How does the 3008 GT Sport Hybrid drive?
Working together, the 3008’s 1.6-litre turbo petrol four-cylinder engine and two electric motors produce 222kW of power and 520Nm of torque. That’s good enough for a claimed 5.9sec 0-100km/h sprint, outgunning the Volkswagen Tiguan 162TSI R-Line by 0.7sec.
With all that grunt you might expect the Peugeot to have an edgy character but around town the 3008 is a total puppy dog with relaxed throttle response that soothes the driver.
Especially impressive is the pace in EV mode with the front (81kW/320Nm) and rear (83kW/166Nm). Some PHEVs feel very weak in electric-only mode thanks to super-modest motors - not so the Peugeot, which is more than grunty enough to keep up with traffic when running only on electric power.
Only when you shift the toggle switch into Sport and nail the throttle does the 3008 reveal a hidden personality which is not so much eco-warrior but a bit of a maniac you could almost call a performance SUV … At least when there’s charge in the battery.
In essence, the 3008 - and any plug-in hybrid - requires diligent charging to extract its best aspects. You can drive a 3008 PHEV with a depleted battery, but it’s a slower, louder, thirstier experience.
With no juice left in the hybrid battery, the 3008 relies mainly on its 147kW/300Nm 1.6-litre turbo - nearly halving its performance potential. Regenerative braking provides a trickle of power to the hybrid system but it’s nothing like having a replenished battery.
That means the PHEV doesn’t outdo the torquey 3008 diesel for those regularly doing long distances, but the 3008 hybrid will suit suburban and city-dwellers who can commit to regular charging.
The 440kg of hybrid gubbins may have dulled acceleration in combustion-engine-only mode, but a successful suspension retune means this hasn’t harmed the Peugeot’s signature silky ride. This is one of the key reasons to buy a French car after all, and the 3008 delivers, dispatching inner Sydney’s pot holes, speed bumps and concrete expansion joints without protest.
Soft rides tend to equal floppy handling, but the 3008’s damping is exquisite and this midsize SUV stays composed on testing country roads. Reach deeper into its talents through the finger-light hexagonal wheel and you’ll find some remains of the 205 GTi’s (1984-94) soul as the 3008 pivots its rear end out to help trim the line through a tightening corner.
For the plug-in hybrid 3008 Peugeot used the multi-link rear suspension from the 508. This has the benefit of giving each rear wheel greater independence to track the road and gives the hybrid an even better ride than the torsion beam-equipped GT Sport 1.6 ($59,840).
Perhaps surprisingly then, the 3008 hybrid is a true driver’s SUV, one that gets better the harder you drive it… Except for the brake pedal that has a wooden feel at the point of transition from maximum energy regen to physical caliper-biting-rotor retardation.
The 3008 scored a five star ANCAP result in 2017 with adult and child occupant protection scores in the high 80 percent range. However it was marked down for its lack of high-speed AEB and scored 58 percent against the safety systems criteria.
The GT Sport hybrid is equipped with a 360-degree camera, adaptive cruise, lane-centering system, blind-spot monitoring and city-speed AEB with pedestrian and cyclist detection. The smart driving tech is tuned well and is rarely intrusive, but at this price, we would expect to see features such as junction and reverse AEB fitted standard to the 3008.
