Report 7
Just when we had a slight glimmer of normality, once again, this miserable virus has got in the way of things, with the ever changing rules of what we are and are not allowed to do, where we can go and where we can’t. The Peugeot and I were set for a road trip to France to Peugeot’s HQ for an event. With France being added to the quarantine list, nobody fancied having to do two weeks of self-isolation when back in the UK, so that was cancelled.
Disappointed, but fully accepting of these rules, I was looking forward to a bit of continental driving, terrible coffee from motorway vending machines and also a long drive in the SW. In my head it was going to be an economy run, though in reality… Anyway, the day the car and I were meant to be heading for Folkestone and Le Shuttle, the new rules were announced. Instead, a work trip to Scotland replaced it. Much like the assassins you see in films, I got a text message with a postcode, a time and a message simply stating ‘somewhere near Edinburgh’. Somewhere near Edinburgh was optimistic at best, as the postcode indicated that the Peugeot and I were heading essentially for Dundee. In the end, it turned out to be 45 minutes of rushed photography before jumping back in the driver’s seat and pointing the car south – with some help from the navigation system. With 11 hours sat behind the wheel, it confirmed a few things for me about the 508 SW. Firstly, it’s a magnificent place to be, you sit beautifully in the car, cocooned with the high centre console and low driver’s seat, black headlining and Peugeot’s i-cockpit. I appreciate that these elements aren’t to all tastes, but I personally love them all. The cabin is silent, no wind or tyre noise, which helps the standard non-Focal sound system beat stronger. The seats are comfortable, supportive and perfectly adjustable for my less than forgiving back. There’s no denying that the 1.5-litre engine struggled a bit on the long motorway climbs, the first time that I’d noticed it, but enough to get me thinking that the more powerful 2.0-litre powerplant is worth checking out if you were looking to buy a 508 SW. I’m hugely proud of the car, though, as it did the whole journey on less than one tank of diesel (just about) with the low fuel light only coming on fifteen minutes from home. 677 miles, 60mpg according to the car’s trip computer and 57.7mpg from my own calculations, isn’t bad at all, is it?
I don’t know how or why, but the day after the mammoth Scottish road trip, the car decided to throw a huge wobbly and switch to kilometres for the speedometer and odometer. It also decided to erase the radio presets and reset all the settings that I had painstakingly set over the preceeding months. Maybe it was its way of expressing its dissatisfaction at being driven that hard in one day. On a final plus for this month, I’ve worked out a way around the sticking temperature on the climate control system by ensuring that the two temperatures for driver and passenger are not synced. However, my OCD isn’t happy!
Gavin Braithwaite-Smith
Date arrived 17th December 2019
Fuel economy 52.4-62.0 (WLTP combined) 56.4mpg (on test)
Mileage 9,787
I wish you could see the ‘Knight Rider’ inspired taillights when unlocking the car.
The car deciding it was going to function in kilometres for a while.