Key considerations
- Available from £4,600
- 1.6 petrol 16v turbo, front wheel drive
- Reliable, punchy and economical motor
- Refined, comfy and quick
- 30th Anniv and Peugeot Sport versions well worth seeking out
- A long overdue desirable Peugeot GTI
OVERVIEW
Everybody knows that improving on perfection is impossible, but in most areas of consumer life – cars, computers, phones etc – we have somehow convinced ourselves that improving on near-perfection is not only possible but mandatory. Which while inspiring when it happens is also a bit mad.
This was the problem facing Peugeot when the time came, in the late 1990s, to launch a successor to their legendary 205 GTI. Although the base versions of the new 206 sold well throughout Europe, the hot model was not so warmly welcomed by enthusiasts. More unforgivably, given the benefit of the 206 feedback, the 207 successor wasn't much better.
As a result of all this bad voodoo, the pressure to deliver something better than just decent at the sporty end of the range was really on Peugeot when the 208 was nervously proffered in 2012. For some motorists with a not that long memory the announcement that the GTI would be powered a new iteration of the RCZ coupe's 1.6 THP turbocharged four engine wasn’t the best start. That ‘Prince’ unit, jointly-ventured by Peugeot, Citroen and BMW, had gathered quite a cloud of negativity around itself.
Leaving that aside, early tests indicated that the new Peugeot 208 GTI was still a little off the pace being set by two properly great superminis at the time, Ford's Fiesta ST and Renault's Clio RS 200 Turbo. The Peugeot's 197hp and 203lb ft outputs were no better than OK in this company but on the positive side the 208 handled well enough and this GTI on the whole was certainly a lot better than the two snotters that had gone before it. Recapturing the magic of the 205 was always going to be a big ask in a heavier and more safety-conscious world, but in the 208 it seemed like there might be light at the end of the tunnel at last. It wasn't a class leader, but it was a credible hot hatch offering from Peugeot and it had been a long time since anybody had been able to say that.
In the mass-production landscape, limited edition cars are perhaps better known for their ability to make a quick buck or two out of a calendar event than they are for their ability to transform a range, but the 208 GTI 30th Anniversary cars that were released at the end of 2014 genuinely fell into this much more worthy second category.
Technically, the 30th Anniversary should have come out in 2013, as that was the actual anniversary of the 205 GTI, but awkward questions might then have been asked about why the first 197hp 208 GTI of 2012 hadn't been launched with the vastly improved 30th Anniversary spec. It had a small but market-significant power boost to 205hp, plus bigger brakes and lowered suspension – so much, so limited edition – but a lot more had gone on under the (thankfully optional) two-tone 'strawberry dipped in chocolate' paint job. Not only had the suspension been lowered, it had been comprehensively tweaked. The track widths were increased and 18in wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport tyres were fitted. The traction control was relaxed, and the 30th inherited not only the closer-ratio six-speed gearbox from the tragically misunderstood RCZ-R but also its Torsen limited slip differential.
These were serious changes that added almost £3,000 to the price of the regular GTI, but just about everybody who tried the 30th reckoned that it was money well spent. It was the car that the 208 GTI should have been from the start.
Only a hundred Anniversary cars were made, but if you missed out on one it turned out to be immaterial because Peugeot then created a '208 GTI by Peugeot Sport' version of the GTI as part of the 208's 2015 facelift programme. This incorporated all of the 30th's upgrades and was a very fine thing indeed.
We'll get into the detail in a minute, but even the basic 208 GTI was good fun, good to drive and good on running costs. For a little 'un It was also remarkably refined and comfortable. There were some common problems that could spoil your day but the upside of that is attractively low prices on the used market. Our research revealed a typical entry price of around £5,500, but we're giving £4,600 as the starting price because we also saw a privately-owned early 2014 car in red with 84,000 miles and lacquer peeling off the alloys (but also a very important receipt for something we’ll tell you about later) for that sum.
And eyup, or Stop Press as they used to say in the old days, a clean dealer car for about the same money arrived on PH Classifieds just as we were handing this story off to the electronic version of Jimmy Olsen for publication. We’ll tell you about that one in the Verdict. If you're still cynical about the concept of really cheap 208 GTIs, we found a Cat S repaired 76,000-miler with peeling paint at offers on £4,000. That could be £3,750 or even less. The bargains are out there if you're looking at the right time.
Are 208 GTIs actual bargains though, or are they best avoided? Let's take a wander around the ins and outs to see what's what.
