Known variously as mid-size or compact or C-Segment cars, and by Hertz in the UK, at least, as Group C in their classifications, the medium sized hatchback or (more commonly in Southern Europe) saloon is almost the doyen not just of the rental car world but also what populates many market’s best-seller lists. Book one of these and chances are, in the UK, you would receive a Ford Focus, or a Vauxhall Astra, or perhaps a Kia Ceed, or Seat Leon, “or similar”. In the last few years, though, the market has shifted, and whereas all the crossover type vehicles that are generally outselling the traditional hatch models used to be in separate booking classes, and were generally only available either by paying a premium, or if you were offered an upgrade, now, it is far less clear cut what belongs where. That was certainly manifest when I arrived at Hertz’ Heathrow facility to collect a Group C reservation and found that I had been allocated a Peugeot 2008, the paperwork for which said that this was indeed a Group C car. Although I’d driven an example of Peugeot’s smallest of three crossover models in their current range (the 3008 and 5008 being the others), when I made a rare booking with Sixt at the end of 2022, this one was slightly different in that it had a manual gearbox, whereas the Sixt supplied car had been an automatic. There was not a lot of other choice at the time of collection, so rather than trying to swap it out, I simply did the necessary condition checks and took this 2008, a late 2020 registered car. Apart from the gearbox, and the fact that this was a different shade of grey (Nimbus Grey as opposed to Cumulus Grey), the only other difference was that this one was one trim level up, a GT-Line model as opposed to an Allure Premium. We’ll get to what that means in due course.

There are three different options for powering your 2008. New with the second generation was an all-electric model. Peugeot also included a 1.5 litre diesel, but the core of the ICE range are cars which use the now familiar 1.2 litre Puretech 3 cylinder engine. This is offered with a choice of three outputs: 100 bhp, 130 bhp and 155 bhp. The test car had the middle of these, and this is, not surprisingly the most popular. This is a good engine, though starting it from the push button is not the easiest thanks to poor placement of the button. The characteristic three cylinder thrum is there, but is better suppressed than in some other cars with this configuration. Coupled with the six speed manual of this test car, it proved quite eager with strong acceleration once you got the turbo on boost. It was surprisingly noisy on the motorway, though, despite the fact that there is a tall sixth gear. That top ratio is just about usable at 50 mph, as some average speed camera monitored road work sections force you to try to find out, but really, this is a gear for steady speed cruising, and ideally from nearer 60 mph than 50. The gearchange is positive, without the sloppy feeling that used to bedevil Peugeot-Citroen products. Sadly, though the clutch pedal proved awkward to use and there is really very little space around it for your left foot when it is not needed. I made an interim fuel stop after 315 miles and put 34 litres in to the fill the car up, and the at the end of the test having done a further 120 miles needed a further 12 litres which works out at a not very impressive 33.0 mpg. Take the second instance, though, when I know the car was as full at the start as the end and this computes to a much more impressive 45.4 mpg, making me wonder just how full the car really was on collection. For comparison, the automative version that I tested averaged out at 41.2 mpg, doing mileage over a similar route.

When I tested the automatic 2008 I observed that whilst easy to drive, this is most definitely not a car for anyone who has enthusiasm for so doing, and the different transmission does nothing to change that. The steering is very light, and massively over-assisted meaning that there is no feel whatsoever. You really have no idea what the steered wheels are doing, and whilst this is fine when parking and pottering around town, it is, to my mind, far from ideal when out on twistier roads. There is plenty of grip and a nice safe feeling typical front wheel drive feel to the handling, complete with understeer as you put the speed on in the bendier bits, but this is not car that you will enjoy driving at all. You and your passengers will probably feel quite comfortable, though, as the ride is quite well judged even on the larger 18” wheels of the GT-Line spec. The brakes worked as you would hope, stopping the car with relatively little effort. There is an electronic handbrake, and this could be quite jerky when disengaging, something I also noted with the automatic car. All round visibility is also about par for the course and the rear-view camera does prove useful when backing up.

The interior of the 2008 is a mixture of good and bad. In the good category comes the overall design, and the quality of the materials which are among the best you will find in cars of this class, especially among those lacking a premium badge. The plastics are soft to the touch and there is a nice leather-wrapped wheel. The design, which comprises a series of rectangular pods, used for the instruments, the touch screen and the air vents is a bit more interesting than the average mid-sized car’s interior, and the use of lots of blue colouring and 3D effects is also that bit different, even if the all gloss black plastic and fake grey weave plastic inlays are all too common these days and not that good a look to my mind. Countering this, though is the bad. Not all of this will be bad for everyone, but the  i-Cockpit persists, with a very small diameter wheel, set far lower than you usually find and an instrument cluster which is set high, the idea being that you look over the wheel rather through it, but which for many people is a problem as the cluster is at least partially obscured by the steering wheel, meaning you simply can’t see things which matter, like the speedometer. I actually had less of a problem with this one that I have with other Peugeot models, but it is still far from ideal. Add in the frustrations of a touch screen which is used not just for audio functions but also the climate control, and the result is a set of ergonomics I found irritating. Let me add a little more detail. The instrumentation is all a bit odd. Everything here is digital and there’s lots of blue effect used, in a sort of 3D display. The instrument pack has several distinct layers, with a speedo, for example, reflected onto a screen from beneath – a bit like on a head-up display, just in the usual instrument position. The idea is that, thanks to a projector and various mirrors, the instruments are actually further away from your eyes than regular dials, reducing the time you need to refocus from the road. I was not particularly convinced by this, as all I noted is that the speedometer and rev counter are in shaded arcs at each end of the cluster and proved quite hard to read. Thankfully there is a central digital speed repeater. There are a pair of column stalks, but even these had their frustrations. The lights, with an auto function, operate from the left hand stalk, whereas the wipers are on the right. I found it hard to get the wipers right as they kept sweeping the screen even when I thought they had been turned off, thanks, I think, to a one-touch function that the stalk has – again creating a solution to what was not a problem in the first place. The centre of the dash contains a 7” colour touch screen which is used for the audio functions as well as Apple Car Play and Android Auto. Apart from repeater functions on the steering wheel, this is the only interface for the radio as all associated buttons have been eradicated. Navigation needs a corresponding app on the phone to work, as I found when selecting that option from the menu. There is a speed limit recognition function but it seemed have something of a short memory. The system proved quite frustrating to use, with the challenges of complexity of menus and finding things that are common on so many cars these days.  Beneath the screen and the central air vents are a row of toggle switches which comprise the buttons for the climate control system.

