Peugeot 508 GT HDI | Shed of the Week
Some of the best oil burners were French - a decade down the line, do they also make for good sheds?
Something a bit different this week in the semi-pleasing shape of a 2012 Peugeot 508 GT HDI saloon. This car is from an age when diesels were still cock o’ the walk, and sure enough the gen-one 508 GT HDi was well-liked in period by the road test Johnnies who rated its hushed cruising and refinement. You could only get the GT with a 6-gear torque converter auto, but with 201hp at 3,500rpm and a meatalicious 332lb ft of torque from 2,000rpm that was hardly a problem. TC boxes are probably better than twin-clutchers at lower speeds even now and the Peugeot one worked perfectly well on the move as long as you weren’t in a tearing hurry. If you were, it would do the 0-62 in 8.2 seconds and go on to 145mph. The official economy figure was 49.6mpg and the emissions were 150g/km, putting today’s annual tax bill at £210, which for a full-size car is the nearest thing to a sweet spot you’ll find in the UK’s VED system.
The 508 GT drove well. Instead of the regular 508’s MacPherson struts the GT had a double-wishbone front end to go with its multi-link rear. Springing was firm enough to inject a little sportiness into the equation and the handling balance was good for a front-driver. Peugeot was thinking about saddling it with electric power steering but thankfully they laid off the Beaujolais Nouveau for just long enough to come to a more sensible decision. Although we can’t know what it would have been like with electronic steering it’s fair to assume, given the rubbishness of EPS setups at the time, that they made the right choice. Contemporary tests confirmed its fluidity.
Some thought the 508 was a touch bland in its styling, but for most it was an improvement on the overhangy 407 predecessor. Shed would venture to suggest that the shape is holding up well today, 14 years after it was launched. Peugeot went with this car’s white paint for press snaps. The 508’s interior was a big step up too, especially on mooed-up models like this one. There was colour screenage, an acoustic windscreen to boost cabin calmness, and a decent 473-litre boot which unfortunately turned out to be leak-prone. A damp spare wheel is your cue to check all the electrics on any used 508 you might be thinking of buying. The parking brakes and hill-start assist were known to flake out and starting could be an issue, either because the wire that was supposed to take power to the motor was chafed or because of a dodgy starter relay – although that last one was subject to a recall so it shouldn’t be a source of annoyance now.
The only real complaint about the 508 GT back in the day was its price, which at nearly £29k for the saloon or nearly £30k for the estate put it uncomfortably close to premium tackle of the time like the BMW 3 Series or Mercedes C-Class. Shed has always scorned the idea of premium anything, and the less said about his tackle the better. All he knows is that time eventually brings most cars down to a shedhunter-friendly financial level, and that’s what’s happened here. In his opinion, this is a very well-equipped, sweet-driving, modern(ish) saloon with a moderate mileage of 125,000 and a full MOT for £2,000, or less if you’ve got your best negotiating hat on.
Shed also knows that we’ve reached a weird point in history right now. The UK Government made a vow that no new petrol or diesel cars would be sold in the UK after 2040. That was brought forward to 2030, then pushed back to 2035, and now it’s been returned to 2030 with hybrids getting a stay of execution to 2035. Manufacturers are sidling away from an all-electric future and who knows where we’ll be next year, or even next week with the way things are going. Shed has no idea other than that his own life will continue to grind along its current course unless his one-man campaign to ban the use of cast iron in the construction of frying pans comes good. If it does then the drinks will be on the house.
There is a small catch with this particular 508. It’s just been looked at by the MOT bods, so it has a ticket until next March, but there’s a note on there about non-excessive corrosion in the nearside front seat belt anchorage area. They also found ‘various components corroded under car’. Taking that sentence literally they might have been talking about some old Landie parts that had been left on the garage floor, but assuming they’re on about the Peugeot’s underside it’s a pretty sad testament to the quality of modern rustproofing, even taking into account that this car lives in Glasgow, a place not known for its arid climate. Still, what’s a bit of broon between friends? It’s nothing that a quick drag through Shed’s oil sump and a can of Dulux gloss white won’t put right.
I'm not a big fan of these, but that's a lot of car for the money. Plenty of use left in this one, and by the time it snaps in half in a cloud of rusty dust it won't owe its next owner anything at all.
They’d just taken delivery of them when I started so I was given a Golf TDI instead and was so grateful
I did a few of the 508s though and they were very hardy and perfect for mway mile munchers without drama
This period was a proper return to form for Peugeot.
It was a fantastic car and was loaded with gadgets, huge boot, great on fuel and only £35 a year to tax. Very comfortable car too. My favourite party trick was the keyless lock/unlock/start feature, meaning you could lock the car by merely pushing the door handle with your thumb and unlock it by placing your hand on the door handle.
Very uncommon sight on the road and much more pleasant in my opinion than all the other generic mid size mainstream European saloons.
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