Peugeot’s on to a good thing
Stunning on the outside, thrilling on the inside (and pretty good to drive, too). Peugeot’s new SUV is
Peugeot 3008 GT Line ★★★★★
All right, I’ve done it again. For the second time in as many months, I have put my cash where my column is and ordered a car as a direct result of having tested it for More. This job is costing me a small fortune. All hail the Skoda Superb Sportline from last week, albeit the estate version with the extra mahoosive boot, as opposed to the hatchback. God I have the hots for this car so much, or at least I did. What’s happened since is not that different from what a friend of mine experienced when his assistant decided to teach him a lesson.
Determined to show him how indispensable she was, she requested a whole month off, during which she predicted he would go into meltdown at how utterly incapable he was at surviving day to day life without her. Except her plan backfired on an epic scale. Not only did he cope perfectly well on his own, realising a lot of what she did was self-generated nonsense, but he actually preferred the simplicity, convenience and privacy of looking after himself. He is now assistant-less. Oops!
What’s happened with Skoda and me is that having not signed on the dotted line yet, with each passing day I am left wondering more and more if we really need a family car at all. We haven’t missed the Range Rover since it went, Tash and the kids continue to be infatuated with her new VW Up! and I could happily clatter around in my Land Rover Defender till kingdom come. Plus, there’s usually an office car hanging around.
If we really needed to munch up some serious motorway miles we could go rent a weekend battle bus. That’s what I would do if I was French, I reckon. Our Gallic cousins are notorious for not feeling the need to own things – except where Peugeot is concerned, of course. If the rumours are true, the car maker is lining up a bid to buy Vauxhall and Opel from their US owners General Motors. If successful, the deal would elevate Peugeot to the position of second biggest motor manufacturer in Europe behind guess who – VW: producer of my wife’s Up! and owner of all things Skoda. Forgive me if I’m becoming heady at the incestuousness of all this.
But the question is: are the good folks at Peugeot on form? Are they rocking it at the moment? Are they smashing it out of the park? Answer: yes – just about.
You may remember how taken I was with the Peugeot 108 because of the way it looked and made me feel, but I was a lonely voice down a rather deep mineshaft. The 208 and 2008 are widely judged to be OK but no more. Things began to get better with the latest 308 but then dropped off again with the initially disappointing 3008 crossover. But that was then and this is now. The all-new 3008 SUV GT Line has landed and, my, ain’t she pretty.
This car majors in attempted allround gorgeousness. It’s almost gorgeously priced – until you start to gild the lily with a few options, which swiftly see the price increase substantially.
It tries to be gorgeously economical but isn’t quite, recording circa 50mpg combined, which is all right but nowhere near as impressive as the 150mpg of a hybrid version that is rumoured to be just around the corner.
It tries to be gorgeous on the outside, which it is, quite a lot.
However, it really IS gorgeous on the inside and, as we are constantly being told, it’s what’s inside that counts. Especially nowadays, when we often spend more time sitting motionless in our cars stuck in traffic jams than actually driving the damn things.
Admittedly, the car I drove benefited from the uprated trim and seats package but if you are going to accessorise your new 3008 with anything, it is this option that makes the most difference for the money.
The seats manage to be both sporty and comfortable, as well as being something of a work of art – which pretty much describes everything else around you.
The mixture of quality fabrics and materials provides the perfect backdrop to an audacious array of beautifully crafted switches and dials, the two superstars being the clarinet-like toggle controls and the flashy i-Cockpit.
This super-smart digital representation immediately in front of the driver talks to and combines with the infotainment screen, the graphics and information of each morphing from one screen to the other as you require. It’s all very
THE ENGINE WILL GROWL SONOROUSLY IF YOU ASK NICELY
pleasant to look at.
When it comes to space, there’s so much headroom a giraffe would struggle to stick his head through the sunroof. And to drive, the GT Line is verging on exciting, which is almost unheard of for a car in this class that packs such relatively feeble power. What difference the Sport button makes, however, I could barely discern. I’m sure there is evidence to justify its existence – it’s just that I prefer such a system to be a bit more visceral. At least the engine will growl semi-sonorously if you ask nicely, and the car will throw itself headfirst into a corner without making you and yours want to throw up.
So then, four stars minimum for everything – but a whopping five stars once you’ve clunk-clicked, ready to enjoy your trip. This car is all about that interior. I think I could actually live in there.
No need for a test drive. Just ask your local Peugeot dealer if you can book a half hour test-sit!