Peugeot 208 - Practicality, comfort and boot space

The latest Peugeot 208 is only offered as a five-door hatchback with no three-door versions available. Space inside is no better than adequate, and those six feet or over will feel a little snug in the back.

For the 208 driver, visibility over the shoulder and out of the back is a little restricted – a particular bugbear around town. You get standard-fit reverse parking sensors, but you’ll need to spring for an Allure to get sensors at the front, and a GT for a colour reversing camera.

Adding the Parking Pack to Allure models will get you blind spot monitoring to warn you of approaching traffic alongside you on the motorway and help alleviate over-the-shoulder visibility issues, while adding the same pack to a GT trim adds an additional front camera to supplement the rearview camera. That’s good, but not quite as comprehensive as the 360-degree camera system available on Trophy versions of MG4.

Then there’s Peugeot's i-Cockpit set-up, which features the dials set high on the dashboard, and a small steering wheel you need to look over to see those dials. The wheel must be set low; otherwise, the rim obscures important driving information, such as speed. If you're tall, that can place the wheel virtually in your lap, making for an awkward driving position. Some people won't have a problem, but others might, so it's well worth trying before you buy.

Size

As we’ve said, Peugeot only offers the 208 as a five-door model – it’s 4,055mm long, 1,745mm wide and 1,430mm tall. These are reasonably compact dimensions, but they come at a cost. The Peugeot 208’s closest rival is arguably the Renault Clio, and it incorporates a longer wheelbase, which provides more interior space for the driver and (in particular) rear passengers.

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Leg room, head room & passenger space

The 208’s CMP architecture clearly isn’t as well packaged as the Renault Clio’s platform, because it feels more cramped in the rear, and there’s not as much legroom. Accessing the rear isn’t as easy as it could be, with a small opening being particularly awkward for anyone putting a child into their car seat. The rear seats fold in a 60:40 configuration if required, and every model comes with two ISOFIX mounting points provided on the outer positions.

Boot

Boot space in petrol and mild-hybrid versions of the 208 is a respectable at 352 litres, which is one litre more than a VW Polo, and just under 30 litres shy of the 380 litres provided in the more generous Skoda Fabia. Like the Fabia, the 208 has a significant load lip to heave hefty items over to load up the boot. Unlike the Fabia, you can’t add a variable height boot floor. 

The electric E-208 loses a little space, dropping to 309 litres. Again, because there isn’t an adjustable height floor, you won’t be able to hide the charging cables, so they must live in a bag, taking up valuable boot space when not in use. If you need to carry longer items, folding the rear seats down expands the 208's luggage capacity up to 1,163 litres. That’s not bad, but if you need greater hauling capabilities, consider the Honda Jazz, which offers 1,205 litres of capacity and seats that fold flat into the floor.