Peugeot 2008 (2023-) Review

Introduction

The original Peugeot 2008 was a quirky thing, designed to offer a bit more space than your average hatchback without massively increasing the footprint. More recent versions of the 2008, however, have been unrecognisable from their predecessor. Striking to look at, but every inch the compact SUV, the new car is competing with a wide range of so-called ‘crossovers’ that add raised suspension to the family car recipe, creating something more practical and more stylish at the same time.

The latest-generation 2008, though, has moved the game on with an even smarter style, more interior tech and a more premium cabin. It’s all good news for fans of the old car looking to upgrade, but will it be enough to tempt the masses away from such accomplished small family cars as the Ford Puma and VW T-Cross, as well as conventional hatchbacks?

At a Glance

One of the best thing about the old 2008 was the way it looked, and the new model hasn’t done too much to change that. It’s an evolution of the old design, which means the car looks chunky and modern, with smart bodywork in keeping with Peugeot’s modern design language.

Similarly, the interior has only been lightly upgraded, with tweaks to the design and technology, which means you still get the same tiny steering wheel as before — you decide whether that’s good or bad — and the same well-built cabin, adorned with a touchscreen infotainment system. It isn’t the sharpest system on the market, but it comes with all the features you need and it’s an improvement on the tech in the old 2008.

Under the bonnet, the 2008 is offered with much the same choice of powertrains as before, albeit with a few minor tweaks. There’s an electric version, called the e-2008, and that’s joined by the 1.2-litre petrol options, all of which use Peugeot’s brilliant three-cylinder PureTech petrol engine.

The driving experience is pretty good, too, although we’d stop short of brilliant. With light steering and decent visibility, the 2008 is great to drive in town, and it handles quite tidily on country roads, too. But the catch is suspension that isn’t quite as supple as you might hope, given the car’s height. Nevertheless, it’s comfy enough on the motorway, even if it isn’t that smooth at lower speeds.

Key Features

Interior design is one of the key parts of the 2008’s appeal, even though the exterior might be its more eye-catching feature. But the inside is arguably more impressive. Admittedly, Peugeot’s taste for a tiny steering wheel and high-set instruments might not suit every customer, but the cabin quality is much better than you might expect from a French compact SUV. The materials aren’t always especially premium, but the 2008 feels tactile enough and everything is well stitched together. It feels really solid, which gives you the impression it’s more than capable of dealing with family life.

But the cabin design and feel is not the only reason to choose the 2008 over its rivals. It’s also blessed with a brilliant engine, in the shape of Peugeot’s 1.2-litre, three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine. Dubbed PureTech, it’s one of the best small engines on the market, offering greater efficiency and refinement than Ford’s 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine. And because the Peugeot engine is offered with mild-hybrid tech, and Peugeot also offers an electric motor, the 2008 comes with a powertrain to suit almost any customer.

Performance & Drive

The e-2008 will get its own review, so different is its powertrain to the standard 2008 models, but there’s still a bit of choice when it comes to petrol-powered 2008s. Admittedly, the diesel options went away some time ago, but Peugeot has based every combustion-engined 2008 around the 1.2-litre, three-cylinder PureTech engine that’s used to great effect in so many Peugeot, Citroen and Vauxhall products.

Fitted with a turbocharger and producing a characterful gurgle, it’s a really sweet and smooth engine that we actually prefer to Ford’s acclaimed EcoBoost engine. In the 2008, it’s offered with 101hp as standard, and it drives the front wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox. However, customers can choose to upgrade to the 131hp version of that engine, dubbed the PureTech 130. That’s offered with a manual gearbox in the mid-range models, and an eight-speed automatic in top-of-the-range GT versions, although we weren’t blown away by the auto, which feels a bit sluggish when you’re setting off and feels ill suited to the 2008’s stop-start system. The two seem to trip each other up quite often.

Anyway, the final option is the Hybrid 136, which also gets a 1.2-litre engine, but adds a bit of mild-hybrid technology to improve economy and performance. The result is 136hp, which goes to the front wheels via a six-speed automatic gearbox.