SPECIFICATION | PEUGEOT 208 GTI (2012-2019)
Engine: 1,598cc inline four 16v turbocharged
Transmission: 6-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Power (hp): 197@5,800rpm (30th 205)
Torque (lb ft): 203@1,700rpm (30th 221)
0-62mph (secs): 6.8 (30th 6.5)
Top speed (mph): 143
Weight (kg): 1,160 (30th 1,185)
MPG (official combined): 47.9 (30th 52.3)
CO2 (g/km): 139 (30th 125)
Wheels (in): 17in (30th 18in)
Tyres: 205/45 (30th 205/40)
On sale: 2012-19 (30th 2014-15)
Price new: £19,100-£21,995
Price now: from £4,600
Note for reference: car weight and power data is hard to pin down with absolute certainty. For consistency, we use the same source for all our guides. We hope the data we use is right more often than it’s wrong. Our advice is to treat it as relative rather than definitive.
ENGINE & GEARBOX
The 1.6 THP turbo engine was an impressive unit. In the 308 GTI it produced up to 268hp so it was comfortably unstressed at 205hp in the high-power 208s, and by this stage in Peugeot’s history most of the old Prince-related nastiness had been ironed out.
The THP gave you the revvability of a small engine with the wide-band torquiness of forced induction. Some might claim that it was almost too sophisticated for this type of application. With torque peaking below 2,000rpm you could easily forget that you were supposed to be hooning about in a hot supermini, but as we know tastes are changing, largely as a result of force majeure and the efficiency-driving invasion of turbochargers. The public has shown a willingness to accept potentially easy driving styles even in what are meant to be more sharply focused cars like these.
Reliability-wise, the THP engine has a good record. A stutter can often be traced back to the high-pressure fuel pumps. The guy with the £4,600 GTI that was for sale at the time of writing (see the Overview) paid £860 for a new one of these to be fitted. Misfiring could also be down to the spark plugs which even in this lower-powered THP iteration might only be good for 12,000 miles or so. The nature of the engine means that coils should also be treated as consumable items on these cars.
Wastegate actuators have been mentioned in negative despatches. Some owners have reported a mysterious clicking from the clutch pedal (there's no auto gearbox option on these) and/or a vibration from the throttle pedal. The powered-up GTIs had twin round tailpipes in place of the regular car's 'split rectangle' affair, but the main exhaust wasn't the same as the RCZ's and so neither was the noise, which ended up being a trifle droney. Akrapovic pipes will add fruitiness. Other brands are available.
In terms of overall running costs, the 208 GTI stacked up pretty well against cars like the Clio RS or Mini Cooper S. You could buy up to five years of servicing via a monthly payment scheme. Its slightly less competitive pricing lifted it above most of its rivals on insurance but that was counteracted by excellent fuel consumption. The 50-litre fuel tank gave a potential between-fills range of well over 500 miles, with even more than that from the more powerful – but also more efficient – 205hp models.
CHASSIS
This was probably the area in which the 208 GTI made its biggest step forward on the 207. Although it was a good bit lighter than the 207 GTI, at 1,160kg it was still more of a bantamweight than a featherweight, but then again, the Fiesta ST was about the same. Compared to the regular 208s the GTI’s track was 10mm wider at the front and 20mm wider at the back. It sat 10mm lower too on 20 percent stiffer suspension, but the deceptively relaxed motor meant that you somehow didn’t feel quite as egged on to the same feats of foolhardiness as you might have been in the brilliantly chassised ST. In a real-world A to B journey the ST would be unlikely to establish much of a lead over the Peugeot, whose easy power meant that you would probably feel less hyper at the end of it.
The GTI’s additional poise and precision was especially noticeable in the 208 GTI by Peugeot Sport cars, which had a 6mm wider track, different geometry, 10mm lowered and stiffened suspension, stronger front subframes, tauter dampers, thicker struts and anti-roll bars, bigger brakes (operated by red calipers) and a quicker, slightly heavier steering rack, as well as the Torsen diff, of course. The upshot of all that was a much tidier turn-in, less tendency towards understeer, more dogged grip once the car was in a corner, and even a whiff of oversteer on lift-off if you switched off the stability control systems. The transition from straight-ahead blanditude to sporting sharpness wasn’t brilliantly judged, often requiring the driver to wind off some suddenly unwanted lock in order to avoid mashing a wheel on the kerb of an apex.
The ride that was little short of excellent in the regular GTI remained perfectly acceptable in the P/Sport 208s, making them more tolerable as an everyday drive than, say, a Clio RS Trophy. Having said that, if you drove a PS 208 in isolation, you'd quickly pick up on its extra nobbliness on bad roads.
