Peugeot 308 VS Hyundai i20
Peugeot 308
Likes
- Sinister exterior styling
- Lavish interior
- Superb to drive
Dislikes
- Long charging time
- High price compared to petrol variant
- You could have a fully electric car for less money
Hyundai i20
Likes
- Dynamics
- Powertrain
- Practicality
Dislikes
- Firm ride
- Flaky launch control
- Turning circle
Summary
Peugeot 308
Ah, now you can have your Peugeot 308 and plug it into a power point as well. Yes, the new petrol version of the 308 arrived late last year and now the 308 GT Sport Hatch plug-in hybrid is here, too.
We've just driven the 308 GT Sport plug-in hybrid (PHEV) at its Australian launch and we can now answer all of your questions, such as how much it costs over a regular petrol 308, what's its electric range, what features come standard, what's it like to drive and is there a fully electric Peugeot coming soon?
Ready? Let's go.
Read more about Peugeot
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- This is not a dream! Peugeot Inception is a stunning Porsche Taycan-, Audi e-tron GT-rivalling electric sports sedan
- Fashionably late? 2023 Peugeot 508 GT Sportswagon PHEV to arrive in pre-facelift form just before facelifted sedan later this year
| Safety rating | — |
|---|---|
| Engine Type | — |
| Fuel Type | Petrol Electric Hybrid |
| Fuel Efficiency | —L/100km |
| Seating | — |
Hyundai i20
Start occupying the top step of the World Rally Championship podium and the brand benefits are huge. Just ask Audi, Ford, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen and the many others which have done exactly that to great effect over the years.
And Hyundai’s most recent foray into the WRC has focused on the compact i20, and here we have that rally weapon’s civilian offspring, the much-anticipated i20 N.
It’s a lightweight, high-tech, city-sized, hot hatch designed to steer you away from Ford’s Fiesta ST or VW’s Polo GTI, and add even more lustre to Hyundai’s N performance badge.
Read more Hyundai reviews
| Safety rating | |
|---|---|
| Engine Type | 1.6L turbo |
| Fuel Type | Regular Unleaded Petrol |
| Fuel Efficiency | 6.9L/100km |
| Seating | 5 seats |
Verdict
Peugeot 3087.4/10
The 308 GT Sport plug-in hybrid is a beautifully designed small hatch that is comfortable, enjoyable and easy to drive. The electric motor gives this hatch good acceleration and the equally impressive handling makes for a fun car to drive too. There's good storage, a decent boot and room for even tall people like me in those back seats.
There are two clear drawbacks, however: the price is steep compared to the petrol version; and you'll need to plug the vehicle into a power supply each night if you drive the car daily and want to achieve the 2.4L/100km fuel economy we did in this test.
Last, but probably the most important thing you'll read is that Peugeot will bring fully electric cars to Australia from the second half of 2023, from SUVs to (hopefully) the battery electric version of this very 308 hatch.
If it was my money, I'd hold on - you're going to have your next car for quite a long time so it's worth waiting for the fully electric versions.
Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals provided.
Hyundai i208.4/10
The i20 N hatch is so much fun, and not in a special occasion kind of way. It’s an affordable, compact performance car that’ll put a smile on your face no matter where or when you drive it. The Fiesta ST and Polo GTI have a worthy new playmate. I love it!
Design
Peugeot 308
There hasn't been a Peugeot in the last five years that wasn't stunning. There's the high quality feel in their build, and premium yet unique look - like a new Volvo but with more flair. And the 308 hatch and this hybrid version has all of that.
From the sinister looking LED tail-lights to the wide mesh grille, you really get the feeling that Peugeot is hitting its design stride.
This 308 GT Sport plug-in hybrid looks identical to the petrol version with its low, wide stance, and big dark alloy wheels that fill up its arches.
The cabin is sporty, lavish and minimalist with quilted leather upholstery seats, the digital driver display and media screen, and avant garde small angular steering wheel.
