In-depth reviews

Peugeot 408 review - Reliability & safety

A detailed standard safety kit list counts in the 408’s favour and Peugeot is a brand that’s on the up in terms of customer satisfaction.

Overall Auto Express Rating

4.0 out of 5

Reliability & safety Rating

3.8 out of 5

Price
£31,750 to £44,720
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The Peugeot 408 has yet to face the series of immovable objects in the Euro NCAP crash test lab, but the closely-related Peugeot 308 hatchback has and It emerged with a four-star safety rating in 2022. The family hatch scored 78 per cent for adult occupant protection and 84 per cent for child occupant protection, plus a 65 per cent rating in the safety assist category. 

The standard safety kit roster on all models includes Emergency Brake Assist, front, side and curtain airbags, lane-keeping assist, traffic sign recognition and driver attention alert. The hybrids also generate a sound to warn pedestrians at low speeds, where they’re otherwise very quiet. The Allure models get a more advanced radar and camera based emergency braking system while Allure Premium adds adaptive cruise control and rear cross-traffic alert. The GT has Lane Position Assist that will automatically keep the car centred in its lane. 

Reliability is difficult to gauge with the 408 having only launched in 2022 and yet to appear in our Driver Power owner satisfaction survey. Peugeot has been doing very nicely in the manufacturer rankings though, with a 4th-place finish overall in Driver Power 2022. Peugeot owners like the way their cars look and drive in particular, and the brand as a whole ranked in the top 10 for reliability. Peugeot dealers were ranked 3rd overall so things are looking good for the brand.  

Warranty 

Peugeot offers a fairly standard warranty package on its cars of three-years and 60,000 miles. You’ll still get longer warranties on equivalent mid-size SUV models from Kia (seven years) and Hyundai (five years), while Toyota allows owners to extend their cover after each service.  

Servicing 

Peugeot offers a range of service plans for the 408, the plug-in hybrids being slightly more expensive to maintain than the PureTech petrol models. The standard service intervals are every 12,500 miles or 12 months for the petrol cars and every 18,750 miles or 12 months for the hybrids.  

Which Is Best

Cheapest

  • Name
    1.2 PureTech Allure 5dr EAT8
  • Gearbox type
    Semi-auto
  • Price
    £30,565

Most Economical

  • Name
    1.6 Hybrid Allure 5dr e-EAT8
  • Gearbox type
    Semi-auto
  • Price
    £39,495

Fastest

  • Name
    1.2 PureTech Allure 5dr EAT8
  • Gearbox type
    Semi-auto
  • Price
    £30,565
Group website editor

Steve looks after the Auto Express website; planning new content, growing online traffic and managing the web team. He’s been a motoring journalist, road tester and editor for over 20 years, contributing to titles including MSN Cars, Auto Trader, The Scotsman and The Wall Street Journal.

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