The first self-developed SUV from the French manufacturer Peugeot, represented by the all-wheel drive station wagon 508 RXH, was presented to the general public in the fall of 2011 (at the Frankfurt Auto Show).
With the fashion for crossovers and all-wheel drive cars (as well as taking into account their number on our roads) - today you will hardly surprise anyone with such news. But this model has its own zest, and it lies in the all-wheel drive scheme "Hybrid4" (where the traction of the front wheels is provided by a diesel engine, and the rear - by an electric motor).
The idea of building all-wheel drive station wagons with increased ground clearance and crossover protection (bumpers, arches, bottom) is not new. There are a lot of examples: Subaru Outback, Audi A6 Allroad, Volkswagen Passat Alltrack and others ... So Peugeot did not "reinvent the wheel" - they took the Peugeot 508 SW station wagon as the basis of their all-terrain vehicle.
Compared to the donor, the external dimensions of the Peugeot 508 RXH have slightly increased in height and width, mainly in height due to the 50 mm increased ground clearance. The dimensions of the Peugeot 508 RXH are: length - 4823 mm, width - 1864 mm, height - 1525 mm, base - 2817 mm.
An interesting fact, the manufacturer announces an increased clearance of the Peugeot 508 RXH to 184 mm (versus 134 mm for the European 508 SW). Although in Russia "ordinary 508s" are already sold with a ground clearance of 184 mm.
In 2014, along with the "base model", this off-road utility vehicle underwent modernization (which mainly affected the design of the exterior and equipment).
By the way, the exterior of the hybrid Peugeot 508 RXH has a slightly more aggressive look in comparison with the "regular 508".
The original two-level false radiator grille, a rougher front bumper with plastic protection at the bottom and triple columns of LED lamps on the sides (the French associate them with tiger claw marks).
The plastic also protects the wheel arches, which easily accommodate 215/55 R17 or 235/45 R18 wheels on alloy wheels.
The silhouette of the profile and, in general, the entire body of the Peugeot 508 RXH looks somewhat heavy, in comparison with the airiness of the 508 SW - this is precisely the reason for the body kit that encircles all cars.
The rear part here - with a large luggage compartment door, a powerful (in "crossover" style) bumper, covered with plastic at the bottom with an insert under the metal.
The French equipped the Peugeot 508 RXH with another "invisible crossover attribute" - a plastic protection for the engine compartment (1.5 mm sheet thickness).
Inside, the Peugeot 508 RXH almost exactly copies the interior of the expensive configuration of the 508 SW station wagon: the architecture of the front dashboard, center console, steering wheel, front and rear seats, trunk, finishing materials.
Only a few other controls, switches and instruments differed ... but first things first.
The place of the tachometer was taken by the power indicator showing the operating modes of the power units (diesel and electric motor): Eco mode (only electric traction), Charge (recuperation mode), Power (use of electric traction in percent).
On the central tunnel, instead of a gear lever, there is a neat joystick for controlling a robotic gearbox (gears can also be changed with paddle shifters). To the right of it there was a place for the "washer" to select the driving modes (4WD, Sport, ZEV and Auto).
By the way, the same "chips" are present in the Peugeot 3008 Hybrid4 (the cars are technically identical).
That's all the difference from the "non-hybrid Peugeot 508 SW".
The basic equipment for the 508 RXH crossover includes: four-zone climate control, electric drive and heated front seats, panoramic glass roof (1.62 m2), xenon light, keyless entry (Open & Go), color display (7 inches) with navigation system, projection head-up display, JBL music reading CD MP3 with AUX and USB connectors, leather interior, rain and light sensors, front and rear parking sensors, electric parking brake and much more.
The luggage compartment of the Peugeot 508 RXH cannot boast of a large volume, only 423 liters (for comparison, the 508 SW has 590 liters), but you can fold the rear row backrests and increase the volume of the cargo compartment. Batteries housed underground take up a lot of space. The rear luggage compartment door is electrically operated.
The Peugeot 508 RXH hybrid station wagon is equipped with a diesel-electric power unit, consisting of a 2.0 HDi FAP diesel engine (163 hp), which rotates the front wheels, and an electric motor (37 hp), which is responsible for rear-wheel drive. There is no mechanical connection between the front and rear wheel drive (electronic control is applied); a robotic gearbox is responsible for coordinating the operation of the engines.
There are systems "Start-Stop" and braking energy recuperation.
This whole tricky scheme is called "Hybrid4".
How it works? We start the engine and ... silence. We select the "Auto" mode and turn on the transmission. The car silently moves forward on an electric motor. Only the accelerator pedal needs to be handled with “jewelry”, otherwise the diesel will turn on.
In the "Sport" mode, the electric motor intensively helps acceleration, the steering wheel becomes more informative, the gears change noticeably faster than in the automatic mode (acceleration to hundreds of 8.8 seconds). Accordingly, the consumption of diesel fuel increases. In this mode, the Peugeot 508 RXH can accelerate to a "non-hybrid" 213 km / h.
In the "4WD" mode, the electric motor with all its might helps to move along the modest European off-road.
There is also the "ZEV" mode, in which the Peugeot 508 RXH is forcibly able to drive 4-5 km only on electric traction, but when the supply of electricity runs out, the electronics will automatically switch to the "Auto" mode. By and large, it is this "Auto" position that is optimal - when the electronics itself decides and is responsible for turning on the motors and charging the batteries, loyally consumes fuel.
The French manufacturer promises fantastic fuel consumption of 4.2 liters on the combined cycle. But journalists from France and Spain, who carried out the first test drives of the Peugeot 508 RXH, were able to achieve a consumption of only 6 liters (however, for a car weighing nearly 1800 kg, and this is a good result).
Sales of the Peugeot 508 RXH in Europe began with the company's native French market. The price for a richly packed Peugeot 508 RXH starts at 45,600 Euros… Expensive, considering that Volkswagen Passat Alltrack 2.0 TDI (170 hp) with 6-speed DSG gearbox and 4MOTION all-wheel drive costs from 40,075 Euros in Europe (and its declared consumption in mixed mode is about 6 liters of diesel fuel).
There is no question of delivering this off-road vehicle to Russia (the price is clearly not in favor of the Frenchman - the Russian buyer is not ready to overpay so much for "ecological" transport).
