Pugeout 3008
Regular readers will know I don’t own a car, I hire one when I need one. Most of the time, I get a newish mid-range Ford or Vauxhall, and I think “this is an excellent piece of design and engineering which does the job of ferrying me about, efficiently and unobtrusively“. Occasionally, I get upgraded. Sometimes it’s a Bigger car, like the VW Passat, which was excellent. So good, I remember nothing about it except I’d have one over a Mercedes, so relaxing and comfortable was it to drive.
My most recent “upgrade” on my hire car however was another in the ‘Crossover’ class; this time a Pugeout 3008. I am not a fan of these cars, being neither fart nor shit. They’re supposed to look like a 4×4, but are rubbish off road. But with an elevated driving position, they aren’t as safe-handling as a hatchback or coupe, but give a feeling of safety to the people driving them nonetheless. This means you’re more likely to drive like an idiot, but less likely to be able to get out of it.
They’re marketed at mums for the school run because they feel safe, but they scream “my husband isn’t doing QUITE as well as he promised when I married him… I want a Range-Rover like that Bitch, Sandra. I bet her husband doesn’t have trouble keeping it up. The slut…“. Unlike the Qashqai, which grew on me, the 3008 was a piece of shit from the off, and did nothing to change my opinion. The radio didn’t scan properly and seemed to be set to the Local commercial station as a default, the AirConditioning wasn’t up to keeping the car cool, even in this anaemic summer, it was so bad, it made a little girl cry.
The seating position seemed designed around the let’s-see-how-close-I-can-get-to-the-windscreen position occupied by the absolutely terrifying occasional female driver. The seat wouldn’t go back far enough, and the pedals were too close to the seat for my 6’3″ frame.
There was no hand-brake. Instead there was some silly fart-arsing button behind the gearstick, which wouldn’t release unless you had a foot on the brake, rendering a hill start nigh on impossible, unless you can heel-and-toe. I know terrifying occasional female drivers can’t do hill starts anyway, let alone heel-and-toe, but even if a man is driving, don’t get close behind one at the lights on a hill, unless you want a dented bumper.
The seats were uncomfortable, the visibility to the side was poor, as my vision was blocked by the pillar. The cup-holders got in the way of the gear stick. The arm-rest was un-adjustible, and not very comfortable. The ride was mushy, the engine gutless at low revs but had a horrible step in the power delivery. You didn’t know whether it was going to lurch forward or wheeze astmatically when you put your foot down. I had NO inclination to take it off piste, onto the twisties.
What’s more, it looks worse than the QashQai, as its wheels are too small. So it’s not even cool; quite what ‘what car’ were smoking, when they awarded it ‘Car of the Year‘ in 2010, is unclear as it’s a hateful, horrid, badly designed little car. About the only thing that was any good was a very easy to use Bluetooth hands-free system. This car only makes sense for blind people who don’t drive, but who like to use a steering-wheel to answer the phone. It’s a car for the dead inside and their hateful snotty infants. If you still care, they’re available from £15,000, though the one I drove was worth over £19,000. If you’re spending that on a car, and you think “This is the best car for me for that money”, I really pity your horizons and you should be euthanised before you add more piss to the shallow end of the gene-pool.
I hired a peugot 406 last year on holiday. It had five gears. I'm sure that they all had the same ratio. gutless piece of crap.
PS The A/C needed about twenty minutes advance warning before it would produce any cool air
Contrary to you, I am a keen driver. Let me tell you that Peugeot's fall from grace has been spectacular. When I passed my test, so long ago now that it seems that the red flag act had only just been repealed but was in fact only 1993, Peugeot were one of the best manufacturers out there. I should know. I learned in a 405 estate then, after a dalliance with my Dads old Austin Maxi – proof positive British Leyland were crap, I owned a 205, a 306 and had a 106 and a 406 as company cars for a bit. I was a Peugeot fan boy and, with the exception of the 406, these cars were about the best handling on the road for what they were.
Since then, they have fallen off the radar. As a hire car, I've driven the 206, 207, 307, 308 and 407 over the years and they have all been lamentable. They seem gutless, poorly built and uncomfortable with the 308 having such wide A and B pillars that visibility was , in my opinion, dangerously compromised.
The dealerships also went downhill and went from being generally helpful to generally hostile to me. In short, what was once the default choice for a budget sporty car (at least sportier than the equivalent Fords & Vauxhalls) has now become a laughing stock.
A metaphor for France really!
Mr. Pants.
The fundamenal problem with the whole crossover idea is flawed – if you want a euro box which is small, light and cheap fine, and Peugeot used to make good ones and evn now the recent ones I have hired have been good. If you want an off roader then you need something with a decent lump of iron up front something that Range Rover, mercedes and BMW understand very well and the result is a pleasant (if not sporty, but relaxed and gentlemanly) drive.
I'm interested you liked the quashqui as one sees plenty of them around, but I've never really managed to like the styling of it.
Upgraded last year to a Peugeot 5008 from Stansted. Good 'cos all the suitcases fitted but the worst automatic box I've ever had. Like a clunky L-driver changing at the wrong moment and not operating the clutch properly.
Made my Gran Espace automatic seem like a dream drive.
We have pukerot 'inexpert' vans. Appalling machines. Uncomfortable to say the least. Unreliable too. The one I have the misfortune to use has, in less than 70,000 miles, been rescued 5 times. The first time when the flywheel made a bid for freedom when the damned thing had only done 2000 miles! Currently it is having a new gearbox. It has had numerous fuel cooling radiators torn off in puddles. All of the ones in our fleet have spent weeks off road having things repaired. Steering components completely knackered at less than 20,000 miles.
Maybe the 3008's problems are connected to the news today that Peugeot-Citroen is in deep trouble and will need to shed a lot of jobs. Didn't we have something of the same problem in Leyland-BMC-Rover?
I feel inclined to comment on this post as this was a car I had 'seen' on the roads, but never really noticed.
Que a trip home to Blighty and I was upgraded by the 'not quite as helpful since the merger with National' people at Europcar. Quite how this vehicle can be considered and upgrade from a VW Golf is beyond me, but it had cruise control which was the major redeeming factor, I would not have a car without it these days.
To all your comments, I concur. Except for the Bluetooth, which is not so communicative with my iPhone, and requires me to turn my phone off and on after calls, as it seems to not like disconnecting calls remotely.
The big problem with this car is the Electric steering. Its awful. It has all the accuracy of a fairground air rifle at the duck shooting stand. Please for the love of christ Peugeot, make your own steering and stop using that generic Valeo shite, it would be not a bad car otherwise. It still has a bit of that lift off oversteer trait Pug's of old were famous for, but with steering this slow its likely I would take a trip to the scenery before I could catch if for some tail happy fun.
The very fact that you need to send the engine a telex to overtake anything is actually a plus point for me, 99g of carbon stuff. Which means as its road tax exempt, I can claim all my fuel and rental expenses back, business or personal. Which is ace as I would not pay for it.
Keep the reviews coming!