Volvo XC40 vs Peugeot 3008

What's the difference?

The Volvo XC40 Recharge Twin Motor is a cute small electric SUV that offers a decent specs list and a sweet urban driving experience. It’s not the nicest ride on a longer journey but it does have a decent range to be able to tackle one, if needed. I didn’t love the interior design but there’s lots the XC40 gets right.

Technology is supposed to make life better and easier, but I’m afraid this hybrid version of the 3008 falls short on that score due to its slow charging and limited range. Nor does this hybrid version make a great driving, practical and good looking SUV much better.

Then there's the price. A list price of $80K is too much, relative to class rivals and the petrol equivalent 3008. 

For this money you could buy a Volvo XC40 Recharge Pure Electric, Hyundai Ioniq 5 or Tesla Model 3. All charge at (relatively) lightening-quick rates and deliver about 400km of range. And none of them require petrol, because they are fully electric.   

The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid needs charging pretty much every moment it’s not being driven in order to make sure all of that 60km of range doesn’t run dry.

That’s a lot to ask from people in Australia who don’t blink at driving 500km for a family holiday, in a country which has far fewer charging locations than Europe. 

The XC40 Recharge sees some design changes from its fuel-based counterparts and that’s mainly seen in the front because you get a body-coloured panel instead of a standard grille. The 20-inch alloys feature a chunkier-looking design but the front still boasts the cool ‘Hammer of Thor’ headlights (which I'm rather fond of).

The interior is where the electric powertrain loses me because the fuel-based equivalent is so much nicer inside with its leather-accented upholstery and trims.

It's lovely that there has been a conscious effort to use recycled materials and non-leather upholstery throughout but I'm left with the strange-feeling that synthetic seats don’t reflect the grade or price level of this car. 

Other than the cool-looking topography inserts on the dash and front doors and the 9.0-inch vertical multimedia system, it’s pleasant but a little basic in the cabin. Which is shame because the exterior is cute as hell.

There’s never been a Peugeot that hasn’t been interesting in its design. That’s a big part of their appeal and the 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid is intriguingly good looking inside and out.

Look at the grille with its chrome studs filling that monstrous grin like glistening teeth. And see how the headlights blend into the jagged design and notice the eyebrow-like ridges above them which extend into the bonnet towards the windscreen. 

It’s a tough-but-pretty design that’s carried on down the side panels as they curve and crease towards the tailgate with its striking LED tail-lights.

The cabin is stunning with its black leather upholstery, metallic and faux wood trim, and Peugeot oddities such as the small angular steering wheel, the elongated gear shifter and high-placed instrument cluster.  

Front passengers enjoy the most space and I have plenty of head- and legroom up front. It’s a really easy car to get in and out of and the individual storage is very good for the class. 

Front passengers enjoy a glove box, middle console with a removeable bin, two cupholders, utility tray and skinny drink bottle holders in the storage bins in the doors.

In the rear, passengers get map pockets on the backs of the front seats, two cupholders in the fold-down armrest and small storage bins in each door.

The synthetic leather-trimmed seats look neat and tidy but are very hard in the cushion, which makes them a tad uncomfortable on longer trips. The rear seats are much the same.

Charging options throughout the car are good with the front enjoying a 12-volt port, two USB-C sockets and a wireless charging pad to choose from. The rear also gets two USB-C ports and there's another 12-volt outlet in the boot.

The rest of the technology is easy to use once you spend some time with it. The 9.0-inch touchscreen multimedia system features built-in Google Maps, Assistant and Play Store apps, as well as, YouTube.

The 12.0-inch digital instrument panel isn’t customisable but I like the way it pulls through the satellite navigation screen and directions.  

Because of the dual-motor powertrain, your boot capacity drops to 419L from 452L for the single-motor variant. It is large enough for my grocery shop and random errands and you can fold the floor up to create a deep storage well for additional space. Fold the 60/40 split-folding rear seat and available space expands to 1295 litres.

I don’t like the hardened cargo liner, it feels and looks a little cheap, but I do like the powered tailgate. There’s also handy frunk storage of 31L, which is perfectly sized for any charging cables you will have.

