The revamped Peugeot 208 has arrived in Ireland looking sharper and featuring new petrol and diesel engines. Priced from €14,845 (excluding delivery-related charges) it also comes with a five-year extended warranty.
Exterior
Up front, updates include a new bumper, a wider grille and new headlights while around the back are new full LED lights with the signature Peugeot three-claw design with 3D effect and a narrow brake light strip up top.
There are 13 paint colours to choose from including a new metallic Orange Power and a unique textured paint finish in Ice Grey and Ice Silver. This textured paint is more hardwearing, more resistant to scratches and more tolerant to frequent car washing.
As an optional extra on Allure models there are two 'personalisation packs' - Menthol White and Lime Green. Both feature elements of the car finished in the chosen colour including an 'Equalizer' grille with three-dimensional coloured markings, as well as gloss black grille surround and front fog lamp finishes, laser engraved coloured lines on the indicators and wing mirrors in Nera black.
A new GT Line also features the 'Equalizer' grille with red three-dimensional markings, gloss black grille and front fog light finishers, 17-inch Caesium diamante alloys, Perla Nera black wing mirror shells, chrome window surrounds and a chrome exhaust finisher. GT Line badging appears on the grille, front wings, tailgate plus red Peugeot lettering on the front and rear, mimicking the Peugeot 208 GTi.
Interior
The updated 208 retains the Peugeot iCockpit cabin, consisting of a compact steering wheel and head-up instrumentation panel, reducing the distance needed to take your eyes off the road to read it.
The aforementioned personalisation packs can be specified for the interior too, regardless of the exterior pack chosen, and include sports seats with coloured stitching as well as coloured stitching on the armrests, leather steering wheel and gear lever.
The GT Line cabin has black and red sports seats with red stitching, which is repeated on the door panels and gear lever. Door handles are gloss black with a red line at the front and this red line runs down the black seat belts too. The leather clad sports steering wheel and aluminium door sill finishers complete the look.
Across the range, standard equipment includes remote central locking, electric front windows, cruise control and speed limiter, Bluetooth, steering column remote controls and ESP stability control. The seven-inch touch-screen infotainment system remains standard from Active trim level upwards.
Mechanicals
Marking the arrival of the new 208, two new diesel engines are launched in Ireland - the new 75hp 1.6-litre BlueHDi unit and a new 100hp 1.6-litre BlueHDi start-stop option, both of which are classed as Band A2 and cost €180 per annum to tax.
The petrol alternatives are a 68hp 1.0-litre three-cylinder PureTech engine mated to a five-speed manual gearbox or Ecomatique transmission and an 82hp 1.2-litre PureTech start-stop engine mated to five-speed manual or six-speed automatic gearboxes. There is also a more powerful 110hp 1.2-litre PureTech unit available as a special order. This more powerful engine falls into Band A3 costing €190 to tax a year, regardless of chosen transmission.
Anything else?
In April of this year, Peugeot set a record when a standard 208 100hp 1.6-litre BlueHDi covered 2,152km on 43 litres of diesel - an average fuel economy figure of 141.2mpg (2.0 litres/100km).
We didn't quite manage that figure, but you can read our first drive review of the updated Peugeot 208 here.