Peugeot 5008
WHEN one of your teenage sons has ambitions to be a musician, you can never go too long before a lift laden with heavy equipment is required.
My son George can drive, but the cost of insurance for an 18-year-old in London is prohibitive (add musician as your profession and it’s astronomical). However, with my help, we’ve the perfect solution to his travel needs in the form of the hugely practical 5008 we’re running.
Boot space in the large Peugeot SUV comes in at a whopping 2,150 litres with all the rear seats lowered; more than enough to swallow George’s guitars, keyboards and flight cases. Loading the car is simple enough, with a power tailgate and no boot lip to get in the way.
Dropping the rear seats from the boot could be easier, though. I’ve used lever systems at the sides of load areas in other cars which were great, but in the 5008 you need to reach right into the car to tug on a red tag to lower individual seats flat. Still, we do like the magnetic flaps that drop drown from the seats to make a perfectly flat space, preventing kit from falling between the seats.
Once inside the car, George likes the audio system and syncs his phone, usually via Bluetooth, but sometimes through Apple Carplay. He tests the audio mixes of music that he has recorded or produced, too.
There’s plenty of tech in our 5008 and I’m a fan of much of it, although things can be a little over-complicated in places.
The infotainment system is excellent. The eight-inch touchscreen is reasonably simple to operate and the nav directions are good. I also really love the map and directions on the 12.3-inch i-cockpit display behind the wheel. Motorway junctions, directions and hazards (or speed cameras) are all clearly displayed here, which is really useful.
However, I do have some gripes. I recently dipped into the red on the fuel gauge while out with the family. The warning light flashed up with such vigour that it instantly stressed me out. The nav interrupted my route, offering directions to the nearest filling station, none of which appeared to be in my current direction. I persevered, but was hounded by several low fuel warning signals and alert sounds until I finally gave in and diverted to get petrol (almost convinced I was running on fumes). I longed for the days of reaching the red on the fuel gauge and knowing you had another 30 miles to top up when ready.
The speed camera alert sound is also infuriating. It interrupts music and alerts on approaching and then passing a radar scan. This might sound great, until you realise how closely we are being watched. It’s a constant noise in cities and along much of the motorway network in the UK. The visual display is enough, so I don’t need the sound, but despite checking numerous menu and settings screens I just can’t work out how to disable the audio alerts.
It’s also a pain to enter postcodes into the sat-nav, because the normal address input doesn’t allow for it. You have to use a different menu in order to do that, which is counter-intuitive.
Despite these grumbles, I’ve really enjoyed finally getting our 5008 out of town and on to more varied roads with trips down to the coast and holiday weekends away in the countryside. It’s undoubtedly a comfortable car to drive and the i-cockpit is a design triumph, with everything to hand and looking elegant.
But it’s a shame that the sunroof cuts into headroom so much, because we often travel with three teenagers in the back seats, and it’s a race to sit in the middle, where there’s more headroom.
Overall, we’re enjoying the Peugeot, though, with driving holidays to Devon, Lincolnshire and Northumberland all in the pipeline for this practical SUV.