2022 Peugeot 3008 plug-in hybrid review: Australia launch

The French carmaker has added a plug-in hybrid variant to its popular 3008 medium SUV range.

What we love

Beautifully designed interior

Punchy hybrid drivetrain

Commodious boot

What we don’t

The price premium over regular petrol variants

Slow charging capability

Second row is tight for a medium SUV

Introduction

The Peugeot 3008 medium SUV has been electrified, with a plug-in hybrid joining the French brand’s line-up in Australia.

Based on the range-topping petrol GT Sport launched in refreshed form last year, the 2022 Peugeot 3008 PHEV won’t fit everyone’s budget, its $79,990 (plus on-road costs) starting price a not insignificant $20,000 more than the petrol GT Sport it shares its DNA with. That’s a healthy premium, and one that’s hard to justify in purely financial terms. Buyers won’t be looking to save money at the bowser over the life of the car then.

Instead, it’s ecological goodness that’s at the heart of the 3008 PHEV, and here the French mid-sizer starts to make a little more sense.

Peugeot says the 1.6-litre turbo four when working in tandem with the twin electric motors – one at the front axle and one at the rear – can achieve a combined-cycle fuel consumption figure of just 1.6L/100km. That seems a tad ambitious, on paper at least, even factoring in the claimed 60km of pure-electric motivation available from the 13.2kWh battery. More on this later.

There’s little to discern the plug-in hybrid version of the 3008 from its GT Sport petrol-only sibling. And that’s no bad thing.

As we said last year when the refreshed 3008 landed Down Under, the Peugeot 3008 presents as a handsome medium SUV, with a design flair that is sometimes lacking in today’s new car landscape.

All the elements that make the GT Sport stand out are present in plug-in hybrid version too. That means 19-inch ‘Washington’ black alloys as well as a swag of blacked-out elements – such as the grille, badging, and window surrounds – that might otherwise be finished in chrome, a nappa leather interior and a dual-pane sunroof.

Standard equipment levels too are befitting a range-topper. Highlights include Peugeot’s i-Cockpit digital instrument panel, a 10.0-inch infotainment touchscreen, heated front seats, a 360-degree camera, parking sensors front and rear, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring, satellite navigation, keyless entry and push-button start, and dual-zone climate control.

But, when you can get the same levels of equipment in ostensibly the same car for $20,000 less, the question has to be asked: is the premium the Peugeot 3008 PHEV demands over the regular GT Sport worth it?

Inside

Those looking for some new flourishes inside the Peugeot 3008 PHEV won’t find any. And that’s no bad thing, as the 3008’s already a beautifully designed cabin, among the best we’ve seen recently.

The nappa leather seats with their contrast quilted stitching look great and feel even better to sit in. Peugeot’s signature small steering wheel is wrapped in perforated leather and feels nice in the hand. The sculpted dash that bleeds into the door is augmented by a subtle ambient lighting. It all comes together to offer a plush and premium experience.

A 10.0-inch touchscreen sprouts from the dash and its functions are augmented by Peugeot’s now signature ‘piano key’ toggles and switches. They look a million bucks, and an elegant point of difference in an increasingly homogenised world.

Storage is excellent with a large central storage bin, flocked door pockets capable of swallowing bottles, a pair of cupholders that are trimmed in ambient blue lighting, which sounds twee but is actually useful at night, and a handy cubby next to the gear lever for keys, phones or other smaller items.

The second row isn’t as spacious as one might expect from a medium SUV. While leg room is adequate, certainly behind my 173cm driving position, toe room is compromised with space underneath the front pew tight. Still, those second-row seats are comfortable, and thanks to the presence of a standard-fit dual-pane sunroof, the second row remains light and airy.

Amenities include a pair of cupholders in a fold-down armrest, air vents and a pair of USB charging points. ISOFIX child seat mounts are located on the outboard seats.

Access to the boot area is via a powered tailgate, and with the second row in use measures in at a generous 591L. That expands to 1670L with the second-row seats folded away, meaning no change in dimensions compared to non-hybrid models.

However, a small battery array for the electric motor sees the regular GT Sport’s spare wheel and tyre jettisoned in favour of a puncture repair kit. But that same lack of a spare brings with it some extra storage in the shape of a couple of shallow yet handy cubbies under the boot floor, which are ideal for hiding smaller items away from prying eyes.