Hyundai i208/10
Hyundai’s current WRC challenger may be a coupe but this angry little five-door hatch absolutely looks the part.
We’re assured the N is the only current-generation i20 we’ll see in the Aussie market, and it runs with a relatively low (101mm) ground clearance, a grille pattern inspired by a chequered flag, black mirror shells, and menacing, angular LED headlights.
The ‘Satin Grey’ 18-inch alloys are unique to this car, as are the side skirts, raised rear spoiler, darkened LED tail-lights, a ‘sort-of’ diffuser under the rear bumper and a single fat exhaust exiting on the right-hand side.
There are three standard paint options - ‘Polar White’, ‘Sleek Silver’, and N’s signature shade of ‘Performance Blue’ (as per our test car) as well as two premium shades - ‘Dragon Red’, and ‘Phantom Black’ (+$495). A contrasting Phantom Black roof adds $1000.
Inside, the N-branded sports seats, trimmed in black cloth, featuring integrated headrests and blue contrast stitching, are unique to the i20 N. There’s a leather-trimmed sports steering wheel, handbrake lever and gear knob, as well as metal finishers on the pedals.
The 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster and same-sized multimedia screen look slick, and ambient lighting heightens the hi-tech mood.
Practicality
Peugeot 308
Peugeot's 308 is a small hatch, think Toyota Corolla, only beautiful and more spacious.
So, the 308 can carry five people with just enough head and legroom for a semi-giant like me (I'm 191cm) to sit behind his driving position.
There's good cabin storage with large door pockets, a long and deep storage box under the centre armrest up front along with two cupholders up there, too.
The boot has a cargo capacity of 361 litres, which isn't bad for this class.
To power devices there's a wireless phone charger under the dash, and USB ports for front and rear passengers.
A quirky Peugeot design feature is the low-placed angular steering wheel. I found had to squeeze my knees past to sit in the driver's seat. I'm not sure what size human was used as the test case for this but it wasn't somebody with stilts like mine, I can tell you that.
Hyundai i209/10
Although it’s just 4.1m long, the i20N is impressively space efficient with decent room up front and a surprising amount of head and legroom in the back.
Sitting behind the driver's seat, set for my 183cm position, I had plenty of head and legroom, although, understandably, three people across the back will need to be kids or understanding adults, on a short journey.
And there are plenty of storage and power options, including the wireless device charge pad in front of the gear lever, which doubles as an oddments tray when not in use, two cupholders in the front centre console, door bins with room for large bottles, a modest glove box and a lidded cubby/armrest between the front seats.
No armrest or air vents in the back, but there are map pockets on the front seat backs, and again, bins in the doors with room for bottles
There is a media USB-A socket and another for charging, as well as a 12V outlet in the front, and another USB-A power socket in the back. Hyundai suggests the latter could be handy for powering track day cameras. Great idea!
Boot space is impressive for such a compact hatch. With the rear seats upright there’s 310 litres (VDA) available. Fold the 60/40 split-folding rear backrest and no less than 1123 litres opens up.
A dual-height floor can be flat for long stuff, or deep for tall stuff, there are bag hooks provided, four tie down anchors, and a luggage net included. The spare is a space saver.
Price and features
Peugeot 308
The 308 GT Sport plug-in hybrid lists for $64,990 before on-road costs. The ‘GT Sport' part of the name is the grade and the hybrid only comes in this grade. In comparison the priciest petrol 308 hatch is the GT Premium for $48,990. The 308 GT Premium also comes in wagon form and that's $50,490. Alas the wagon doesn't come as a hybrid.
Is it good value? Nope. A charge of $16,000 over the cost of the GT Premium petrol version with almost identical standard features is pretty unreasonable. It's also not good value when you could buy a fully electric car about the same size such as a new Tesla Model 3 for $64,300, or a Polestar 2 for even less at $63,900.
