Peugeot E-208 GTI review

The GTI badge promises plenty, and this E-208’s design writes an even larger cheque. Its wider tracks and enormous, arch-filling alloys are complemented by subtly negative camber to set the stall for a rapscallion little car.

Plenty about the experience works to deliver on the promise. It’s a rapid thing, feeling worth its bold, 5.5-second 0-62mph claim, and a wet road or a boisterous junction exit can elicit a fruity dose of torque steer. Not so much it stifles your flow yet enough to paste a grin on your face.

There’s an instant eagerness to its steering, too. There’s a different tune here to the Corsa – compensating for the dinky wheel of Peugeot’s (perhaps infamous) i-Cockpit – and it’s a fun thing to chuck into a bend. You can do so with pretty stocky speeds on its electronic readout, knowing its Torsen diff will tug you cleanly out the other side.

What’s less apparent on the road is any benefit to its Sport mode; it adds a sticky weight to the steering and the promised slackening of its ESP would need a more track-appropriate bung to make the most of. Better to leave the GTI in its Normal mode and enjoy clearer, cleaner steering feel while reaping the benefits of brake regen (which defaults off in Sport) to eke out more range.

What else is different here?

Besides the much richer heritage of the GTI badge, Peugeot has worked on better battery cooling – to aid its stamina – while the electronic warble that accompanies your acceleration is unique to the E-208 and notably different to the harder edged, more petrol-like growl of the Corsa GSE. It’s perhaps less interesting as a result, but it’s a useful anchor point nonetheless and we got too distracted trying to find the menu that turns it off. As good a reason as any to leave it in place even if there are no virtual gears here to complement its work.

Is the range any good?

We scored much better efficiency here than in the Corsa too, albeit on different roads and in different weather, so there’s little science to back up the difference between them. Two and a half hours of mixed driving – pottering through towns then making the most of the tight, undulating roads in between them – scored us 2.7 mi/kWh. Or 100-120 miles of range with some leeway for sourcing a charger at the end of it.

Laughably inadequate for most, but pretty standard in this segment. Basically, don’t bank on doing the North Coast 500 in this if you’re based on the South Coast…