This Peugeot 3008 proves that SUVs can indeed go off-road

A one-off of the Peugeot 3008 created by the brand’s British division has shown that, with some modifications, the French SUV is capable of going off-road.

The second generation of the Peugeot 3008 arrived in 2016 to take the concept of the first one a step further. Although it was similar, it seems it came out too early and failed to win over the market. It arrived with a completely different design, more modern and robust, and it also brought the characteristic i-Cockpit of the French brand’s latest models into the cabin.

The Peugeot 3008 is one of the stars of the compact SUV segment, which is currently gaining the most ground in the market. These vehicles are winning over a large number of buyers, but if there is one quality that virtually none of them has, it is their almost nonexistent off-road capability. In the road test of the Peugeot 5008, its bigger brother, we already found it to be a well-balanced car, but it never even occurred to us to take it off the tarmac.

However, the French brand wanted to show that the Peugeot 3008 has enough potential to become a highly adventurous car. So Peugeot UK made some slight changes to enable its crossover to tackle obstacles that would be hard to imagine.

This one-off unit was created specifically to appear on the renowned British motoring programme Top Gear, which is undoubtedly one of the most powerful stages for showcasing a new model. In the episode in which it appears, the Peugeot 3008 successfully completed the northern section of the Ho Chi Minh trail in Vietnam, where it had to travel on roads and broken tracks.

Slight changes to make the Peugeot 3008 much more capable

The basis for this curious project is a Peugeot 3008 PureTech180 GT Line. On top of this, the brand’s engineers have made several modifications so that this one-off will leave more than a few people open-mouthed.

The first of these changes is noticed immediately: the 17-inch steel wheels fitted with large all-terrain tyres, Grippy Cooper AT3, catch the eye at first glance. It would certainly be very useful to carry a small compressor like the Norshire one to adjust tyre pressure. If you know what we’re talking about, don’t hesitate to read our tips on how to set up your tyres on a 4×4.

Just by looking up a little, we can see a powerful LED light bar mounted above the windscreen to light up the trails in case the sun has gone down. In addition, Peugeot has thought about when it’s time to stop and rest, so it has fitted a retractable roof-mounted awning on the roof rack from which a tent emerges, allowing you to sleep in it.

This one-off is painted in a specific shade of grey-green and has a bike rack fitted at the rear to carry a mountain bike so you can reach places where the Peugeot 3008 can no longer go.

David Peel, Director of Peugeot UK, stated: “This unique model exemplifies the practicality and off-road capability of our best-selling SUV. With relatively minor modifications, the Peugeot 3008 has tackled some difficult terrain, demonstrating the effectiveness of its Advanced Grip Control technology and showing its true potential in the great outdoors.”