Used Peugeot 108 2014-2021 review

If you're looking for a good-value used city car the 2014 to 2021 Peugeot 108 is well worth a look - it's easy to park, cheap to run and it's able to connect to your smartphone. For those new to driving, it's also cheap to insure. The good news is it was a popular car in its time on sale, and there are many of them to choose from on the used car market.

This generation of 108 shares a platform and engines with the Toyota Aygo and Citroen C1. It also competes with other cute city cars such as the Volkswagen Up and Hyundai i10.

Performance is decent enough when compared with rivals, even in its base 1.0-litre 68bhp form. If you need a bit more go, there’s the 1.2-litre 81bhp three-cylinder petrol, which has noticeably more zip – although it’s quite noisy and needs to be thrashed to get the best out of it. It's worth noting that the 1.2-litre was dropped from the range in the later cars.

The 1.0 litre is reasonably well suited to city driving. It feels very slow and needs to be worked hard, but its five-speed gearbox has well-spaced ratios. Bear in mind, though, that with two or more people on board, it will struggle on steep hills. It's not really in its element when accelerating hard to join a motorway, taking a while to get going. Even with your foot to the floor, the 108 builds speed very gradually, and once the power does arrive at high revs, the engine note becomes really strained.

The 108 is reasonably agile and the consistently weighted steering is a blessing, but it's not the slickest of city cars to drive. The relatively short clutch-pedal travel and lack of biting-point feel can take some getting used to.

You’ll also have to put up with plenty of road, wind and engine noise because the 108 isn’t blessed with refinement.

There’s little sense of what the 108’s front wheels are doing through fast bends, but the steering’s consistent weighting provides some confidence. What’s more important for city cars is low-speed manoeuvrability, and most will find the 108’s set-up light enough to make tight turns and supermarket parking easy. The relatively quick steering and the shortage of body lean in corners also help make the 108 feel suitably agile when negotiating busy traffic.

Over the sort of broken roads you’re likely to find in town, the 108’s ride fails to settle. It never crashes over imperfections – even large potholes – but it jostles its passengers around more than the class best. Head out on the motorway and things don’t improve. The 108 controls its body well vertically over undulations but it’s too easily unsettled if you hit a bridge expansion joint or a pothole at speed.

Space in the front is fine, and you get some door pockets to store water bottles, plus some large cupholders and space for phones just ahead of the gear lever. Access to the rear is awkward, though – even in the five-door – because of the small opening, and rear leg room is tight for most adults.

The boot is on the small side and is easily dwarfed by the ones you'll find in the Up and i10. You can at least get a full-size spare wheel beneath the boot floor, which is a good feature for this size of car.

The base spec Access is a little spartan, but mid-range Active comes with all the equipment you’ll need, such as air-conditioning, a 7.0in colour touchscreen, DAB radio, Bluetooth and driver’s seat height adjustment.

During the 108's lifetime, Active became (and currently is) the entry-level trim. Allure is the mid-range option and the Collection version is at the top of the range. Allure gets keyless entry, a reversing camera and electric door mirrors that are heated. Collection adds automatic air conditioning, standard diamond white paint and other items.

If you’d like to enjoy a bit of open-top motoring, there’s a Top! 108 that has a retractable electric canvas roof instead of the standard roof panel. It suffers from quite a bit of buffeting once you're up to speed with the roof open, and you’ll need to close it if you want to talk to your passengers.

You can find a used Peugeot 108 and examples of the other small cars mentioned here by going to the What Car? Used Car Buying pages, which have lots of vehicles listed for sale at great prices.

A 2014 Peugeot 108 is available for circa £3500. Prices rise to around £4000 to £6000 for 2015 or 2016 examples with a low mileage, and go up to £6000 to £8000 or so for examples that are from 2017 or 2018, as well as some 2019 cars. Newer 108s produced in 2020 or 2021 tend to be listed for £8000 to £10,000. Automatics are rarer than manuals and therefore cost more to buy, starting at £6000.

To keep up to date with used Peugeot 108 prices, use our free valuation tool to make sure you're getting the best deal.

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MPG

You shouldn’t have to spend too much to run a Peugeot 108. The 1.0-litre engine has a combined average of 68.9mpg, according to previous NEDC testing. Current WLTP testing claims a combined average of 58.9mpg. The more powerful 1.2-litre engine is also very cost-effective to run, with an average of 65.7mpg (NEDC).

Road tax

All pre-2017 models have free road tax thanks to their low emissions. Any 108 registered after April 2017 will currently cost you £155 a year in road tax, with first year rates being £160. Find out more about current road tax costs here

Insurance

Within the 108 line-up, insurance groups are low, varying from six to 13. That makes the model excellent for young drivers whose car-buying decisions depend heavily on insurance costs.

Servicing

You can keep a lid on servicing costs because Peugeot offers fixed-price servicing costs for cars that are more than three years old.

The 108 isn’t the most refined car and is best suited to urban duties, which means you might as well stick with the 1.0-litre petrol rather than spend extra for the 1.2. You’ll also have cheaper running costs, so it’s a no-brainer really.

Active gets you the all-important 7.0in touchscreen and some niceties such as air-con and seat height adjustment. Higher-spec cars start to cost more than more refined rivals and aren’t worth paying extra for.

Avoid the automatic Efficient Tronic Gearbox (ETG) transmission because its gear changes are clunky and it's slow to respond when you want a burst of acceleration or when pulling away from traffic lights. It's not a traditional automatic, but a manual gearbox with a computer that controls the action of changing gears. Stick with the manual if you can.

Our favourite Peugeot 108: 1.0 Active

The Peugeot 108's main competitor is probably the Volkswagen Up. The Up shares parts with its more expensive siblings so all the major controls have a damped, quality feel to them. Road, wind and engine noise are all very well contained for this class of car, and there’s even the option of a turbocharged 1.0-litre petrol engine that offers brisk acceleration.

If you don’t have the cash to splash on an Up, some of its cheaper siblings such as the Skoda Citigo and Seat Mii offer almost the same capabilities for less cash. The Toyota Aygo is essentially the same car as the 108 but has bolder styling and the backing of a longer five-year warranty.

If you need the most interior space for your money, the Hyundai i10 has one of the biggest boots in the sector and copes better with transporting four adults than almost any other rival.

To find a used 108 – or any of the other small cars mentioned here – visit the What Car? Used Car Buying pages, where you'll find lots of vehicles listed for sale at great prices.

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