NORTH OF THE BORDER

Traffic is light so we don’t get the congestion to try that aspect out, but as light falls and we leave the motorway’s glow behind, there’s plenty of opportunity to appreciate the LED headlamps with automated dipped beam. 

The M74 might be Britain’s most scenic motorway, but it makes no sense to take it all the way to Glasgow before spearing hard east towards Edinburgh. The radio crackles with warnings of more snow, but we chance it, take the slip road and head north-east on instantly more interesting terrain.

A DRIVE TO REMEMBER

Get a nice, clear run, and the A702 from Abington is a fabulous stretch of road. The kind of road where you find a rhythm, and jam with the car for the next 60 minutes, occasionally slowing to a cruise through a village when you can grab a drink from the cup holder and gather your thoughts, before picking up the pace again. 

But we skip the 702 because the gnarlier A701 is even more fun, plus it’s almost always quieter. It’s too dark to see much of the spectacular scenery I remember from previous trips, but with the 208 switched to Sport mode via the console button to sharpen the throttle response, and the ‘M’ button on the gear selector depressed to engage the automatic transmission’s manual mode, we’ve got more than enough sensory stuff going on to keep us highly entertained.

Despite some pretty awful weather we’ve made good progress, and arrive at Hendersons vegan restaurant on Thistle Street just in time for our dinner reservation. There’s a real buzz about vegetarian, and particularly vegan cuisine lately, but Hendersons has been serving up locally-sourced meat-free food for years across its two venues.

MAKING A (VEGAN) MEAL OF IT

The informal atmosphere instantly puts you at ease and if the herby-smashed purple tatties don’t have quite the flavour hit I was hoping for, the vegan haggis and its red wine gravy is so good it belies the meagre £13.50 bill.

At the dining table I tot up the PureTech 208’s fuel costs and decide it’s almost as big on value. Unsurprisingly the petrol can’t match the cost-per-mile numbers of the diesel and electric 208s. But it’s averaged well over 45mpg overall, and topped 50mpg on the motorway. With a bigger fuel tank than the diesel, that means a huge range in excess of 400 miles – if driven sensibly.

Tomorrow though, sensible gets the day off. We’re meeting Monday’s e-208 and Tuesday’s HDi diesel at Knockhill race circuit for a showdown against the clock. 

VIDEO: watch the electric vs petrol vs diesel track showdown

• These road trips were undertaken before the spring 2020 Coronavirus lockdown, which sadly caused the permanent closure of Hendersons

FROM THE LAKES TO EDINBURGH IN PEUGEOT’S PETROL 208