Peugeot 208 GT Hybrid review: I drove the new Peugeot 208 from Penzane to Yorkshire - and this is how I got on

Frederic Manby takes us on a detour of Peugeot’s history and cycling team before he tries out the French marque’s 208 GT Hybrid​ on a trip from Penzance to north-west Yorkshire

We begin today in north eastern France where at the start of the 19th century the Peugeot family was establishing itself making tools, saws, coffee grinders, then later bicycles and cars.

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It made a steam-driven car in 1889, ten years before the first Fiat, 14 years before Vauxhall’s first car. Today all three are part of the Stellantis group which stretches from the USA to Italy.

I have two adjustable Peugeot spanners from French market stalls, a pair of modern salt and pepper grinders for picnics from a former PR director, that’s it.

The new Peugeot 208The new Peugeot 208
The new Peugeot 208

Last week I gave a worn-out Peugeot Parisienne lady’s cycle to a charity in Penzance which felt there was some life left in the components, the frame having succumbed to years of leaky storage under a garden tarp in my sister’s garden.

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The lean Parisienne was one of millions of bikes made by the company. In the world sprint champion in Copenhagen in 1896 the winner was on a Peugeot bicycle, as was the victor of the 1905 Tour de France.

From the 1940s Peugeot was a formidable racing squad, with famous wins in the major and minor tours and track races.

Disaster struck in 1967 when its English star rider, Tom Simpson, succumbed to the heat on the awesome Mont Ventoux climb, fuelled by alcohol and by pills which would not be allowed today.

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Cycle sales soared in the 1970s and in 1975 a Peugeot rider took the first Tour de France finish on the Champs-Élysées.

Its last Tour yellow jersey was worn in 1984. By then it was the world’s most successful cycling team. For more see the exhaustive Peugeot Classic Bicycles 1945 to 1985. Price: £35 from veloce.co.uk

Peugeot cars never trouble the UK Top Ten. Ford’s Puma and Kia’s Sportage are on the front row of the grid. In France, it is volte-face. Peugeot’s best-selling 208 was overtaken last year by the newer Renault Clio.

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Peugeot has three others in the Top 20 while the Puma was a mere 20th and there’s no room for the Sportage. Most of the list has strong French provenance. In Britain’s Top Twenty, only Nissan’s Qashqai and Juke and Mini are made here.

The 208 GT Hybrid which took me to Penzance is a descendant of the 1984 1.6 litre 205 GTI, a car which out-GT’d the seminal Golf GTI and, along with the diesel 205, the best of its day, set out Peugeot’s path to a love affair for hatchbacks all over Europe.

A 208 is bigger than the 205 (4m long versus 3.7m) which at its lightest was just 740kg. The GT Hybrid is around 1230kg and I know would feel its weight side-to-side with the more basic 205. That was then. Today’s 208 GT bristles with quality. Its face carries an assault of a grille, smothering all you see. Just in case you missed it, there are three strident daytime LED “claw” lights at each side.

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My longest trip in the car was from Penzance to north west Yorkshire for an overnight stop. I was ready, my left buttock these days prey to such treks.

I’d filled up at £1.42/litre on the promenade at ASDA, a Co-op last time I was there. My only stop was the acclaimed Gloucester Farm Shop Services on the M5, a southern cousin of the original, 208 miles north on the M6 at Tebay. At Gloucester you’ll pay 28p a litre more for petrol than in Penzance.

The 205 had averaged 51mpg going south. Coming north it, or maybe me, rallied to 55mpg.

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We had got off to a poor start. There was no handbook with the car and finding out how to manage the information screen to get the TomTom “live” navigation (a £400 upgrade) had proved hopeless.

Peugeot’s ever-ready PR team supplied the answer: tap the screen with three fingers simultaneously to get the menu page.

Here I had an immediate flash-back to the five-finger death punch with which Uma Thurman despatched her mentor David Carradine at the end of Kill Bill 2. I don’t think it’s real but to be safe don’t try it. In its three finger version it awoke the 205 screen. Sad, but I did mutter a few kung fu words to help it along.

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Between the journeys south and north the 205 GT was fun. With a 0-60 time of less than eight seconds it is on the ball for nippy stuff in real-life driving, and easy to park in a town where spaces are coveted. It was stunning in metallic cumulus grey paint, which at £750 should ease its sale down the line.

Finally I have got used to Peugeot’s obtuse juxtaposition of having the steering wheel below the instruments. Drivers with, err, excessive muscle on their thighs and bellies may not find it easy.

The rest of the GT’s interior is accommodating. Rear passengers (three are a squeeze) have map pouches and mini USB ports and door pockets. In the front there are numerous tubs and a classy folding panel-tray in the piano black facade which covers a phone pad. Information is through a combination of toggle keys and tabs, the screen and by voice command.

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My main groan, and it’s not unusual these days, is really excessive tyre roar on some surfaces. The GT was on 205/45/17 Michelins. Everyday fuel averages ranged from a thirsty 33mpg to 53mpg, for an overall score of 50mpg.

Peugeot 205 GT Hybrid. Price: From £28,810. Engine: 1.2-litre 3-cylinder turbo petrol hybrid. Power: 135.4 bhp. Torque: 170lb/ft. Transmission: six-speed automatic. Top speed: 127mph. 0-62mph: 8.1 seconds. Economy: 54.5 mpg (matched in testing). Tank: 9.7 gallons. CO 2 emissions:105g/km. Length: 157 inches. Braked towing limit: 1200kg. More: peugeot.co.uk

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