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05/07/2010
By EWAN KENNEDY
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Trust Peugeot to think of something completely different. New for the 2010 Australian ski season comes the Peugeot 3008 - a car that deserves reviews and road tests conducted in numerous directions. Not quite an SUV, nor a crossover, the Peugeot 3008 offers style, comfort and convenience in a compact package.
The 3008 shape takes Peugeot’s latest radical styling theme to new heights, but takes it one step further, with a huge chromed grille, strongly sculpted guards and a dome shaped roof. Then there are headlights that have been taken to new lengths - draw a line between the rear corners of the lights and you will find it crosses the base of the windscreen. That's right, the front light housings stretch all the way back to the windscreen. Only Peugeot...
Only at the rear does the 3008 become reasonably regular in shape. That's in the interests of providing decent luggage space.
But it's not just the shape that's interesting, the fascinating feature of the 3008 is that, despite appearances to the contrary, it’s a two-wheel drive vehicle (through the front wheels). But some models can be optioned with a sophisticated electronic traction aid, of a type that has until now been seen only in upmarket SUVs. A five-position circular knob in the centre console gives the driver the option of gaining the best possible traction on sand, snow or mud, the other two positions are to have the ESP, or ESP off. Note that part of the Grip Control package is the use of 16-inch mud and snow tyres.
We were only able to test this system briefly during an introductory press drive organised by Peugeot in the ski resorts of Dinner Plain and Mount Hotham in Victoria. The weather managed to coincide with a warm spell so the snow had disappeared. The run back down the mountain the next morning was particularly interesting as we were driving through cloud that cut visibility severely in some places. The electronic safety provided by the clever traction control certainly made our minds less nervous.
We did try a short trial stretch on a steep muddy trail and were impressed with the ability of this two-wheel drive wagon in slippery mud. On-road tyres are frequently the limiting factor of crossover vehicles in conditions like this. But the Peugeot engineers have come up with an interesting solution – the 3008 deliberately spins its wheel at times to use the centrifugal forces to throw mud out of the tyre treads.
The all-new Peugeot 3008 certainly provides more traction grip than even the more adventurous owner will ask of it. Doing so without the added expense and weight of an all-wheel drive system is an impressive design feat.
Peugeot 3008 has a taller body and greater ground clearance than the Peugeot 308 with which it shares a platform. It doesn't use the big approach and departure angles of a full-on 4WD. The higher ride only marginally affects on-road ability, however there's good chassis balance, plenty of grip in bends and the steering is nicely weighted and provides good feedback to the driver.
It almost goes without saying that this Peugeot provides excellent comfort in all road conditions. After all, that's how this French marque really came to Australians’ notice way back in 1953 when a Peugeot 203 won the first Redex Trial.
On the downside, there were more body squeaks, particularly around the door openings, than we had anticipated. And the legroom in the rear could be better.
Engine options for the new Peugeot 3008 in Australia are 1.6-litre turbo-petrol, 1.6-litre turbo-diesel and 2.0-litre turbo-diesel. All feature strong torque that's suited to a vehicle in this class. At the same time they are either built to Euro 5 emissions standards, or will meet them by the end of 2010. This gives impressively low fuel consumption as an added benefit to the reduced emissions. Fuel figures are 7.7 litres per hundred kilometres for the turbo-petrol, just 5.2 litres in the smaller turbo-diesel and 6.6 litres per hundred for the powerful 2.0-litre turbo-diesel.
A funny sidelight to the new Peugeot 3008: when Peugeot introduced the 3007, a crossover SUV developed in conjunction with Mitsubishi, it was told by the holders of the James Bond franchise that it wasn’t allowed to call the Peugeot 3007 the ‘three double-oh seven”! Peugeot could have called the 3008 the three double-oh eight, but elected to be consistent with the pronunciation all its double-oh models.
Of course, this corporate squabble over naming isn't binding on anyone else so you are free to call the Peugeot double-oh models anything you like. We do live in a crazy world, don’t we?
The complete Peugeot 3008 range, with prices (excluding dealer and government charges) is:
XSE MCP 1.6-litre turbo-diesel: $36,790 (manual)
XSE A 1.6-litre turbo-petrol: $35,990 (automatic)
XSE A 2.0-litre turbo-diesel: $39,490 (automatic)
XTE MCP 1.6-litre turbo-diesel: $39,990 (manual)
XTE A 1.6-litre turbo-petrol: $39,490 (automatic)
XTE A 2.0-litre turbo-diesel: $42,990 (automatic)
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