PEUGEOT 208 GTI BY PS
Compact, potent and with a highly adjustable chassis, this further-honed version of the 208 GTI is the best supermini you can buy
OPEN THE DR I V ER’S DOOR ON THE Peugeot 208 GTI by Peugeot Sport and you’ll see red. I don’t mean metaphorically – the Lilliputian steering wheel and its correspondingly weird relationship with the instrument binnacle still split opinion, but they’re hardly offensive. No, I mean literally, if you look down, on the floor. The 208 doesn’t have red carpets like those glorious GTI classics that emerged from the Mulhouse plant years ago, but it does at least have scarlet carpet mats, and you’d be right to read something into that link with its past. This is a Peugeot hot hatch with plenty of the old fire smouldering in its sump.
After years of underachieving, Peugeot – or specifically Peugeot Sport – is back on form, and not just with this 208 but with the 308 by PS, too. Sure, the smaller car’s supremacy in its class has in part been bequeathed to it by the disappearance of Ford’s Fiesta ST, and a lull in the competition before the arrival of a new ST, the forthcoming Polo GTI and the imminent Toyota Yaris GRMN. Nevertheless, it would be unfair to lay all of the Peugeot’s glory at the absence of others: it fought valiantly against the fast Ford favourite, and more than a few of us at evo would have picked the 208 over the Fiesta, given the choice.
So just what is it that makes the 208 special? One thing that isn’t working for us is painting the car two different colours. OK, so some may well be seduced by the ‘Coupe Franche’ paintjob, but most of the evo team aren’t. It’s a gimmick the car really doesn’t need and is a pain to keep clean. The black half also has the texture of medium-grade wet-and- dry paper. Horrid. David Vivian sums it up best: ‘It’s always a pleasure to see an excellent
car’s potential fully realised, so it’s a shame you feel as if you have to apologise for the Chav-inspired paint scheme and, as ever, wonder why you have to look over the top of the steering wheel to see the instruments.’ You’re stuck with the steering wheel but, happily, you don’t have to go two-tone: other, single- colour options are available.
But what’s important with the 208 GTI by Peugeot Sport are the mechanical changes that elevate it above the standard 208 GTI launched in 2012. Yes, power and torque are up, from 197bhp and 203lb ft to 205bhp and 221lb ft, but these small hikes are not the main event here, merely a useful extra kick when required. Those outputs are further enlivened by shorter gear ratios and then deployed through a Torsen-type limitedslip differential for much improved traction. ( The basic 208 GTI has recently adopted the same engine and gearing, but not the diff.) A great GTI has never been about raw speed alone, but the 0.3-second reduction in the 0- 62mph time – down to 6.5sec – is welcome enough, ensuring the little 208 is more than able to keep up with most of the larger hot hatches in a straight line.
However, it’s the chassis that was always going to be where this car stands or falls, and it only takes a glance down the spec sheet to see that Peugeot Sport has taken the brief seriously. The front and rear track are wider by 22mm and 16mm respectively, the front anti-roll bar is softer while the springs are 30 per cent stiffer at the front but 80 per cent stiffer at the rear. The ride height has been lowered by 10mm, and the dampers are much more specialised items than those fitted to the standard car. Picture it in your head and it’s clear there’s a much greater contrast between the front and rear axles, encouraged by revised geometry, that should see the tail wagging the dog in a more traditional Peugeot hot hatch fashion. A set of Michelin’s finest Pilot Super Sports completes the dynamic makeover.
There is a road in the Yorkshire Dales near where most of these images were shot on which the 208 feels borderline perfect. It’s a reasonably narrow road, although still with a centreline, defined by violent gradient changes that wouldn’t be out of place on a theme-park ride. There are few straight sections of any real note, but there are lots of corners, and many happen on, or immediately after, numerous crests and hollows. Unseasonably, the sun has been out most of the day, and there’s still plenty of heat left in the road’s surface. I genuinely find it hard to believe that there’s a faster, more deft, more perfectly suited vehicle with which to tackle this stretch of asphalt.
Not once do I yearn for a single extra horsepower: the Peugeot pulls with real gusto from very low revs but has the top- end energy that’s so vital in a small hot hatch. Its diminutive size is a real boon – a confirmation that, actually, a great hot hatch is not all about genuine downforce, Ring lap times and having 300bhp-plus. The 208 scythes between the low stone walls with plenty of room to spare either side of it, allowing the driver to choose their own cornering line, rather than being a mere prisoner between an unyielding barrier of hard rock and a painted white line.
There is tremendous cornering grip, to the point where I make a mental note to check if the tyres haven’t been swapped for a set of Cup 2s. The diff is a work of wonder, allowing the chassis to resist understeer and cutting engine output wastage to zero. But even more than that, it’s the willingness of the 208’s rear axle to play an active part in cornering, and the sheer agility of the car, that makes this supermini a special driving experience. For every mile on the M1 that you might curse the insistent rebound rates of the dampers, your faith is repaid three times over when the road gets interesting.
Viv is very impressed, which always says a lot: ‘It amply rewards commitment, tilting you towards a full- on groove in
‘ IT’S THE SHEER AGILIT Y OF THE C AR THAT MAKES IT A SPECIAL DRIVING EXPERIENCE’
which poke, purchase and body control combine in a really satisfying way. If you’re looking for a narrow band of supreme ability, the Pug nails it. It’s a junior hot hatch that feels completely “on it”.’
And then there’s our young resident hot hatch fan Will Beaumont, the custodian of this particular 208 on our Fast Fleet: ‘It relishes being thrown into a corner, and its balance and hyper-reactive nature give you so many options on the way through. A small lift here, a tweak of the steering there; a little dab of the brakes can trim your line or send it sideways, or you can instantly neutralise any rotation with the throttle.’
Having said all of the above, the 208 isn’t perfect. The engine is all but inaudible at times, and together with its occasionally soft throttle response makes attempting a heel-and-toe downchange particularly vexing. An odd driving position only exacerbates the problem, as Will concurs: ‘ The pedals are too close and you almost push down on them rather than flex your heel, while the steering wheel is too far away and almost totally obscures the dials – for me at least.’
A day later, a different road and different weather, and the 208 begins to struggle. Blasting across the moors in driving rain, it feels too stiff, the steering a bit nervous, the finesse from working the controls smoothly hard to come by. It’s still a very rapid little device, but it requires a firm hand to stop it going wayward. Yet overall this is a terrifically desirable hot hatch: small but practical, relatively frugal, and most of all a car created by people with an obvious passion for enthusiastic driving. Forthcoming contenders will need to work hard to dethrone our favourite supermini.