Peugeot 208 GT-Line 2016 Long-term review - 2

Peugeot 208 GT-Line
Long Term Update

The Peugeot 208 GT-Line is as high spec as you can go in the 208 range without soaring to the hot hatch territory of the GTi model. Featuring sporty exterior styling which belies its tiny powerplant, the 208 GT-Line enjoys stretching its legs on country roads but is equally at home as a city car. It has a great list of attributes but its poor ergonomics let it down.

On the face of it, the Peugeot 208 GT-Line is a really good car. As a small, city-friendly runabout, it is one of those cars that’s nifty enough for you to jump behind the wheel to run errands around town and with some poke from its teeny-tiny three-cylinder engine, it’s a bit of fun too.

It also looks the biz too, with sports styling that plays up its relationship to the legendary Peugeot GTi heritage without the risk of alienating the more conservative buyer.

After a week in our long-termer however, the resounding conclusion is that the 208 GT-Line is a really good car, but….

Any car today needs to work for its driver intuitively. Nobody has time for pre-flight checks each time you jump behind the wheel, but this is what it feels like when you get in the 208.

The first thing you notice as the driver is the annoying armrest which is on a pivoted mount located between the two front seats. If you left it down the last time you drove it, you’re going to have to shift it to vertical before you take off as releasing the handbrake is near impossible with the armrest in its prone position.

If you’ve elected to previously fill the armrest’s ‘handy’ storage bin with spare change or keys then you’ll hear it all shaken about as it is flipped on end.

If you enjoy a drink on your commute then you’ll be a bit miffed that the two cup holders up front are positioned so far forward in the centre console that a full sized bottle or coffee cup are too tall to sit squarely in its respective spot.

If you’re a rear-seat passenger don’t bother bringing a drink at all unless it’s a well-sealed bottle as there’s no rear armrest to accommodate your drinks, nor is there a retractable drinks holder. In fact, even though the 208 is a definite four-seater, with decent head and legroom, the rear seat is a pretty bland place for you altogether, with no USB charger or 12-volt socket, no rear vents and not even a rubbish bin.

As the driver, once you have wedged your drinks container into its spot at a jaunty angle, there’s then much cursing as you attempt to plug in a USB or smartphone cable into the one and only socket which is now inconveniently located right behind whatever drink you’ve just put in front of it.

Do not attempt this manoeuvre in the dark, as there’s no ambient lighting to show you what you are doing and you’ll be scrabbling around for ages. If you do manage to plug in your phone successfully to charge, then you’d better hope you only actually brought one drink with you, as you’ll need that other drinks holder spot to store your phone as there’s nowhere else in the centre console to put it.

You could of course fit it into the storage unit in the armrest, but you’ve already flipped that up and out of the way and stretching the cable over the gear shifter and handbrake is a recipe for disaster.

Popping it in the glovebox is, of course an option but there’s no cable run so your expensive cable will get wedged in the lid. At least there’s no danger of there not being room for your phone in the glove box as there’s little else on the planet that’s small enough to be accommodated in this tiny hidey hole (apart from actual gloves).

Now the glovebox actually looks deceptively large as its door spans the width of the passenger footwell but half of its capacity is actually taken up by a fuse box – meaning the glovebox is so tiny, you can’t even fit the car’s owner’s manual in there. No, that’s either going to take up the whole of your passenger’s door pocket or get thrown loose under the passenger seat.

All this frustration – and you haven’t even turned the key yet!!

The sad and most annoying part about this whole adventure is that once you do get the car underway, it is a largely a little cracker and much fun to drive.

While it is powered by a small 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine, its turbo propelling it at a fair rate, so it is zippy around town and a stack of fun on the open road. Its 81kW output figure is not a number to get the warm hatch brigade overly excited, but the 205Nm dose of torque does not go un-noticed. In fact, for a vehicle of its weight and suspension set-up, the power and torque figures seem entirely appropriate for the 208’s frame.

The six-speed automatic transmission is really well paired to the engine too, with gear changes swift through the lower range and the engine able to hold low revs in fourth and even fifth gears without the need for constant downshifts.

A more engaging drive can be delivered by using the manual shift but the shifter itself feels like it’s a long way over to the left, especially with that armrest doing battle with your elbow, so it’s not quite in the right spot for enthusiastic gear changes. And talking of enthusiasm, it’s a disappointing oversight that the 208 GT-Line comes sans steering wheel mounted paddles as they would make the world of difference on the open road.

That’s where the 208 shines and where the ergonomic issues can almost be forgiven and forgotten. I took to driving the 208 GT-Line on gravel roads during my time with it because it is so at home in that environment. Large rear-drive sports sedans, heavy SUVs and high-powered sports cars can all seem like hard work on a technical gravel road, but the perfectly-poised 208 is just an absolute blast as it is light on its feet yet still offers confident roadholding and cornering ability.

The GT-Line’s chassis is perfectly poised for maximum enjoyment, its independent front suspension and rear torsion beam is taut but not overly stiff and delivers a sporty ride which is still comfortable. It also copes admirably with lumps and bumps on regular tarmac, and never jars or bottoms out as some performance hot hatches do.

For its price, the Peugeot 208 GT-Line needs to deliver lots. It’s only $2000 less than the 1.6-litre powered GTi model but its cost pushes it towards comparisons with premium vehicles like the more desirable Audi A1 and MINI Cooper. As such it needs to be perfect, and it’s not.

There’s no doubt it is very well specified. It is one of the most affordable cars on the market to offer standard auto parking, and the bang for buck equation is not too bad if you’re looking for a small city car that will put a smile on your face.

But you’ll still be grimacing each time you have to faff about getting yourself set up…

2016 Peugeot 208 GT-Line pricing and specifications:
Price as tested: $28,990 (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

Related Reading:
>> Peugeot 208 GT-Line Long Term Introduction

Also consider:
>> Skoda Fabia (from $20,290 plus ORCs)
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