Peugeot e208 GTI vs. 205 GTI: Inheriting a legend isn’t easy

Peugeot chose to unveil its new e208 GTI on the eve of the famous Le Mans car race. The new car finally offers customers a GTI version of the most iconic supermini in the history of the French automotive industry.

The new electric 208 comes with unsurprising specs: With 280 horsepower, it offers exactly the same output as other vehicles in the group, like the Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce and the Abarth e600. Acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h is slightly quicker - 5.7 seconds - and the top speed will be around 180 km/h.

To make the electric supermini a better driving experience, Peugeot’s engineers equipped the hot hatch with new, larger brakes (355 mm discs with four calipers), recalibrated steering, a slightly wider track, and a lower center of gravity by a few millimeters.

The second generation of the 208 is not a new car. In fact, it was introduced in the late 2010s, so the decision to launch a GTI version now raises some questions. These days, car manufacturers tend to replace generations every 6–8 years, so launching the sporty version of the 208 at this point is somewhat puzzling.

On the other hand, Renault recently succeeded in launching the electric R5 along with a sporty version (under the Alpine A290 name), and even a prototype for the Renault 5 Turbo. Fiat is already selling an electric Abarth 500, and Volkswagen promises an ID.2 GTI in two years, including an R version with all-wheel drive and 400 hp. It’s likely that the PR waves accompanying these sporty EVs sparked a bit of envy in Peugeot’s marketing team.

But perhaps even more significantly, it’s likely that coming out of the auto industry crisis that started during the COVID era, improvements in battery availability, and a belief - now seemingly mistaken - that EV demand in Europe would continue to grow, led Peugeot to believe the time was ripe for an electric sports car.

And indeed, the e208 GTI is currently the most powerful electric supermini (60 hp more than the Alpine) and the fastest in mass production. However, the range is far from impressive. With 350 km per the optimistic WLTP standard from a 54 kWh battery, it’s very likely that any drive longer than a roundtrip from the center to the Jerusalem hills will require you to hunt down one or more charging stations.

The declining demand for EVs in Europe - the GTI’s primary market - raises an interesting question: can it recreate the magic of the e208’s great-grandmother, the Peugeot 205 GTI?

The sporty version of the 205 debuted in 1984 and became an overnight success. It offered everything right about a hot hatch: an affordable price, delightful road behavior, and solid but not excessive performance. The recipe was clear - same car with some tuning and design changes and a slightly larger engine.

The 205 GTI started out with a 1.6-liter engine producing just 105 hp. Not long after, it was upgraded to 115 hp, and a 1.9-liter engine with 130 hp was added. That car offered a power-to-weight ratio of 147 hp per ton. By contrast, the new car boasts 175 hp per ton (according to the manufacturer) - less than the first generation of the gasoline-powered 208 GTI.

Despite hopes that the e208 GTI might replicate the outstanding driving dynamics of the sporty 205 - and perhaps even come with a reasonable price tag, which today is unlikely - it’s going to be a challenge. Its weight is nearly double that of the legendary GTI. Still, it’s far more practical, with a five-door layout, and far safer, featuring 2025-level passive safety and a wide range of active safety systems. The 205 GTI was very unforgiving - a setup that simply doesn’t work today and is unlikely to be found in its electric successor.