In terms of performance, the Hybrid 136 is arguably the most appealing option, with a 0-62mph time of 8.3 seconds, but both the PureTech 130 options – manual and automatic – will achieve the same feat in less than 10 seconds, so they’re both brisk enough. Even the 101hp PureTech 100 is only around a second slower than its more powerful siblings.

Not that power is really the big selling point of the 2008. This is a compact SUV designed for urban use, and it’s pretty good in that environment. The engines are potent enough without being ‘too much’ and the light steering makes it quite manoeuvrable. Admittedly, the gearbox is a bit of a let-down, but the visibility is reasonable and the car feels pretty compact around you.

The biggest issue is the ride, which is a little stiff at low speed, and leaves you feeling a little shaken over potholes and sleeping policemen. However, the advantage of that is the car feels a little more stable in the corners, and it’s surprisingly good fun to drive. Yes, the steering limits the enjoyment slightly, but fiddling with the driving modes improves things on that front. As a result, you’re left with something marginally less agile than the class-leading Ford Puma, but only marginally.

Running Costs & Emissions

Naturally, the e-2008 is the cheapest version to run on paper, but for those choosing the conventional 2008, it’s much more of a muchness. The majority of customers will choose the 1.2-litre PureTech engine in one form or another, and that’s pretty good on fuel, with the official figures promising economy of just under 50mpg almost regardless of whether you have the 100hp or 130hp output, or the manual or automatic gearbox. Opt for the hybrid version, and that figure increases to between 50 and 60mpg.

Of course, company car drivers are more likely to be lured in by the e-2008, but the hybrid still provides reasonably low emissions of between 102 and 125g/km. That should ensure Benefit-in-Kind tax rates are kept relatively low, albeit not as low as they would be with the electric version.

Interior & Technology

Peugeot doesn’t necessarily have the best reputation when it comes to interior design and solidity, but the brand is turning that around. The 2008’s cabin is quite well made, with lots of soft-touch materials on display and most of the panels and switchgear feeling robust and well-engineered. That said, one or two cheap plastics remain – that’s the way it is for smaller cars with tight profit margins – but on the whole it feels pretty substantial.

And it looks good, too. Of course, Peugeot persists with the tiny steering wheel that feels fine in a 208, but looks a bit out of place in a compact SUV such as the 2008. Still, that’s paired with a high-set instrument display, which is digital in higher-specification examples and analogue in the basic Active. The digital cluster is generally good, although it feels a bit cluttered at times, and it has some configuration options to give you the display you want.

Further across the dashboard, Peugeot has gone for a futuristic design with angles and bulges all over the show, while the top-of-the-range GT model comes with green stitching to set things off. Again, all the materials are solid, and although it does look a little like a patchwork quilt in pictures, the design feels more cohesive when you sit in the car.

At the centre of the dash is Peugeot’s touchscreen infotainment system. There are two levels available, but both use a 10-inch screen to house their equipment. In Active-specification cars, the screen is fairly simple, providing access to air conditioning and media functions, as well as offering the ability to pair a smartphone with the Apple CarPlay or Android Auto technology on board. Going up to the Allure and GT models gets you a few more functions, which can be accessed either through on-screen menus or using the little piano-key switches below the air vents.

What’s more, GT models benefit from wireless phone charging, and all versions get a handy phone cubby below the piano keys in the middle of the dashboard. Nicely sculpted seats are standard across the range, too, which makes the car feel that bit more comfortable.

Practicality & Boot Space

Boot space in the 2008 is pretty strong, with 434 litres of carrying capacity when all five seats are in place. That’s roughly on a par with the likes of the VW T-Cross and so on, but it doesn’t reach into the realms of exceptional. Fold the seats down and load the car to the roof lining, however, and space increases to 1,467 litres, which should be enough to fit most customers’ requirements.

Inside, it’s a similar story, with enough space for four adults to sit in relative comfort, but only relative comfort. Legroom is a bit tight, particularly if you’re carrying especially tall passengers, and those same tall passengers might struggle slightly with headroom, too. That said, most will be fine on a short- or medium-distance drive, and kids will be perfectly happy back there.

