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Getting a grip: 2017 Peugeot 2008 GT-Line 1.2T

A step further

Posted: 31 March 2017

The numbers

Price: R349 900

Engine: 1199 cc, DOHC 12-valve, three cylinder turbopetrol

Power: 81 kW at 5500 rpm

Torque: 205 Nm at 1500 rpm

Zero to 100 km/h: 10.1 seconds

Maximum speed: 188 km/h

Real life fuel consumption: About 7.6 l/100 km

Tank: 50 litres

Luggage: 410 – 1400 litres

Warranty: 3 years / 100 000 km with roadside assistance

Service plan: 3 years / 45 000 km

Highlights:

•New face

•New engines

•New gearbox

Last year’s Peugeot 2008 offered just two models; entry-level Active and smarter Allure.
Both used the familiar 88-kW 1.6-litre petrol engine and a five-speed manual gearbox but the new range sees some changes. Apart from a new all-black grille with centrally mounted Lion emblem, a more aggressively styled bonnet, black-accented lower door panels and similarly treated wheel arch trims, there isn’t really much to see on the outside.

What has changed noticeably is that the entry-level engine is now a 68 kW version of the 1.6 HDI diesel co-developed with Ford and mated only with the five-cog manual box. This combination drives both Active and Allure versions as the old petrol motor did. Automatic Allures and the new GT-Line use an 81-kW, 1.2-litre, turbo triple and the Aisin-developed EAT6, six-speed, torque converter box. If you want diesel, you get manual and should you prefer petrol it’s auto-only. 

While Active and Allure trim levels are much the same as previously, GT-Line takes Allure a step further by adding a glossy black finish to the external mirrors along with blacked out roof rails, window surrounds and fog light trim. It also gets standard satnav and co-opts the Grip Control we experienced on the 2014 Allure with 1.6 Prince-series petrol engine.

This adapts the drivetrain to a variety of conditions via a rotary controller on the centre console. It offers four modes: normal, snow, all-terrain (or mud) and sand. While ‘normal,’ marked with a freeway symbol, is the default, snow mode operates at speeds below 50 km/h and varies the urge between the front wheels while allowing controlled wheel-spin to optimise traction. In mud mode, as much torque as possible is transferred to the (front) 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, allows limited wheel-spin to prevent the 2008 from bogging down in the soft and dry stuff, thus retaining momentum. ESP on-and-off is there too.

Apart from the rotary controller with its functions as described above, there are three more buttons. The first, on the right side of the dash, switches Eco mode on and off. You won’t notice much difference. A small button on the centre console, labelled with a snowflake graphic, duplicates the similar control on the Grip Control selector. Then there’s the “S” button, just forward of the snowflake tab, that makes this car a lot more lively. It behaves like most “sport” selectors do by (quite often) kicking down a gear and sharpening up throttle response. 

It also renewed our faith in this engine and gearbox combination following a disappointing experience with a C4 Cactus a few months ago. That car had no eco-normal-sport selectability and it felt sluggish. This 2008, however, was very pleasant to drive with enough performance to fulfil its duties as a primary family mover. If that includes trips through game parks its 165 mm clearance and pretty decent visibility out through the side windows will come in handy. 

The gearbox worked well too. The selected ratio is visible via a window on the instrument panel and it doesn’t hunt up and down unnecessarily. Kick-downs might be described as “soft” rather than the somewhat aggressive action we usually expect. It was disconcerting at first but that’s probably because it was unfamiliar. You get used to it.

Luggage space, passenger room and fixtures and fittings are essentially the same as they were in 2014, so you may as well re-read that report. What does matter, however, is that this engine and gearbox combination provides a usable and practical combination of properties that add up to an excellent little general purpose family mover. 

And if Peugeot could bump up the ground clearance to about 200 mm, give it all-wheel drive with rock-scrambling mode, throw in the 85 kilowatt version of the diesel and offer it with a choice of manual or automatic, we’d be truly happy.

Test car from PSA press fleet

For more personal impressions see the 2019 review

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. There is no "editorial policy" and no advertising, so there are no masters to please. What you see is what I experienced on the days I drove the vehicles. 

I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships providing the test vehicles.  And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.

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