Peugeot 508 vs Lexus IS

What's the difference?

The Peugeot 508 Sportswagon GT PHEV proves wagons can be extremely stylish but looks aren’t everything and it is an expensive option compared to its luxury rivals. It earns its place with the premium interior but the safety could be improved on and the tech is more confusing than it needs to be. But this wagon offers an alternative for families who are sick of being in an SUV yet still need a little extra space. 

My son didn’t go nuts over this and complained about his view.

Smooth, cosy, quiet, the IS looks and feels better than ever, but without a doubt this hybrid version is a car best suited to cruising the dense metropolis of Chiba at midnight more than it is carving up a bunch of S-bends in the Australian countryside on the weekend.

While that might still limit its appeal for fans of German sports luxury sedans and place it further from the original IS’s ambitions, it does offer an intriguing efficiency and luxury focused alternative, without the compromises brought by rivals with more sporting intent. In a way then, the IS 300h perhaps inadvertently best embodies what Lexus is as a brand.

The design of this wagon is what wins it the most points. It is a damn fine specimen with the sleek lines in the body panelling and the sexy rear that looks well-proportioned for its 4790mm length.

Dark, narrow windows, 18-inch alloy wheels and a minimalist-looking nose, with fang-like daytime-running lights, all enhance its sporty look.

The rear lights have Peugeot’s signature ‘claw’ design and there’s something suggestively fun about seeing a twin-exhaust on a wagon!

On the interior, the multimedia system takes centre stage and the dashboard looks quite sleek, despite all of the deep cutaways.

The steering wheel is in the compact style that Peugeot is known for but it makes the cockpit feel driver orientated.

The quilted Nappa leather trims and shiny piano-black accents (with the piano-key controls) make for a refined cabin space.

Look closely and quite a lot has changed. This is really a story of doing a facelift right. Lexus has kept all the great-looking bits of the car that launched in 2013, like its striking side profile and angular accents, while dumping most of its least popular elements like the spidery front light-clusters and busy front splitter, in favour of something more refined and conservative.

It even adds some new flair in the rear three-quarter, with dramatic LED light-clusters working their way into a trendy highlight strip across the boot lid.

These changes all add up for a much tougher, sportier, and nuanced design compared to the outgoing car. One that manages to make an eight-year old design look as contemporary as ever.

I even liked our test car in its plain black shade, although I'm less sure about those conservative-to-a-fault, almost Camry-esque alloy wheels.

On the inside, sadly not a whole lot has changed. The busy design looked dated when this generation of IS launched in 2013, and it still looks dated now.

The visual assault of buttons, toggles, displays, textures, and trims is a lot to take in, and makes the cabin feel smaller than it is.

It probably didn’t help the sensory overload of this car’s interior as I hopped out of the stripped-back interior in the Tesla Model 3 I had the week before.

My less-than-impressed brother, a student of design, described the IS’s interior best when he told me “It’s a bit maximalist, don’t you think?”

If nothing else, at least Lexus hasn’t blatantly imitated anyone else when it comes to its interior, but the brand remains firm on dorky design items like the laptop touchpad, redundant drive-select dial, and odd vacant panels under the climate unit which do it no favours.

A welcome upgrade for the 2021 model year is the new media screen, a highlight piece perched atop the dash. It’s bright, has excellent contrast, and doesn’t seem to fall victim to glare.

The Apple CarPlay support I used was seamless and sharp and made the most of the available real-estate in its widescreen layout.

I somehow didn’t mind that the instrument cluster in this base car is analog. It almost suits the IS’s character better than a digital set-up would. Also offered is a small information display between the dials which I used for monitoring the hybrid drive.

A final note on the IS’s design. The fit and finish is quality, inside and out. It leaves you with an impression that this is an immaculately built vehicle, one that should be a must for all luxury cars, and always a strong point for Lexus.

The front row gets the most space and you’ll be able to get into a comfortable position even if you’re tall.

However, it is a low car with its 142mm ground clearance and there may be a few grunts as you get in and out (or is it just me?).

My seven-year old loves how easy it is to climb in, though he didn’t have the best view out of the windows because the sills sit high.

The footwell lip also sits quite high, which isn’t an issue until you can’t open your door very wide and then it’s clumsy in a tight parking space.

The electric front seats are very comfortable and the extendable under-thigh support helps to minimise leg fatigue on a longer journey.

