Alternative review of Peugeot 3008 range

The best way of describing Peugeot's 3008 is to call it a crossover. It's a deliberately vague term that's employed to describe vehicles which wilfully resist the car market's usual classifications. Normally, crossovers are vehicles that are part 4x4 and part, well, something else. The 3008 definitely has 4x4 tendencies in that it's quite tall and chunky to look at even though it isn't four-wheel-drive. It also has elements of MPV in its versatile interior and of family hatchback in its composure on the road - at least that's what Peugeot would have us believe. The 3008 is not a new idea. Many manufacturers are producing vehicles that marry the elevated driving position and foursquare styling of a 4x4 with family hatch ride and refinement on the road. We can call them crossovers if we like but more important is that in a country like the UK where opportunities to drive off the tarmac are rare for most people, it's a formula that makes sense. I'm all in favour of the thinking behind the 3008 but what about the execution?

Getting in to the 3008 is a breeze. Now, I still like to think of myself as being in my prime and I've never had a problem entering and exiting conventional cars but when you've tried a taller vehicle like the 3008, you do notice the difference. You step out of it instead of lifting yourself out and it's a similar story on the way in. The difference is small but when you've got lots of stops to make or errands to run, it is a difference. The elevated height of the 3008 also helps when getting items into or out of the boot area or leaning over to fit a car seat or strap the kids in. There's no denying it's more convenient than a normal hatchback. The boot is also worthy of a mention. It's accessed through a split tailgate which opens in two sections. The top part lifts like a normal hatchback and lets you lower items inside. It's handy for shopping bags because the lower section helps keep everything in place. When you have larger items to stow, this lower section folds down like the back of a pick-up truck. You can sit on it if you want but it's only rated to hold 200kg, so if you need forklift truck assistance to get out of bed in the morning, stay off. When the lower section is lowered, it forms a loading platform which you can slide bulky items inside on. Then there's the adjustable boot floor which allows you to create a separate storage compartment under the main boot or increase the total space available by dropping the false floor down. With the rear seats able to fold down and raise the boot capacity from 512-litres to 1,604 litres, the 3008 really does have practicality on its side.

Four-wheel-drive is fine but it's only really useful in icy conditions or when driving off-road - and how many times do most of us do that? In normal driving, it's usually redundant, unless your normal driving resembles that of a bank robber leaving the scene of the crime, and the mechanicals are heavy so fuel economy suffers. The 3008 is not a 4x4 and it drives very well on the road if you make allowances for the fact that its height makes for a higher centre of gravity that most hatchbacks. The ride comfort is extremely good and far better than 4x4 vehicles which tend to employ heavy duty suspension for protection on the rare occasions when they get their tyres dirty. Being taller, the 3008 affords a good view out and it's also easy to drive with a good turning circle. With the extra ground clearance, you'll be able to take speed humps faster than those boy racers with their gravel-collecting spoilers and there's less chance of falling victim to high kerbs. It's not the sort of vehicle you'd want to hurry along a B-road just for fun. Think of it more as comfy and competent.

I'll stick my neck out and say that the 3008 will go down as one of the best cars Peugeot has produced in the last 20 years. There are other crossover models that will do a similar job but the 3008 gets the details right with its user-friendly cabin design. It's not the greatest thing to drive or to look at but areas to which you can attach real criticism are few and far between. Even the build quality deserves a mention. Overall, I may not know what the 3008 is but I like it. You will too.

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