Brand new Peugeot 308 2017 Automatic

Visually you’ll be hard-pressed to notice the changes unless you park the new and old car beside each other. Most obvious is a more upright and prominent radiator grille, just like that found on the 2008/3008/5008, with the Peugeot lion badge at the centre and Peugeot lettering above. A redesigned bonnet is less obvious and there are two different front bumper designs - depending on which trim level you go for. As promised, Peugeot has now put a turbo option into its little three-cylinder 1.2 petrol. The result is a revelation: the torque of a diesel, but a chirpy happiness to rev beyond 6000, plus far more agreeable quietness at low speeds than a diesel.

But if you want ultimate low-tax economy there’s also a super-thrifty BlueHDI 1.6 Euro 6 diesel making 120bhp and 88.3mpg for just 85g/km in the estate (82g/km in the hatch). Given its huge load space at the back, that’s pretty impressive. This variant produces 96kW and 300Nm of torque, so can't touch the 2.0-litre in a straight-line fight, but in isolation it never feels wanting - and certainly stands up well to comparison with any 1.6-litre diesel on the market. But the 1.5-litre HDi’s star card is refinement. This is a silky smooth engine (relatively speaking - it's still a diesel) which exhibits no vibration or harshness through the driveline and, with a pleasingly linear delivery of its power.