Maturity is supposed to be a virtue, but no man could ever celebrate his receding hairline and ever-increasing pant size as he turns 30 years old. Still, after a few years of hard work straight out of collage he might be able to afford something cool, something like the 208 GTi, which also turned 30 today.
To celebrate 30 years of really small GTi hot hatches, Peugeot's merry motorsport men baked a lovely cake using the best technology they had and let the powerful 208 blow out its candles right on the apex of a circuit corner. Did it wish for more power?
The 208 GTi is of course a very competitive supermini, with awesome rivals like the Fiesta ST and Clio RS, it's not having the market to itself. Peugeot's numbers released on its 30th B-day suggest, however, that it's fantastically popular.
Launched at the end of March 2013, the PEUGEOT 208 GTi has already attracted 10,000 customers. That's not a lot in absolute terms, but for a flagship model in a small niche it's a fantastic result.Most of the customers came from traditional European markets like France, Germany and the UK. But good sales have also been achieved in Japan, Argentina and Mexico.
With 200 hp coming from a 1.6-liter THP turbo-four, the 208 GTi is a fierce competitor. However, word on the street is most buyers appreciate it more for its comfortable ride and light steering, which make it an everyday joy. With 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62mph) time of less than 7 seconds and 275 Nm delivering a flexible band of performance in whatever band, it's hard to find fault with this car, even though the Clio RS is faster.
But enough about today's hot hatch. Let's talk a little about the heritage and the reason why the GTi badge is celebrating 30 years of existence. The 208 GTi is a truly legendary symbol of the automotive world, an icon of the 80s that has not aged one bit in the eyes of its fans. Launched in 1984 with a 1.6-liter engine, it had only a little over 100 horsepower. Two years later, in 1984, the hot 205 was fitted with a 1.9-liter engine with 130 horsepower. Never was Peugeot able to follow this act with a credible successor… until the 208 GTi.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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