Peugeot 3008 1.6 BlueHDi GT Line: Living with it

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What is it?

It’s the new Peugeot 3008 SUV, which has received plenty of praise and scooped multiple awards over the last year or so.

It's practical, distinctive and wrapped up in that desirable SUV package. While mid-spec Allure is likely to be the most popular trim, our car is in slightly sportier GT Line trim. That means LED lights, reworked bumpers and two-tone paintwork, plus a few other toys such as a wireless phone charger and part-leather seats with contrast stitching.

You can read about the full Peugeot 3008 range in our full review, but we settled for the 1.6 diesel. There’s a lot of controversy surrounding diesel at the moment, but the simple fact remains, if you’re clocking serious motorway miles then it promises the cheapest running costs, and the government figure of 70.6mpg sounded good to us.

What we want to find out

We already know that the 3008 is a practical thing that drives well, but we want to find out if it can cope with the heavy-duty life of being a support vehicle for Motor1 UK. Having a big boot is one thing, but finding out whether a cameraman is comfortable while harnessed into the boot at 30mph is a whole other level of comfort and practicality testing.

Not only that, but what with the spotlight on diesel, we’ll be interested to see if this pokey 1.6 oil burner can deliver the sort of real-world economy (over our fairly typical combination of motorway and town driving) to justify the £1,830 premium it commands over the 129bhp 1.2 petrol that is likely to be your favoured alternative if you’re debating the merits of petrol versus diesel.

It’ll also be interesting to see what the average person reckons to the two-tone paint and rather glitzy-looking styling of the 3008, since the stand-out looks are one of its biggest selling points. Do you like it? We certainly do, although you have to be careful with your colour choices (we reckon our test car’s Pearlescent White and Black Diamond paint colours really suit it).

Finally, we want to find out if that unconventional driving position and dash layout proves to be a boon or just a funky-looking irritation, and of course we’ll be visiting a dealer to find out what the service is like there.

The easiest way to keep up to date with our regular updates on the 3008 is to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and sign up to our Facebook page and Twitter feeds and we’ll keep you posted on how we’re getting on.

Meanwhile, we’d love to know if you’ve got any thoughts on the 3008 – maybe you’re thinking of buying one yourself – get in touch via the comments below.