Peugeot is, this year, 210 years old. No, it's not been making cars for that long (no-one has) but began life as a maker of tools and kitchen implements. Plenty of us have a Peugeot pepper grinder in our kitchen, even to this day...
Happy 210th birthday, Peugeot
In fact, Peugeot proclaims that it's one of the oldest, continuous, brands in the world and to help celebrate its 210th anniversary, it's giving itself - and us, should we be able to scrape together the necessary funds - a present. A present in the shape of the new 508 Peugeot Sport Engineered.
Previewed last year in concept form, the 508 PSE (for short) features a 360hp plug-in hybrid powertrain, that combines a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine with two electric motors - one for the front wheels and one for the rears. Plug it in and charge it up and Peugeot says that it will go for 42km on just the 11.5kWh battery. The official CO2 figure is 46g/km, and claimed fuel economy is 2.03 litres per 100km (that's 139mpg).
360hp and 500Nm
But you don't care about that. You want to know how fast it is, and how a chassis engineered by the same people who've conquered the WRC, Le Mans, and Pikes Peak might feel. Well, while 360hp doesn't sound like all that much grunt, there is 500Nm of torque too, and that can push this 508 PSE to 100km/h in just 5.2 seconds. Better yet, thanks to the flexible responses of those two electric motors, it'll go from 80 to 120km/h in just 3.0 seconds.
To make sure that it feels as good as it goes, the 508 PSE gets adaptive three-stage dampers, a track that's 24mm wider at the front and 12mm wider at the rear, 380mm brakes, that hide behind 20-inch allows wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres.
As with any plug-in hybrid, there are driving modes. The 508 PSE can run in Electric mode (self explanatory); Hybrid Mode (ditto); Comfort Mode (basically Hybrid but with the suspension set into softest setting); Sport (which unleashes the full 360hp); and 4WD, which makes sure both axles are turning at once.
Aero bodykit
There's a full set of electronic driving aids, including night vision, adaptive cruise control with Stop & Go function, lane departure warning system, and automatic emergency braking. There's also an aggressive aero bodykit with a big front splitter, a big diffuser up the back, and tiny flick-up 'barge-boards' ahead of the rear wheels. There's also a gorgeous Selenium grey paintjob which is unique to the car, dark-chrome finish badges, and the new 'three-claw' Peugeot Sport logo, which is finished in a bright green called 'Kryptonite.'
Inside, there are big sports seats wrapped in Alcantara suede, plus carbon-fibre, leather, and contrast stitching everywhere. There's also a high-end Focal stereo as standard.