Peugeot 308 SW Hybrid 225

FINAL REPORT One issue can't take the shine off an impressive family car

- Pete Baiden

A CAR can be great to own, but sometimes there's a single issue that taints your opinion of it, just one thing that niggles away and becomes more and more annoying the more you use it. That’s what has happened with the Peugeot 308 SW that I’ve been running on our fleet.

I've loved driving it daily, it’s almost been the perfect family car. But I’ve started to dread getting behind the wheel after it gets dark. It’s all because the High Beam Assist on our GT Premium model seems to have a mind of its own. There’s no rhyme or reason as to when the high beams come on; I can be driving through a well lit city street and they suddenly activate, blinding everybody that has the misfortune to drive in the opposite direction to me.

High Beam Assist is supposed to dip the headlights as soon as any cars are detected, but it doesn’t work. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be dark for it to go haywire. As soon as the sun gets lower in the sky, the high beams sporadically come on, even though it’s still light. It’s almost as if the car just can’t tell the difference between light and dark.

I really can’t work out what's causing it to happen. What makes it even stranger is that I previously ran a 308 hatchback before the estate, also equipped with High Beam Assist, and it worked just as it should. It must bea glitch with this particular car, but it’s thoroughly annoying. I've unintentionally dazzled so many other drivers that I’m running out of ways to apologise.

I've resorted to turning off the automatic headlights altogether, because that seems to be the only way to stop it from happening. But it means I have to remember to turn the headlights on as soon as dusk hits. That's far easier than it sounds for someone who has relied on automatic headlights for the best part of the last 10 years or so.