A modern compact class car – Peugeot 308 5-door hatchback

For a medium sized car, the new model (2014-forward) Peugeot 308 is surprisingly spacious.

Introduced originally in the 1990’s as the Peugeot 306, the mid-sized ‘Lion’ grew in size with the Peugeot 307 and in 2008, the first 308 model was launched.

Amongst the best cars in compact class – Peugeot 308.

The Peugeot is widely considered to be one of the best compact cars in competition with the best from VW, Opel and Ford.

Test of Peugeot 308 – 2017 model.

So how does Peugeot do it? The answer is continuously improvements in quality, attention to design and refinement (the car is quiet to drive), comprehensive weight savings and a pricing policy just below the main competition with similarly equipped cars.

Luggage space in a Peugeot 308 – impressive
In terms of boot capacity, the 308 Peugeot comes in above the main competitors Astra, Focus and Golf.

Total capacity for luggage with 5 people in the car is an impressing 470 litres.

Best in class size of trunk.

The list of competitors to the Peugeot 308 is quite long, and includes a number of very good alternatives.

The best compact class cars
We recommend the following vehicles (best choice in compact car class):

• Peugeot 308
• Ford Focus – it’s just a very nice car for the money – latest facelift model introduced in 2014
• VW Golf – very unusual for an old (2012) model to rate this high
• Opel Astra – new class breaking model introduced in 2015 (the old one was not-so-nice)

Other good compact class cars:

• Renault Megane (new model 2015)
• Hyundai i30 (new model 2016)
• Seat Leon (a Spanish flavoured Golf)
• Skoda Octavia (a slightly larger car with Golf underpinnings)
• Honda Civic (new model arrives in 2017)

And the rest of them:

• Citroen C4
• Kia Cee’d
• Toyota Auris
• Mazda 3
• Nissan Pulsar

In Peugeot terms, the 308 is the VW Golf
Peugeot decided to stick with the 308 designation at model change in 2014 – maybe as the name 309 had already been used in the 1980’s when Peugeot took over an unfinished ‘project’ from acquired Chrysler-Talbot.

The forward-looking Peugeot 309 hatch was not a bad car, but became somewhat of an unwanted child in the Peugeot family. It was killed off in 1993 with the introduction of the 306.