SA Roadtests
South Africa
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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you can get at home.
*To read one of our archived road tests, just select from the alphabetical menu of manufacturers' names on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu that appears.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.
Posted on 14 May 2014
Popular history tells us that the Citroën 2CV (deux chevaux, or two ‘steam’ horse power) was designed to be cheap (it was), simple (ingeniously so), comfortable and able to carry four big farmers across a ploughed field with a basket of eggs (uncooked). No eggs should be broken in the process. How many of you would take your pretty new car, or even SUV, across a ploughed field? While carrying a basket of eggs? Didn’t think you would.
What has this red herring to do with the 2014 Peugeot 508 1.6 THP Allure, a R400 000-ish luxury sedan? Not much, except that it can carry four or five big people with enough space for each of them to stretch out in; more comfortably than in many modern luxury cars and while not cheap, it does offer value items not found in most of those upstart Boche invaders. We reserve comment on the eggs and the ploughed field.
Unlike in its similarly priced Teutonic competitors, the standard tall passenger can sit comfortably behind a driver of similar height (10/10 for knee room) without bumping his or her hairdo up against the roof lining (a decent 8/10) and get in and out without getting feet tangled between seats and doorsills. It absorbs speed bumps and rumble strips effectively and offers neat touches you don’t find in most of its competition at this price point; like satnav and an upmarket music system. And quad-zone ventilation with individually adjustable temperatures, fan speeds and vent directions for four people. But the middle back-seat passenger still has to accept pot-luck; sorry about that.
While we’re going on about space, the boot is big, easy to load and practical; it has a fully sized steel spare wheel, the seatbacks tip forward to expand the volume and it has a load-through hatch for long and slender items. There are lots of little boxes and trays, for bits and pieces, spread throughout the cabin. Unfortunately, the glove compartment is typically Peugeot with a small cavity behind a big lid, but you can’t win them all.
Among the nice-to-haves are automatic headlamps and wipers, fog lamps that twist sideways to light your way around corners, a parking brake that engages and cancels automatically, electric child locks, proximity locks for all four doors, a heads-up display so you can watch your speed without looking down, NEO headlights that shine 30-percent brighter, and push button starting.
Things you expect include six airbags, ABS brakes with EBD, EBA and cornering brake control, anti-skid regulation and hill start assistance. Electric windows and mirrors, combination leather and cloth upholstery, full electrical adjustment of the driver’s seat - with lumbar support, Bluetooth, a full suite of controls on the steering wheel and a six-speed electronically controlled automatic gearbox are part of the package.
While the standard music centre is very competent, the one that comes as part of the NavPlus package fitted to this model is a ten-speaker, ten-channel, 500-Watt, JBL surround sound setup. The heads-up display mentioned earlier is part of this package.
All this is fine and dandy, you say; but how does it go? Pretty well, actually. It has the 115 kW version of the 1600cc turbocharged Prince engine developed jointly by Peugeot-Citroën and BMW, so even though the body looks big and heavy, the car performs well. The zero to 100 km/h sprint is dealt with in 9,2 seconds and it tops out at 220 km/h. By comparison, BMW’s 316i automatic with similarly sized engine does that sprint in the same time, with a top speed of 210. Mercedes-Benz’s C180 auto with 1600 turbo-motor is slightly quicker, getting up to 100 in 8,5 seconds and going on to a maximum of 223 km/h.
It’s all rather academic of course, because none of these three claims to be a racing car; they’re for moving families. The difference is in the details and inner space, which is where the 508 wins. It’s proof, too, that a good, solid and well-made luxury car doesn’t have to come out of Germany; others do the job just as well.
Test car from Peugeot and Citroën SA press fleet
The numbers
Price: R417 100
Engine: 1598 cc, four-cylinders, turbopetrol
Power: 115 kW at 6000 rpm
Torque: 240 Nm at 1400 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 9,2 seconds
Maximum speed: 220 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 8,9 l/100 km
Tank: 72 litres
Luggage: 512/1356 litres
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km; with roadside assistance
Maintenance plan: 5 years/100 000 km; at 20 000 km or yearly intervals
To read our launch report on the Peugeot 508 range click here
This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.
Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8