All generations and engines together · 206,321 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 50k
Worse than most superminis, by age and by mileage. Watch suspension and corrosion. A used buy worth some caution. Check the MOT history for repeating suspension advisories before you go.
Split by first-registration year. Cars registered in a changeover year can belong to either generation.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press, with how well each report stands up. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
Early 1.2 PureTech engines run their timing belt inside the sump, bathed in oil. The belt can degrade faster than it should, and the rubber crumbs clog the oil pickup and pressure sensor, bringing up an oil pressure warning and, in bad cases, wrecking the engine. Peugeot recalled cars built roughly 2013-2017 over premature belt wear and later extended the warranty on affected engines to 10 years or 175,000km. Replace the belt on schedule and it's a modest bill; let it go and it can mean a new engine, several thousand pounds.
The ETG (Efficient Tronic Gearbox) fitted to some 1.0 and 1.2 petrol cars is a manual gearbox with a robotised clutch, not a true automatic. Owners report the clutch actuator or clutch pack failing well inside 20,000 miles in some cases, bringing up a gearbox warning light and jerky, delayed changes. One documented repair came to around £1,700. Standard manuals and the later EAT automatic gearbox are not affected.
The infotainment touchscreen has a reputation for freezing or going blank, sometimes cured by a reset, sometimes needing the whole unit swapped out, which isn't cheap. What Car's reliability survey put electrical faults, mostly infotainment and switchgear, in over 15% of 208s. There's no single acknowledged fix; dealers deal with each car on its own terms with software updates or unit replacement.
A recurring owner complaint of clonks and creaks from the front end, usually blamed on top mounts, drop links or the front wishbone bushes, and there's a documented wishbone bolt concern on 2013-2014 cars. This lines up with suspension being the measured MOT fault signature for the 208's class: the wear is real and shows up as advisories and failures well before it becomes a safety issue, so it's worth budgeting for even if the car drives fine at first.
Like most small PSA diesels, the BlueHDi engines are unhappy doing lots of short, low-speed trips. The EGR valve and DPF can clog, bringing on warning lights, rough running, and rising fuel use, and one owner report described a serious 'diesel runaway' incident on a car with full service history. A proper motorway run every so often keeps the DPF clear; regular town-only use is where the trouble starts.
A build-quality gripe rather than a mechanical one: uneven shut lines, slightly mismatched paint between panels, and misting headlamp or tail lamp lenses have all been reported on early cars. Owners disagree on how much this matters, some call it normal Peugeot variability, others send the car back. It's cosmetic and won't fail an MOT, but it affects how the car feels day to day.
Ranked from this model’s own MOT record, then from what owners report.
Saveable checklistThe physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
The physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
The physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
Drawn from the reports above rather than the MOT data. These are the model-specific ones.
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 78,077 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Same segment (Superminis), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.