Surprisingly, for my 168cm (5'6") height, I have to sit much further back than I ordinarily would to get a comfy driving position.

In the back, you have plenty of headroom but behind my driving position, the legroom could be better.

An adult would still find it fairly comfortable on a longer journey so long as they aren’t behind someone tall. The seats themselves are well-cushioned and you sit in, rather than on top of them.

Individual storage options are good for this class with a dual-opening middle console, glove box and a great utility cubby next to the transmission shifter.

There is also a shelf underneath the centre console that houses the wireless charging pad and two USB-A ports but it’s a tad awkward to use and even see the ports when you're seated.

The amenities are good in the rear but for a top-spec model it’s lacking the luxury items you might expect, like heated seats and climate control but you’ll enjoy map pockets, reading lights, two USB-A ports and directional air vents.

It also has a fold-down armrest with two shallow cupholders, that in a quick turn, might spill their cups!

The boot is a great size at 530L with all seats in use and you can bump it to 1780L with the rear seats folded.

You get a level loading space and a 60/40 split with a ski-port in the back seat, which opens up your storage options.

There is a tyre repair kit rather than a physical spare but the tailgate is powered, which I always like.  

The technology is a mixed bag. It looks sharp and the touchscreen multimedia system is responsive but isn’t as easy to use as others I’ve sampled.

It doesn’t have a lot of accessible information or customisations available but it is easy to connect to the wired Apple CarPlay. There is also wired Android Auto for those users and built-in satellite navigation. 

The 12.3-inch digital instrument panel is the prettiest piece of tech in the car and there is more customisation available to make it feel yours.

Considering its price point and top-model status, it's more obvious that you miss out on premium items like three-zone climate control, faster USB-C connections and a head-up display.

Well, the IS is a sedan, so it doesn’t quite have that high-riding appeal of an SUV, and for this update it has even leaned further into its low-slung proportions with a roofline that descends a further 15mm and a boot lid which is 31mm lower overall.

As with the previous car, the interior is quite closed-in thanks to that busy dash design and large centre console. Rather than feeling claustrophobic though, it is best described as cosy, with lots of plush finishes throughout the doors and centre stack befitting a luxury nameplate.

Adjustability is great for the front two occupants and there are two large bottle holders between the seats, a large but shallow console box under the armrest, bottle holders with adjoining bins in the doors, and a smallish glove box.

That’s about where storage ends though, with no extra trays or bins in front of the oddly placed shifter, just an awkwardly finished plastic panel where it feels like a little tray or storage cutaway should be.

The touchpad for operating the media screen joins an unnecessary drive-select cluster in eating up centre console space where there could be more storage.

The rear seat is quite limited on space despite being lavishly trimmed. I fit behind my own (182cm/6'0") driving position with little knee or headroom to spare.

Again, it’s cosy and very comfortable, but if you're taller or wider than me you may run into issues.

The centre rear seat is all but useless for adults, with the IS’s rear-drive architecture necessitating a huge transmission tunnel that almost comes as high as the seat base itself.

Storage is limited to pockets on the back of the front seats, small bins in the doors that double as handholds, and a drop-down armrest with two bottle holders.

There are no power outlets for rear passengers, but there are dual adjustable air vents.

Boot space is 450L which is a little small for the class. It’s impressive the hybrid only managed to lose 30 litres compared to petrol-only IS variants, though, so best to count your blessings.

The largest CarsGuide travel case easily fit in the wide but short available space.

To be precise the variant we’re looking at here is the IS 300h Luxury. It’s the base IS trim with the hybrid powertrain and it wears a before on-road costs (MSRP) of $64,500.

Base car or not, the new IS is very well specified. Now standard are 18-inch alloys (up from 17s), full LED headlight clusters, eight-way power adjustable front seats, dual-zone climate control, 10-speaker audio system, and importantly a brilliant new 10.3-inch multimedia screen with widescreen Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, built-in navigation, and DAB+ digital radio support.

Keyless entry and push-start ignition also continue to be offered, as well as a leather-look interior trim which in our car was in a rather contrasting 'Ochre' colour option.

