The Peugeot 408 is an unusual thing. It’s neither an SUV nor a sedan but it offers the best of those two worlds. It feels planted like a sedan but unlike one, your seating position is slightly higher.
It’s also a little higher off the ground than a sedan so a little flooding wouldn’t concern you. According to its creators, it’s the first vehicle of its kind. Peugeot says it’s for those “looking for a silhouette that is more original and innovative than a compact SUV, which they consider too common or too family-oriented.”
There’s a bit of everything – the sportiness of a sedan, the practical elements of an SUV, and a look that announces its own arrival everywhere it goes. It has fangs at the end of its headlamps, a spoiler that looks like cat ears and taillights that have been scratched by a lion.
Attractive or not; like it or dislike it, it has turned heads everywhere we brought it. The one you see in the pictures is the top-of-the-line GT variant that costs a whopping RM196,055. Crazy money for a C-segment car but you do get a bunch of stuff.
The 408 GT comes with Matrix LED headlamps, 20-inch wheels, Nappa leather electric seats, a cabin purifier, a better sound system, a 3D meter display and a more complete set of safety systems. If you start scrutinising the brochure, frankly, you’d realise that you can do without most of the above. Changing tyres for 20-inch wheels is not for the paint-hearted, or shallow pockets.
The main selling point of the 408 GT has to be the comfortable Nappa leather-wrapped front seats. It’s fitted with a massage function that was always switched on every time we drove the car. One particular favourite is the Lumbar function which should be perfect for your drive home from work.
They’re AGR certified by an independent German association for ergonomics and back health. It’s not just easy to activate – via the i-Toggles – it’s comprehensive. There are different types of massages and different intensities to choose from – not a common feature for cars under RM200k.
If you don’t care about the massage seats and you just want a big comfortable cruiser to use as a family car, the Allure at RM146,055 and Premium at RM166,055 are more than equipped to do the job.
The Premium would be my pick if you want a C-segment vehicle with a big boot and ample performance but one that isn’t a Honda Civic or a Mazda CX-5. You still get electric leather seats, six airbags, and a near-complete set of safety and parking systems.
There are several things to get used to. It doesn’t come with a conventional gear lever and the sloping roofline means getting in and out of the back seat can be tricky if you’re tall. Once in there, you’d find about an inch of headroom left; if you’re over 180 cm.
There is, however, lots of legroom. Peugeot says it is the most spacious vehicle for rear passengers they have built yet. It even comes with enough space under the front seats for rear passengers to stretch their legs. The seats can also be folded from the rear boot – a feature that should’ve also been fitted into the Premium and Allure variants but isn’t.
Boot space is not something that will be lacking in the Peugeot 408 either. Offering between 536 to 1,611 litres of space, it matches every other big sedan or SUV in this price range. In the 408 GT, you even get levers to flatten the seats from the boot.
The same goes for its performance. A 1.6-litre may not sound like much for a car of this size but from behind the wheel, its 218 hp and 300 Nm of torque were adequate for every driving condition. Its 8-speed automatic gearbox was smooth too.
At a time when D-segment vehicles are nearly extinct (in Malaysia) and C-segment vehicles are fast becoming endangered by the wave of affordable Chinese SUVs, the 408 is what Peugeot has always done best – be different. The question is, are you?
GALLERY
