New Peugeot Polygon concept review: an exciting vision of what’s to come

Verdict

While we have to take this sort of crazy concept car with a large pinch of salt, the Peugeot Polygon feels different. The spacious interior, 3D-printed parts and genuinely revolutionary Hypersquare steering system are realities that we’ll see on a production Peugeot in the next 12 to 18 months. Based on this evidence, we’ve every reason to be very excited about what’s to come.

Late last year, we were given a very early opportunity to test Peugeot’s revolutionary new Hypersquare steer-by-wire system in a modified E-2008. Now though, we’ve sat inside the car that, in more ways than one, will inform the firm’s next generation of small electric cars.

This is the Peugeot Polygon: a supermini concept revealed in November that, to all intents and purposes, points to the new Peugeot 208 due in the next 18 months. While there are obviously plenty of parts that won’t make production – we’re not likely to see those animated tail-lights for example, and the gullwing doors are probably a step too far – there are several elements of note, including the spacious cabin, 3D-printed seats and, of course, that divisive squared-off steering wheel.

That last part is the area of focus for this drive, with Peugeot also fronting an outgoing E-208 – with its current-generation i-Cockpit dashboard layout and conventional steering system – for comparison. We’re following a tight and twisting track, mapped out by a series of white cones around an empty hanger; it’d be a challenge for a petrol-powered go-kart, let alone a small hatchback such as this.

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But even within the first 200 metres, it’s clear how transformative the steer-by-wire system is for low-speed agility. Requiring just 170 degrees lock to lock, there’s no awkward crossing of your arms or feeding of the wheel; making a full U-turn requires as much steering input as you’d ordinarily need to navigate a small kink on your average British B-road.

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It’s immensely intuitive, too. You might expect a period of recalibration for your brain and hands to figure out how things work, but the shift is instant. It immediately feels familiar, and adds a heightened sense of agility that makes the car feel eager and nimble, as well as incredibly light on its toes.

The wheel is comfortable to hold, although we did ask Peugeot's SVP of global marketing, communications and customer experience, Phil York, whether the design team had considered the lazy one-handed motorway cruiser when penning the relatively upright Hypersquare layout. 

“We’ve tested hand positions,” he told us. “We filmed people and how they use it; people adapt their way of holding it in the way that you might on a round steering wheel”. York referenced the inclusion of a small lip on the back of the wheel, which apparently helps with ergonomics, although it wasn’t noticeable on our prototype drive.

The system made light work of low-speed manoeuvres, too. Not helped by the typically awkward fixed seating position and dinky door mirrors of this million-pound concept car, piloting the Polygon into a space in between two parked Peugeots was a doddle.

Most revealing, however, is when we were told to swap seats and complete the same course in the 208. A car widely accepted as one of the sharper and more fun-to-drive superminis, after a run in the Polygon, the lime-green hatchback felt dim-witted, slow to react and alarmingly cumbersome for such a compact car.

It’s astonishing how much steering lock was required to complete the first right-hand bend. If we were to apply the same near-90 degrees we did in the Polygon, we’d barely change direction – washing wide like an overpowered hot hatch plagued by understeer. Instead, we found ourselves fumbling with the wheel, crossing our arms before letting it slip through our hands as it quickly self-centred. We couldn’t have been doing more than about 15mph, either.

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Most frightening (a slight exaggeration, perhaps) was how quickly we found ourselves in the same predicament ahead of the next fast-approaching left-hand hairpin. Still driving under the urban speed limit, the lack of feel through the light steering had us lifting off the throttle in a vague attempt to stay within the lines. Firming things up by flicking the car into Sport mode made no difference.

Peugeot’s polarising i-Cockpit layout, which launched in the original 208 back in 2012, has come in for plenty of criticism over the past 14 years – not least for its ability to partly or completely obscure vital information depending on the driver’s height or body shape. But, on this evidence, Hypersquare has the potential to silence the doubters; it offers a completely uninterrupted view of the concept’s huge head-up display, and would even leave space for a traditional instrument cluster, where appropriate.

The relatively simple three-piece, 3D-printed seat design is an interesting addition, too. Comfortable, supportive, with built-in belts and sculpted bolsters, these space-saving chairs – plus the simplified, screen-free dashboard – really open up the cabin, making it feel roomy and accommodating. We can expect a take on these to reach production when the next-generation 208 drops in 2027.

York admitted that while the benefits of Hypersquare and steer-by-wire were clear, to make this kind of technology standard would alienate some of Peugeot’s legacy small-car clientele. “Let’s be pragmatic about it”, he told us. “Steer-by-wire is here to stay, but it doesn't mean that everybody's going to want it tomorrow”. 

Rest easy, then: just as parent company Stellantis hasn’t placed all its bets on electric, it’ll tread carefully when it comes to future-gazing tech such as steer-by-wire. You will, York tells us, be able to buy a 208 with a “conventional steering rack”. Not that you’d want it; take it from us, Hypersquare is worth the hype.

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