The new car Peugeot 208 supermini review

The new car Peugeot 208 supermini review

Time to say the 205 again?

It’s a good purpose. Back once the globe was young, Peugeot designed AN epoch-making supermini. Then spent 3 decades attempting to try and do one thing that nice once more. Here’s the newest try, and we’ve had the temporary drive of 3 prototypes, 2 powered by turbo gas. The other, the quickest version, was AN full-electric setup. as a result of it’s now not 1983.

Convincing?

Well, you can’t accuse Peugeot of not attempting. this is often a trendy platform, as seen within the DS three Crossback and Vauxhall Corsa. Yup, Vauxhall, as a result of gram sold Vauxhall and Wilhelm von Opel to the French some of the years back.To wrap the 208’s trendy engineering, we’ve got sharp, assertive sheet metal, and jewel-like lights in a very daring multi-bladed vogue.

But then you get in and it’s all low-cost plastic, just like the 205 was?

Ah no. Suddenly, the French area unit leaders in neatly well-found supermini cabins. confer the new Renault Clio. whereas VW and Audi have cheaped-out in their new-gen Polo and A1 (relying on glitzy screen displays to distract you), Peugeot has made materials and a putting style.The French definition of ‘daring’ typically interprets as ‘borderline unfathomable’. however, within the 208 everything is smart, although we’re still aggravated the elaborate climate management lives on the screen instead of having its buttons.All but the bottom description have a rather charming 3D instrument show. There area unit 2 layers of graphics, one superimposed higher than the opposite however regarding 3cm nearer to your eyes. It’s alleged to add clarity by transfer vital info virtually to the fore. in a very temporary drive that was laborious to inform, however, it certainly raises the tone.The front seats support you well. however, within the back, it isn’t as spacious because of the same Germans. Adults fit, however barely.

How will it go?

Like you’d expect. we tend to had a get in a 100bhp gas and 130bhp gas. They’re each version of the company’s three-cylinder one.2 engine that we tend to relish in a very array of tiny and not-small French cars. The low-power one had AN inoffensively-shifting manual, the larger AN eight-speed car. the standard three-cylinder cheerful chatter, and willing mid-range shove area unit each gift.We conjointly had a get in the electrical version. a lot of on it later.

And the chassis – is it 205-era good or mid-period mediocre?

Well, there have been things I found wrong. later on, I spoke to the project chief and, while not leading the witness, asked what they required to enhance before the assembly versions, that get to the united kingdom in early 2020. None of the problems I found was news to him. He says fixes area unit already in train for a successive batch of prototypes.
As driven, the bottom description automobile on 16-inch wheels and the soft suspension was pretty smart. Its ride is pliant – less sharp-edged than a 508 we tend to drove over constant course earlier within the day. Stability is sweet, it's cornering reassuring. however, the steering has AN odd gummy feel at low speed, and going quicker the burden features a two-stage feel as you peel into and out of a delicate bend. Once there’s a good lock on, the automobile has lots of management, mind. however, it’s not devilish sort of a fete.The GT-Line automobile, on 17-inches and stiffer springs, felt a lot of out of types. The tighter springs sent up a lot of force over bumps howeversomething within the dampers or bushes felt at the start slack, sort of a time-expired rentacar.

What regarding the electrical one?

It smartly packages everything into a constant bodyshell because of the gas automobile. The battery replaces the fuel tank, and there’s a lot of of it below the tunnel wherever the exhaust would go, and another block below the front seats. AN H form in different words, totaling a helpful 50kWh. It doesn’t steal any of the houses for humans or baggage, aside from a small amount of rear-passenger foot space.The power, within the manner of electrical cars, seems the time unit you raise, swimmingly urging the new peugeot 208 ahead, particularly out of roundabouts or tight corners, wherever the traction management operates dexterously. The 94mph top-end is once you run out of motor revs, not power.A mode switch offers you 136bhp in Sport, which is sweet for a 0-62mph time of 8.1sec. In traditional mode you’ve 109bhp, weakening to eighty-two in Eco. however, the torsion numbers area unit nearer that the modes don’t feel therefore terribly divergent.If the image is well-calibrated for acceleration, it’s not therefore smart deceleration down. The foot pedal is soggy and laggy because the physical science tries and mix electrical regeneration and disc friction. The engineers recognize they’ve work still to try and do. Shove laborious and it will stop although.The battery pack’s mass is distributed low and a lot of rearward than the gas powertrain, that the automobile feels slightly higher planted and balanced.The range is 212 miles WLTP – well quite a Honda e or electrical mini. Charging off AN AC wall box is regarding eight hours. On-route DC replenishing is snappy: realize a 100kW DC outlet ANd it’ll do 0-80 percent in barely [*fr1] an hour. place in a different way, you’re adding six miles of vary each minute.By the means of these electrical stats area unit precisely the same for the e-Corsa and DS3 E-Tense. really at the Peugeot event, an electrical 208 chassis were showing the battery case, high-voltage boxes, and motor. It had black tape on the handwheel boss and wheel centers. as a result of it was truly the DS.