Fancy a family-size SUV that has a handsome exterior and a stylish and practical interior, drives as well as it looks and is superb value for money used? If so, the Peugeot 3008 might be right up your street.
The engines range from a turbo triple petrol up through a number of efficient diesels to an efficient petrol-electric plug-in hybrid with a stonking output.
Even the basic Active model is well equipped, with dual-zone climate control, rear parking sensors, automatic emergency braking, Bluetooth and a DAB radio. It doesn’t come with satnav, but it has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so you can just use a navigation app on your smartphone instead.
Allure trim adds sat-nav, interior ambient lighting, power-folding mirrors, front parking sensors, a rear-view camera and 18in alloy wheels.
GT Line brings full LED headlights and wireless smartphone charging, while GT features adaptive cruise control, keyless entry, a powered tailgate, a panoramic sunroof, leather trim and 19in alloys.
The 129bhp 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol is very eager to rev and surprisingly peppy – more than up to the task of hauling the 3008 around. Next up is an automatic-only 163bhp 1.6-litre petrol that’s a smooth performer but not as frugal as the smaller unit.
Among the diesels, the 129bhp 1.5-litre four-cylinder BlueHDi 130 (manual or automatic) is a flexible engine that doesn’t make the 3008 particularly fast but still offers strong pace and will pull the car effortlessly, even when it’s fully loaded. The 2.0-litre four-cylinder BlueHDi 180 is punchy but pricey.
Last we come to the PHEVs. The Hybrid 225 (222bhp) is a neat performer, while the Hybrid4 300 (296bhp) manages impressively rapid acceleration and officially can drive for up to 40 miles on electricity alone from a full charge – although you can expect a figure closer to 25-30 miles in reality.
The 3008 has a softer ride than most in its class and manages to soak up the worst of the road furniture with aplomb. The steering is precise and quick at low speeds, too, helped partly by the small steering wheel.
It’s inside where this 3008 took the biggest strides on from its predecessor. It’s a very stylish environment, albeit mostly free of buttons, because all the infotainment and air-con controls are taken care of through an 8.0in touchscreen, which itself could be more intuitive.
All models get a 12.3in digital instrument display instead of more traditional dials, and this is configurable depending on what information you want it to show.
There’s plenty of space up front. Rear-seat accommodation isn’t class-leading, but there is a flat floor for more foot room. The boot is par for the course, meaning it can manage a buggy and a couple of suitcases.
A mid-life facelift in 2021 gave the 3008 some design cues introduced by more recent Peugeot models, such as ‘sabre-tooth’ LED daytime-running lights, a frameless front grille and smoked LED tail-lights.
Prices for a 3008 start at £13,000. Up the folding to £16,000 for a 2019 car, or £19,000 for one from 2020. Expect to pay upwards of £22,000 for a facelifted model.
Need to know
Most petrol 3008s offer similar fuel economy to much smaller cars. For example, the 1.2-litre petrol gets 47.2mpg on the WLTP test. The auto-only 1.6-litre petrol bucks the trend, however, with 39.6mpg.
The 1.6-litre diesel gets 70.6mpg as a manual or 67.3mpg as an auto, although these are more generous NEDC figures. The replacement 1.5 130 has a WLTP figure of 55.1mpg. The larger 2.0-litre diesel is available as a frugal manual with an average of 47.1mpg.
Buyer beware
Recalls: Diesel cars from 2018 can suffer damage to the diesel particulate filter, caused by a plastic component in the exhaust system. Oil can leak from some cars because a sealing plug wasn’t tightened correctly. And the fixings for the towbar also might not have been tightened correctly at the factory. Each of these issues can be resolved free of charge by a visit to a Peugeot dealer.
Reliability: Petrol versions of the 3008 finished higher than diesel models in the family SUV category of the latest What Car? Reliability Survey, at 15th and 25th respectively out of 28 cars. Peugeot overall didn’t do amazingly either, ranking 22nd of 30 brands.
Top spec
Allure: This gets you all you will need and a lot of extra safety tech, including blindspot monitoring, lane keeping assistance, automatic headlights and driver attention monitoring.
Our pick
1.2 Puretech 130: This turbo petrol is a smooth and punchy option for those who don’t do lots of miles. It revs keenly from 1500rpm to the limiter and, so long as you aren’t hustling it, is reasonably fuel-efficient too.
Wild card
Hybrid4 300: Why not splash out on this extraordinarily quick, four-wheel-drive PHEV that can do the 0-62mph dash in just 5.9sec yet also return up to 200.8mpg? It’s expensive to buy but, woah, way to go.
