Driving swiftly (very swiftly) across the
landscape of Queensland’s southern volcanic rim, I felt like an energetic
little mouse scurrying across a garden path.
Here I am mounted in a small three-cylinder
French ‘demander voiture’, going like the clappers and loving every moment of
it.
The new Peugeot 208 is everything it
promised to be – well-equipped, smooth-riding and delivering fantastic
performance. Despite revving to the redline for maximum thrust, the engine
retains outstanding low-speed flexibility, and when I re-checked the engine
stats to see 205Nm of torque at 1500 rpm, I knew why.
Peugeot has nicknamed this engine family
‘PureTech’ – which of course doesn’t mean anything, except to identify that
it’s a whole new design. I’m here to tell you, it’s truly an engineering
marvel.
The turbocharged 1.2L, 3-cylinder punches
out 81kW at 5500 rpm, but still managed to return 4.8 L/100km over a mixture of
hilly terrain, back country roads and freeway.
Peugeot has thrown every scintilla of
contemporary tech at this engine to deliver great results. It uses low friction
materials; it means a car weighing 5% less than a four-cylinder car, and with
one less cylinder there are several other benefits. It needs less fuel to move
it; it reduces the swept area, increasing efficiency and with direct injection
it burns fuel more efficiently.
Who said the internal combustion engine was done for?
Who said the internal combustion engine was done for?
Also, as most of the weight reduction is at
the front of the car it has transformed the handling in such a small car.
The 208’s green credentials are pretty
strong too, achieving 107 g/km!
The rear seats don't fold completely flat, but the space is very useful, and with seats raised the boot is a healthy size for 2 x 62cm rollaway bags. Enough for a decent holiday jaunt.
Yep, it’s small (mouse-like), but there’s
enough room for four adults, but maybe not four big guys. The seats are
comfortable, but their size is carefully calibrated for the available cabin space.
The steering wheel looks like someone squashed it in a press, but it’s great to
hold and use, and peeping over the top you see just a speedo and tacho, fuel/temp in the
minimalist instrument binnacle.
The other mechanical tour-de-force is the
six-speed, torque converter automatic transmission which although originally sourced from
Aisin Warner in Japan, the engineers at Peugeot’s proving ground at Belchamp have
pulled off a marvelous programming job on the gear changes. It is slick and
beautifully matched to the engine.
In fact I let the car dribble down to 1800rpm in 6th gear and eased my foot onto the throttle (I didn’t want
to make the engine labour), and it pulled away easily. So I repeated the
exercise, but this time I floored the throttle, and with nary a shudder or
judder, the 208 simply picked up speed, smoothly and comfortably. Wow!
I figure it will take you only two minutes
of driving this car, to fall in love.
The car I drove was the Top-of-the-Line
Allure, with a dazzling array of extra features, which of course all come at a
price – AUD$27, 280 – Ouch!
If you opt for the Active version, which in
our market is benefitting from a subsidy/deal from the distributor, Sime Derby,
you can get a great package for around AUD$24,230, and I think that makes a
much more sensible choice.
I personally don’t think all the bells and
whistles on the Allure enhances the driving experience – you still get all that
in the Active model, and you pay a more realistic price for all that fun.
Having said that, the touch-screen system
is great, and in the Allure that includes GPS.
I was the PR Director for Peugeot in
Australia when we launched the 205 range, and I had a 205 GTi as a company car
for a while. Therefore my Peugeot small car comparisons are unfairly based on that
hot hatch.
However, in the context of today’s offerings
the little 208 three-pot gives nothing away to its sportier forebear. It’s more
refined, performs well, is economical and sheer pleasure to drive.
Like I said, a baby lion with a big heart.
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