Peugeot e-208 review

There's a fair bit of wow factor in here for a small car. The mid-to-upper specs get pretty lavish trim materials, and the top GT has contrast stitching, multi-colour ambient lighting, plus Peugeot's eye-candy 3D display for the driver's binnacle.

The tiny, low-set steering wheel is Peugeot’s interior USP, like it or loathe it. The compactness of the dashboard display means it can be mounted nice and high, letting you see the driving information over the steering wheel rim rather than through it. People fall into two camps here – the set-up is great if you sit quite upright, but less so if you’re more of a recliner. 

What about the cabin?

If you mostly travel with just one or two of you then the e-208 is pretty solid. The front seats are great. Life in the back isn't so good: the door apertures are pretty small and there's noticeably less legroom than in the VW Group superminis. Headroom is also limited in the outer seats, the roof curving inward.

The 311-litre boot's not a bad size (particularly when you consider the Corsa Electric only gets 267 litres), but there's nowhere under the floor to store your charging cable. It just lives in a fabric holdall, with only Velcro to stop it slithering about.

And the infotainment?

Post facelift all models get a 10in display as standard, up from the previous seven-inch unit, though the resolution improves as you ascend trim levels. It offers Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard across all specs too, which is useful. 

And happily Peugeot hasn’t gone too crazy with getting rid of buttons, unlike some other carmakers. The touch sensitive buttons underneath the screen can be a bit fiddly at first but they're useful, giving you quick access to a driver assist screen, home screen and climate screen. Below them we find very nice metallic physical switches for functions including hazards, locking and max demist.

We also like the neat little cubby with rotating door to stash your phone in. Native in-car navigation comes as part of a £650 connectivity pack – if you’re anything like us, you’ll simply use the Google Maps/Waze app on your phone anyway.