Well, these are two pretty similar cars we have here! It's only details that could potentially make the difference. Considering they both belong to the city car segment and utilize the same 5-door hatchback body style and the front wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific diesel engine choice they offer. Both the engines are Peugeot-engineered . The first one has a 4-cylinder, 8-valves 99hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 8-valves 102hp one.

A starting point here would be to take a look at the results from European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) tests which were performed on both of the cars, with the Peugeot being a slightly better choice apparently. That aside, let's consider some other aspects which affect safety. Both vehicles belong to the city car segment, which is generally not a very good thing safety-wise, but it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two. Furthermore, taking kerb weight as an important factor into account, Citroen C3 offers a marginal difference of 1% more metal.

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that Peugeot does have a slight advantage, all the models observed together. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of Citroen with an average rating of 4.0, and models under the Peugeot badge with 4.3 out of 5. Some independent research have also placed C3 as average reliability-wise, and 208 is more or less at the same level.That apart, owners of different cars powered by the same engine as Citroen C3 rank it on average as 4.2, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.8 out of 5.

Citroen is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.1 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 189 kilometers per hour, 4km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy things look pretty much the same for both cars, averaging around 3.2 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (90 mpg), in combined cycle.

Peugeot appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, 208 offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. From there things take a different direction, with Citroen being considerably quicker, thus putting more smile on driver's face. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! No mistake, whatever you decide here, but I'd still go for the Citroen. Anyway, that's the most objective conclusion I could've came up with and it's based solely on the information found on this website. Aspects such as design, practicality, brand value and driving experience are there for you to measure them out. In case you have two minutes to spare I invite you to define your needs, desires and budget and see which car would be chosen by the virtual adviser™, among thousands of similar, yet so different vehicles.