By Miles Downard
Streamlined operations
The South African arm of Peugeot Citroen Automobiles took a decision earlier this year to drop Citroen and focus attention on the more successful local sales of sister company Peugeot. It was the right decision in my books as the lower volume vehicle importers in South Africa are often on a hiding to nowhere in trying to compete with a vehicle in every niche there is. Accordingly a period of consolidation is a welcome one.
Further to that you’ll notice Peugeot only sell a handful of vehicles now. Small hatchbacks and SUVs are the name of the game, because that’s where the money is. Another great decision from the newly streamlined local operation.
Car in question
Here we have one of those SUVs, called the 2008 and mine for the week in GT Line spec. There’s a small amount of Opel’s new Crossland X in the way it looks (because it shares a platform), but otherwise carries its proportions much better than most other mini SUVs. In fact I quite like it. Black trim runs the entire perimeter of the car creating a shadow of sorts that highlights the raised ground clearance – and therefore SUV pretenses – of the 2008.
Under the hood lies a 1.2 litre three cylinder turbo petrol motor. It offers up 81kW and 205 torques with a six speed automatic gearbox. Normally small capacity engines with automatic gearboxes are horrid little things, hunting for an appropriate gear in almost any situation. The 2008 handles that process better than most.
The other thing the 2008 does well is ride comfort. The GT Line is clad with 17 inch wheels, marginally too big in my opinion but 16’s are available a model down but nevertheless the Peugeot does soak up road imperfections very well, as do most French runabouts.
Read also:Â New Peugeot 208: Another Winner?
Inside is a typical Peugeot affair, with a lot carried over from the closely related 208 hatchback of course. A nice small steering wheel and some other quirky touches make the 2008 a bit of an occasion. In fact the entire cabin is a lot more interesting than most other cars in the segment which is quite refreshing. Unfortunately the finish isn’t always so lovely; a rattling gear lever being an especially annoying touch.
Roughing it
The 2008’s underpinnings are shared with the 208 hatchback but gets 165mm of ground clearance to deal with rougher terrain. Along with that Peugeot throws in a Grip Control system that the driver can scroll through. It offers four modes: normal, snow, all-terrain and sand.
While ‘normal’ is the default mode, snow mode operates at speeds below 50 km/h and varies power delivery between the front wheels while allowing controlled wheelspin to optimise traction.  In all-terrain mode as much of the available torque as possible is transferred to the wheel with the most traction, thus operating as a virtual limited-slip diff at speeds of up to 80 km/h. Finally, sand mode, at speeds of up to 120 km/h, again offers scope for limited wheelspin to prevent the 2008 SUV from bogging down in sand, and thus retaining momentum. The 2008 even gets a slightly all terrain tyre rather than traditional tarmac only rubber.
In all honestly this isn’t much more than a gimmick because 99% of 2008s won’t ever see the sight of a dirt road. It must be said that the systems do work to an extent but not enough to conquer ground that anything with an all wheel drive system would manage with relative ease.
Bells and whistles
The GT Line model comes with every feature available on Peugeot’s list. From half leather upholstery (much nicer than full leather in my opinion) through to cruise control, an Apple CarPlay enabled infotainment system, navigation, reverse parking cameras and everything in between. Being a Peugeot the 2008 has a full arsenal of safety features too, making it a 5 star NCAP car.
Verdict
The 2008 GT Line featured above comes in at R350,000. It has a nice long list of features but is somewhat more expensive than the likes of the Nissan Juke, Ford’s EcoSport or the Renault Captur. That’s a formidable list of competitors. It’s perhaps worth looking at the 2008 Active, then, which is a more reasonable R280,000. You’ll forgo some kit but its better value for money in my books.
