WHAT’S the first thing you notice when you sit into a new car or a different car from the one you normally drive?
The dash, the steering wheel? Most of us like our comfort and naturally seats are very important. That thought came to me last week when I sat into the new Peugeot 208 – the front seats are really comfortable and they have a very soft, luxurious feel to them.
The 208 is the latest in a long line of small cars from Peugeot, many of which were aimed at female drivers. But apparently the aggressive masculine styling in the last one, the 207, didn’t impress the ladies. So changes have been made and I think the new Peugeot 208 should be acceptable to both female and male alike.
Officially this new model is slightly smaller and lighter than the 207 it replaces and that makes it an ideal car for the urban driver. It’s ideal for city driving and with those comfortable seats I wouldn’t mind burning up a few motorway miles also.
Externally it looks good, a
‘floating’ grille dominates the front along with LED lights. On the bonnet is the famous Peugeot Lion logo. Inside there is room for five adults and you get a decent boot plus a full-size spare wheel.
This was probably the first modern car I have driven that didn’t have a CD player. Instead you can listen to your own music via a high tech infotainment screen which jumps out at you from the dash, provided you have an i-phone. I’m happy enough with my old reliable Nokia mobile so it was just radio for me all last week. This is probably a good idea for people like me as CDs do tend to be left behind in press cars. Initially the seven-inch touch screen on the dash looked daunting, but I got used to it in a few minutes and quickly filled up the 15 pre-selects with my own radio choices.
The steering wheel is small and cute and it’s not crowded with too many slave controls. There are electric windows in the front, but if you seated in the rear you will have to roll the rear windows up and down manually. The speedometer highlights: 50,70, 90 and 110 km/h, which is not much use to Irish motorists, but there is also a digital speedometer on the dash to help you stay within the Irish speed limits, which are normally 60, 80, 100 and 120 km/h.
Prices for the two-door 1.0 litre petrol start at
?¬14,495, while I drove a four-door 1.2 petrol version where prices start at
?¬15,095. It’s also available in a 1.4 litre diesel where prices start at
?¬16,495. Also from January 1 all new Peugeot cars will carry a five-year manufacturer warranty.
The Continental Irish Car of the Year awards are coming up on November 22 and Peugeot has been in the winners’ enclosure in different categories several times in recent years. The competition is tough this year, but I wouldn’t rule out the 208 keeping up the French manufacturers winning run.
Definitely a city car but this supermini won’t look out of place in a rural setting either. It should be attractive to a range of buyers from first-time and maybe second or third- time buyers, both female and male, to downsizers, empty nesters and possibly senior citizens.