However if your heart is set on a PHEV, the main competitor is another Euro hatch - the Cupra Leon VZe from $59,990.
The 308 GT Sport plug-in hybrid standard features include LED matrix headlights, 18-inch alloy wheels and a panoramic sunroof, while inside there are two 10-inch displays - one for the media system and one for the driver's gauges.
It also has black full-grain Nappa leather seats (heated and massaging for the driver and front passenger), a 10-speaker Focal stereo system, proximity unlocking, dual-zone climate control, sat nav, wireless phone charging, plus Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Hyundai i208/10
At $32,490, before on-road costs, the i20 N is to all intents and purposes the same price as Ford’s Fiesta ST ($32,290), and the VW Polo GTI ($32,890).
It’s offered in one spec only, and aside from the standard safety and performance tech, this new hot Hunday boasts a solid standard features list, including: climate control, LED headlights, tail-lights, daytime running lights and fog lights, 18-inch alloys, Bose audio with Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and digital radio, cruise control, nav (with live traffic updates), rear privacy glass, keyless entry and start (as well as remote start), sports front seats, the leather-trimmed sports steering wheel, handbrake lever and gear knob, alloy-faced pedals, auto rain-sensing wipers, power-folding exterior mirrors, plus 15W Qi wireless smartphone charging.
There’s more, like the 10.25-inch ‘N Supervision’ digital instrument cluster, plus a same-size multimedia touchscreen in the centre of the dash, a track maps feature (Sydney Motorsport Park is already in there), as well as an acceleration timer, g-force meter, plus power, engine temperature, turbo boost, brake pressure and throttle gauges.
You get the idea, and it goes toe-to-toe with the Fiesta ST and Polo GTI.
Under the bonnet
Peugeot 308
The 308 GT Sport plug-in hybrid has a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine making 132kW and 250Nm combined with an electric motor at the front wheels making 81kW and 320Nm.
The combined output of the engine and motor working together is 165kW and 360Nm, and sending that grunt to the front wheels only is an eight-speed automatic transmission.
Acceleration is good. We're talking 0-100km/h in 7.4 seconds which is more than two seconds quicker than the petrol-only variant.
Hyundai i209/10
The i20 N is powered by a turbo intercooled 1.6 litre four-cylinder petrol engine, driving the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox and Torsen-type mechanical limited slip differential.
The all-alloy (G4FP) engine features high-pressure direct-injection and an overboost function, producing 150kW from 5500-6000rpm, and 275Nm from 1750-4500rpm (rising to 304Nm on overboost at max throttle from 2000-4000rpm).
And the engine’s mechanical ‘Continuously Variable Valve Duration’ set-up is something of a breakthrough. In fact, Hyundai claims it as a world’s first for a production engine.
Not timing, not lift, but variable duration of valve opening (managed independently of timing and lift), to strike the optimal balance between power and economy across the rev range.
Efficiency
Peugeot 308
This is what it's all about right? Well, Peugeot says that after a combination of open and urban roads the 308 GT Sport plug-in hybrid will use 1.3L/100km.
At the launch I did a 34km test loop through Sydney's Northern Beaches with a good mix of morning traffic and hilly terrain. At the end of my journey the trip computer reported an average fuel consumption of 2.4L/100km.
I drove the entire loop in Hybrid mode, but there is a Sport mode, a Battery Save mode and EV mode.
If you were to drive in EV mode Peugeot says the electric driving range with a full battery is 60km.
At the start of my drive the battery was about three-quarters charged with the gauges displaying 38km of range.
A mileage of 2.4L/100km is still excellent fuel economy and from experience I can tell you a petrol-only variant would be up around the 8.0 or 9.0L/100km mark for the same trip.
There is a catch, and that is you'll need to plug in your hybrid 308 daily to charge the battery if you plan to achieve the fuel economy I did.
Charging will be slow, however, because Peugeot has fitted this hybrid with a small 3.7kW on-board charger. So, even using a fast charger you'll be looking at more than four hours to fully charge the 12.4kWh lithium-ion battery.
