The Peugeot 208 GTI is a dream re-hatched

Peugeot 208 GTI

Price: £18, 895

Do you remember the conspicuous-consuming yuppies, Big Bang in the City and comic Harry Enfield's wide-boy Loadsamoney character waving wads of wonga around?
While the Eighties City traders roared around in Porsches with mobile phones the size of a brick clamped to their ears, mere mortals with less money favored the cheaper, but no less fashionable, Peugeot 205 GTi, which also became an icon of that era.
Now, almost three decades on, comes what Peugeot believes is its true spiritual successor - the 208 GTi.

GOOD

What a little belter! It's nippy around town with a handy burst of acceleration up to 30mph to keep you out of trouble.

Peugeot 208 GTi is nippy around town with a handy burst of acceleration up to 30mph

Nimble, light and fast on its feet with a spirited joie de vivre and plenty of verve. Lowered suspension gives it a lean and mean stance. The driving position is also 8mm lower than the standard 208.
This poised, three-door, super-mini hatchback is a beautiful shape with 17in alloys. Even the GTi badge - in red on a shiny metal backdrop - looks smart.
Devilishly red - and slightly chilling - the dashboard light surround is reminiscent of the infamous demon eyes poster advert campaign once used against Tony Blair.

 

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A racy interior with drilled pedals, quality trim, aluminium effect on the sills and pedals. Comfortable bucket sports seats finished in full-grain black halfleather and cloth, embossed with the GTi logo.
Tactile, sculpted gearstick and flat-bottomed, small, chunky sports steering wheel. Lots of detail with distinctive daytime running lights, C-shape LED indicators, and a double chrome exhaust pipe.
Smooth, agile performance from the 1.6 litre 200bhp petrol engine linked to a fluid six-speed manual gearbox. Sprints from rest to 62mph in 6.8 seconds with a top speed of 143mph.
Pretty frugal, averaging 47.9mpg, rising to 60.1 mpg cruising and still managing 34.4 mpg round town.
Relatively low CO2 emissions of 139g/km giving a fairly affordable road tax ban E rate of £125 a year.
Fair-sized boot and flexible seating.
Among standard features are electric folding door mirrors, digital DAB radio, Bluetooth and automatic headlamps and wipers.

BAD

Those nice little extras will quickly ramp up the price by nearly £1,000, including £495 for metallic paint; a multi-function colour touchscreen upgrade (£400); and personalised onyx black alloy wheels (£100).
Just shy of £20k for a hothatch might be a stretch for some. The original 1.9 205 GTi, which did 0 to 60 in 7.8 seconds with a topspeed of 123mph, cost just £6,295.
This car's set-up suggests the fuel efficiency figures will be missed by a wide margin in the real world.
The big touchscreen, designed for the iPad and computer-literate generation, can be fiddly if you're not. Just as well as 45 per cent of buyers are predicted to be aged 35 to 45, 70 per cent male and with eight out of ten spending their own cash.