actually, it is a bit thirsty. no covering up but the trade off is very good acceleration. 1st gear drags a bit but once it shifts to 2nd onwards, ... well, you have to try it. rolling acceleration is impressive too.

by the way, NO 2 TEST DRIVE CARS ARE SIMILAR. this is because the car comes with an adaptive (meaning 'learning') transmission and how it is driven relates to how you would feel driving it. mine is 'trained' to scream performance whenever i want it. trick is this... it is all in your right foot and how your foot 'trains' the transmission.

TU5JP4. original PSA engine.

100% totally n/a

nope. 308 uses the EP6 series engine. newer engine.

408 2.0 uses the EW10A+ which is a new development (I think this came out in 2011/2012 only) over the 407's EW10A. The older 407 sold by Cycle & Carriage used a much older version of the engine without VVT (I think) called EW10J4. So far, the EW10 and TU3 and 5 series engines (206 and 207 sedan) have been the most reliable from Peugeot so far. They may not have the performance or economy of the newer generation BMW/PSA engines but they do not have the complications as well.

Fuel consumption will be typical of European 2.0 engines of perhaps one generation back and will not be fantastic like the Japanese. However, you do get back a lot of goodies in the trade-off like exceptional ride, handling and comfort plus the interior goodies etc.