First impressions of the GT suggest it’s a lot more ‘sporty’ on the inside than out. The interior is top quality but the exterior styling is rather less inspiring.

Slip behind the wheel though and this 308 has a few surprises. It moves along at a fair old pace, although not in the same league as the Focus ST or Renault Megane RS.

This is a warm hatchback rather than a hot one but for many people, it will be the perfect compromise between daily commute and weekend sporty fun.

This is best ‘amplified’ by the Sport button on the dashboard. The GT sounds like any other 308 on start-up. But depress the Sport button and a more growly exhaust note is pumped through the car’s speaker system.

It’s an odd world we live in when you have to fake the exhaust note isn’t it but as everybody else wants to offer acoustic exhausts in their cars these days, why shouldn’t Peugeot?

Let’s see if this 308 GT has more to offer than a sound bite…