I think we can all agree leather trousers look tremendous, but aren’t very practical. And there are some SUVs where form is favoured over function, too. But not this one... in most cases.

The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid is spacious for a mid-sized SUV with great cabin storage and a big boot.

Up front there are huge door pockets that are more like buckets, a large split opening centre console storage box and two cupholders.

The second row has smaller door pockets and two cupholders in the fold-down armrest.

The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid’s boot is big compared to its rivals at 591 litres with the second row up, and 1670 litres with the rear seat folded.

For people space, there’s more than enough room for me at 191cm to sit behind my driving position. 

For charging there are USB ports and a 12V power outlet. 

Peugeot offers the plug-in hybrid version of its 3008 exclusively in the top-of-the-range GT Sport grade for a list price of $79,990. That makes it the most expensive Peugeot offered in Australia.

This hybrid is $20,000 more than the petrol version, in the same GT Sport grade, with identical standard features.

Electric cars are currently more costly to produce than their petrol counterparts, but expecting consumers to fork out $20K is hard to justify. Particularly when prestige rivals to the 3008 Plug-in Hybrid cost less. The Volvo XC40 Recharge Plug-in lists for $66,990.

But if you're determined to own the GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid you’ll be treated to the full banquet of 3008 features.

Coming standard is a 10.0-inch media display, a 12.4-inch digital instrument cluster, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, digital radio, sat nav, a 10-speaker Focal stereo*, dual-zone climate control, power adjustable and heated front seats, and Nappa leather upholstery. 

*UPDATE: Peugeot advised on 5 May 2022 that Australian-spec MY22 models will temporarily omit the Focal premium audio system due to a manufacturing irregularity. See your Peugeot dealer to confirm when this feature will return.

There’s also a panoramic sunroof, 19-inch alloy wheels, aluminium roof rails, LED headlights and running lights, adaptive cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, auto parking, proximity key, and tinted rear windows. 

The XC40 Recharge Twin Motor features two electric motors which are powered by a large 82kWh lithium-ion battery and produce a combined power output of 300kW and 670Nm of torque.

Which is downright fun because it can do a 0-100km/h sprint in just 4.8-seconds!

The all-wheel drive (AWD) 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid is powered by a 81kW/320Nm electric motor on the front axle, an 83kW/166Nm motor on the rear axle, and a 147kW/300Nm 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine driving the front wheels.

The total combined output is 222kW/520Nm, which makes it one of the most powerful mid-sized SUVs for the price. Acceleration is impressively quick with 0-100km/h coming in just 5.9 seconds.

The official energy consumption figure is 19kWh/100km and I averaged 19.2kWh over a fair mix of urban and open-road driving. The energy consumption isn't bad but some rivals do sit closer to that 16.5kWh mark.

The official driving range is up to 485km for this model but I only ever saw a top range of 410km. That's not terribly surprising given I wasn't shy with the power use but there was a little bit of range anxiety on longer trips.

The XC40 Recharge Twin Motor has a Type 2 CCS charging port which means you can benefit from faster charging speeds. On an 11kW AC charger you can go from 0-100 per cent in eight hours but on a standard three-pin house plug socket expect that wait time to go up significantly.

On a DC fast charger expect to go from 10-80 per cent in as little as 33-minutes.

This sounds obvious but plug-in hybrids need to be plugged into a charger. And I mean they need to be charged every time you’ve finished driving for the day. 

Otherwise, you’ll run out of charge and your fuel use will rocket past that of a petrol-powered 3008 due to the extra weight in batteries and motors you’re lugging around.

The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid has an electric range of 60km, although I went through the entire charge in less than 50km. Then I had to hunt down a fast charger and discovered it would take about four hours to stuff the batteries full of power again.

The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid is extremely slow to fill up due to a small 3.7kW onboard charger. If the inverter unit was larger (as in BEVs like the Tesla Model X or Hyundai Ioniq 5) charging time would be much faster.

Charging overnight each day you use the 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid is the scenario you’ll have to adopt if you want to get the most out of this SUV. 