Our IS 300h was also fitted with the creatively named ‘Enhancement Pack 1’ which adds an openable moonroof for $2000. The significantly more expensive ‘Enhancement Pack 2’ ($5500) adds the moonroof alongside 19-inch alloys, upgraded LED headlights, interior ornamentation, scuff plates, a panoramic reversing camera, 17-speaker premium audio, ‘leather-accented’ interior trim, ventilated front seats, and an electric rear sunshade.

These packs are seemingly largely unnecessary but are also very cheap for a brand at the premium end of the market.

Lexus has made pretty much all of its high-end active safety equipment standard on this base ‘Luxury’ for 2021, alongside some previously unavailable tech which we’ll take a look at in the safety section of this review.

At this price the Lexus IS 300h goes into battle against the Mercedes-Benz C 200 ($66,900), BMW 320i ($70,900), Audi A4 35 TFSI ($55,900), and the ever-looming threat of Hyundai’s Genesis, which offers its similarly-sized G70 in base form at $59,300.

Some of these base-spec rivals are cheaper, some are more expensive, but did you notice none of them are hybrids?

Access to Toyota’s affordable and popular hybrid drive is a real point of difference for the Lexus brand, and we expect it’s a key drawcard for the loyal customer base. More on that later.

The GT plug-in hybrid model has a 1.6-litre, four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine, as well as an electric motor that sits on the front axle. It has an eight-speed automatic transmission that produces smooth gear changing driving the front wheels.

The combined outputs are 165kW and 360Nm which means you have a good amount of power for this sized car but it’s not a performance wagon as its 0-100km/h sprint time is 8.3 seconds.

The lithium-ion battery has a small 11.8kWh capacity and will get from 0-100 per cent in three and a half hours on an 11kW system. On my standard house plug, it took closer to six and a half hours.

The IS 300h does stand out from the luxury sedan crowd by offering a hybrid drivetrain at a reasonable price. Some rivals offer plug-in options further up the price scale cementing them as a niche option, but the beauty of this Lexus is its very mild $3000 price jump over the base petrol car.

The base car’s 2.0-litre turbo is dumped in favour of a 2.5-litre non-turbo Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder hybrid set-up similar to the one proving popular in the Toyota Camry and RAV4.

The petrol engine produces 133kW/221Nm on its own, and the electric motor produces 105kW/300Nm. Toyota says the “combined system output” of this is 164kW.

Either way, that's less than the base 2.0 turbo. The 300h also swaps out an eight-speed torque converter automatic in favour of a continuously variable transmission. Rare in a rear-wheel drive car.

Peugeot says you can travel up to 55km on pure electric function, however my morning (return) school run is 38.4km and the electric range was spent by the time I parked in my garage after starting on a full charge. 

Under optimal conditions, where you’re utilising both the engine and motor, the GT PHEV has an official fuel cycle consumption of 1.5L/100km.

After charging it three times, travelling 444km on a mix of open/urban roads and using 33 litres of fuel, my real-world usage came to 7.4L/100km.

You absolutely get the best economy when you regularly charge it but sometimes you just don’t get the time to!

You'll need 43 litres of premium 95 RON unleaded fuel to fill the tank which, using our real-world average consumption figure, translates to a driving range of around 580km.

As you might hope this hybrid IS has an astoundingly low official/combined fuel consumption rating of 5.1L/100km.

I was pleased to find that after a week of mainly urban driving conditions, our IS was returning a figure of 6.9L/100km. Not bad at all, especially for a class where fuel consumption can get a little out of hand with turbocharged engines or V6s.

Of course, using the hybrid system to your advantage over the long term will get this number much lower, as I discovered on my long-term test of the Toyota Corolla hybrid which essentially uses a smaller version of the same system.

Certainly, if fuel consumption is a high concern, you’re better off with this car than the top-spec V6 (IS 350) which will easily see consumption enter double digits.

Lexus recommends a minimum RON rating of 95 for the IS 300h, and the fuel tank is 66 litres regardless of variant, giving the hybrid an impressive theoretical range of around 1000km.

The 508 Sportswagon is an odd car to drive. Around the city, the steering makes it feel like you’re in a go-kart and you may over-correct until you get used to it. 

On the open-road, it feels like it gets into its groove but the power reserves feel a tad too shallow as the engine can complain with only a light load. 

The suspension is well padded and you won’t notice too many bumps but you do get a fair bit of wind and road feedback at higher speeds. 

