The Dutch are sober and soberly viewed, the Skoda Fabia and Volkswagen Polo are better cars than the Peugeot 208. They are more spacious, more practical and more German than the French hatchback. But don’t underestimate the pluses of the Peugeot 208…
This post is based on an extensive comparison test in Auto Review 1/2022. In it we ask ourselves what it is better to buy: a brand new Fabia or a renewed Polo. And for those who are not waiting for such a practical Czech or sober German, let’s take a look at a French favorite. The Peugeot 208 loses the test (spoilers!), but it excels in several ways.
1. The Peugeot 208 is the most beautiful
In the test in the magazine we give no points for design, but on the internet we air our hearts: the Peugeot 208 is such a cheerful car to see. Both in red and in the free paint color: yellow. It exudes youthful enthusiasm as the Fabia and Polo do their best to resemble the large and corporate Golf and Octavia.
2. The 208 pulls the heaviest trailer
The Peugeot 208 is definitely the tightest car of the bunch, both for passengers and luggage. But the Peugeot 208 1.2 PureTech 100 can still pull a 1200 kilo trailer. The Fabia 1.0 TSI and Polo 1.0 TSI have a towing weight of 1000 kilos.
3. The Peugeot 208 is more powerful and faster
The Polo and the Fabia are 95 hp strong and the 208 produces 100 hp. The result is a sprint time of ten seconds for the Peugeot and one second more for the Skoda and the Volkswagen. The difference becomes even greater when you accelerate to 130 km/h.
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It’s not just the five extra horsepower that makes the Peugeot 208 the faster sprinter, it’s mainly in the gearbox. Because where Skoda and Volkswagen rely on a five-speed gearbox with long ratios, the manual six-speed gearbox of the Peugeot fits better with the character of the engine.
4. You drive economically with the Peugeot 208
There is another reason to choose the PureTech 100 from Peugeot: its low practical consumption. We note 5.5 liters per 100 kilometers, or 1 in 18.2. The Fabia 1.0 TSI comes a drop later: 5.6 l/100 km (1 to 17.9). Strangely enough, the technically closely related Polo 1.0 TSI is a gulp thirstier. It consumes 6.0 l/100 km, which equates to 1 to 16.7.
5. Agility is important in the city
We have to scrape to get to 5 wins out of the 208 because the Fabia and the Polo are such boring good cars. But we found another one: the French city car has the smallest turning circle! 10.3 meters versus 10.7 meters for the Volkswagen cousins.
No compassion
By the way, you don’t have to feel sorry for the Peugeot 208, because it is in 7th place in the 2021 sales list. Perhaps the Dutch are not so sober after all…
Do you want to know whether the Peugeot 208 is too expensive? Curious how much legroom you have in the back seat? Read the full test in Auto Review 1/2022. Buy it in the supermarket or online in our webshop.