Peugeot 2008 GT Sport: Ah, the French!

What is it?

Peugeot 2008 GT Sport is a small-medium SUV that leans in the direction of medium.

The 2008 designation (which Peugeot prefers to call two-thousand eight rather than two double-oh eight) means that it’s an SUV rather than a tall hatchback.

It’s not a GT or a Sport in the true sense of these labels, but it does have slightly firmer suspension and a different steering feel that will appeal to those who like to drive.

What’s it cost?

The French are seemingly incapable of designing a car that doesn’t look great.

Priced from $43,490, the front is large and expansive, the window lines swoop up beautifully as they pass the centre of the rear doors.

The wheel arches are large and carry black lips to emphasise that it’s an SUV.

There are large scallops in the doors themselves.

A black panel all the way across the rear carries large lights, and the roof extends beyond the glass top and sides to give a sort of spoiler look.

The door mirrors also get the black treatment and there are GT badges at their rear support them to let the person sitting beside you at a red light know what you’re driving.

As we said, Very French, and all we showed our test car liked it.

The large 10.0-inch horizontal infotainment screen is clear and reasonably easy to use.

Our preference is always a vertical screen because you can see much more without the need to scroll, but the Peugeot does work better than most.

There’s Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smart phone mirroring, as well as DAB+ radio and satellite navigation.

The wireless charging tray is handy as it saves having cables taking up space in the centre console area.

The Peugeot 2008 has a five-star safety rating.

It has six airbags; driver and front passenger front and side and curtains.

There are IsoFix child seat fittings for the outboard rear seats

Other passive safety features are tyre pressure sensors, and seatbelt not fastened alerts.

Peugeot 2008 Sport GT has a five-year/unlimited-distance warranty.

Servicing is required every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first.

Under Peugeot’s Service Price Promise, the 2008 GT Sport will cost $2466 for the first five years/75,000km.

What’s it go like?

Power in the Sport comes from a hi-tech 1.2-litre turbo-petrol three-cylinder engine is 114kW at 5500rpm and 240Nm at 1750 revs.

It’s mated to a six-speed automatic transmission driving the front wheels.

Ahh, the quirky French! The Peugeot digital instrument cluster sits on the top of the dashboard.

You look over the top of the small steering wheel to see the instruments.

I’m tall and like to sit high in a car so could see the instruments, others who drove it had their vision almost blotted out.

There’s just a hint of front-wheel-drive torque steer if you really blast it off the line in a traffic light grand prix.

Okay, I’m not as young as I once was, but still enjoy driving like this…

There’s a sedate feel in the cabin during normal driving that almost feels like you’re in a larger car, even a prestige car at times.

The French do like their comfort and this shows up beautifully.

That’s despite the slightly sporty set up in the suspension.

On the open road with twisty bits, it handles nicely and give feedback through the steering wheel.

On motorways its smooth and almost silent, bump-thump is felt through some joints in other ones it’s fine.

The little 1.2-litre engine is willing enough and chats nicely to the eight-speed auto to make sure it’s in the right gear for the time.

What we like?

• Looks stylish
• Handles nicely
• Wireless charging tray

What we don’t like?

• Instrument cluster location could be an issue

The bottom line?

Want to get away from the serious German and somewhat classy British sporty SUVs?

Then the very French Peugeot 2008 should sit at the top of your shopping list.

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