Heartbreaker in Paris: the new Peugeot 508 GT Line

I never shared with you the story of my life and I won’t do it. But for the love of this article and for a better illustration of my driving experience in Paris, I will briefly write something about my past. I was born and raised in one of the world’s worst cities for traffic, in which according to a study people lose 27 days per year in traffic.

I have had a driver’s license for 11 years now and I used to be a goddess of traffic jam exit solutions.

Since I was driving on a daily basis, I was surrounded by horns, yells, and flashes …also on a daily basis. I wasn’t always a target but sometimes I thought it would be nice to have a bat somewhere in my car, just in case somebody got too angry in my direction. No, not a bat, the small animal, but the thing with which you hit a ball. Although this could be a great ideea: keeping an alive bat in the car is scarier than a piece of wood. Basically I learned to drive and I drove for many years in an urban jungle so I have executive experience in dealing with heavy traffic and erratic drivers. Some time ago I moved to a quiet area, in France. Do you know those stories about assiduous people who chose to travel in the far east because they had a revelation and feel the need to reconnect with their spiritual self? Well, I also had a revelation although I traveled west. The revelation that I don’t know to drive if I don’t push the breaks 4 times per minute. It took me a couple of months to get used to… just drive. Straight and continuously, most of the time. Little by little I learned to have patience and became a relaxed driver that isn’t always on a hurry when the stoplights turn green because somebody is honking like a crazy monkey.

And then I traveled to Paris.

For two reasons, one of them being a test drive with the luxurious new Peugeot 508 GT Line.

I’m writing you from a subterranean parking, where I’m hiding away from the traffic. The only thing I want to do is to stay here and I think I have tears in my eyes. I’m tired, I’m stressed and I’m afraid of all the drivers. I’m not hungry, because this is the parking of a supermarket, so this is the best part of the story! Actually no, I don’t want to be a hypocrite, the best part of the story is that I’m sitting in an outstanding car which breaks every single heart from this parking. I lost the count of the number of eyes that got stuck on the new Peugeot 508.

I could gather all my opinions in just one word and that would be WOW (+ jaw dropped) but I can’t help myself.

And yes, I know you’re waiting to read something about my driving experience with this car. There, now you know. I didn’t spend all the weekend hiding in the parking.

First of all, this car is a French definition of luxury. I actually felt bad I wasn’t wearing my holiday clothes (for the record, I don’t organize my clothes like this, it’s just that the expression sounds good and describes exactly what I want you to understand) when I opened its frameless doors. Ok, so if I wrote this I will begin to tell you more about the interior of this new Peugeot 508.

The unique blend of style, innovation and high-end materials like red leather and grey wood bring elegance to the cabin which has an outstanding design packed with high-tech technology. The elegant blue lights that emphasize the impressive shapes of this car interior are the best example of the attention with which this car was designed. There are many storage spaces laid around and in the center console and the door pockets are spacious so you won’t have a problem in finding a spot for all the things you need around you while you drive.

You might not be into details but you should know that a big picture wouldn’t be great without attention to the smallest pieces that make part of it. And this car is an impressive example of a perfect big picture.

The digital instrument panel displays the right amount of information that can vary depending on which details are important to you.

The infotainment offered by the 10” HD capacitive touchscreen is just great since the information is extremely well organized and everything you might need while behind the wheel is a distance of a fingertip. I also like the idea of playing the piano under the LCD. Wait, what? No, relax, there’s no musical instrument involved but these buttons somehow look like a piano keyboard:

There’s no need for me to explain to you what you’ll find playing on the LCD or with the buttons underneath. I think you are already familiar with them. And if you’re not, I’m going to let it be a surprise. I just want to mention that the TomTom 3D navigation is equipped with voice recognition and displays all key driving events in real time. You know I’m not a fan of car navigations but this Peugeot didn’t disappoint me!

