic, then when you put your foot down it pushes you into your seat as firmer suspension settings help keep you planted and gripped, even in the sharpest of bends. It is truly a remarkable engine with a still and well-balanced chassis. This is a car that will give any equivalent German car a run for its money. It’s fun, dynamic, comfortable and capable to adapting to country roads, driving around town and cruising down the motorway in the quiet and well insulated cabin. On the motorway, the adaptive cruise control combined with semi-autonomous functionality makes for relaxed and easy driving. Generally, it keeps you in lane and adjusts speed with ease in traffic. Occasionally, the lane keep assist can be excessive, but this generally limited to when being used off the motorway and can be deactivated by a simple button on the dashboard. To conclude, the car isn’t perfect, no car is, but it is certainly very close. There are some niggles and oversights Peugeot ought to get sorted, in reality the computer systems are not as refined as those in the Audi A5, but for the price difference, they are a very close second. Overall, the car is balanced, practical, fun and comfortable. As a second hand buy it is great value and with innovations like night vision – this is a game changer for safety and convenience, especially in fog, Peugeot is really stepping up its game. Although the sloping roofline is a little inconvenient for those passengers in the back who are over 6 foot, the car is comfortable and does everything you need it to do. I would highly recommend this car for both families and professionals, short journeys or commuters and needs to be experienced to believed.
Would you recommend the car to a friend?

5 out of 5

Car Details

Model

2.0 ltr Allure

Year

2013

Avg annual mileage

15,000 – 19,999

Owned

2 - 3 years

Bought Car

New

Typical MPG

51
Tell us what you think about your car?
I have owned this car now nearly 2 years now. The only problems so far are that the heated seats aren't working, I keep repairing the block connector under the seat and I get another 5-6 weeks out of them. Other than that it's a lovely car to drive, it never lets me down, it's super reliable, pulls well and economy is good for a big car. A small issue would be that rain water gets into the boot when you open the boot lid, haven't noticed any wind noise that others complain about or wipers hitting the side pillar, car is so comfortable and smooth, car has 100277 miles and is still going strong.
Would you recommend the car to a friend?

5 out of 5

Car Details

Model

2.0-litre HDi 140 bhp

Year

2013

Avg annual mileage

15,000 – 19,999

Owned

2 - 3 years

Bought Car

New

Typical MPG

50
Tell us what you think about your car?
Bought car at 62,680 miles, now has 100,344 and not one problem. Only thing I have put on it is two new front tyres. Great to drive, good power, great motorway cruiser. Problems are: glovebox is a joke and also the side pockets are a very bad design. Lastly, when the boot is opened in the rain, the water from the boot lid rolls into the boot.
Would you recommend the car to a friend?

3 out of 5

Car Details

Model

2.0 HDI 180 ATM

Year

2019

Bought Car

Used
Tell us what you think about your car?
Just as a warning for those who watch and read reviews - before making the purchase I watched 20+ reviews and read about 10 and the main issue with them is that these reviewers get the car for a few hours and rly don't test it out as much as needed (I think so at least). Why so? Because, while I like the car, it's a stunner no doubt - but all the perks it has work only half decent and that's quite a bummer considering the price. For example - lane assist has a really stupid approach where it only corrects your lane when you go right up to the edge of your lane and then just steers quite heavily to the opposite side. Problem with that is that you keep zigzaging from one side of the lane to other. It should have been made in a way to keep you in the middle of the lane continuously and that would work. This way it's really not much of a help. Blind spot warning light is a joke. I've driven Renault, Volkswagen, Lexus and they all work better. This is something you're better turning off than relying on it to not make a fault as you really need to have the other car very close to yours to show the warning light in the mirror if at all. Complete fail on this one. The steering wheel - while I love the small size of it, but the amount of turning that is needed to turn a corner is ridiculous! For such a small wheel you would think that it would be even more sensitive to touch, not the other way around, but sadly to make a 90 degree turn you really need to spin the wheel A LOT. I'm also not so sure that the emergency braking is working top notch, as I've definitely seen better on volkswagen for example as it is more cautious and I think I prefer that it brakes a few times more than needed than when not enough.. But this is something I haven't had explained that much anyway. Overall - the reviews don't speak about these issues that for me are a big part of purchase and if i'd knew that the safety features are working only half-ish then a) I would not opt to have them or b) maybe even wouldn't choose this car. Though as I said, I like the look, but safety is #1 concern and I feel like this car has missed a lot of points here with execution of all the systems that on paper look better than in practice. So, that's just a quick heads-up for you guys.
Would you recommend the car to a friend?

4 out of 5

Car Details

Model

2.0 allure 140

Year

2012

Avg annual mileage

More than 20,000

Owned

2 - 3 years

Bought Car

New

Typical MPG

52
Tell us what you think about your car?
Absolutely love this car, bought it used with 116,000 miles on the clock. Now up to 154,000. Had no issues with electrics, apart from a couple of headlight bulbs (passenger side is a pain to change) had new clutch and flywheel as expected. Ride is very smooth and plenty of power above 2,000rpm. Only issue I have is that the driver side wiper hits the A pillar. Still looking for a fix for this. Economy is great and averages about 70mpg on motorways. Highly specced for the price, loads of room inside and a big boot. **note, it is a saloon, not a hatchback**
Would you recommend the car to a friend?

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