Peugeot 3008 Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Peugeot 3008
Prices: £16,695-£23,095 – on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 5-10
Emissions: 129-182g/km
Performance: [1.6 THP 150] 0-60mph 8.9s / Top Speed 125mph
Fuel Consumption: [1.6 HDi 110] (urban) 43.5mpg / (extra urban) 64.2mpg / (combined) 55.4mpg
Safety: Six airbags, ABS, ESP.
Dimensions: length/width/heightmm 4365/2113/1639

DON’T GET CROSS, GET A CROSS-OVER

Our Rating: 7.0 / 10

Peugeot’s 3008 cross-over attempts to offer the best of two worlds. Steve Walker takes a look

A few years back, it dawned on the major car manufacturers that the public really liked 4x4 vehicles. There was a corresponding explosion in the numbers of off-roaders both in the showrooms and on the roads, followed by an entirely predictable backlash against them. In more recent times, it’s been looking increasingly likely that the public don’t actually like 4x4s that much at all. What they actually like is certain characteristics that only 4x4 vehicles could offer. The cross-over vehicle was born to deliver these qualities, having distilled away the worst foibles of the off-roader. Peugeot’s 3008 is just such a cross-over but is it the car for you?

Cross-over is one of those horrid catch-all terms that can mean pretty much anything. It’s a kind of halfway house in some respects, a compromise between two kinds of vehicle but one that raises awkward questions. Can really great cars be born out of compromise? What exactly is the cross-over crossing over from and to? Where its 3008 is concerned, Peugeot’s answer would be that this is a cross-over coming from somewhere between the 308 hatchback and the 4007 compact 4x4.

Peugeot is putting the best of its engine range to work in the 3008. That means 2.0-litre and 1.6-litre HDi diesels plus 1.6-litre VTi and THP petrols. If we take the diesel options first, there’s a 112bhp Euro5 1.6-litre unit at the base of the range that’s available with the standard six-speed manual gearbox or Peugeot’s clever electronically-controlled clutchless system. Next come the 2.0-litre options packing 150bhp and 163bhp. The more powerful of these comes with a conventional six-speed automatic. Petrol buyers can take either the 120bhp 1.6-litre VTi engine and its five-speed manual transmission or step on to the turbocharged 1.6-litre THP which develops 150bhp.

The 3008’s suspension set-up is independent MacPherson struts with an anti-roll bar at the front and a torsion beam at the rear. It’s the sort of arrangement still found in the majority of family hatchbacks. There’s no four-wheel-drive option with the standard 3008. Instead, Peugeot claims to have boosted the car’s ‘outdoor’ abilities by including a special Grip Control traction control system. It has five operating modes, each designed to optimise traction on a particular surface. The more powerful engine options also include the Dynamic Roll Control system which is designed to counteract the body roll that higher riding vehicles can experience when cornered with feeling. Variable electro-hydraulic power steering is also included as standard as is ESP stability control with a built-in hill assist function.

The 3008 runs on the same underpinnings as the 308 hatch and its other spin-off models. Styling-wise, it employs a conventional hatchback shape but its high nose, the beefy grille and bumper combination and those flared wheelarches provide the hint of SUV that marks the 3008 out as a cross-over. Peugeot’s recent design efforts have split opinion with the enormous yawning grille that was rolled out across the model range proving distinctive but not always in an aesthetically pleasing way. In moving away from this family face, the 3008 is one of the best looking Peugeots we’ve seen for a while.

The rear tailgate is split like that of the 4007 SUV, so while the top section lifts up like a hatch, the bottom one drops down to form a convenient loading platform that can hold 200kg. Total boot space is a very large 512-litres and this jumps to 1,604 litres when the rear seats are folded down.

The seating is raised up higher than that of a normal hatchback, mimicking one of the traits that’s most popular with buyers choosing compact 4x4 vehicles. There’s also a large glazed area to assist further with visibility. An optional glass roof like the one found on the 308