Peugeot 208 1.6 VTi 120 Allure 3dr
Peugeot car review: RALPH MORTON
What is it?
IF you’re an SME business owner looking for a new company car that will inspire and motivate a younger member of your team, then take a look at the new Peugeot 208 range.
Not only does the latest Peugeot supermini have cute good looks and a well-finished upmarket interior, it also features a colour touch screen with a range of Peugeot Connect Apps that are intuitive to use and very much in keeping with the younger appeal of the new Peugeot 208.
The Peugeot Connect Apps include ‘fuel’, which displays nearest fuel stations and prices; ‘parking’, which displays nearest car parks and space availability; and Michelin Traffic, which updates traffic conditions in real time and offers alternative routes based on congestion conditions.
The Peugeot 208, available in both three-door and five-door body styles, went on sale in June 2012. Prices range from £9,995 to £18,495 for the 208 three-door models and £10,595 to £17,845 for the 208 five-door.
There are both petrol and diesel engines for the new Peugeot 208, with CO2 emissions from 98g/km for the 1.4 diesel (company car tax band 13%) and 99g/km for the 1.0 petrol (company car tax band 10%).
The Peugeot 208 reviewed here is the peppy 120PS 1.6 petrol model in three-door Allure trim, priced at £14,645.
What’s hot?
- Undeniably eyecatching and much more striking – with its sculptured side panels, sharply defined waist crease and in-the-image-of-the-205 quarter panel – than the less defined five-door
- Inside it’s all grown up feeling with contrasting aluminium highlights…
- …but it’s the colour touchscreen, with its range of useful apps, that will really appeal to younger company car drivers brought up on Android phones and iPads
- Around town the Peugeot 208 is quiet and refined
- On corners the 208 is grippy and direct
- Allure specification is attractive: there’s dual zone air con, sports seats, leather trimmed steering wheel, multifunction touchscreen, Bluetooth connectivity, chrome highlights, LED daytime running lights, dark tinted rear windows and 16 inch alloy wheels…
- …in fact, everything to make a junior executive employee mighty happy
What’s not
- If company car tax is likely to be an issue, then the 208 1.6 engine’s 134g/km CO2 is too high – the 1.2 82bhp offers a 20% tax payer a nearly £200 annual company car tax saving
- There’s only five gears – and the 208’s engine gets noisy on the motorways
- And where is the smooth but sporty ride of Peugeots from the past? Not in the latest 208 which constantly fidgets and thumps over bumps and ruts
- The five-speed box is imprecise, with a long and clunky change
- The engine feels shortchanged on its 120bhp power
