The Peugeot 2008 is a better car than you might expect it to be on several counts: on performance, on efficiency and not least on how it handles.
If you’re looking for an extra-useful supermini that drives with the instant, cheery responses of a small car, it might suit you very well.
But somehow it’s a bit predictable, a bit unadventurous, a little ‘me too’. If it were larger and had greater space and convenience, the 2008 would have a more obvious selling point.
Equally, were it more ostentatiously stylish, it might stand out more from a conventional hatchback.
Consequently the Peugeot 2008, even in its range-topping format, ultimately falls wide of the mark - not because it’s particularly objectionable, but because it fails in any meaningful sense to be properly memorable or praiseworthy.
As it is, the 2008 brings defunct added-value small cars to mind such as the Rover Streetwise and Volkswagen Polo Dune.
The 2008 is much better executed and more upmarket than that comparison suggests, but if it rings true, it’ll be for one reason: because, commendable though it is, this Peugeot’s key point of difference seems to be that it isn’t different enough.