Seat trim would appear to be a mix of cloth inners and leather outers, but don’t be fooled, as this is what Peugeot call “leather effect”. Thanks to the i-Cockpit, you will probably need to find a different seating position from the one you would normally adopt. The steering wheel is set very low, so you can’t sit too high or it won’t clear your thighs, of course. There is plenty of space, with headroom in generous supply and the front passenger gets slightly more room thanks to the scalloped-away design of the dashboard. Seat adjustment is all manual, and the wheel does adjust a bit, though I would still like it to go far higher than it does. Nevertheless, I did manage to get comfortable enough.

Rear seat space in the 2008 is class competitive, and there is certainly more space here than you will find in the 208 hatch model. The front seat backs are quite steeply angled and the central area is cut away to provide that bit of extra kneeroom. If the front seats are set well forward, there is ample space for all. Push the seats back further, though and those with long legs may find their knees in the back of the front seats. There is not much of a central tunnel, but the centre console does extend reasonably far back, so a middle seat occupant may find that there is not a lot of space for their knees. Headroom, needless to say, given the crossover design, is particularly generous. Although I only sat in them very briefly, the seats felt almost bucket like and so should prove comfortable over longer journeys. There is a drop-down central armrest and there are nets on the back of the front seats as well as door bins for those bits and pieces. Boot space is also class competitive, beaten by a few but also larger in capacity than many of the 2008’s rivals. It is a nice regular shape. The floor is adjustable, so if you set it to be flush with the base of the tailgate then there is a useful under-floor stowage area. You can set it lower, which will give a deeper space to the main boot area. There is more luggage capacity available by dropping the asymmetrically split rear seat backrests down, which results in a flat and long load area. The load cover will stow under the adjustable boot floor. As with all right hand drive Peugeot models of the modern generation, the glovebox is rather poor, thus suffering in the conversion from left hand drive as the fuse box remains inside the area behind the lid. There are also door bins, both a lidded box and a useful recess in front of the gearlever and an armrest cubby which has a lift out tray in it. There are couple of cupholders in the centre console, one designed for larger bottles, the other for smaller cups and cans.

This test car was actually slightly older than the Sixt-supplied one, but in the months between the two of them being made, there were no changes to the specs on offer, which are more generous than in many rivals, but then they need to be, as the prices of the 2008 are considerably higher than those of key competitors. A Renault Captur is around £3000 cheaper, model for model, which is a significant difference. Peugeot offer the 2008 in four trim levels, with the base Active models offering 16” alloy wheels, air conditioning, LED daytime running lights and rear parking sensors as standard. You also get a 3.5-inch screen in front of the steering wheel and a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system on the dashboard with built-in DAB digital radio along with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring features The Allure+ adds 17” alloy wheels, tinted windows, black roof bars and black-painted door pillars, leather-effect fabric seats, automated climate control, an adjustable boot floor, a widescreen digital driver’s display and a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system on the dashboard with built-in DAB digital radio and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring features. Automatic emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection is also fitted, along with front and rear parking sensors. Upgrading to satellite navigation is a £650 option. The GT Line as tested here jumps another inch in wheel size, and also adds a reversing camera, navigation and heated front seats. The top end model, simply badged GT adds a a panoramic glass roof, a dark chrome chequered grille, tinted windows, black roof bars and black-painted door pillars. Inside, you’ll find partial suede-like Alcantara heated fabric seats, contrasting stitching, eight-colour customisable mood lighting, air conditioning, an adjustable boot floor and a wireless smartphone charging pad. You also get a widescreen digital driver’s display and a 10-inch touchscreen infotainment system on the dashboard with built-in DAB digital radio, satellite navigation and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring features. Automatic emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection is also fitted, along with front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera, lane-keeping assist, blind-spot monitoring and adaptive cruise control.

I concluded my test of the automatic 2008 noting that it was a car with a lot of rivals – around 20 at the last count – and that whilst there was plenty of visual appeal to the Peugeot, both inside and out, the irritating ergonomics, a combination of that i-cockpit nonsense which Peugeot persist with and all the functions that have been relegated to the touch-screen meant as well as the fact that the car is no fun at all to drive means that I would pick one of the competitors rather than a 2008. More time with the model has done nothing to change my mind, The ergonomics are as annoying as ever and would simply be a deal breaker. Although the engine is one of the better ones on offer in this class, the rest of the driving experience is about as unmemorable as you can get, which whilst no different from some of those rivals is not universally the car, but this really does clinch it for me in saying that whilst I can see the appeal of the 2008 to some people, it really is not the car for me. If, however, you are set on a 2008, having tried both transmissions, I think I would probably opt for the automatic version, just because of that awkward clutch pedal and lack of foot space around the pedal. The automatic solves this and was easier to drive.