Infotainment and Connectivity

A 10-inch touchscreen serves as a nerve centre for the Peugeot 3008’s functions. Everything from smartphone mirroring and satellite navigation, to climate controls and even seat heating, is accessed through the dash-mounted screen.

A series of gloss black and aluminium piano keys underneath the screen serve as shortcut buttons to the myriad functions, while a further series of buttons underneath those have added some further shortcut functionality.

Smartphone integration is quick and easy, although those looking for the full widescreen experience will be disappointed with Apple CarPlay projection only taking up around half of the available real estate, leaving the remainder for climate-control functions.

This is both a good and bad thing: good because it makes for easy access to climate settings; bad because you still need multiple touches on the screen to adjust temperature or fan speed. It’s fiddly and a distraction on the move.

Mercifully, a traditional volume dial remains in place. It serves the excellent – and standard equipment – 10-speaker, 515-watt Focal sound system that offers decent audio quality.

Peugeot’s i-Cockpit digital instrument display continues to impress with its configurable functionality that allows for personalisation. It’s not as information-rich as some systems we’ve encountered, and neither does it feature Peugeot’s excellent 3D display found in the higher-spec Peugeot 2008 small SUV.

Where it differs from regular Peugeots is in its energy meter in place of a more traditional tacho. Here you can keep an eye on the PHEV’s energy consumption and remaining battery charge, which is handy for those trying to achieve pure-electric driving.

Safety and Technology

The wider Peugeot 3008 range wears a five-star ANCAP safety rating, albeit issued in 2016 under less stringent criteria. The safety body has not issued an update – yet – to confirm whether the plug-in hybrid 3008 will also wear a five-star badge – though as an indication, European-market hybrid models share the mainstream model’s five-star rating.

That said, the Peugeot 3008 PHEV does wear a comprehensive suite of safety technology fitted as standard. Autonomous emergency braking with cyclist and pedestrian detection, and that works in low light and at speeds of 140km/h, is standard. It’s joined by lane-keeping assist, blind-spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go function, driver attention alert, and speed sign recognition. Six airbags cover both rows of occupants.

The 3008 scored decently when crash-tested in 2016, scoring 86 per cent for adult occupant protection, 85 per cent for child occupant, and 67 per cent for pedestrian protection. Highlights included a perfect score of eight out of eight for side impact protection and a commendable 7.92 out of eight for pole impact protection.

Value for Money

The $20,000 elephant in the room. We’ve already outlined how the Peugeot 3008 plug-in hybrid is priced considerably more than the regular petrol 3008 GT Sport (which starts from $59,840 plus on-road costs) with the same levels of plush equipment.

That’s a big premium and one that won’t see any return on investment – in terms of saved fuel – realistically, ever.

For fun only, and according to calculations conducted by my colleague Sam Purcell when faced with a similar conundrum reviewing the Peugeot 508 plug-in hybrid, he estimated it would take 4341 days (or 11.89 years) of pure-electric driving to make up the circa $17,000 price difference between it and a regular petrol-driven Peugeot 508. So yeah, no-one is buying a Peugeot 3008 PHEV to save money over the life of the vehicle.

What the 3008 does do well is minimise fuel consumption and thereby decrease emissions. While Peugeot claims an ambitious 1.6L/100km on the combined cycle, our testing over several days in a typical-use scenario saw an indicated 2.9L/100km.

That was achieved through a combination of pure-electric driving as well as hybrid motoring where the 1.6-litre worked in tandem with the electric motor.

In terms of range, Peugeot claims a WLTP standard of up to 60km. Again, much like its fuel claim, that’s a tad ambitious, our time with the 3008 seeing closer to 48km. Bear in mind, running comfort features like climate control does eat into available range at a rapid rate.

And Peugeot hasn’t made any friends by limiting the 3008 PHEV’s charging capacity capped at a meagre 3.7kWh. That’s only fractionally more than a regular household plug, around half of a typical wall-charger, and laughably short of 50kW public chargers.

What does that mean in real terms? Simply, there’s no benefit to using a public rapid charger or installing a quicker wallbox in your home. And that means replenishing the 13.2kWh battery from 0–100 per cent takes approximately 3h 45m. At best.

