Three-pot Peugeot 2008 powered by petrol revival
FOR those of you who have been watching closely, you will have noticed something of a seismic shift in the motor industry over the past 18 months or so when the all-consuming mania for diesel motivation began to lose its’ lustre and people finally started realising there were other — equally feasible — fuel sources.
Punters, no doubt fuelled (if you’ll pardon the pun) by matters such as the VW ‘dieselgate’ scandal and a growing awareness that diesel engines are not for everyone — as they had previously been persuaded by every salesman the length and breadth of the country — and especially not urban-based people who rarely, if ever, see a green field, are changing tack.
We here at Examiner Motoring have been wittering on for some time now that a change of emphasis on behalf of manufacturers from the production of vast numbers of diesel engines, back towards smaller capacity petrol units, has become very pronounced. The growing movement towards hybrid-powered cars is also indicative of the diesel slump.
The fact that Europe’s decision-makers are also set to kill diesel off as a motivating force for cars in the not too distant future has no doubt also focused the minds of the production planners at car makers all over the globe, so it is no wonder we are witnessing a period of profound change.
With regard to petrol engines, Ford has led the charge with its’ remarkable 1.0 litre EcoBoost petrol series which not only produces some remarkable power output, emission and economy figures, but has caused a knock-on effect among other major players to produce similarly effective small petrol engines.
This week we test one such motor, the Peugeot 2008 (in GT Line trim) which is fitted with a three cylinder 1.2 litre turbocharged ‘PureTech’ petrol engine. This unit comes in two guises — one with a 110 bhp output and the other with 130 bhp, and it is the former of these we got to try out.
Now, while long having had reservations about the direction Peugeot was going in terms of the types of cars it was making — crap ones, largely — there have never been questions from this quarter about the engineering aptitude of the company or its’ ability to make damn good engines.
The very fact that BMW turned to the French outfit when it needed diesel expertise, tells you everything you need to know about their capacity to build good engines — whether diesel or petrol.
The trouble with the French, however, is that while they will take all the plaudits offered to them for their engineering genius, oftentimes they seem to think that just because they got one (admittedly critical) element of the overall design honed finely, they can forget about the rest.
Thus many of their cars have been rightly pooh-poohed by critics and customers alike for having critical failings — such as ox-cart handling, or touch-it-and-it-will-break build quality — but great engines and gearboxes, which is something Peugeot rarely get wrong. And comfort, of course; they rarely get that wrong either. The French like their comfort.
It is very rare (and certainly not in the past 10 to 15 years), however, that Peugeot gets the full package spot-on and for eejits like me, who have to try and put into words the depths of their failings, this makes life incredibly difficult.
Nobody — that I know of anyway — deliberately sets out to damn any particular brand for their inherent and often endemic failings, sensitive as we are to the well-being of salesmen and women and their families up and down the country. But calling a spade a shovel, doesn’t always get it done when it comes to telling the truth.
There are definite signs of a sea-change chez Peugeot and aside from a much heralded and bragged about — something which, naturellement, comes easily to the French — move to up-market their brand (not the first time they’ve tried that one either) there are signs that they have stepped up a gear or two in terms of making a very good — and complete — product.
We can see this in the 2008, which is not simply stylish, good-looking, and with a great drivetrain; but it is well built, drives well, is loaded with kit, good value, and comfortable too.
It is not often we see the combination of all these things in a Pug. Not often enough, anyway.
OK, so it is not all good news. There are still areas where the company falls down — bits of the interior are fairly plasticky — but on the whole, the indicators are very encouraging and could point to the fact that they have finally got their act together.
And on the engine front, it is no surprise that there is a little gem under the hood. The 110 bhp unit — aside from being the better value of the two available options — is a very strong performer. Across the rev, range it pulls like a locomotive and while the 10.3 second 0-100 kph time might not seem startling, just think about it: it is only 1.2 litres in capacity.
The 180 kph top speed is very worthy, but the headline figure for claimed consumption — 4.8 l/100 km (59mpg) — will certainly grab attention. Sure the real world figures might not come close, but if you’re getting anywhere over 45mpg around town, not too many will complain.
On the road, the ‘iCockpit’ — characterised as it is by the tiny steering wheel and the unusual instrumentation and minimal switchgear — is easy to get used to, although the wheel itself takes a little bit of time to get your head around as it does require a slightly different driving style to make it work, with inputs having to be less generous than might feel normal.
The GT Line adds fancy-dan trim and a whole shooting gallery of kit which does, it has to be said, push the price up, but stuff like the 5-setting grip control gives the car a dimension that not many B-segment SUVs actually have.
Life certainly has been breathed into Peugeot in recent times and the refreshed and upgraded 2008 is proof positive of that.
It is not the last word indicating the positive manner in which the French brand is going forward, but it is a very strong indicator of the way things are going. And that little petrol engine is a cracker too.
Plus ca change!
****
from €19,400 to €26,435 as tested.
the petrol revival continues apace.
the GT Line spec is very impressive.
things are looking up chez Peugeot.
