And while there’s some firmness from the suspension at low speed, once you get going the 408 assumes a supple and fluid gait, certainly over the well-surfaced roads of our Spanish test route – although on the odd section of broken and scarred Tarmac, it revealed hints of stiff-legged secondary ride.
Push on a little and the engine and gearbox also struggle. With a 1706kg kerb weight, this PHEV never feels as quick as its combined 222bhp output (there’s also a 178bhp PHEV) would suggest, plus the engine sounds strained when extended. It’s not helped by that auto, which still lacks the crisp and quick shifts of a good dual-clutch unit and is positively tardy when you try to use the column-mounted paddles. Plus, there’s the occasionally jerky transition between electric and petrol propulsion.
All of which made it hard to get into the flow on the tighter and twister sections of our route, where the powertrain was often caught napping. On faster and more flowing roads, however, the 408 was able to demonstrate much of the fluency found in models such as the Peugeot 508 PSE and the latest 308 – cars that prove Peugeot’s chassis engineers still know their stuff.
On such roads, you will discover steering that’s accurate and well weighted, decent turn-in bite (especially on the optional 20in rims, which are shod with wider, 245-section Goodyear rubber) and damping that strikes a decent balance between control and comfort. The 408 also sticks pretty resolutely to your chosen line, pushing into gentle understeer only when severely provoked.
Even so, this isn’t a car that you will drive when you’re in need of spiritual uplift (our gut instinct is that the 1392kg, 128bhp 1.2-litre turbo petrol will be a sweeter and more engaging partner), even if there’s enough agility and accuracy to mean you don’t always have to rule out the long way home.