Road test review: Peugeot 208 GT

Monday, 10 May 2021

The Peugeot 208 was crowned European Car of the Year in 2020, and it has quite a lineage too.

PEUGEOT 208 GT
Base price: $37,990
Powertrain and economy: 1.2-litre turbo-petrol three-cylinder, 96kW/230Nm, 6-speed automatic, FWD, combined economy 6.3L/100km, CO2 145g/km (source: RightCar).

We drove it in France more than a year ago, and now Peugeot’s new 208 is finally here.

Vital statistics: 4055mm long, 1765mm wide, 1430mm high, 2540mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 311 litres, 17-inch alloy wheels.
We like: Looks fantastic, great fun on a winding road, amazing interior, very sharp price.
We don't like: No shift paddles, no radar cruise, no GTI…

The 208 GT’s fantastic interior wouldn’t look out of place in a car that cost twice as much.

It was more than 15 months ago when I first got to drive the Peugeot 208 just after it had been crowned the European Car of the Year, and my biggest complaint after driving it for a few days in France was that we would have to wait so long for it to finally get here. Well now it’s here.

Okay; obvious question – was it worth the wait?

Well, yeah, of course it was. After all, the 208 GT is every bit as charming, eager and delightfully responsive and agile on New Zealand roads as it was on the Parisian city streets and the roads in the surrounding countryside.

**READ MORE:

Peugeot’s little 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine is an absolute star and its wonderful growl adds even more character to the 208.

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* Road test review: Peugeot 208 GT

The 208 GT is wonderfully well-suited to both the urban environment and a tight, winding back road.

And it is only the GT that is coming to New Zealand, both in petrol and electric forms (petrol now, electric very soon), with the local distributor eschewing the lesser versions to aim the little 208 directly at the Audi A1.

A Peugeot taking on an Audi? Is that a wise move?

You can fit adults in the back of the 208 GT, but they need to be fairly compact ones.

You only have to look inside a modern Peugeot to realise that the answer to that is “oh, yes, it very much is’, such is the remarkable level of quality going on inside, both in terms of materials used and build quality.

And the 208 is no exception to that current trend in Peugeots, with a simply superb interior that looks and feels amazing. The breakout star of the show might be the flashy 3D dash display that projects the most pertinent information onto a layer of perspex set above the main screen, giving it a deeply impressive 3D effect, but the headline act is the superb quality that permeates throughout the entire car.

The 208’s interior wouldn’t look or feel out of place in a $70,000 car, so the fact that it comfortably undercuts the Audi A1’s price by close to $10k and lands here at $37,990 is compelling. Particularly since the A1 has an interior that feels like it should be in a sub-$30,000 car…

However, there is one glaring omission in the 208’s arsenal – radar cruise control is not only not standard, it isn’t even an option.

Okay, so it has a fantastic interior, but is the rest of it up to it?

Absolutely. Peugeot’s perky little 96kW/230Nm 1.2-litre turbo-petrol three-cylinder engine mightn’t be the most powerful thing around, but its free-revving optimism and eager nature are completely charming, and the fact the 6-speed transmission is particularly good at finding the meat of the torque when you want it, makes it an absolute delight to thrash around.

There is a caveat with that auto praise, however, in that it needs to be in Sport mode to do its thing convincingly well – in Normal mode it does tend to show a few gaps (as six-speeders do these days).

It is good that the auto is good at doing its thing in Sport however, because the lack of steering wheel mounted paddles is probably the biggest disappointment with the 208. Sure, they’re hardly an essential item, but the 208 is so delightfully eager, both in engine and chassis, that paddles would make a wonderful partner in crime on a winding road.

And it is, of course, that wonderful little chassis that is what makes the 208 so damn loveable. While the ride in the GT, with its lower suspension and bigger wheels, is firmer than the cars we don’t get here, the ride is never intrusive of uncomfortable.

Bigger road imperfections can have it feeling a tad brittle on the odd occasion, but the sheer joyful agility and immediate responses when you throw it down a winding back road more than make up for it.

What about that thing that superminis are literally made for – urban driving?

Well, luckily, the 208 is just as good here too. That firmer edge to the ride is noticeable, but again is never intrusive or unpleasant, and the sharp and responsive steering is just as delightful and useful for getting in and out of gaps in traffic and parking spaces as it is flicking it through the corners.

While the front seats are nicely roomy, don’t expect huge amounts of space in the rear (this is a supermini, remember), with both leg and headroom being more suitable for smaller adults, but adults nonetheless.

Aside from the glaring radar cruise omission, the level of technology Peugeot has thrown at the GT is impressive, and it is simply bristling with other driver assists, infotainment goodies and other niceties you like a wireless phone charging pad. Which makes the lack of radar cruise even more mystifying.

While more buttons have been added to reduce Peugeot’s irritating obsession with trying to do everything on the touchscreen, there are still a lot of things that can only be done via the screen. These have, however, been streamlined and refined for a far less frustrating user experience, while the company has added something revolutionary that makes using the touchscreen immeasurably easier – a small shelf along the bottom that you can rest your thumb on to stabilise your hand. It’s a seemingly silly little addition, but it makes using a touchscreen in a moving car immensely easier.

Any other cars I should consider?

The one Peugeot wants you to immediately think of is the aforementioned Audi A1, because the 208 simply destroys it. The Audi starts at $45,900 for the 85kW/200Nm 30 TFSI Advanced model and tops out at $49,500 for the 110kW/250Nm 35 TFSI S Line model. The $37,990 208 GT largely matches the 35 S Line car spec-for-spec (apart from that radar cruise omission), but utterly outclasses it on interior quality.

Then it will depend on whether you want a premium supermini or a fast one, because for not a lot more money you can get a Volkswagen Polo GTI ($40,990), Ford Fiesta ST ($39,990) or a thoroughly mad, ferociously uncomfortable and absolutely awesome Abarth 595 Competitizione ($39,990).