But, Peugeot supplies the 3008 PHEV with a 2.3kW mode-two cable suitable for use in a regular 240V household socket. And that means filling up the battery from empty to full will take five-and-a-half hours, according to Peugeot. That’s more than adequate for overnight charging, but does diminish its ability to charge on the run. Cue petrol engine.

In terms of ownership, Peugeot covers the 3008 PHEV with its regular five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty including five years of roadside assistance. Further, Peugeot warrants the battery for eight years or 160,000km.

Service intervals are every 12 months or 20,000km, and under Peugeot’s ‘Service Price Promise’ will set you back $3108 over five years or 100,000km.

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Driving

Powering the Peugeot 3008 plug-in hybrid is a 1.6-litre turbo four-cylinder petrol engine, which on its own makes 147kW and 300Nm. Those numbers are boosted by a pair of electric motors, one at the front wheels and one at the rear, boosting total outputs to 222kW and 520Nm.

Those outputs are sent to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission and combine for a not exactly slow 0–100km/h dash of just 5.9 seconds. That’s quicker than a lot of hot hatches, and by the seat of the pants it feels quick and spritely.

It’s easy to imagine a scenario, provided your daily commute is less than the claimed 60km (or the more realistic 48-ish kilometres), where one drives without using petrol propulsion at all, topping up the batteries at night, ready to go again the next day.

The reality is you’ll burn through the available electrons pretty quickly and have to rely on the 1.6-litre petrol to do the heavy lifting.

Then there’s hybrid mode, which works exactly like a regular hybrid such as a Toyota Camry, where the battery does the work at lower speeds before the petrol engine kicks in for the grunt work, eking out available energy from the battery.

A handy energy meter in the digital driver display shows how much pure-electric driving the 3008 is undertaking. In our case, we saw 53 per cent and 82 per cent electric, resulting in an ultimate fuel consumption figure of 2.9L/100km. Not too shabby.

But how does the 3008 PHEV drive? In short, brilliantly.

There’s plenty of urgency from the electric drivetrain, and it is as you’d expect, very quiet and smooth. When the petrol engine does kick in, the transition is seamless and unobtrusive.

Acceleration is sharp, as already pointed out, and that translates to rolling acceleration, too, where the 3008 is happy and able to keep up with traffic flow with poise and purpose.

Similarly, the ride is well tuned, with a firmness that’s just about spot on. There’s no harshness to the way the medium SUV handles our pock-marked roads. Instead, the suspension gobbles up imperfections and lumpy road surfaces with aplomb. It’s a well-sorted set-up that cushions the cabin from all but the most severe road nasties.

For those looking to harvest energy, selecting ‘B’ mode from the drive selector is your friend. This mode enables stronger regenerative braking, the act of slowing feeding precious electricity back into the battery. It’s not as urgent or sharp as some systems, and there’s no facility to increase or decrease the amount of regenerative braking on offer like there is in some electric cars, but when selected it is possible to drive without using the brake pedal.

As an overall driving experience, the Peugeot 3008 PHEV feels like a regular car. Thanks to its healthy 520Nm, the 3008 is eager to get up to speed quickly. That it does so quietly as well without feeling any strain is a bonus.

It feels light on its wheels, too, a boon around town where the little Frenchy is likely to spend a lot of its time. That’s despite its not inconsiderable 1840kg kerb weight. A tight turning circle of 10.7m helps keep things agile.

Conclusion

The Peugeot 3008 plug-in hybrid does exactly what it says it will – offering electric-only driving with the backup of petrol-powered propulsion should the need arise. It’s economical on fuel, low on emissions, and with its twin electric motors working in tandem with the 1.6-litre turbo four, hot hatch fast.

And the beautifully designed interior is a standout in the segment; a touch of French flair that is matched by its handsome exterior profile. It is, simply, beautiful inside and out.

But the $20,000 premium it asks over the regular petrol 3008 GT Sport is, in our opinion, a bridge too far, especially when compared to other plug-in hybrid variants in the medium SUV segment that ask for around $9000–$11,000 over their petrol-only counterparts.

Peugeot is increasingly positioning itself as a premium brand and backing it up with some well-executed and thoughtful cars and SUVs. And while the 2022 Peugeot 3008 PHEV looks and feels every bit like a luxury medium SUV, the premium the French brand is asking over regular models is hard to justify.

Keyword: 2022 Peugeot 3008 plug-in hybrid review: Australia launch