Peugeot puts ‘swish’ into SUV with 3008
Can the European Car of the Year cut it on New Zealand roads, asks David Linklater.
This just in: Peugeot has decided to stop being weird with its 3008 and reinvent it as a conventional SUV. The kind we Kiwis like.
The Europeans certainly like the all-new 3008, because it was voted Euro Car of the Year 2017. The new model is now available in New Zealand, at prices from $39,990 to $54,990, with turbo-petrol or turbo-diesel power.
While the 3008 has gone from space-pod to conventional-SUV proportions, it’s unlikely to blend into the crowd. Peugeot has gone pretty big on the bling - it’s striking on the outside and even more individual on the inside. It won’t appeal to everybody, but then good things never do. Sizewise we’d call it almost-medium: the wheelbase is the same as a Mazda CX-5 or Kia Sportage, but it’s shorter overall than either.
If diesel is falling out of favour in Europe, somebody forgot to tell Peugeot. Half the Kiwi 3008 range is compression-ignition (HDi in Peugeot’s language) and indeed, our flagship GT model is only available with a 2-litre turbo-diesel (there’s also a 1.6-litre HDi offered for the lower-spec Allure). It’s as clean as it can be, though: every engine in the 3008 range is Euro 6-compliant.
It’s a grunty thing, with enough torque to keep the front wheels busy in the damp weather we experienced for much of our testdrive time. It’s possibly a bit much for the chassis at times, which can feel abrupt in its responses unless you really concentrate on keeping it smooth.
The 3008 can’t match a Mazda CX-5 or Volkswagen Tiguan for handling prowess and that’s fine with us when we’re talking about such a stylish family SUV. But it would have nice to put even more emphasis on comfort and dynamic fluidity.
In fact, may we digress for a moment? We went straight from this GT diesel to an Allure petrol and it’s much closer to the mark. The 1.6-litre mill is smooth without over-stressing the driven wheels and the smaller 18-inch alloys, with higher-profile tyres, give the ride and handling a level of progression that’s not quite there in the more aggressive GT.
The GT interior is stunning - plenty of premium materials and designed around the secondgeneration of Peugeot’s ‘‘i-Cockpit’’ template, with the tiny steering wheel set low and the main instrument panel mounted high. The idiosyncratic driving position still won’t be for everybody, but it works much better in an SUV than a small hatch because you’re sitting higher over the dashboard anyway.
Not sure how well the GT’s Alcantara dashboard trim will wear over time, but it does feel awfully nice; lesser models have more durable finish.
Peugeot is finally seeing the error of its ways in banishing physical switchgear on earlier versions of i-Cockpit. The 3008 has a plentiful array of shortcut buttons, arranged as a gorgeous-looking row of ‘‘piano keys’’. The main screen is Android Auto/ Apple CarPlay compatible - although the Peugeot-specific touch-menus are still a tad confusing.
But once you learn your way around there are some gems to be found, like the GT’s i-Cockpit Amplify function: it allows you to configure the mood of the cabin (including lighting and fragrance) between Relax and Boost settings. You can even choose the type of driver-seat massage you get. I recommend the little-and-often ’’cat paw’’, which is slightly creepy but brand-appropriate.
The main instrument panel is completely digital and highly configurable - everything from a conventional-looking layout with large (virtual) speedometer and tachometer, to a sat-nav mode that gives over most of the display area to the digital map.
Every time you change mode the transition comes via a series of intricate animations. It might all be a bit gee-whizz for some, but the attention to detail is real surprise-- and-delight stuff. Although the lefthand button on the steering wheel-boss controls the right side of the instrument panel, while the righthand button on the wheel controls the centre-console screen... which is on your left. Makes perfect sense in left-hand drive. So you can see what they’ve done (or haven’t bothered to do) there.
The boot’s a decent size at 520 litres and while the rear seat only splits 60/40, the front-passenger chair can also be folded flat to give potential load length of three metres. Not a new idea, but still a brilliant one that’s not used by many SUV-makers. So while the 3008 is pretty flashy, the practicality is also impressive.
There are disappointments. Lane departure alert and autonomous braking is standard on all 3008s, but our flagship GT is the only model to have the camera/radar combo of advanced emergency braking (it’s otherwise part of a $1750 option pack that also includes GT-standard stuff like adaptive cruise and 360-degree camera). While FWD is entirely acceptable for an SUV these days, it’d be nice to at least have the option of AWD for Kiwi conditions; instead, the best Peugeot can do is a Grip Control traction system with different tyres and hill descent control, which is still a $500 option on the GT but standard on the Allure models. And let’s face it: an ornate French SUV will still be considered a risky purchase for many Kiwi buyers, compared with mainstream fare from Hyundai, Mazda or Toyota.
But in many respects, the 3008 is an accomplished and desirable vehicle that makes so much of the competition seem desperately ordinary and unimaginative. In a market so cluttered with mediumsized SUVs, that’s quite an achievement.