Peugeot 3008 review

We’re focusing on the mild hybrid powertrain here remember (the PHEV will follow soon), which works well. It trickles along nicely at low speed. Silently so for a few yards in a jam, although for less distance than a Toyota hybrid.

Also, as with any hybrid, the engine often cuts when you lift the throttle, so momentum can be harvested into battery energy. Using that energy, the motor lends a brief but useful helping hand when you floor it at low revs, partially filling in the hole where the engine's turbo lag would be. Gearshifts and handover between motor and engine are impressively smooth too.

Yes, gearshifts. That's how it's very different from an epicyclic hybrid a la Toyota. You have a dual-clutch transmission, and even gearshift paddles. So the sound effects and driving experience are like a 'proper' engine and autobox.

But overall performance isn't that great. This, the lightest new generation 3008, is nearly 1,600kg, and feels it. 

AND THE CHASSIS?

Although it's 500kg lighter than the porky electric version, it shares the same issue. It doesn't manage to engage you in corners. The steering is quick and well weighted, whether near centre or with more lock, so it's an easy car to place accurately on the road. But there's precious little feedback through the wheel even as grip ebbs to its end.

Still, it does corner fluently. That's partly because there are stiff anti-roll bars to make sure the quick steering didn't just end up causing overwhelming body lean. Unfortunately this makes it rock from side to side on a straight but bumpy road. Which adds to the sense of commotion from a fairly stern set of springs.

So comfort suffers, at least until you're out on smooth A-roads. Quiet, though. And efficient, too: we saw around 40mpg real world, versus Peugeot’s on paper claims of 52.5mpg, leading to 122g/km of CO2. 

That compares to 212.7-367.2mpg in the PHEV (though as ever, that’s a wildly unrealistic figure that depends how often you can charge and how far you can travel on electric power alone), and 19g/km CO2, resulting in a company car driver appealing eight per cent BiK tax.

ARE THE DRIVER AIDS A HELP OR HINDRANCE?

There's a pretty comprehensive suite of them but beyond the legally mandated ones most come in a good value optional pack. So if – like many people – you don't like them then don't have them.

They work smoothly without many false positive bings and bongs or nudges of the steering. Assisted lane change (still hands-on-wheel mind) is part of the pack and is one of the best systems out there – it steers smoothly and doesn't let you sit in a lane endlessly indicating when there's no gap, freaking out other drivers.

You can set up shortcuts to switch out any of them if you're regularly on a road where they're unhelpful. A permanent touch button to call up those shortcuts lives between the driver's part of the screen and the central area.