If you ever wondered how Peugeot’s 500 PS hybrid 308R fares against genuine hot hatchbacks such as the Audi RS3 or Mercedes A45 AMG, now we finally have our answer.
Fair warning, after watching this video, you might be even more excited than you already were at the thought of the French manufacturer developing a production version of the 308R Hybrid.
The reason for that is quite simple. It goes like the wind. And not just any old gust of wind, we’re talking Hurricane Sandy-levels of straight light dominance here, after all, those 500 PS come hand-in-hand with 730 Nm (538 lb-ft) of torque.
So yes, those types of numbers aren’t exactly what we tend to expect when we think about a modern day hot hatch. For example, take the Audi RS3, which just happens to be featured in this video. It’s packing some serious firepower as well at 367 PS and 465 Nm (342 lb-ft) of torque. Not as much as the French plug-in petrol hybrid hatch, but still good for a 4.3 second 0-100 km/h (62 mph) sprint time.
On paper, the 308R Hybrid isn’t much quicker to 100 km/h. It will complete the task in about 4 seconds according to Peugeot, which means you can go into this video expecting it to be a close affair, right?
Right…