Saturday 15 June 2013

Road Test: The New Peugeot 208 GTi



 

















It’s day five of my acquaintance with the hot new little Peugeot 208 GTi.  Right now I am admiring it neatly parked in the office car park whilst grinning from ear to ear with the same excited expression I used to have after returning from a drive-for-fun in the 205 GTi 1.6  I owned some twenty years ago.

Yet it is just as much a love affair for me now as it was then; it’s great when affordable cars can be this good. Or to put it another way; I have just left the wheel of a six figure priced supercar, yet mentally my thoughts are locked into yesterday’s drive down from London to Eastbourne in the little ‘Pug’. That speaks volumes about what makes truly enjoyable real world motoring, in this case, for a snip over eighteen grand.

Unique package

Before the petrol heads amongst us start scrambling for car mag test results on the 208GTi against its obvious rivals, the Renault 200 Clio and the Fiesta ST, I suggest a pause for thought. ‘Performance’ is highly ‘subjective’, and these days have more to do with personal preferences rather than factual differences. It is only part of a wider equation that makes a truly good car ‘great’. In that regard, both your buying criteria and mine may be less to do with points of a second quicker here or there, or Tiff and Jason’s drift banter, and more to do with meeting wide and varied tick box criteria spanning at the very least  from  performance, to comfort and economy. Arguing over points of a second in achieving 0-62 mph times is equivalent to arguing that an eighth of a teaspoon of sugar really makes a difference to the sweetness of your tea. Or to be Clarkson-esque (must give him a mention too) that my Willy is bigger than yours.


And that’s why on first acquaintance we’ll focus only on what this new rocket-ship from Peugeot has to offer.  Most obvious are the subtle design cues; the framing of the dials on the dash light up in red to greet you to the cabin at night, the blue LED’s add subtle blue lighting to the edge of the glass roof at night, and the daytime running lights are quite distinctive over the plethora of others you see on the road; and then there’s the neat chrome lining at the top of the windscreen. It’s not as ‘bling’ as it sounds. There’s everything there equipment-wise too; the music and Satnav housed in a central binnacle, and speedo, rev and fuel information directly head of the small steering wheel set far back and slightly obscuring the view of them for taller drivers.

The Cabin feels surprisingly larger than its actual dimensions suggest, yet at the same time you’ll feel compact and composed behind the wheel– just right for punting this car across a challenging cross country drive.

The perfectly weighted gear change is one clue to the excitement ahead, the other is perfect ‘heel n toe’ placement of the pedals matched to a smooth free flowing engine. You just know you are going to have fun. The 1600 cc Turbo charged 4 cylinder engine gives positive linear acceleration, an engaging experience for the keen driver – its engine showing a keenness for revs all the way up to 6,500 rpm. You can play sweet rhythms and achieve spritely acceleration by changing up at the maximum torque level of 5,800 rpm, even less if you like, and still be overtaking single line traffic in the bargain. And oh my goodness will you enjoy shifting that gearchange!  - it’s such a sweet ‘box to use, that you’ll curse the day PlayStation introduced  paddle shifts on real cars, and interfered with the skill of proper gear changing. Real driving back again – thanks Peugeot.

With this car you pine for the next bend – the steering is so communicative and the chassis so responsive and reassuring that only driving matters;  you’ll want to see just how well you can exploit the flow, balance, and sheer pace this car is capable of achieving. Get it right and you’ll be a serious challenge on the twisties to much faster and more powerful contenders, and relish the fact that you didn’t pay the extra twenty or thirty grand to own that more powerful car.  If the driver of the ‘more powerful car’ is not concentrating you will leave it behind anyway; so you concentrate, and the Peugeot GTi magic is reborn………………

Today’s New magic

But not like it was in the days of the old 205 – it is in fact better; much more refined and multipurpose in its application. This car is unbelievably refined for its size and performance, maybe too much for some who might prefer that keener sporting edge. Not this driver though, because the designed-in refinement is what makes this car a perfect everyday tool, ready when you are for the ultimate B-road dash.  Many high performance cars these days have irrelevant gearing for real roads – what’s the point of being able to do 70 mph in first gear? – by the time you get to second gear you’ll have three points on your licence, and once you hit fourth you’ll be in gaol. The new 208 GTi understands real world motoring, and whilst of course you can rocket up to 144 mph if you want – you can play with gears 1-6 between 0 and 70 mph and have the time of your life on the right roads.

Road and track

This is a real performance road car suited for the reality of driving today, and one that rewards an average keen driver (which is most of us) who wants to maximise the fun of everyday motoring. What’s even better is that the fun doesn’t stop there, and if I want to be a speed demon without having to worry about speed limits and the boys and girls in blue, I can take my 208 GTi to the nearest track day meeting, blast the hell out of it, lap quicker than most…. and finish off by loading the shopping into the car from the local supermarket on the way home. With the new 208GTi - You really Can have your cake AND eat it.

Price £18,895 0-62mph 6.8 sec; Top speed 144 mph; Economy 47.9 mpg; CO2 139g/km; Kerb weight 1160kg; Engine 4 cyls, 1598cc, 16v turbocharged, petrol; Installation Front, transverse; Power 197bhp at 5800 rpm; Torque 203lb ft (from 1700 rpm); Gearbox 6-spd manual

No comments: