When you get into a car on a cold winter morning, what do you do? Easy. You reach out with your left hand and turn a knob clockwise to make it warmer, and another knob clockwise to make the warm air come out faster. But there is no knob on this. Embarrassingly, I'm doing clockwise air twiddles.
So how the hell am I supposed to fend off the filthy British winter? Oh, I see, there is an icon on the touchscreen iPad thing that might have something to do with heating. Yes, that seems to work. Now if I hold my finger on the positive sign, the temperature numbers do increase, slowly, half a degree at a time. But that's only for my side of the car; I've got to do it all again for the passenger side. There's probably a way of linking them, but that would involve looking at the manual, and manuals are for losers, obviously. Now the fan speed: here's another icon that needs to be touched or tapped, for it to increase, slowly.
Frankly, it's a pain in the arse. What takes about a second in our ancient Polo is, in this lovely state-of-the-art, knobless, touchscreen new Peugeot 308, eating rudely into my day. And if I had been attempting it while under way, I would almost certainly have crashed. All the good work – of having the main instruments high up, and a small steering wheel I look over, not through, enabling me to concentrate on the road – undone. It's an example of a common problem in automotive design: technology for the sake of it, that wastes time instead of saving it. Electric parking brakes are another one; don't get me started on them.
Otherwise, the new 308 is a very decent car. Thanks to clever use of materials (such as an aluminium bonnet), it's lighter than the outgoing model. Lighter and more efficient: fuel economy and emissions are impressive.
To drive it won't set your pants on fire. Perfect around town, a bit disconnected on a twisty A-road; a VW Golf or a Ford Focus are more like drivers' cars. But inside it's very pleasant, classy even, and comfortable. There's not a massive amount of legroom in the back, but luggage space is good.
The touchscreen-for-everything is annoying enough, though, that it would prevent me from getting one of these. Well, I'd get one in entry-level touchscreen-free Access trim (from £14,495), but then I wouldn't have the panoramic sunroof of which I thoroughly approve. As does my son, who's turning into a bit of a stargazer. That's probably why he's so quiet. Unless he's frozen. Hang on, mate, I'm getting there: 17.5, 18, 18.5…
Peugeot 308 Feline e-HDi 115
Price £21,745
Top speed 118mph
Acceleration 0-60mph in 11.9 seconds
Combined fuel consumption 74mpg
CO2 emissions 100g/km
Eco rating 7/10
Cool rating 9/10
