Nice Peugeot styling job; classy interior; value
CVT works hard in twisty uphill going; steering a little vague
Sydney’s Hawkesbury River is about as far away from the Champs Elysees in Paris as you can get – but this is where Peugeot Australia rolled-out its new 4008 compact SUV. French style meets Aussie bush you could say.
And it’s in markets throughout the world where Peugeot sees the greatest sales opportunity for the 4008. Unusually, Australia is one of the first markets to launch the newcomer which will not arrive in France until the next European summer.
Lucky us because Peugeot has injected the Mitsubishi ASX-based product with its own brand of French flair and attached very smart price labels (starting at $28,990) to attract local compact SUV buyers rejecting Japanese style for European cachet.
Peugeot 4008 Overview
Peugeot Australia has been smart in equipping the 4008 with the safety and convenience features demanded by both chic European ‘fashionistas’ and family buyers, wrapping things up in a nicely-styled exterior and including a very polished interior look as well.
The full range is:
Active 2WD manual $28,990
Active 2WD CVT $31,490
Active AWD manual $30,990
Active AWD CVT $33,490
Allure AWD CVT $38,490
Peugeot 4008 Engine
Peugeot equips the 4008 with Mitsubishi’s naturally aspirated 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engine with 110kW at 6000rpm and peak torque of 197Nm at 4200rpm.
Workman-like in performance, the 2.0-litre is Euro4-compliant for emissions with exhaust C02 as low as 181g/km. Fuel consumption is rated as low as 7.7l/100kms (2WD manual).
Range-topping Peugeot 4008 Allure is only sold in all-wheel-drive with the six-step CVT automatic while the lower-grade ‘Active’ is offered in two-wheel-drive, all-wheel-drive and manual (five-speed) or CVT.
Peugeot 4008 The Interior
Inside, the Peugeot 4008 underlines its French heritage with a very stylish look and high-grade trim materials. There’s lots of soft texture in the fascia and piano-black lacquer finishes giving the 4008 a real up-market feel even in entry-level ‘Active’ grade.
Amongst its extras, the Allure model adds leather seats (fronts heated and height-adjustable) plus extra piano-black lacquer trim for the door trims and steering wheel.
The driving position is good, seats offer reasonable support and the conventional instrumentation is well-presented, as are the chrome-trimmed climate control dials. Rear seat accommodation is on-par with others in the segment.
Audio is a six-speaker CD system with Bluetooth/USB/AUX connectivity. An optional upgrade ($1,495) brings in-dash satellite navigation plus a DVD player and switches the reversing camera display from the rear-view mirror to the larger in-dash screen (and well done Peugeot for equipping all 4008 models with a reversing camera).
Out-back Peugeot 4008 delivers 416-litres of cargo space with the rear seat in-place and 1193-litres with the seat folded.
Peugeot 4008 Exterior & Styling
Peugeot designer Cristian Gudima was spot-on in describing the 4008’s looks as: “strong, like a little body builder that will protect while you sit inside.” While strictly speaking a shared product with Mitsubishi’s ASX, so thorough have been Peugeot’s changes for the 4008 that only the upper roof panel, door panels and rear hatch glass are common.
Buyers demanding Peugeot’s European cachet wouldn’t have it any other way.
At the front there’s the hallmark Peugeot grille (an upright version selected to deliver extra bulk and on-road presence) and long LED DRLs – Allure model goes further with Xenon headlights. The rear is very stylish with modern ‘inverse boomerang’ rear lights which look like claws from the famous Peugeot lion.
And the side profile shows clear differentiation from the ASX with European style sculpturing and much more athletic wheel arch bulges. Peugeot 4008 Active runs 16-inch alloy wheels while the up-spec Allure scores very stylish 18-inch alloys (optional on the Active models).
Dimensionally, there’s not much to separate the Peugeot 4008 from the Outlander-based 4007. Both have a 2.67-metre wheelbase, but at 4340mm in overall length, the all-new 4008 is shorter – that means impressive interior space for the newcomer.
Peugeot 4008 On The Road
Peugeot showed confidence in the abilities of the 4008 from the get-go – sending us off through the Hawkesbury River valley, north-west of Sydney over some demanding rural roads with lots of fast dirt sections. Car Showroom tackled the first half in a range-topping Allure model (CVT automatic) and the second half in a five-speed manual Active grade (both all-wheel-drive).
Peugeot’s 110kW/197Nm 2.0-litre, while a bit short of Renault Koleos’ 126kW/226Nm 2.5-litre and Ford Kuga’s ripper 147kW/320Nm five-cylinder 2.5-litre, was a smooth operator around town and eclipses the other two for fuel consumption (8.8l/100kms for the two Peugeot 4008s we drove). In the country, the CVT automatic Peugeot 4008 worked hard when pressed for rapid acceleration.
When we hit the twisty stuff the Peugeot 4008 showed the benefits of its European suspension calibration with hallmark firm ride and nice balance. However, when going hard over the bumps the Peugeot 4008 was caught-out a couple of times with some harshness in the front end and we would have like a bit more precision from the steering.
Our favourite was actually the lower priced Active model with the five-speed manual transmission (although a six-seeder would have been better). The self-shifter enabled better exploitation of the 2.0-litre engine both in highway acceleration and for mid-corner throttle response.
Peugeot 4008 Challenges
Pressing on hard over the hill climbs, twists and curves in our range-topping Peugeot 4008 Allure tested the CVT automatic’s mettle. And, good as the European suspension settings are, a tad more directness from the steering would be appreciated.
Peugeot 4008 Verdict
Peugeot says the 4008 will appeal to medium SUV buyers who prefer European style – in that context the newcomer certainly ticks the boxes and represents great value. In fact we reckon Peugeot’s French stylists and engineers have done a remarkable job transforming the Mitsubishi ASX into a product of their own – it looks European and (mostly) drives European.
And the Mitsubishi ASX pricing - $32,490 and $36,990 – underlines the very sharp stickers of the Peugeot 4008.
Peugeot 4008 The Competition
Mazda’s all-new CX-5 is now the benchmark in similar SUVs. Priced from $27,800 to $46,200, the CX-5 is petrol or diesel, 2WD or 4WD and runs the full SKYACTIV engine and chassis technology. Some would say the Peugeot 4008’s Euro style trumps the Mazda CX-5, but we actually reckon the styling job on the CX-5 is one of Mazda’s best.
But if you’re shopping Peugeot 4008, you’re probably looking at Europeans…
From Germany, Ford’s Kuga is also an all-new arrival. A bit pricey by comparison - two models - $38,990 and $44,990 – the Ford Kuga is exclusively powered by the excellent turbocharged 2.5-litre five-cylinder petrol engine and looks the part inside and out.
Renault’s Koleos has been freshly updated and, like the Peugeot 4008, starts sub-$30,000 at $28,490. Engines are a 2.5-litre petrol or 2.0-litre turbo-diesel. But that diesel comes at a price - $40,990.