I found that after starting with a full charge and driving it for a day of mainly urban usage the trip computer was reporting an average consumption of 1.4L/100km. 

If you plan on adding motorways and open roads into the mix Peugeot says you can expect to use 1.6L/100km.

That’s outstanding fuel economy, but let the charge run out and you’ll start seeing 9.5L/100km, and higher, as I did. 

In that scenario the petrol engine needs to lug 1.8 tonnes around, a decent chunk of which is heavy batteries and motors, which aren’t doing anything.

If you don’t have access to power at home to charge a car, then you’d be better off with the type of hybrid which charges through the engine and regenerative braking, such as a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid. 

The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid has received such a low score here because of its extremely slow charging time and limited range. 

A larger inverter would solve this issue. It's possible consumers will end up using a lot more fuel than the pure petrol variant unless they are vigilant in always charging this car (nearly) every time it is not being driven.

Like the Polestar 2 there’s no ignition button on the XC40. You shift into drive to ‘turn on’ and after you park, you simply get out to turn it off. It takes a little while to get used to but it’s a cool feature. 

The twin motors deliver a hefty kick and you never worry about not having ‘enough power’. In the city it’s zippy but on the open-road you also feel comfortable getting up to speed or overtaking because the power distribution is so well-balanced because it’s an AWD.

I customised my steering wheel ‘feel’ to firm and it makes the handling crisp and direct. You feel like you’re in total control whenever you have to tackle be it tight streets or small car parks.

The blind-spot visibility is compromised by how wide the B and C-pillars are and I find that I'm relying a lot more on the blind-spot monitoring system to compensate.

The XC40 loses a few points for me in terms of ride comfort. As mentioned, the seats aren't terribly comfortable but the suspension is hard enough that you notice every bump, as well.

Road noise is also quite pronounced and it doesn’t sound refined when you drive at higher speeds, which is a shame. The flip-side, though, is that you don’t notice those things as much on short, urban trips.

The standard regen braking isn’t customisable and you don’t notice it until you switch over to a 'one-pedal' function. I found this function uncomfortable to use as it’s very aggressive and creates a jerky driving experience. 

Because of its 4440mm length and tiny 11m turning circle, you won’t struggle in a car park! The 360-degree view camera system and front and rear parking sensors make it easy to navigate a tight spot.

This is a joy to park. It’s so easy.

The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid is an excellent SUV to drive. The ride is composed, the body feels nicely controlled and the handling is good. 

Add great acceleration, thanks to the torquey motors, and this SUV is well above average when it comes to the driving experience.

Any downsides? There always are. Visibility is compromised by thick, long A-pillars and the steering wheel’s odd shape and tiny size are a letdown. So too is not charging regularly, causing this SUV to suddenly have to lug its 1.8-tonne weight around under petrol power alone.

The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid comes with all the safety tech in the 3008's arsenal. 

There’s auto emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane keeping technology, blind-spot monitoring, a camera system, and front and rear parking sensors.

There are some gaps though. No rear cross-traffic alert or reverse AEB. These things are now common on new cars.

For child seats there are three top tether anchor points across the second row along with two ISOFIX mounts.

The Peugeot 3008 was given the maximum five-star ANCAP rating in 2017, but in the past five years safety tech has come a long way and this SUV has fallen behind.

Please be aware, too, that the plug-in hybrid version has yet to be given a ANCAP score. 

The ongoing costs are pretty solid with the XC40 coming with a usual five-year/ unlimited warranty term but the drive battery is covered for eight years/160,000km.

You can pre-purchase a five-year/150,000km servicing program for a flat $3000 or an average of $600 per service, which is a bit expensive for the class. Servicing intervals are great at every two-years or 30,000km, whichever occurs first.

You get complimentary roadside assistance for five-years through Assist Australia and if you meet certain criteria, you can extend that by a further three years, which is handy.

The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid is covered by Peugeot’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. The battery is also covered by an eight year warranty.

Servicing is recommended annually or every 20,000km. Service prices are capped, and you can expect to pay $3108 over the course of five years, for an annual average of $622.