The facelifted Peugeot 3008 now competes against the facelifted Proton X70 in Malaysia. Here’s how it stacks up.
Proton launched the extensively facelifted X70 yesterday, heating things up in the C-segment SUV space. While there are quite a few other more competitive options one can look at, such as the Tiggo 7 Pro, chances are you’ve already compared the X70 against these. What about something a bit left field that has completely escaped your view. Something like the Peugeot 3008, perhaps?
Like the Proton X70, the Peugeot 3008 is a facelift model. It was introduced in Malaysia back in late 2021, about a year after its global reveal. The recent X70’s facelift is based largely on the 2022 Geely Boyue facelift with many unique local design elements thrown in. So while you can argue that the Proton X70 is an much newer product, these core of these products have been on the world stage for 2+ years now. They’re both also locally assembled and exported from Malaysia, and they’re both C-segment SUVs. They both have small displacement turbocharged engines with front wheel drive only, so there are many more parallels than one might think. So a comparison between the new Proton X70 and the Peugeot 3008 might be something worth considering. Let’s explore.
Price & Package
Here’s where the conversation starts and ends for most potential customers. Pricing. The Proton X70 retains its incredible pricing from 2018 with the Premium X model topping the range of at just RM126,800. You could save a few thousand Ringgit by deleting the sunroof and you’d still have all the other equipment. There are other variants for those on a tighter budget but we’ll keep them out of the discussion for now. The Peugeot 3008 on the other hand only has one variant and it’s priced at RM169,388. That’s a massive price disadvantage to the Peugeot of 33% or RM42,588 – a price gap large enough to fit another small national car. A clear win for the Proton and one of the main reasons why you don’t see quite as many Peugeot 3008s on the road as you might expect.
Besides the pricing, the warranty package is also slightly better for Proton as they have no mileage cap despite sharing the same 5-year time limit as Peugeot. Proton’s sales and service network is also much wider than Peugeot’s in Malaysia.
Options
As we mentioned earlier, the Proton X70 has a major advantage in pricing but you really see the effect of this as you go down the variant range. If you’re willing to lose ADAS, ambient lighting and the TPMS, sport smaller rims, and downgrade from Nappa leather to standard leather the Executive model is priced at RM110,800. Drop all the way down to 17″ wheels, lose the powered tailgate and powered seats, 360-degree camera, and ditch the leatherette for fabric and the car is now just RM98,800. All that and you also have 5 colour choices:
- Marine Blue (new)
- Snow White
- Armour Silver
- Jet Grey
- Ruby Red
It’s also worth noting that the Nappa leather option on the Premium and Premium X variants comes in Stone Grey while the regular leatherette and fabric on the Executive model is black.
The Peugeot 3008 has no trimmed down variants. That being said there are just as many colour options:
- Celebes Blue
- Pearl White
- Amazonite Grey
- Nera Black
- Cuprite Brown
Dimensions
Both of these are C-segment SUVs. Here’s how they match up in terms of dimensions:
| Length | 4,510 mm | 4,526 mm |
| Width | 1,850 mm | 1,831 mm |
| Height | 1,628 mm | 1,694 mm |
| Wheelbase | 2,730 mm | 2,670 mm |
| Weight | 1,492 kg | 1,585 kg |
| Fuel Tank | 53 litres | 60 litres |
| Doors | 5 | 5 |
| Seats | 5 | 5 |
| Boot Space | 591 litres | 515 litres |
| Front Tyre | 225/55R18 | 225/55R19 |
| Rear Tyre | 225/55R18 | 225/55R19 |
The Peugeot 3008 is marginally longer and wider with a longer wheelbase, a larger boot. Plus, it’s also lower and weighs less. The Proton’s advantages are a slightly larger fuel tank and the option for larger 19″ rims on the Premium models.
Powertrain & Suspension
Under the hood, the Peugeot a 1.6L 4-cylinder turbocharged motor while the Proton sports a 1.5L 3-cylinder engine. Despite having the smaller heart, the Proton X70 produces more power at 175 hp and 255Nm of torque while the Peugeot 3008 makes do with 165 hp and 240Nm of torque. The Proton has the more ‘advanced’ gearbox – a 7-speed DCT from Geely while the Peugeot sources their gearbox from Aisin of Japan and it’s a 6-speed conventional automatic. While the Proton X70 should have better performance in a long, straight line, the fact is that it gets to 100km/h from a standstill in 9.8 seconds while the Peugeot gets there almost a second faster at 8.9 seconds. This is probably down to the weight and tuning of the powertrain.
The Peugeot 3008 also utilises less sophisticated torsion beam rear suspension while the Proton X70 has multilink rear suspension.
Equipment & Safety
Both of these SUVs have some similarities in equipment, such as LED headlamps, dual zone auto climate control with rear blowers, panoramic sunroof, a 6-speaker sound system, electric parking brake, power adjustable front seats, 6 airbags, Blind Spot Monitoring and Lane Keep Assist. However the Proton X70 has the Peugeot 3008 beat in many places.
The infotainment unit in the Proton measures 12.3″ across while the Peugeot’s is 10″. ADAS is not as fleshed out on the Peugeot with Autonomous Emergency Braking and many other advanced safety features missing. Adaptive Cruise Control is also not found on the Peugeot.
You’ll also got many more USB ports on the X70 including one on the rear view mirror to mount a dashcam. The Peugeot has a couple more front and rear parking sensors but the Proton has a 360-degree parking camera which cancels this advantage out for most drivers.
That being said, the 3008 does have some advantages too. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are already featured on this model while Proton says some functionality will be saved for a future OTA update. The 3008 also has paddle shifters that are easier to operate than Proton’s left-right tiptronic system. There’s also a Qi wireless charging pad here, electric child safety locks for the rear doors, and a seatbelt reminders for all seats. There’s also a lot of intangible stuff that just doesn’t make it into a comparison like this, such as the i-Cockpit or Proton’s Atlas software… All of that neccesitates a test drive before you make judgement. Here’s our evaluation of the 3008 and of the X70 (preview only).
So what do you think? Does the Peugeot 3008 deserve a second look or is the pricing too high? Should Stellantis introduce a lower spec variant to be more competitive against this national SUV or will the right number of left field buyers find their way into this alluring French alternative?
