The Coolest New Hatchback: Peugeot 208

The new Peugeot 208 is ridiculously good-looking and packed with tech & features

Saying that Peugeot have outdone themselves with their new 208 would be an understatement. Honestly, we’re shocked with the new look the French manufacturer has adopted for the fresh and funky 208 hatchback. Not only does it look phenomenal inside and out, the little runaround is also overspilling with cool technology and features. So here’s why the new Peugeot 208 is looking to be the coolest new hatchback of the year.

Uncompromising style

Peugeot have finally ditched the old bug shape that’s been around since 1998 when the 206 was released and it hurts to say but, we don’t miss it. That’s only because this new shape is on a whole ‘nother level of cool. It’s instantly made to old shape look out of date, and although that’s not good for owners, it’s also a testament to the greatness of this new design.

At the rear, there’s a nice contrast between primary colour and black. Black spoiler, black horizontal bar bridging the gap between the rear lights and black “diffuser” section on the bumper. The black wheel arches and black window trim are only found on GT and GT Line models, but there’s also black wing mirrors and on the front there’s also some black trim which hasn’t yet been confirmed to be prominent across all models.

This choice of black accents rather than chrome is what gives the car its awesome sporty look which many hatchback buyers will be glad to see. Twin tip exhaust, “fang” LEDs on the front and those dark, tinted-look rear lights are also part of the reason the new 206 looks so damn good from the outside.

Does your Mercedes interior look this good?

It gets even more exciting on the inside. The interior has gained a more bold aesthetic that dares to stand out from the crowd. A prominent and wide centre console now extends into a thick armrest which separates driver and passenger, much like you’d expect to find in a luxury saloon.

Also in the centre are the “piano” switches which you’ll also find in modern Peugeots such as the 3008 SUV and just above them you’ll see a flat, angled screen which will be 7” or 10” in size depending on the spec.

You’ll also find contrast stitching, carbon fibre trim (presumably fake, but still cool), electronic hand brake and a push-to-start ignition inside the new Peugeot 208. From the funky gear selector to the decoration around the new digital gauge cluster, the interior design is audacious, stylish and uncompromising in its design. Oh, and did we mention that you can change the colour of the interior lights, with 8 colours to choose from?

Petrol, diesel and electric!

Peugeot’s coolest hatchback ever will be available as a 1.2-litre 3-cylinder petrol, 1.5-litre 4-cylinder diesel or a 50kWh electric car with roughly 211 miles of range.

The petrol models will be available as:

• PureTech 75 S&S 5-speed manual – 74bhp (probably won’t release in the UK)
• PureTech 100 S&S 6-speed manual or 8 speed automatic – turbocharged 99bhp
• PureTech 130 S&S 8 speed automatic – 128bhp

The diesel model will be:

• BlueHDi 100 S&S 6-speed manual – 99bhp

The electric model will have a:

100kW motor powered by a 50kWh battery producing roughly 134bhp, with 211 miles of range according to WLTP procedures. The battery will be covered by an 8 year, 100,000 mile manufacturer warranty.

Loaded with driving features

We’ve seen from the styling that the new Peugeot 208 is a very modern car, which is also reflected in the Driver Assist features included.

With the 8-speed auto models, adaptive cruise control, stop/start and automatic parking are said to be included and we can only assume they’ll also be found in the electric model.

Other cool features that can also be found in manual models include; Lane Positioning Assist, Automatic Emergency Brake Assist, Active Lane Keeping Assist, Driver Attention Monitoring (which detects the driver’s alertness on long journeys using steering wheel micro-movement analysis technology), PEUGEOT Smartbeam automatic headlight dipping, Speed Limit Recognition and Recommendation, Extended traffic sign recognition and Active Blind Spot Monitoring.

Price and release date

At the moment Peugeot have not revealed the price of this fantastic hatch, but we do know that orders will soon be open to the public, some time before the release in “late Summer” of this year. No further information is available at the moment but follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter to stay up to date!

So far, we’re very impressed with what’s shaping up to be one of the most remarkable affordable cars of 2019.

What do you think of the new 2019 Peugeot 208?