PEUGEOT 508 RXH test drive since 2011 crossover

In itself

Crossovers, SUV of different stripes and dimensions from them are already rushing in the eyes. PEUGEOT 508 RXH offers a non -trivial way to follow an all -resistant trend without getting lost in the crowd.

The Mediterranean coast of France Sea, palm trees, the sun and many road signs Verglas Frequent (frequent ice, fr.). Is this a thin Gallic humor or a way of mastering the budget a la RUS? Neither one nor the other. A winter cocktail of moisture and Mistral, a cold wind from the Rona valley, is doing its job. In the nearby Alps, everything is easier. When the road is of excellent quality, the crossover is quite suitable for acquisition. That's just very banal. And in Peugeot went the other way. The station wagons are counted on the fingers of one hand. Now we bend the next one, but on the other five, because the Peugeot 508 RXH and among our own lines holds apart. This is a hybrid (HV), and moreover, from the rarest breed of diesel-electrical.

Nevertheless, the technological hook is not the only one that the buyer should swallow. The first thing that hooks it is the appearance of RXH. In addition to generally accepted roof rails and a light off -road body kit, Peugeot designers awarded the special representative of the family 508 with an original radiator grill, whose degree of aggressiveness was measured, as if on pharmaceutical scales, and claws of LED headlights of daylight. How often these fireflies, twisted into garlands or like hastily collected in the bar, even on models of the most famous brands of the Premium segment look vulgar! There is another case here. And how damn a special brown with a bronze gleam of the RXH body is good! The taste did not change the French in the design of the interior of the model. New combinations with copper interspersed and a designer selector of a 6-speed robot look organically, stylish. As in the case of other 508s, the quality of execution without stretching is comparable to the best German samples. And the RXH is far from pale in terms of equipping. Smart key, four-zone climate control, a huge panoramic roof with a motorized curtain, a projector for key information on the shield in front of the windshield, the front seats with servo drives (and the driver’s massager in the lumbar region), the basic equipment navigator. The list of options, among other things, includes an organizer of a cargo compartment, an audio system, a pair of DVD players, a Wi-Fi device on board, made of aluminum, on board. It is a pity that you can’t order a camera of the rear review in addition to parking sensors. However, in countries with clumsy road infrastructure, the absence of a spare wheel is more sensitive. The space allotted for her and something in excess (189 l vs of the nominal volume of the cargo compartment of the usual station wagon of the 508th series) was occupied by the nickel-metallological battery of the GSU, the hybrid power plant.

This technological highlight of the RXH is transferred straight to the Peugeot 3008 Hybrid4 (see Auto-Mobile No. 11, 2011). In such a versatility, the power of the PSA Peugeot Citroen HV program. Unification allows you to count on the payback of the project even with limited (15,500 per year) circulations of hybridized versions of individual models. However, the stability of the structure does not cancel progress in the subtle settings of the GSU, and in order to understand this, a microscope is not required. Compared to the pre-production 3008 Hybrid4, tested in the last October, the round-the-line-selector on the floor console added in the clarity of fixation when changing the traction modes. You can already not take your eyes off the road, especially since there are duplicate indicators on the dashboard.

So what do we have? 200 horses and 450 nm traction. Impressive. True, we are talking about hybrid, peak return. And the main task of any HV advanced HV saving fuel due to the possibility of moving with a zero exhaust determined by the charge (in this case at least 50%) of the battery. The control electronics of the power plant RXH is clearly not intended to flush this NZ, at least in AUTO mode. So, getting to all electric 27 kW and 200 nm is not so simple. The start of the gas -style place on the floor on the dry asphalt turns around the second slipping of the front axle, which leads to a 2.0 -liter turbodiesel, and only then, having rolled the sleeves, the rear electric motor is taken, turning the RXH into an all -wheel drive car. Attempts to squeeze the maximum from the power unit due to the transition to Sport mode also do not always give the expected effect, and almost never instant. The electric motor, dosing its intervention, effectively smoothes out diesel thrust changes during switching RKP6, but the flip side of the medal for the exemplary smoothness of the transmission of the transmission of the process, including when using the steering wheel petals. So often on overtaking or when accelerated into the rise, fraught with the rapid devastation of the battery, RXH remains only with 163 teapot horses and, in the best case, C 300 nm of traction, which are attached to 1770 kg of equipped mass. An ordinary station wagon of the 508th series with a diesel engine of the same power, twisting a moment of 340 Nm and automatic transmission of 230 kg easier in a word, think of the French to shoot a series of Taxi 5 from RXH in the main automobile role, the bad guys from Yakudza would have to be transplanted with Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, Let's say an electric car I-MIEV.

Does this mean that managing RXH is as boring as to clean the oxidized battery terminals? That's not. Contact with the car is easily established, despite the not the most optimal landing of the driver and a large diameter of the rim of the steering wheel. And although the RXH did not get a refined front suspension of the GT top version, it even with the usual McPherson and the multi-leaf is very vague and chains. Yes, there is a 508th with less pronounced vibrations of unsaved masses and the best balance control/smoothness, but this is the case when it is clear that it is paid: apart from the models modified in the transmission 44 of Dangel, we have the most senior modern serial serial Peugeot.

The clearance in 184 mm is not 150 mm in 3008 Hybrid4! Does such a road clearance RXH turn into a rogue? The creators of the model are responsible for this. For the opposite statement, the special version of the 508th over the overhang and, accordingly, small angles of entry/congress (15.6/19.8). However, the main competitors, if they went further into the forest, like Volvo XC70, is not much (210 mm; 19.2/24). If there is no task to conquer the virgin lands, the absence of an automatic brake system on steep slopes is also acceptable. Diagonal hanging can be caught and without delving into the thicket. Bon! The RXH has an electronic imitation of interverts of inter-fire differentials. But what about a full -wheel drive depending on the charging battery? Don't worry. Include mode 44 that eliminate delays with the activation of the traction electric motor, and with energy at low speeds, if necessary, it will provide an 8-kilowatt starter-generator of the Stop & Start system. I do not undertake to say that competitors with turbodieses comparable in the same hard test mode would have used up more diesel fuel (we got 7.6 l/100 km), but it is clear: they would all die after what happened to one of our crews. A punched gearbox card is not the malfunction that is treated on the knee. RXH is no exception. But the special version of the 508th has mechanically unrelated to the gearbox, a traction electric motor. He allowed (the battery’s benevolence turned out to be sufficient, and the relief contributed to its replenishment during recuperative braking) in the rear -wheel drive mode to get about 4 km to the base. And here's something else. If 508 RXH decides to sell in Russia, who bought it does not threaten to constantly stumble upon reflecting their Peugeot. With the declared production volumes of 10,000 cars per year, this is excluded.

Source: Cars