PEUGEOT 2008 has a lot of SUV styling, a beefy, bullish exterior, but is in fact quite underpowered
The Peugeot 2008 is like a sleek-looking person dressed in a cashmere polo neck. A smidge unusual, with a trace of charisma; you don’t know whether you want to hug it or smell it.
It has a very open view, thanks to the wide windscreen and the determined addition of windows where you didn’t expect them (little triangular ones in front of the wing mirror, a panoramic sunroof). I inferred a pure, unadulterated pride in the French countryside. It turned out the visibility was poor – too many struts between panes of glass – and the panoramic roof was a booby trap. (It looked as though it should open, but was, in fact, only decorative; in the course of pushing every button to find that out, I accidentally called Peugeot’s roadside emergency unit. This is an additional feature costing £250, when surely any normal person would pay £250 not to have it.)
It has a lot of SUV styling, a beefy, bullish exterior, but is quite underpowered, whiny in first and second, a bit surprised to have anything asked of it in third and fourth, with no acceleration at all in fifth and sixth. The gearshift is imprecise, and the steering is neurotic in its overreaction. A motorcyclist told me off for floating all over the road. I tried to engage her in my predicament, explain how driving a new car is one thing, but driving a car that isn’t like all the other cars, something else entirely; but she was off. I reluctantly conclude that the open road is like the Labour party, and the people who claim to want a debate just want to shout at you, then for you to eat their dust.
The sense that you don’t have as much control as you thought you had is exacerbated by the fact that the brakes ain’t all that: a nudge that would have slowed most other cars ruffled no hair on this creature’s head. One of the car’s younger users – since he’s eight, this view is qua passenger only – said there were too many features and not enough stuff. I know what he means by features – the mesh on the seats, the padded square that stood for a handbrake, the oddment stowage – but I never got to the bottom of what he meant by stuff. I’m just passing it on.
The satnav made some devilishly silly decisions, but the Apple CarPlay was fabulous. If you want a gadget that will take dictation and text it to people, while finding your chapter in an audiobook and putting your incoming calls on automatic speaker, and it can drive, then this is your moment.
Peugeot 2008: features
Price £20,565
Top speed 119mph
Acceleration 0-62mph in 9.6 seconds
Combined fuel consumption 76.3mpg
CO2 emissions 96g/km
Eco rating 9/10
Cool rating 6/10
*** This article is based on Guardian UK
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