This charging time and small electric driving range in return could be a deal breaker for some and it's the reason why I've given the 308 GT Sport plug-in hybrid a lower mark. If you aren't always charging this car your fuel usage will rocket. New buyers unaware of this could end up using more petrol than ever.
A fully electric vehicle may be a better solution for city dwellers.
Hyundai i208/10
Hyundai’s official fuel economy figure for the i20 N, on the ADR 81/02 - urban, extra-urban cycle, is 6.9L/100km, the 1.6-litre four emitting 157g/km of C02 in the process.
Stop/start is standard, and we saw a dash-indicated average of 7.1L/100km over several hundred km of city, B-road and freeway running on the occasionally ‘spirited’ launch drive.
You’ll need 40 litres of ‘standard’ 91 RON unleaded to brim the tank, which translates to a range of 580km using the official figure and 563 kays using our launch test drive number.
Driving
Peugeot 308
Once you've become accustomed to the strange, low steering wheel with its angular design the 308 GT Sport plug-in hybrid is superb to drive. The suspension is composed and comfortable, the handling is excellent, the steering is light and with the combination of both the electric motor and petrol engine, acceleration is good.
For those of you who haven't driven a plug-in hybrid before I think you'll like the quiet electric power at low speeds and the feeling of ‘instant' acceleration the electric motor adds, but compared to driving a regular petrol car the experience is much the same, just less noisy and smoother.
Hyundai i209/10
Unusually for a manual car, the i20 N features a launch control system (with an adjustable rpm setting), which we found fiddly to get working, but with or without it, Hyundai claims a snappy 0-100km/h time of 6.7sec.
And it’s such a pleasure to steer a car with a slick-shifting manual gearbox. The six-speed unit features a rev-matching function accessed via the press of a racy red button on the steering wheel.
Buf for those who prefer an old-school, double-shuffle, heal-and-toe tap dance across the pedals, the relationship between the brake and accelerator is perfect.
And if you’re keen on Walter Rohrl-style left-foot braking, to help steady the car or steer it in fast cornering, the ESC is switchable through to Sport mode or completely off, allowing fuss-free simultaneous brake and throttle application.
There’s even a shift-timing indicator near the top of the instrument cluster, with colour bars closing in on each other as the tacho needle pushes towards the rev limiter. Fun.
Engine and exhaust noise is a combination of a raspy induction note and adjustable crackle and pop out the back, courtesy of a mechanical flap in the exhaust system, adjustable through three settings in N mode.
Traditionalists may not be thrilled by the addition of in-cabin synthetic enhancement of all of the above, but the net effect is thoroughly enjoyable.
It’s worth remembering in this context N stands for Namyang, Hyundai’s sprawling proving ground south of Seoul where the car was developed, and the Nürburgring where this go-fast i20 was fine-tuned.
The body has been specifically reinforced at 12 key points, along with additional welds, and “bolt-in underbody structures” to make the i20 N stiffer and more responsive.
The strut front, coupled (dual) torsion beam rear suspension has also been set up with increased (neg) camber and a revised anti-roll bar at the front, as well as specific springs, shocks and bushings.
A compact, mechanical LSD is added to the mix, and grippy 215/40 x 18 Pirelli P-Zero rubber was produced specifically for the car and is stamped ‘HN’ for Hyundai N. Impressive.
The end result is outstanding. Low-speed ride is firm, with suburban bumps and lumps making their presence felt, but that’s what you’re signing on for in a hot hatch at this price point.
This car feels balanced and well buttoned down. Power delivery is agreeably linear and at a fraction over 1.2 tonnes the i20 N is light, responsive and nimble. Mid-range urge is strong.
Steering feel is good, with assistance from a column-mounted motor taking nothing away from an intimate connection with the front tyres.
