SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get at home.

Unlike most car reports, what you read in these pages will not be a faithful reproduction, albeit slightly reworded, of what appeared in the manufacturer's press release. We look for background material, user experience and whatever else we can find that's beyond the obvious. Our guiding rule is that you will be able to tell that the car was actually driven.

*To read one of our archived road tests, just select from the alphabetical menu of manufacturers' names on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu that appears.

*Pre-owned: Our tests go back quite a few years, so if you are looking for something pre-owned, you might well find a report on it in here.

*Please remember too, that prices quoted are those ruling at the time the reports were written.


We cross over to the urbane 2014 Peugeot 2008 1.6 VTi Allure

City car with country cred

Posted: 23 July 2014

When Peugeot replaced its 207 range with the new 208, the company decided not to make a station wagon version but to create an urban crossover/almost SUV instead - because that’s what buyers say they want. But call it what you will; tomayto, tomahto, it’s essentially a station wagon.

To help it look the part though, Peugeot added roof rails and jacked its suspension up to 165 mm. Then they put Michelin M+S tyres onto its 17-inch alloys to give it dirt-cred. We took it out on a country drive and it didn’t disappoint. The ride was reasonably firm yet well damped; it didn’t skitter, and despite surfaces ranging from washboard corrugations to embedded stone chunks, fillings and kidneys remained intact.

Apart from bigger wheels, more side glass, roof rails and 96 mm more length, it’s noticeably similar in specification to the 208, although 2008 does gain satnav, hill hold, grip control, combination cloth and leather upholstery rather than all-cloth, more knee room in the back seat and 49 litres more boot space - with a completely flat load area. But we did find the hatch door a little heavy and you do have to sacrifice the 208’s fully sized spare for a space saver. Taking a hard look at the financials this, our only version of 2008, will set you back R38 200 more than the similarly powered and trimmed 1.6 VTi five-speed manual Allure version of 208. Considering that most manufacturers demand upward of R26 000 for satnav alone, this one is probably a bargain.

Its youthful and funky persona got help from a racy-looking aircraft-style parking brake as well as optional “downtown” floor carpets and graphics kits fitted to upper and lower body, mirrors and interior trim. Obviously a matter of taste, these come in five separate parts. Although we found the graphics pleasant enough to live with, we wouldn’t like to guarantee their permanence.

Despite suggestions offered by added ground clearance, the grip control feature mentioned earlier has nothing to do with serious off road adventuring. We did say this is an urban crossover, remember? The multi-way selector dial on the console gives users a choice between normal engine and traction response, and snow, mud or sand programs. For convenience the regular ESP on and off selector is down there as well.

Fixtures and fittings are practically the same as those on Allure versions of 208, with the familiar central touch screen display and control pad, onboard computer, remote buttons on and behind the steering wheel, mechanically adjustable seats for both driver and front passenger, remote central locking with autolock, automated headlights and wipers, dual-zone automatic air conditioning, cruise control with limiter, electric windows and mirrors and a very nice radio and CD player with Bluetooth. A pleasant addition is the quickly-becoming-fashionable second USB port.

Safety kit includes six airbags, all the usual electronic handling and braking aids, rear parking sensors, the hill holder mentioned earlier, ISOFix mountings and electronic child-proof locks. It’s five-star EuroNCAP rated, obviously.

We reckon Peugeot SA’s choice of 1600 cc, 88 kW petrol engine with five-speed manual gearbox, for what is at this stage the only model available here, was a good one because the 2008 performs willingly without undue fireworks and does everything an urban family car should. Overseas versions offer a 1.6-litre diesel in addition to the petrol motor and a wider range of gearboxes that includes a four-speed auto and a six-speed manual. No plans have yet been announced for any of those options here.

Test car from Peugeot-Citroën SA press fleet

Read about the 2017 turbo triple with a/t here

The numbers
Price: R269 900
Engine: 1598 cc, DOHC, 16-valve, four-cylinder
Power: 88 kW at 6000 rpm
Torque: 160 Nm at 4250 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 9,5 seconds
Maximum speed: 196 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 7,7 l/100 km
Tank: 50 litres
Luggage: 350-1172 litres
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km; with roadside assistance
Maintenance plan: 5 years/60 000 km

Save

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.

Comments?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you thoroughly disagree with what I say? That's your privilege, because if everybody agreed on everything, the world would be a boring place. All I ask is that you remain calm, so please blow off a little steam before venting too vigorously.