When does a dark-coloured estate start to look like a hearse? A friend recently bought an old Citroen C5 estate with no hub caps and it definitely errs on the side of Funeral Director. But I have never heard anyone look at an Audi A4 Avant and say, “Should I send flowers or a gift for charity?”
One in 5 nearly new Peugeot 508s on Used Car Expert are black and as car dealers are always telling me, colour is massively important when it comes to resale. To give you some idea of the difference it makes, a high-specification Mondeo in red took one dealer 5 times longer to sell than a black Mondeo of the same specification.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Before we worry about colour and trim, is this a car you want to buy instead of a nearly new Mondeo, Insignia or Passat estate?

Well, it depends if you have a head for heights or not. It seems everyone likes a high driving position these days; hence the explosion in MPV and SUV sales. So rather than being a reflection of the average height of French drivers, perhaps the towering seating position of the ‘old school’ Peugeot 508 estate is intelligent design. But at 6” 3’ I found head room adequate (whereas it is not in a Laguna) yet felt slightly cramped initially in what is a large and airy cabin. Especially with the electric blind on the full-length glass roof pulled back.

I major on the head room and driver’s height because everything else is competitive with its peers, if not class-leading. The gadgets are plentiful and easy-to-use, the soft-touch buttons are from a more expensive car, the seats are supportive and comfortable. They also have a bit of the Volkswagen-durability about them.

Sitting in a wet traffic jam on the M40 I found the 508 calming. Running late for an appointment I found the HDI engine gutsy and yet still refined and frugal. Albeit the car never feels sporty or in anyway a ‘driver’s car’ like some Vauxhall Insignias can or many Audi ‘Avants’ do.

It is stylish to look at, it doesn’t quite manage to pass itself off as a premium car like Vauxhall’s Insignia but it certainly looks more impressive than the already-dated-Mondeo or bland Laguna.
So there are lots of reasons to buy a 508 SW, but should you buy it in black? Unless you work in a Chapel of Rest, I wouldn’t.

What’s the market like?

For new 508 owners I have good news. For nearly new buyers, the bad news is that early prices on 508s are looking very robust and not all Peugeot-like.

However, we still expect the 508s to become value saloons and estates in the fullness of time. And to put things in context, you can still save around £5,000 over showroom prices by using one of the brokers on New Car Expert, or there are 50 or more excellent nearly new 508s for similar discounts with mileages under 5,000 miles.

At first glance, the discounted new car seems like the better buy. But the nearly new ones have in many cases, lots of nice extras. So the saving is actually greater than it first looks. Plus you can drive it away today. 

Summary

The Peugeot 508 SW is a practical, stylish and steady family estate.