The sports front seats proved grippy and comfortable over long stints behind the wheel, and playing with the multiple N drive modes tweaking the engine, ESC, exhaust, and steering just adds to the involvement. There are twin N switches on the wheel for quick access to custom set-ups.
And that Torsen LSD is brilliant. I tried my best to provoke a spinning inside front wheel on the exit of tight corners, but the i20 N just puts its power down without so much as a chirp, as it rockets towards the next bend.
The brakes are 320mm vented at the front and 262mm solid at the rear. Calipers are single piston, but they’ve been beefed up and fitted with high-friction pads. The master cylinder is bigger than the standard i20 and the front rotors are cooled by lower control arm mounted air guides blowing through vented knuckles.
The launch i20 N fleet of around half a dozen cars copped an hours long hot lap pounding at Wakefield Park Raceway, near Goulburn NSW without drama. They’re well up to the task.
One niggle is a large turning circle. The data sheet says 10.5m but it feels like the car is carving a wide arc in U-turns or three-point turns.
A 2580mm wheelbase between the bumpers of a 4075mm car is substantial, and the steering’s relatively low gearing (2.2 turns lock-to-lock) no doubt has a lot to do with it. The price you pay for quick turn-in.
Safety
Peugeot 308
The petrol variant of the Peugeot 308 achieved low scores when it came to protecting its front passengers in ANCAP's frontal off-set crash test and it was for mainly this reason that the vehicle scored four out of the maximum five stars in its ANCAP and equivalent European safety rating.
That said, Peugeot Australia has added more safety technology to the 308 than the European version of this car, such as a more comprehensive autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system as standard.
Along with AEB that can also detect cyclists and pedestrians, other standard safety tech includes lane keeping assistance, blind spot warning and rear cross traffic alert.
For child seats there are three top tether anchor mounts across the second row and two ISOFIX points on the outside rear seats.
There are front and side airbags for the driver and co-pilot, while curtain airbags cover the first and second rows.
Hyundai i208/10
Although it hasn’t been assessed by ANCAP or Euro NCAP, the headline on active safety tech in the i20N is the inclusion of ‘Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist’, which is Hyundai-speak for AEB (city and urban speed with pedestrian detection).
And from there it’s assist city, with ‘Lane Keeping Assist’, ‘Lane Following Assist’, ‘High Beam Assist’, and ‘Intelligent Speed Limit Assist.’
Followed by all the warnings: ‘Blind Spot Collision Warning’, ‘Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning’, ‘Driver Attention Warning’, and ‘Parking Distance Warning’ (front and rear).
The i20 N also features a tyre pressure monitoring system and a reversing camera. But if, despite all that, a crash is unavoidable there are six airbags on-board - driver and front passenger front and side (thorax), and side curtain - as well as three top tether points and two ISOFIX locations across the back row for child seats.
Ownership
Peugeot 308
The 308 GT Sport plug-in hybrid is covered by Peugeot's five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty.
Peugeot will cover the hybrid battery with an eight-year/160,000km warranty.
Servicing is recommended at 15,000km or 12 month intervals and it can be expensive. Peugeot says the first service will be $425, then second is $771, the next is $425, then at 60,000km the costs will be $900, then $439 for the following.
Hyundai i208/10
Hyundai covers the i20 N with a five year/unlimited km warranty, and the ‘iCare’ program includes a ‘Lifetime Service Plan’, as well as 12 months 24/7 roadside assist and an annual sat nav map update (the latter two renewed free-of-charge each year, up to 10 years, if the car is serviced at an authorised Hyundai dealer).
Maintenance is scheduled every 12-months/10,000km (whichever comes first) and there’s a pre-paid option which means you can lock in prices and/or fold service costs into your finance package.
Owners also have access to the ‘myHyundai’ online portal providing details on the car’s operation and features as well special offers and customer support.
Service for the i20 N will set you back $309 for each of the first five years, which is competitive for a hot hatch in this part of the market.