Peugeot 208 2019 Long-Term Test #1

Our $24,990 Peugeot 208 Allure long-termer is the second rung of the four-door 208 line-up that includes the entry-level $21,990 Active, and the range-topping $26,990 GT-Line. All use the same 81kW/205Nm 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine paired with an Aisin six-speed automatic gearbox, with a six-speed manual option falling from the specification sheets.

It’s a looker, especially from the rear where the pigeon-toed lion’s claw tail-lights nod distinctly to the brand’s heritage.

This Allure – ours featuring $500 optional premium paint – is the version of the 208 that most owners will aspire to. The cheaper Active is sparsely equipped by comparison, lacking the reversing camera, sat-nav, leather-wrapped steering wheel and slick-looking alloys that grace our Allure long-termer for only an extra $2000. The Allure’s reversing camera and sat-nav are there as part of a recent shake-up of the 208 range that also stripped $1000 off the price of the hatchback.

Other bits that help justify the extra spend include reversing sensors, power windows that go up and down without having to hold the switch, body-coloured wing mirrors that fold in automatically when the car is locked, dusk-sensing headlights and rain-sensing wipers, a dimming rear-vision mirror, an armrest in between the front seats, a cooled (but small) glovebox, and more faux brushed chrome accents inside to offset the piano black trim that reflects more sunlight than the chrome-look stuff.

The Allure gains fog-lights that also light up corners, and a more premium cloth trim.

But there are still some packaging shortfalls. The centre armrest shows the right-hand drive-conversion as a bit lazy as it gets in the way of the handbrake, there’s no centre armrest built into the rear seatback, and smartphone support is enhanced via the rather unintuitive MyPeugeot trip computer-based app.

Also, why the heck in this day and age do you need to take the key out of the ignition to unlock a fuel cap to give it a splash of 95 RON fuel? Merde!

It’s a bit disappointing, too, that the finely detailed dash is offset with a low-resolution, monochrome trip computer nesting between the speedometer and tacho.

Our trip computer glitched out at one point, refusing to show the digital speedo for more than a few seconds when selecting it via its stalk-mounted button, with the car needing a cold restart to fix it. Oh, and at one point on a 40-degree day the windscreen wipers randomly flicked on and stopped half-way through their sweep. They didn’t return home, even after switching the engine off and on, until the wipers were manually activated.

Front-seat storage is a bit mixed. There’s a handy but small lidded storage bin built into the dash in front of the driver’s right knee, door pockets will take a small bottle of water, and a removable cupholder better suited to a piccolo latte than a cappuccino sits in a storage tray in front of the gear lever. Buy a couple of mid-size coffees, though, and suddenly you have nowhere handy to stash your mobile phone if it is connected to the car via its USB cord.

Interior stash space for humans is good, though, with enough head room for four adults. That said, the low roof sill and wide B-pillar will leave taller drivers and front-seat passengers bumping their heads on the way in. Rear-seat legroom is a little limited behind taller front-seat passengers.

We’re not going to labour here on how the engine sounds or performs, as the thrummy but lively three-cylinder donk is little unchanged from the one we’ve experienced a couple of times before in other 208 long-termers we’ve had – the base Active and the range-topping GT-Line.

What’s still impressive is how the Peugeot 208 Allure sticks to the road. It uses Macpherson struts up front, and a torsion beam rear end that’s lighter and cheaper than a multilink set-up, to deliver decent roadholding ability and a smooth ride at all but freeway speeds. It’s on the freeway that the 208’s inherent firmness tends to give the Pug’s ride a little bit of a rough edge – likely due in part to its bantamweight 1070kg kerb mass.

Chuck it into a corner, though, and the rear will hang on like a limpet while the front slowly dissolves into predictable understeer, the 16-inch Michelin Energy Saver tyres squealing in protest. The ride is remarkably composed; there’s one particular part of my test loop called Fix Bump Bridge that will upset many cars with its sudden off-camber elevation change, but the Peugeot 208 Allure will barely notice it is there.

Steering the Peugeot 208 Allure is equally good fun. The French car brand has uniquely and dramatically lowered the height of the steering column, and the diameter of the steering wheel in an effort to raise the instrument cluster above the wheel’s rim and almost directly into the driver’s eyeline – sort of a head-up display without having one. It means your arms sit oddly low, with the smaller diameter wheel providing very direct steering with decent feel, especially at speed.

We’ve tended to like the 208 from the get-go, so it’s a positive that the Peugeot 208 Allure is starting to feel more like the premium European small car the French car-maker has been trying to sell us instead of an expensive Euro alternative trading on its brand name.

Like a good bottle of French wine, it seems to be getting better with age.

From time to time we also take the opportunity to spend even longer with a vehicle. These longer-term tests can be as short as a couple of weeks, but more recently we’ve settled on a three-month period as indicative of ‘normal’ ownership.

Long-term tests give our staff writers and contributors a chance to get to know a car as an owner would. While the car is with us, we pay for fuel, the servicing, and generally use and live with the car as a new owner would.

We believe long-term tests give car buyers a deeper insight into the vehicle on test, but also the qualities behind the brand and nameplate. The extended period also allows us to touch base with the dealer networks in question.

It comes as no surprise that manufacturers tend to have a love-hate relationship with long-term tests. Three months is plenty long enough to fall out of love with the latest and greatest, and start to nit-pick — just like real owners do.

How much does the 2019 Peugeot 208 Allure cost?
Price: $25,580 (as tested, plus on-road costs)
Engine: 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 81kW/205Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 4.5L/100km (ADR combined)
CO2: 104g/km (ADR combined)
Safety rating: Five-star ANCAP (2012)