Peugeot E-208 GTI review

Woah, it’s red. That’s your first impression on clambering inside and into its impressively low-slung sports seat (certainly by the general standards of the hot hatchback class). Those carpets and mats seem to scream at your retinas like a snowy path on a cloudless day, sparking an inescapably dynamic ambience in the process.

The front seats hug their occupants just right, and those under six-foot tall ought to revel in the i-Cockpit setup, the dinky wheel looking and feeling perfect for throwing a little tearaway around. Taller folks might wish to try before they buy, however, to ensure the ‘dials above wheel’ setup of this interior works for them.

This is a seven-year-old interior now and there are bugbears. The climate control lives not only within the touchscreen, but one of its sub-menus – and far too many key functions prove distracting to use on the move. Its drive mode toggle switch needs two presses – one to wake it up, a second to actually notch you into Sport (or back to Normal).

It’s a comfy place to be, though, with enough visual and material elevation over its donor hatch to mark it out as special.

There’s reasonable room, too. This generation of 208 was always destined to host electric power, and so the interior dimensions have never felt hugely compromised as a result.

Rear space isn’t enormous, but adults can easily shoehorn themselves in, while boot volume is 309 litres with the rear seats up, rising to 1,118 litres with them folded. Which is around ten per cent better than its Vauxhall Corsa GSE cousin, oddly enough.