When Peugeot unveiled the all-new 208 in advance this yr at the Geneva Motor Show, the car press hailed it as a sport changer, with its aggressive styling receiving the high reward.
It honestly appears impressive for a supermini, but buyers have to understand that decrease-priced variations are way much less impressive. You see, automakers always display the higher-give-up changes of their new models at auto shows, and Peugeot isn’t an exception.
The French automaker simply showed the top versions, such as the Allure, GT Line, and exceptional e-208 GT in Geneva. As it seems, there is a superb motive for that. Cardiac has observed what the base version appears like with the aid of accessing Peugeot Belgium’s configurator – and while it’s necessarily the same automobile, it’s a ways less superb-looking.
In Belgium, the entry-level 208 grade is like, but there’s not much to like about it. Gone are the black wheel arch trims from the GT Line and GT, and the standard 15-inch metallic rims with hubcaps are probably the first thing you’ll want to update if you care approximately how your journey looks.
Unlike the range-topping versions, the 208 Like additionally lacks painted door handles and replicate caps, and the trim piece connecting the rear lights is matte grey in place of gloss black. Of course, you didn’t anticipate LED lighting in a base supermini, did you? Good, because the same old version comes with halogen headlights, and Peugeot has even deleted the LED DRLs, replacing them with black plastic trim. Given that the new Renault Clio comes with trendy LED optics, this is one value-cutting measure that would have been averted.
It’s the same tale interior, although the base 208 retains the i-Cockpit format. However, it functions analog dials instead of a virtual instrument panel and, more importantly, a tiny five-inch touchscreen instead of the 10-inch one discovered on high-end models. Elsewhere in the cabin, there are no ambient lights (no massive deal, honestly), and the door panels seem crafted from heavy plastic (now not very quality…). There aren’t any power window switches for the rear doorways, no buttons at the steering wheel, and the piano keys at the center console are black instead of silver.
There are many more differences intended to convey the rate down. Still, we’ll let you discover them by evaluating the base 208 Like (yellow automobile) with the 208 GT Line (blue vehicle) inside the gallery below.
Only one crucial occasion thus far is stepping into the newly to be had months created by way of the North American International Auto Show’s circulate to June, but Cobo Center’s supervisor is positive.
“If I’m sincere, it becomes an extraordinary gain to us to have the car display at some stage in much less-appealing months close to weather and season,” said Claude Molinari, Cobo’s popular manager. “We’re seeking to make the first-rate of the scenario.”
The Detroit car show, the conference middle’s largest event, is shifting from January to June. Exacerbating subjects, an elevated setup, and tear-down agenda for the car display method, Cobo will lose about $450,000 in the lease — more than the publicly-owned convention center made in earnings a remaining year earlier than nation subsidies.