Because of the narrow windows, I am surprised by how great the visibility is but you feel tiny when you sit next to a big SUV in traffic!

That said, it corners beautifully and taking this on a winding coastal road is super fun.

The brakes are very responsive, which is great in stop-start city traffic but can make it feel a little jerky while navigating a car park.

And on that note, because of the funky steering feel, it takes a moment to calibrate your senses with what the car is doing.

Once you get used to it, it’s simple to park but the quality of the 180-degree camera system is pretty rubbish for where this car sits in the market.

There is no doubt the IS 300h is capable. You can feel it through the car’s solid rear-drive underpinnings, silky smooth steering, and reactive chassis.

What this car doesn’t offer is excitement in quite the same sense as many of its rivals. That’s down to this hybrid’s drivetrain. It just doesn’t have that powerful follow-through in the same way turbocharged BMWs or Audis or Mercedes do.

If it’s that 'sports luxury' experience you’re seeking better off looking to the base 2.0-litre turbo or the V6 and their eight-speed automatics.

The 300h does offer something a bit different. The gentle refined efficiency of Toyota’s signature hybrid system in a luxury rear-drive package that’s smaller than this car’s ES bigger brother.

While it may feel capable thanks to the lighter suspension components and altered track that the brand has committed to for this update, the hybrid drive matches this car’s softer character brought about by its gentle suspension tune and light steering.

This is an easy car to drive around a city, it filters out bumps nicely, while offering near silence in the cabin and breezy steering for every day scenarios like manoeuvring in tight parking lots.

The CVT auto and instantaneous torque available from the electric motor make it best at traffic speeds, being both reactive and predictable, with silent acceleration when inching forward at the lights or cruising along at 50km/h.

As you might expect though, the wheezy Atkinson cycle engine and CVT conspire for a noisy and less than engaging experience under heavy acceleration.

It’s not as though you’re rewarded with particular vigour either, with this combination being a bit sluggish when a lot is asked of it.

It loses its reactivity and refinement at higher speeds or in the corners on country roads as the transmission elastically tries to keep up with the demands of the driver.

Still, few luxury sedans are quite as purpose-built for the toils of a city, and if you want to get drawn into this car’s hybrid drive antics, it’s easy to make a game out of saving fuel by trying to rely on its low-speed electric motor capability.

Really then, it leans into its urban luxury appeal. A luxury sedan for the streets of Tokyo. An ideal car in this class for the urban environment.

If you don’t care for the thrill of a turbocharger or frequently seek to explore the twists of your nearest B-road, you could do worse than the comfort and ambiance the 300h offers.

A full active safety suite is now standard across the IS range, including freeway-speed auto emergency braking with pedestrian detection (works during the day and at night) and cyclist detection (works during the day only), and a new intersection braking feature, lane keep assist with lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert with reverse auto braking, traffic sign recognition, adaptive cruise control, and auto high-beam assist.

There is also an auto SOS function, as recently added to the Toyota Yaris Cross, which automatically triggers if an airbag is deployed. On the topic of airbags, every IS has a thorough suite of 10 (dual front, dual side, quad head, dual front knee).

This all adds up with the standard array of stability, brake, and traction controls for a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating, although the IS was last assessed way back in 2016.

The IS is built in Japan.

On the 508 you’ll enjoy a five-year/unlimited km warranty and the battery is covered by an eight-year or up to 160,000km warranty, which is great.

You can pre-purchase either a three- or five-year servicing plan and the five-year plan costs a flat $2100 or an average of $420 per service which is very reasonable for this class. 

Servicing intervals are at every 12months or 20,000km, whichever occurs first.

Lexus gets slightly ahead of the luxury pack with an extra year of warranty. While BMW and Audi still sit on three, Lexus offers four, but it is limited to 100,000km and is still outdone by Mercedes-Benz and Korean newcomer, Genesis, offering five-year/unlimited kilometre promises.

The IS has capped price servicing fixed at $495 for the first three years of ownership with roadside assist, and the brand will even pick up and drop off your car, or offer a free loan car during every 12 month or 15,000km service.

It’s worth noting that German rivals offer pre-paid service packages out to five years, and Genesis is trying to make a splash with free servicing.

Lexus does offer a luxury ownership program dubbed ‘Encore’ which includes invites to experiences and certain partnerships with restaurants and the like to keep potential owners enticed.