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Peugeot's new 308 HDi is probably one of the most underrated vehicles in the industry right now. Apart from a stimga of unreliability and poor service, Peugeot's cars are always hit or miss when it comes to the styling department.

A lot like Roelof van der Merve batting in a T20, it’s either great or just looks nasty.

The 308 in the styling sector to me is another miss. It tries to be funky, hold smooth lines and curvy contours but as a finished product it has the mouth of a Piranha with an overbite and a rear with an equivalent size to Beyonce and in my books that's not a good thing.

Again the styling factor is mere opinion and subject to the individual, which is why I won't dwell on it. What stands out on this car is the 1.6-litre turbodiesel motor under the bonnet.

The 308 is not a small car, it has a big feel to it and when driving it for the first time we re-checked that it was in fact a 1.6 diesel. We had our doubts about whether the engine would pull us up our slight incline of a driveway.

Hardly the case though - it could easily have been mistaken for a 1.9 diesel the way it trundles along the road with ease.

The Peugeot does have a sense of quality to it, everything in the cabin seems well put together and the silence while driving is eery, as if you are enclosed in a bubble. This is something you normally only get from hand-built extraordinarily expensive vehicles.

It keeps the Peugeot feel, however, something that long-term users will have become accustomed to. The almost brittle feel to the gearbox is still there as well, but the plush firm seats and long, stylish dash are always plus points in a Peugeot.

What I'm certain the main selling point for this car will be is the claimed combined fuel usage of 4.9l/100km, which is very special and even in the real world of town driving we were all impressed with the fact that none of us could run the tank down.

Maybe our problem was that Peugeot tested the vehicle last year from Kleinzee on the Northern Cape coast to Umhlanga near Durban and managed the journey on one tank of diesel. That's 1689.7km and a fuel economy of 3.4 l/100km.

So if you enjoy light-footed driving and get a high from seeing your l/100km statistics go as low as possible while driving in a high-specification car, then here is the car far you. It allows you to be cost conscious but be stuck driving around in a cheap plastic bucket.

Page two ... Specifications