RENAULT SCENIC I PEUGEOT E -3008
The Scenic and 3008 return, this time as electric crossovers. We drive them
Is this the end for the Renault Scenic or a new beginning? The curved ’90s monospace that invented the compact MPV slipped off UK price lists in 2019, a victim of the public’s exodus to SUVs… SUVs like the Peugeot 3008, which transformed from MPV-esque Mk1 to an eye-catching and wallet-opening SUV. Peugeot cashed in by selling 1.32 million second-generation 3008s while Renault watched covetously, its Kadjar crossover ignored and the Scenic withering away. Until now.
In spring 2024, an all-new Renault Scenic E-Tech and Peugeot E-3008 will compete head-on for UK buyers. CAR has driven them both, at different times and in different countries, to deliver first impressions of two cars reborn electric.
If it was all about looks, there would be no contest. Peugeot has become the gold standard of French design, with its shimmering grilles, vertical LED strips, muscular proportions (remember those gawky noughties Peugeots?) and beautifully crafted interiors. The new E-3008 is the ultimate expression of that philosophy, unimpeded by design director Gilles Vidal having been head-hunted by – you guessed it – Renault during the car’s gestation.
Note that E-prefix: of the 14 Stellantis brands, Peugeot is the first to use a clean-sheet STLA vehicle platform, engineered as electric-first (though hybrids will be offered too). The inaugural electric 3008 will be one of the platform’s smallest cars; measuring 4542mm long it’s close in size to VW’s ID. 4.
It’s similar in weight too. The standard-range E-3008 gets a 73kWh battery encased in aluminium for lightness, with an alloy bonnet and composite tailgate to help shed kilos. But this single-motor, front-wheel-drive car still weighs 2.1 tonnes, 234kg heavier than the biggest-battery Scenic.
We’re in the 157kW (211bhp) standard-range car, cutting through a Catalunyan mountainscape of terracotta-coloured rocks, green pines and pastel blue sky. What a refined car the E-3008 is, blissfully quiet on the autopista, then surfing mountain roads with impressive compliancy. There’s a caveat: this tarmac would make an ice rink feel like a ploughed field. But I’m confident the E-3008 will deliver on awful UK roads. This flagship GT model on 20-inch alloys bobs and climbs like a dancing boxer, with dropping wheels and body movements well controlled.
Tip the nose into a corner and the E-3008 confirms its place in the heavyweight class. It rolls progressively and does a reasonable job fighting understeer, but it doesn’t take much to make the Michelins squeal. The steering is uniformly light and effortless, a far cry from recen
