Peugeot's Fit Small Car, The New 208

Small Peugeots have always been popular in the UK. Not only are they very affordable but the 206 and 207 were very stylish compared to other superminis at the time and in the 1990s the 205 GTI was one of the most fun hot hatches of it's time. Now though with very stylish and nimble rivals such as the Ford Fiesta among us it was time for the 207 to sign up for a gym membership. After spending some time working out, the result is the new 208.

Weight wise it has lost 173kg meaning that the 208 promises to be more agile and efficient and it's more aerodynamic and compact with 7cm off the length and 1cm off the height. Even though it's smaller on the outside Peugeot promise that there's going to be more space inside with 5cm more legroom for the mates and 15 litres more space in the boot for junk.

Like the 508 saloon, the 208 will come with the new 'Floating' front grille instead of the weird grinning one on the old car as well as 'boomerang' style rear lights. Just like the last car there will be the choice of a 3-door or 5-door body styles and, as with most hatches, the 3-door is the better looking one. It has more dramatic lines, a nice continuing chrome trim past the rear window and it has horizontal bars on grille instead of mesh like on the 5-door.

The inside is just as revolutionary as the outside. The chrome lines around the dials remind of the shape of the exhaust on a Lamborghini Aventador and the rest of the dashboard is swish too. Instead of buttons littered around the inside, the entertainment, navigation and vehicle dynamic functions on all but the basic car are controlled by a large touchscreen media centre meaning a much cleaner looking dashboard.

The style director at Peugeot, Gilles Vidal said, "The strength of the 208 lies in its style: it is a real ball of energy. It has the potential to please everyone, like a popular piece of music that touches the human soul regardless of culture.”

There will be two 3-cylinder petrol engines to choose from when the car hits the road in spring 2012, a 1.0L and a 1.2L VTi, with the smaller petrol promising less than 100 g/km of Co2 emissions and up to 65.7mpg. If you want to save more cash on running costs there are HDi diesels to choose from as well with the most economical one promising only 87 g/km of Co2 out of the tailpipe and a gallon of diesel will take you 83.1 miles.

So that's the standard car but will there be a GTi version? The answer is a definite yes and it promises to bring back the spirit of the original 205 GTi because the 208 will have a small sporty steering wheel and the big weight loss and a new level of engineering applied to the little Peugeot means a much better driving experience for both the everyday 208 and the GTi compared to the old 207. You won't see the fast one until the end of next year though.