The panoramic opening glass roof equipped with electric blind and wind deflector has a double role from my point of view:

1.Gateway to a sunbath or a dreamy experience under the starry sky;

2. The only thing that successfully stops a toddler’s tantrum. Hello, sky, goodbye sky! Awesome stuff.

The car seats are extremely comfortable. But the cherry on the cake is the massage option. Just picture yourself: you are tired, just had a not so awesome day at work. You have a zillion things to do when you arrive at home and you are stuck in traffic. If you have a kid, imagine that he or she has no more patience. And you push the massage button. Suddenly, you feel some cat paws on you back, and they make you dream you’re on the beach, sipping from a mojito or whatever your happy place is. If you’re more of a dog person don’t worry, there are other relaxing options of massage (no dog paws included -actually I can’t really imagine how it would feel like).

The compact steering wheel….well, it was love at first sight between us.

I have been searching for years now the perfect steering wheel. And this Peugeot 508 GT Line has it. I love its shape, materials, the grip and the fact that it has just the right number of buttons, from my point of view.

Do you have a favorite song right now? Personally, when I like one I’m listening to it on repeat until I have no wish to hear it again. Just imagine you have access to an awesome sound system, such as let’s say this Peugeot’s premium Hi-Fi FOCAL, and your favorite song boasts through ten fine speakers, pushing back the limits of sound quality.

There’s no need to go to the club and say pretty please to the DJ and then run to embrace a speaker when your song is next. It’s ok to just sit in this Peugeot and play your music on and on. You’ll get the right feeling.

And I don’t think you’ll disturb the public order since I washed the car on the outside while my toddler was sleeping in her car seat. I’m smiling when I’m writing this because I remember I had the I told you so discussion with my husband who was trying to convince me to wake up the kid before washing the car because the noise might scare her. I had my doubts but I don’t like to disturb her when she sleeps so I put all my trust in this Peugeot’s noise canceling feature (disclaimer: there is no noise canceling feature, this is just the way I call good phonic isolation) and I made a great choice.

The trunk is very spacious. I think you can easily arrange luggage for a two-week trip. And you’re not speaking to the most compact person when it comes to travel bags.

What about driving?

I loved it. Although the new Peugeot 508 is a big car, you don’t have that feeling of driving a…whale. You know what I’m talking about. Among the numerous driving aids, I must mention the Night Vision infra-red camera system which detects obstacles in front of the car (including pedestrians). The image is displayed on the dashboard, right in front of your eyes ( yes, I did have a feeling of playing a video game when this happened). This Peugeot 508 always got your back, through numerous options, such as sensors and cameras both in the front an in the back of the car. This is the first car I drove that had a front camera and since you know I have been writing in my articles that this was on my wishlist, there you go, dreams do come true eventually 🙂

Overall, the new Peugeot 508 provides some of the most advanced technology available these days (park assist included -yey-). And I love it. Safety is very important and I think this car rises to superlative when speaking of it.

Can you help yourself not to say WOW when you open this car’s doors?

Am I to cheesy? I love these both front and rear frameless doors, they look so elegant and futuristic but at the same time, I honestly feel I’m dealing with precious porcelain. When I thought (I repeat, I thought) I slammed the door I literally caressed it. Of course, the glass is thickened but still…my precious.

The Heartbreaker

As I already told you, this car turned a lot of heads. I would have said ALL but since people are so obsessed with their smartphones nowadays I bet there are some who missed the chance to admire this piece of art.

You can see in the pictures below how beautiful this car is, I think words are useless. But I must tell you this: I’m crazy about its distinctive new light signature. It’s a true work of art and, in addition, inspired by the iconic Peugeot 504, the 3D ‘claw effect’ LED lighting also features a dynamic scrolling ‘welcome sequence’ upon unlocking the car, for another WOW effect. I honestly don’t think I wrote WOW for so many times in neither of my articles.

My piece of advice:

I think this an appropriate car for a person with a business modern lifestyle. The blend of luxury and innovation won my heart and I honestly wish you have this car top of your mind when you search a new road partner on four wheels.

I want to thank Peugeot France for this opportunity, I spend a great time with the new 508 GT Line in Paris although at the beginning of my adventure I almost decided to keep it in a parking for the whole weekend 🙂 So there you go, another thank you Peugeot France, this time for helping me overcome my fear of driving in Paris!