Safety

The 2008 hasn’t been crash-tested since its latest update, but then it didn’t need to be. Architecturally very similar to its predecessor, it has inherited the old car’s five-star Euro NCAP score, which includes a very impressive 93% score for adult occupant protection. And if you’re confused about the car having two crash-test scores (a four-star score for the car without the safety pack and five stars for the car with the safety pack), that isn’t an issue in the UK. We get the safety pack as standard over here.

And there’s plenty of safety tech on show in the 2008. Autonomous emergency braking is there to stop the car if you fail to spot a hazard such as a pedestrian or another vehicle, while lane-keeping assistance, speed limit recognition and a driver attention warning system are all included as standard across the range. As an option, customers can also choose blind-spot monitoring that tells you when there’s something in the hard-to-see area over your shoulder, and adaptive cruise control that maintains a safe distance to the vehicle in front.

Options

Historically, the 2008 range hasn’t been all that simple, but things are much more streamlined now. Essentially, you get a choice of three different trim levels, with the entry level Active being the starting point. Despite its lowly position in the line-up, though, it still comes with automatic lights and wipers, rear parking sensors and automatic air conditioning, as well as the 10-inch touchscreen infotainment system.

Moving up to the Allure model adds front parking sensors and 17-inch alloy wheels, as well as a 10-inch digital instrument display and gloss black roof bars. And the GT version gets sportier styling, clever LED headlights and a reversing camera, not to mention keyless entry and ‘dynamic’ front seats.

Naturally, all those models come with a choice of colours and options, while the GT models get a black contrast roof to sit alongside the main body colours. Our favourite is Vertigo Blue, although the Elixir Red is quite smart, too. Useful options, meanwhile, include adaptive cruise control, which comes as part of the Drive Assist Pack Plus and the 16-inch space-saver spare wheel.

Rival Cars

The compact SUV market is bulging at the seams, but it seems it isn’t quite saturated yet, as more and more manufacturers join the ranks. As a result, the Peugeot is up against a huge number of rivals, including the Ford Puma, Volkswagen T-Cross and the Citroen C4, not to mention the Mazda CX-30, Toyota Yaris Cross and Hyundai Kona. In short, it’s quite the list of rivals, and the 2008 has its work cut out.

Perhaps the most competitive of all those alternatives is the Ford Puma (below), which majors on driver involvement and practicality, thanks to its lively handling and massive boot. It’s a great car to drive and it comes with some strong 1.0-litre EcoBoost engines, but the Peugeot’s 1.2-litre PureTech engine is better.

Elsewhere, the VW T-Cross majors on practicality, while the slightly larger Citroen C4 is the car to choose if comfort is your prime concern. The CX-30 is another driver’s choice, and it has a premium feel, while the Yaris Cross has a more rugged feel to it and a very efficient hybrid system. The newly revamped Hyundai Kona, available in a choice of powertrains, will also be worth a look for anyone in need of style and reliability, while the Renault Captur has long been a compact favourite, offering a choice of powertrains and a stylish design.

Similarly, Kia has built the Stonic (a kind of jacked-up Rio hatchback) to provide dull but worthy competition to the Peugeot, while the larger Niro could also be considered thanks to its sensible price and wealth of powertrain options. Skoda’s practical and well-priced Kamiq is worth a look, too, as is the comfy and cool Seat Arona.

Verdict & Next Steps

The 2008 is a much more compelling car than it once was, but it’s still flawed in places. None of its issues are too damaging in themselves, but they prevent it from being the best car in its class, and that’s a pity for something that’s so smartly styled. If you love the styling and you can live with the ride, though, the 2008 offers plenty of space and a surprisingly engaging driving experience, which is sure to win it plenty of fans and customers.

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**Score based on Select’s unique meta score analysis, taking into account the UK’s top leading independent car website reviews of the Peugeot 2008.

**Correct as of 22/04/2024. Based on 9 months initial payment, 5,000 miles annually, over a 24 month lease. Initial payment equivalent to 9 monthly payments, or £1,583.46 (Plus admin fee) Ts and Cs apply. Credit is subject to status.