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World First For Peugeot – A Hybrid without Compromise
We’ve seen all kinds of Hybrids over the past few years and whilst they all offer something, they all seem to come with compromises, often not making them the car that you and I could live with on a daily basis. However, we think that’s all changed as Peugeot have come up with the perfect combination that’s going to let us use our cars in the way we presently do, without following funny procedures or changing our driving style, yet will still allow us to get stonking MPG, save money and save the planet in the process and it’s an all diesel/electric hybrid and it’s the worlds first.
Sounds too good to be true, well we think not and its not only us that thinks that way as the Peugeot 3008 HYbrid4 has already been voted as ‘Best Eco Car of the Year 2011’ by Diesel Car Magazine and has won the prestigious 2011 What Car? Green Awards SUV category and in doing so, was described by What Car as “the best hybrid the What Car? Team has driven”
So you want one already, I can tell and you are probably right to do so. Before however you sign on the dotted line, let’s tell you some more about this groundbreaking car.
Maybe we should start with some figures:- The 3008 HYbrid4 produces 200bhp so it’s no shrinking violet, yet it’s going to deliver an average fuel consumption of around 74mpg and wait for it, it’s 4wd, with the electric motor running the rear axle. With a Co2 of just 99g/km it’s also a winner for anyone who pays company car BIK tax and of course, costs you nothing in annual road fund tax. If you travel into London’s congestion charge zone, well that’s free as well and presently, that’s £10 a day, so we are talking £50 saving for a normal working week. Work everyday in the zone and we could be talking over £2,000 a year saving, but even for that odd trip, wouldn’t it be nice not to have to worry about paying the charge.
To be fair, as yet we haven’t driven the 3008 HYbrid4, but we have driven the regular 3008, a car we liked a lot and you can find our road test here But for those of you that can’t check the road test out, let me tell you the Peugeot 3008 (in its standard form) won the prestigious What Car (overall) “Car of the Year” award in 2010 and in the same year, got a second What Car award as it was voted the “Crossover of the Year” for 2010. Not content with that and despite many new crossovers coming onto the market since 2010, the Peugeot 3008 was back again the following year, taking the What Car “Crossover of the Year” for 2011, an incredible achievement.
I referred to this car as groundbreaking earlier, and whilst it’s easy to make glib comments like that, the fact remains that even before the 3008 got the new diesel / electric hybrid system, it was a very good car to live with and won praise and awards from all quarters and now it’s available as a 200bhp 4wd diesel / electric hybrid that can deliver an average of 74mpg, yet deliver Co2 below the magic 100g/km and its still winning even more awards, so surely this isn’t a car you can ignore.
Everyone knows the benefits of hybrid technology, but as a diesel hybrid, it takes things to another level and frankly, we are not surprised its Peugeot that have made this break through as they’ve been making car engines since 1896 and diesel engines since 1921 and many of the diesel engines we see today in cars of all makes are made by, or originate from Peugeot.
I haven’t touched on the price yet, but its understood its going to come in at around £26,995 and whilst, I agree that’s not cheap as a reasonable spec Prius is around £22k, the Prius is a petrol hybrid and in our experience, to produce the claimed results, you need to drive the Prius like a vicar on the way to Sunday school. We tried Hondas new Insight and nice enough car for sure, but even though its average MPG is shown at a lower 64.2mpg, again, in normal driving, we couldn’t achieve anything near that.
The 3008 is a proper sized car and a car that’s already won awards even without the hybrid system, so it’s a good car and whilst I understand its got to stack up if you are going to buy one, even early indications suggest its going to have residual values around 6% higher than both the Insight and the Prius and with it costing no more than a regular 3008 to maintain, its looking like a good option. Warranty will be 2 years unlimited mileage manufacturers warranty, and a free additional year provided by the Peugeot Dealer network, up to 60,000 miles (total mileage), so its in line and should give you any peace of mind if you need it.
If you are a company car driver, figures indicate that despite the extra ticket cost of the 3008 Hybrid4, the real whole life costs of the car when compared to a similar non-hybrid version of the car stack really well and when you look at fuel savings which Peugeot anticipate to be around £2400, the savings in Rft, the strong second hand value the car is likely to have, then it all makes sense. Add to that the savings in BIK tax and it seems like the 3008 Hybrid4 is a winner. If you travel into the congestion charge zone regularly, it’s a no-brainer.
As a bit of fun, Peugeot are shortly to launch both a mobile phone and iPad application supporting the 3008Hybrid4, which is almost an interactive brochure and the pre-release images look quite cool, so if you want to find out more about the car keep an eye out for the app in the coming weeks.
We can’t wait to get our hands on a 3008 Hybrid4, so that we can see for ourselves and of course, the first person we are going to tell is you. However if you can’t wait, we suggest you get along to your local Peugeot dealer who will have lots of information about the car and can already accept pre-orders, so that you can be the first on your block to have a car when they are launched in the UK in February 2012.
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