SA Road Tests

Welcome

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 probably applies to the models you can get at home.
*To read one of our road tests, just select from the menu on the left.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.


This is a launch report. In other words, it's simply a new model announcement. The driving experience was limited to a short drive over a prepared course chosen to make the product look good. We can therefore not tell you what it will be like to live with over an extended period, how economical it is, or how reliable it will be. A very brief first impression is all we can give you until such time as we get an actual test unit for trial. Thank you for your patience.

We drove from Cape Town to Paternoster for the unveiling of Peugeot’s new 208

Pics supplied

Falling in love is easy

Published in Weekend Witness Motoring on Saturday October 13, 2012

“This is more than simply a replacement for 207,” said Clara Mètivier-Beukes, Peugeot SA’s general manager of marketing, “it is a cross-generational car that we believe will appeal especially to women and help us recapture our traditional share of the second household vehicle market.”

It shares its build platform with 207 and has the same wheelbase, but almost everything else is different. To begin, it is 70 mm shorter but has more room inside. Back seat legroom is 50 mm greater than on the 207 and the boot grew by 15 litres to 311 with rear seatbacks upright or 1152 litres with them folded. With Peugeot’s new 1200 cc, three-cylinder engine that replaces the old 1400 cc four-cylinder units, it weighs 173 kg less than the old car. The range-topping 1,6 VTi Allure uses the 88-kW motor fitted to other Alliance models, so the mass difference there is only about 110 kg.

High strength steels and extremely rigid construction, together with suspension upgrades, mean that the car is not just lighter and stronger, but it handles well too. Adding to its appeal, the suspension is extremely compliant, dealing with a series of rough patches en-route, unexpectedly well.

Interior design has its own surprises. Instruments are placed high, almost directly in line of sight, but without the intrusiveness of a conventional heads-up display. Unusually, the steering wheel is noticeably smaller than one is used to, so you look over it to view the instruments, rather than through it. My co-driver for the day, veteran of hundreds of test cars, was a little unnerved at first because he could not adjust the wheel “high enough.” But once he had cottoned on to the new way and dropped it down a bit, he was quite satisfied.

Styling and fit, finish and layout is tasteful, solid, modern and classy. It’s little wonder that Ms Métivier-Beukes would like to deflect masculine attention away from this little car. Kidding!

The 1200 cc engine, used in entry-level Access and mid-range Active versions, develops 60 kW at a conventional 5750 rpm and 118 Nm at an amazingly low 2750 rpm. We wondered at first whether its unexpectedly strong low down pulling power was perhaps thanks to a delicate touch of turbocharging. The specification sheet finally told all – it’s a committed free-breather, tweaked by dual variable valve timing and some magic in the engine mapping department.

Standard equipment on the 1200 cc Access includes air conditioning, electric front windows, height adjustment for the driver’s seat, height and reach-adjustable steering wheel and a trip computer. Safety kit consists of ABS brakes with EBD and EBA, two airbags, childproof door locks, central locking with autolock and dual ISOFix anchorages. Entertainment is taken care of with an MP3-compatible CD player and radio with Bluetooth and the usual plugs. Remote controls on the steering wheel are part of the package.

Active level adds 15” alloy wheels, front fog lamps, folding electric mirrors, two more airbags, powered rear windows and height adjustment for the passenger seat. Cruise control with limiter, an intuitive 7” touch screen to control the multimedia kit and split-folding rear seat backs are included.

The top model is the 1600 cc Allure with daytime running lights, 16” alloys with lower-profiled tyres, tinted rear windows, six airbags, automatic headlights and wipers, electrochromic interior mirror, a leather-bound steering wheel and climate control. All models are fitted with five-speed manual gearboxes.

The tag line for this car is “Fall in love at first sight.” That could actually be quite easy.

STOP PRESS: Diesel and automatic transmission versions became available since this report was published. There is presently a four-month waiting period for delivery.

For a review of the Peugeot 208 1.6 VTi Allure manual, click here

The numbers
Prices:
1,2 VTi Access – R154 900
1,2 VTi Active – R169 900
1,6 VTi Allure – R189 900
Engines:
1) 1199 cc, dual VVT, three-cylinder
Power: 60 kW at 5750 rpm
Torque: 118 Nm at 2750 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 12,2 seconds
Maximum speed: 175 km/h
Fuel consumption (claimed): 4,5 l/100 km
CO₂ rating: 104 gm/km
Tank: 50 litres
2) 1598 cc, dual VVT, four-cylinder
Power: 88 kW at 6000 rpm
Torque: 160 Nm at 4250 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 9,9 seconds
Maximum speed: 190 km/h
Fuel consumption (claimed): 5,8 l/100 km
CO₂ rating: 134 gm/km
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km
Service plan: 5 years/60 000 km





All these pics are of the 1600 cc Allure model

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.

What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

My articles appear every Wednesday in the motoring pages of The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles most months of the year (press cars are withdrawn over the festive season - wonder why?) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police. 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.

I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax.
So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!

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