Thankfully the 208 GTI didn’t get the 308 GTI’s high-profile outsourced brakes that unfortunately cost more than one owner quite a lot of money to repair and/or replace when the steel pistons rusted up.
INTERIOR
All three GTI trim levels demonstrated how much buyer tastes and needs had moved on from the Spartan simplicity of the 205 days. Even the GT-Line based entry model had a nicely intuitive seven-inch touchscreen, rear parking sensors, cruise, dual-zone aircon, digital audio and cornering-assist driving lights. The Prestige was the nominated 'luxury' model, coming with satnav (which has been problematic for some 208 owners), heated front seats, a panoramic roof, and new black alloys, but the range-topper from a financial point of view was the '208 GTI by Peugeot Sport', which as previously stated, had plenty of money spent on PH-friendly boosts in the chassis dynamics department.
Maybe the design of the cabin was a touch haphazard, but the extra quality of the GTI cabin, with Alcantara to the fore in the PS cars, brought a stronger sense of wellbeing than you felt in lesser, tinnier-feeling 208s, despite the cheapskate retention of plastic for the door top trims. You might experience random and hard to pinpoint cabin noises, but even diehard old-schoolers could quickly get on board with the generally slick and cushioned responses of the 208’s controls.
En-sporting the GTI interior were splashes of red on the dash, door handles, the heavily bolstered part-leather seats, instrument bezels and the small steering wheel that hovered just above your crotchal zone. That was, and still is, a controversial design point, especially in a performance model where you'd like to be able to see the clocks without having to crane your neck or scrunch down in that very comfortable seat. At least the GTI's brushed aluminium gearstick felt good in the hand. The unusual driver-settable speed limiter was a piece of standard equipment that helped to secure a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating.
The GTI was only ever a three-door with small rear side windows, which made the pano roof a desirable option, but despite the fact that the 208 was 7cm shorter than the 207, access to the rear was good, as was the amount of space on offer for sub-six footers once they were in there. The 311-litre boot was usefully sized and shaped, too.
BODYWORK
The 208 GTI didn't shout all that much about its GTI-ness. The grille was designed to evoke a chequered flag, a front-end look that was slightly toned down in the 2015 facelift. At the back, the sportiness was signified by a small roof spoiler and a split tailpipe, and in an homage to the original 205, GTI badges were fixed to the C pillars, but that was pretty much it in terms of obvious outside identifiers. Standard wheel size was 17-inch.
We mentioned lacquer peel on the alloys. That's something that can crop up on the bodywork too, mainly the bonnet.
PH VERDICT
Peugeot has made concerted attempts over the last few years to heave itself upmarket. The 208 wasn't cheap from the outset, and the GTI model emphasised that price difference between it and its rivals. Even the dearest Fiesta ST was only £400 or so more expensive than the cheapest 208 GTI. The Peugeot validated its higher prices to some extent by providing a posher ambience – in standard guise at least it was a road car for occasional trackday use rather than the other way round – but if you were an old-school observer with fixed ideas about how a GTI should look and feel, you might have thought that the Peugeot was more of a luxury Roland Garros model than a 'true' GTI.
Point was, of course, that it didn't matter what you thought. The type of person at whom the 208 GTI was aimed was quite different to the sort of bod who would have bought a generic GTI in the mid to late 1990s. Modern buyers were now into visible quality and relevant cabin tech more than any stripped-back seat of the pants driving thrills that wouldn't immediately impress their peers. On that level at least the 208 GTI hit the mark. If you wanted the performance to match the poshness, the options were there in the 30th Anniversary and the 208 GTI by Peugeot Sport versions. All in all, the 208 GTI earned its spurs as a well-rounded 21st century hot supermini proposition and a welcome return to form by Peugeot.
If you fit the new-age demographic – and judging by the smallish number of 208 GTIs for sale, it would appear that quite a few people do – then you'll find sub-40,000 mile examples on sale for £5,000 or less. Here’s a 59,000-miler 2015 in white for a chin-stroking £4,650. Between £8k and £10k you’ll find quite a few mid-spec Prestige cars like this sweet pan-roofed 2016 example in red with 33,000 miles and an £8,995 price tag. The lowest price 205hp Peugeot Sport car (the one with all the desirable chassis bells and whistles) on PH Classifieds as we shut up shop for the day was this spiffy 26,000-miler in black at £10,500. Very wantable.
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