Named 2017’s European Car of the Year, Peugeot’s second-generation 3008 has a big promise to live up to. Entering the already over-crowded Australian SUV market, it comes with a higher price point than most, but also an exciting and impressive equipment package and a thoroughly unique ergonomic and aesthetic vision. A highly practical interior, an economical engine and a fun on-road feel made up for the mid-spec Allure’s handful of design quirks and occasional struggle with the steep, rocky hills of Victoria’s Wilson’s Prom. With X-factor in spades, this is the ultimate getaway car – even if just for the weekend.
Never in my career as a reviewer have I driven a car with as much build-up as the Peugeot 3008. Approximately nine months before I even received word I would be driving it, a good friend out of the blue declared, ‘If you ever get to drive the Peugeot 3008, I call dibs on a trip around the block at the very least’.
This happened a number of times, right up until the exciting moment I was handed a key to one for a weekend road trip to Victoria’s stunning Wilson’s Promontory.
But surprisingly, it wasn’t exactly love at first drive. First up, the Peugeot is attractive, but its exterior is not altogether distinguishable from the raft of other SUVs I’ve driven in the past 24 months. It takes a lot more than a cute chunky butt to shift my gaze these days.
Inside, I didn’t feel as though the 3008 was entirely intuitive either. I struggled to locate things like the volume control and couldn’t quite nail the navigation of the home screen, which requires a mix of touchscreen interaction plus the use of a row of cockpit-like buttons for major functions – navigation, climate control and the like.
Actually, the entire driver’s seat section of the car feels like a cockpit (in fact, it calls itself that when the car starts up). The passenger area is disproportionately wide, while the 3008’s driver seat is designed to make you feel as though you’re nestled into a control room – it’s compact and full of shiny buttons, dials and levers. I half expected to see a button reading ‘engage torpedoes’.
The gear stick is unnecessarily convoluted, with a button for park and a set-up that requires you to hold down another button on the side to shift between reverse, neutral and drive. The flat-bottomed and topped steering wheel gives the car a feel not unlike that of a go-kart (not a bad thing).
It didn’t help that on my maiden voyage from picking the car up to my home the satellite navigation system – which sits somewhere between user friendly and frustratingly pedantic (i.e. be as specific as possible) – took me on a route that landed me smack bang into the world’s worst traffic jam. I was impressed, however, with how the speed limit monitor would update immediately, even when passing impromptu road works signs.
But this love affair was an admittedly slow burn and, it was only towards the second half of my two-day journey that I found myself growing more attached to the 3008 until I was deeming it one of the most interesting SUVs I’ve driven.
The second-generation 3008 from the French carmaker was named European Car of the Year in 2017. I’d settle for nothing less when braving the steep, windy roads on the two-and-a-half hour drive from the heart of Melbourne to Fish Creek, where my boyfriend and I had booked to spend a night in a B&B housed in a converted church.
Starving and with a big drive ahead of us, we started the trip off in Richmond at Hector’s Deli, a sandwich shop serving up the kind of toasties dreams are made of. With takeaway sangers in hand, we proceeded to steam and smell up the car with cheesy goodness (sorry, Peugeot) before hitting the freeway.
The Peugeot’s climate control system is awesome and pairing your phone via Bluetooth is a cinch. We enjoyed high-quality music streaming the entire drive. My boyfriend also thoroughly enjoyed the sheer width of the passenger side, the comfort of 3008’s leather seats and the head clearance, which is roomy even for people closer to two metres in height than one. The back seat of the car is nearly as spacious.
The aesthetics of the 3008’s interior are a real point of difference for the car – it looks stylish, chic and understated. While other cars try to get creative by experimenting with questionable upholstery colours, plasticky dash accents or even customisable lighting, the 3008 marks itself out from the crowd with creative fabric inserts on its dash and doors in a Houndstooth-esque print. The resulting effect is classic and elegant, like what I’d imagine it would look like if Ralph Lauren designed a car.
The spaciousness of the front seat extends all the way to the boot. During our drive we took a detour to a wood supplier (don’t ask) and had to put two large planks, plus several off-cuts, in the boot with our two small suitcases. It fit like a charm with plenty of room for any other loot we might obtain on our journey. Worth noting, however, was that the boot door is heavy and particularly tricky to lift when you have groceries in your hands.
The Peugeot is a smooth, agile and quiet ride for a long trip. Almost too quiet. After a long day of driving I felt myself lulled into daydreaming by the gentle breeze of the air conditioning, the comfy seats and the complete lack of road noise and lumps and bumps.
I didn’t love the location of the cruise control – on a lever just below the left indicator – because my main gripe is that you’re usually operating cruise control at high speeds whilst driving, so not being able to see what you’re doing is a huge hindrance. Sure, you probably get used to it eventually, but why make it harder than it has to be from the get-go?
Arriving at our accommodation just after lunchtime, things took a turn when we were faced with a very steep, gravelly driveway. Even with traction control on, I felt anxious as the front-wheel drive 3008 struggled to get a grip on the sharp turns. I became painfully aware that while the 3008 might have the look and size of a four-wheel drive, it wasn’t one. Let’s just call it ‘the SUV deception factor’.
The sound of wheels desperately scraping over gravel managed to scare off both the farm animals wandering around our B&B’s scenic surrounds, as well as the butterflies hovering over the lavender garden.
After that ordeal, it was time to head to the beach within the confines of the national park. Unsure if we’d find much food once inside, we stocked up on a standard Australian road trip snack – Light and Tangy Thins chips – plus a giant two-litre water bottle, which miraculously fit in the 3008’s cavernous storage bin between the front seats. Double cup holders in both the front and back meant we could carry as many fluids with us as we wanted (important in the Victorian heat) and storage pits in the door and dash were perfect for holding cameras, maps and sunglasses.
We parked our bright blue 3008 Allure under the shade of a scrawny tree and hit Squeaky Beach, which lived up to its name thanks to pristine, white and very squeaky sand. If you haven’t ventured to Wilson’s Promontory yet, I strongly advise you do. The beaches look like Mac screensavers and they’re prettier and nowhere near as packed as some of the ones we fly hours to visit in Europe. The Australian sun is certainly one of a kind though and after a couple of hours we were thoroughly scorched, so decided to hit the road.
The nice thing about the Peugeot is that while it has a luxury feel (much more so than true luxury cars I’ve driven recently which shall remain unnamed) it still retains its rough-and-tumble quality. We felt comfortable clamoring in covered in sweat, sunscreen and sand (again, sorry Peugeot). It also stays fairly cool in hot temperatures.
One thing that irked me, however, was that the push-button ignition took a couple of pushes to turn the car off and on, even with your foot on the brake. Frustrating when you’re irritable and hot. But clearing bugs off the windshield was a breeze thanks to a unique feature my boyfriend spotted – when you use the wipers to wash and wipe, the water squirts from the wipers themselves, rather than from the base of the windshield, which probably makes them a hassle to replace but does look pretty slick.
The 3008 was surprisingly economical – our few days of freeway driving combined with city driving clocked in at 7.4L/100km. That’s lucky too, because the mid-spec Allure isn’t the cheapest option on the market, nearly hitting the $40,000 mark when others in its class hover closer to $30,000.
Still, what you get for that money is X-factor in spades. On the way home from the Prom – after a homemade breakfast and a stop at the idyllic Picnic Bay – we actually fought over whose turn it was to drive, because being behind the wheel of the 3008 is so much fun. Especially if you’ve got a good view, a packet of chips and killer soundtrack to boot.
2018 Peugeot 3008 Allure pricing and specifications:
Price: $39,490 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 115kW/240Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 7.7L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 178g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP