I can share my experience if you’d like, I’m also EU based, I’m assuming like you if you’re looking at Peugeot (they don’t sell in the US).

I come from a long lineage of buying shitty old second hand cars and driving them until they die or aren’t worth fixing to pass the yearly check. Eventually when I had a decent job and my wife moved here and couldn’t drive manual cars, we got a Lexus hybrid, 4 years old car we still have today. I love Toyota/Lexus but when I started my business I wanted more space to move my equipment.

Started with a 20 years old Renault Kangoo, that was actually fine but none of the electric stuff worked (windows, dashboard, etc…).

I knew I was gonna replace it at least for safety reasons, and already wanted to go electric but my wife wasn’t convinced, so I got one more gas car (ford focus wagon) and the engine was so shit it couldn’t handle a slight hill climb with us in the car…

I decided I was done with gas cars and we actually debated getting a brand new car. During this search, it was clear Tesla was a slightly better deal on paper than the competition when buying new. Basically for the price of base models in other brands you get all the options with Tesla model Y…

But I really didn’t want to get Tesla for all the moral reasons, + there’s a lot of hidden costs with them especially insurance, additional safety equipment required by said insurance and the big costs for repairs in case of even minor fender benders…

Realised going brand new was just not for us, we’re just not that wealthy and it would’ve ended up costing us more than the house monthly, not to mention going into debt for it.

So I took a long hard look at my requirements and realized 95% of the time I don’t need the extra space, so I found a used Peugeot 208 electric which I was able to swap my ford for and basically didn’t pay anything additional when all said and done.

I LOVE it, it’s well built, I got the GT with all options, and the size is actually perfect for navigating European roads, I can park anywhere, go anywhere, no more worrying about no emission zones, etc etc.

The battery range is not the best on the market by a large margin but it’s honestly totally usable, for daily use you always leave the house with a full battery and make it home easily, and fast charge is very fast for highway trips but you do have to stop more often. The space inside is way more than you’d expect, I just have to use my old trusted Tetris skills once I’m a while, and when it’s not enough for the big projects with more requirements, I rent a van for the day…

Now don’t get me wrong stellantis is pretty shit too but at least less visibly than Tesla, and their app/connected services are useless, but I still love my little 208. It’ll certainly become the 2nd car some day though once we replace the Lexus for another full electric with more range/space.

I would worry about the 2008 though since it’s the same battery in a heavier vehicle and range is already something I have to think about in the 208.

I worry a lot less about getting a “cheaper” electric brand too, because the mechanics of it are so much simpler with fewer points of failure, whereas I basically only trust Toyota’s engines anymore on the gas front.

As much as people like to shit on them due to the connection to Musk, they can be good cars with some caveats.

1. The electronic door handles are bullshit and dangerous.
2. The touch console is not as good as physical climate controls. Everything else commonly used can be done through the steering wheel controls for the most part.
3. Service centers have really poor service, but since they’re EVs you shouldn’t need to do it often. (Unless it’s a Cybertruck lol).

Buying used is great because you don’t send that money to Musk. In fact the updates and support technically cost them over time.