GWM ORA vs Peugeot 208

What's the difference?

When the GWM Ora showed up in Australia last year, it seemed to rely somewhat on its divisive cutesy looks and sub-$40K entry price to draw attention - and to some extent it worked.

Convincing Australians to buy an electric car is hard enough for any car company, let alone one that doesn’t have the brand cachet of Tesla or the traditional companies.

But an entry price under $40,000 doesn’t apply here, this is the GWM Ora GT: the top of the range for the small electric car.

It’s just had a massive price cut, but is it worth paying more than $10,000 over the price of a base Ora for some extra goodies when simplicity and fun styling was the original selling point?

In a world of cheap, popular and well-specified Japanese and Korean small hatchbacks, it’s easy to forget the humble French cars that once helped define the segment.

They’re still around, though. You’ve probably seen a few Renault Clios, you might not have seen the tragically underrated new Citroen C3, and there’s at least a chance you’ve seen one of these – the Peugeot 208.

This iteration of the 208 has been around in one form or another since 2012 and is due to be replaced by a second-generation model in the near future.

So, should you consider the aging 208 in a busy market segment? I spent a week behind the wheel of the second-from-the-top GT-Line to find out.