Peugeot 3008 "Car of the Year"?!

[MC Bodge]

I drove a rental 3008 GT-Line diesel recently. The journey was on motorway and on moorland roads.

There was a sticker in the back window claiming that it had been "Car of the year".

I'm struggling to work out how it achieved this award.

The steering was feel-less through its tiny, square wheel.

The handling was OK, albeit with little feel, but the ride wasn't good over small, sharp bumps.

The controls were an ergonomic mystery. The dashboard and displays looked gimmicky. The Sat Nav kept switching to show service garages in the vicinity, but no indication of faults or service requirements.

The brakes were ridiculously over-sensitive (the most I've ever experienced) and devoid of any sort of feel. I got the hang of breathing on them to slow/stop (and heel-toe), but I could imagine that a lot of people would struggle to use them smoothly.

It was actually quite quiet and smooth at speed.

The space in the back wasnt bad.

The engine wasn't responsive, was slow off boost and turbo lag was signficant.

The "driver aids" were annoying gimmicks:

The lane change prevention feature was ridiculous. Crossing white lines without indicating (nobody to indicate to or in roadworks) resulted in the wheel resisting the turn.
The warning lights on the mirrors if somebody was on your left or right were a bit redundant as I could see vehicles in the actual (quite effective) mirrors all the way -and I'd do a shoulder check anyway.

The reversing camera and top down view was pointless and misleading. It's a fairly square medium sized car, not an HGV. Hardly difficult to park.

Nothing about this car was desirable to me whatsoever. Maybe I'm out of touch?

Ps. It was very, very similar to the Fiat 500X I had on holiday, although that possibly handled better, but had terrible outward visibility of the extremities(and no cameras!).

[MC Bodge]

ManOpener said:

I've got it's Vauxhall brother (Grandland x) as a hire car whilst they fish bits of the filter out of the oil system of my M140i.
It's got less than 70 miles on the clock and is absolute wk.
The completely shagged Mitsubishi ASX I had in Spain was infinitely nicer to drive.

Not just me then. Gadgets, baubles and remoteness from the road.

I jumped back into my wife's 12 year old Fiesta -with no driver aids or gadgets- and it was far more enjoyable to drive and is laid out quite well ergonomically.

Most of the rental cars I've had in recent years have been unappealing. The best have probably been the Mk3 Focus 1.0T (the later ones, not the early ones), although the boot was small, a battered Mk7 Fiesta on the Algarve (and a Duster in Iceland -for different reasons).

[MC Bodge]

imagineifyeswill said:

Talbot Horizon

[MC Bodge]

MRobbins1987 said:

It’s probably crap to drive but styling wise it’s head and shoulders better looking than the majority of SUV’s.

Given that it’s mainly women who seem to drive these cars, maybe that’s the appeal. My wife certainly likes them.

Sadly, you are probably right.

Reviews seem to suggest that it drives well and yet our old, relatively simple Mk6 Fiesta and Mk4 Mondeo both drive better and are more comfortable.

The quest for ever more gimmicks and excessive styling is just.. meh.

Ps. Is it an SUV, a Crossover or a tall hatchback?

[MC Bodge]

Nealio said:

An Astra hire car I had recently had that steering resist lane departure thing on it, first time I've ever encountered it, made my hoop clench the first time that kicked in on the motorway and I wasn't expecting it.

Immediately got the passenger to find the button and turn it off.

Would anybody ask for it? Would anybody think that it is actually a good idea?

Is it just a way to shoe-horn in some of the automated driving technology that has been developed recently?

[MC Bodge]

kuro said:

I don't like SUV's but if I was to buy one I would choose one of these based on the styling alone. From what I've seen they seem to get pretty good reviews.

Well, you've read my short review.

Does it really look good?

Oh yes, and it also has a few annoying audible warnings. As someone pointed out, the noises are a bit "camp"

[MC Bodge]

AC43 said:

MC Bodge said:

I drove a rental 3008 GT-Line diesel recently.

The steering was feel-less through its tiny, square wheel.

The brakes were ridiculously over-sensitive

The engine wasn't responsive, was slow off boost and turbo lag was signficant.

The "driver aids" were annoying gimmicks:

Nothing about this car was desirable to me whatsoever. Maybe I'm out of touch?

I had a 2007 as a hire car at Easter. I had to drive it over the Beallach several times and it was awful. Utterly st over-assisted steering and a really weird driving position. If I raised the seat I could see over the cliff-like scuttle but my head would bob about all over the place. If I lowered it to a normal position I just couldn't figure out where the corners and wheels were. Which is isn't much fun on a mountain pass in the snow. If it had been a normal-height hatchback it would have been a bit better but would still have had that awful steering. I've been over the Beallach loads of times in tons of cars and this car was by far and away the worst way to do it.

MC Bodge said:

Ps. It was very, very similar to the Fiat 500X I had on holiday, although that possibly handled better, but had terrible outward visibility of the extremities(and no cameras!).

I had one of them in August. Much preferred the steering, brakes, suspension, engine (although it made a right racket). In fact I actually looked forward to driving it. Couldn't see out the back, though, or figure out where the rear three quarters were.

Why do people insist on cars on stilts?

Beats me.

To be fair, the 500x was quite a good handler when driven hard on mountain roads. It came alive a bit. It was, however, not good carting the family around towns in. Which seems a bit counter-intuitive.