The Crittenden Automotive Library

Peugeot 208 GTI - A First Look

Topics: Peugeot 208

Peugeot 208 GTI - A First Look

Geoff Maxted
DriveWrite
January 28, 2014

It only arrived yesterday but already we have had the chance to give the Peugeot 208 GTI a bit of a work-out. The image above is patently not the car delivered. Apart from anything else the landscape seen is delightfully dry, arid and not a bit like these rain-soaked lands. DriveWrite’s shots will have to wait for a better day.

First of all, both of us were pleasantly surprised. I’m not sure what we were expecting but having had a run of big, luxury cars costing three times the price I suppose we had an issue about returning to a small hatchback. Fortunately we need not have worried.

The 208 GTI is smart and presentable. It’s a three door and, in the front at least, is roomy. The seats are very supportive and, although manually adjusted, have plenty of movement for the purposes of getting comfy. We will let you know about the back seats in the full review. The interior has plenty of neat touches including a large sunroof. Aesthetically, the subtle red highlights picked out on the dash and door handles help lift the black leather - thankfully, it’s not overdone. The instrument pinnacle is very neat, minimalist and well positioned. There’s the usual suspects - Bluetooth, USB etc - available through the very clear touch- screen, which we liked, although it does look oddly positioned.

Out on the road it quickly became apparent that this is not a fire-breathing beast. It’s a civilised drive yet still very quick thanks to the 1.6 Turbo High Pressure engine. Although the GTI has the usual collection of safety features it doesn’t have a limited slip differential. The ESP includes intelligent traction control to help reduce front wheel slip but on the greasy wet roads we did occasionally encounter some wheel-spin under hard acceleration from rest. Should be fine on dry roads though, if we ever see that phenomenon again.

The Peugeot 208 GTI has made a good start and we are looking forward to putting it through its paces over the next few days. There will be a comprehensive review next week.