Peugeot E-208: performance, motor & drive

The Peugeot E-208 is a pretty enjoyable car to drive, with the small steering wheel making it feel darty on a twisty road. Its front-mounted electric motor won’t set your pants on fire, but it’s more than sufficient for both town and motorway driving. We just wish the regenerative braking set-up was a little stronger to allow full one-pedal driving.

Peugeot E-208 0-62mph, top speed and acceleration

If you ever find yourself at an illicit traffic light drag race, you’ll find the Peugeot E-208 offers plenty of zing whenever you floor the accelerator; 0-62mph takes around eight seconds which, while far from Tesla-toppling, is still punchy enough for most buyers.

Peugeot offers the E-208 with two electric motors, producing 134bhp and 154bhp respectively, but you can only have the more powerful set-up in the range-topping GT model.There’s very little tangible difference between the two powertrains, though, and the only way to ‘unlock’ the extra 20bhp of the 51kWh motor is by flipping the car into its ‘Sport’ setting. 

Handling

The Peugeot E-208 is pretty enjoyable to drive but it’s no Abarth 500e. The small steering wheel does at least make it feel darty when you turn into corners, even if the steering itself feels pretty artificial – especially the added weight when you flick the car from its ‘Eco’ or ‘Normal’ settings into ‘Sport’ mode. We found it easy to place the car on the road during testing, though, and had confidence to push the E-208 hard through fast bends.

The suspension is pretty firm but not by any means uncomfortable. A Citroen e-C4 – which, while larger than the Peugeot, shares its underpinnings – will ultimately be kinder to your back, but both cars lack a full one-pedal driving setting. The Peugeot’s B-mode does offer a decent amount of deceleration, but unlike in an MG4 or Nissan Leaf, you’ll probably still have to use the brake pedal.