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EVER driven a car with “removable” rear seats?

Oh, and I don’t mean by using a spanner.

The last time I tried to take the seats out of a car it turned out to be one hell of a job.

In fact, by the time I finished getting the back seats out of a Chrysler PT Cruiser I was knackered.

They were so heavy I could barely lift them so I gave up trying to replace them and left the pair in a heap in the garage before Chrysler sent someone to take the bits home.

Last week I drove a Peugeot 5008 which, the makers claimed, had “moved upmarket” and featured “removable rear seats”.

You can imagine what I thought about that but I decided to put them to the test. Guess what? They were simple to remove and they were light too, at 11kg, so picking them up and putting them back was just as easy.

Mind you, there’s something I ought to tell you about them.

These weren’t the armchairs you used to find in a PT Cruiser. They were the two seats that fold into the boot floor of the 5008 when you don’t need it to be a seven-seat school bus.

I quite liked the 5008. It’s a big car with a lot of thoughtful touches which Peugeot call an SUV, and its its excellent Grip Control system means owners can take it off road.

In reality that means a muddy field or, more likely, never.

Still, it’s got the ground clearance to make it capable of tackling tricky surfaces so owners can boast about its ability without the bother of having to prove it.

One in four cars sold in Europe is now an SUV, which adds up to 26 million a year, and the market is still growing, so the 5008, with seven seats to add to its off-road credentials should be a big hit when it goes on sale in June, with first deliveries in September just as schools reopen after the summer holidays.

Mummy and daddy will love its space and mountain of kit. Middle row teens will be pleased they’ve got their own electric sockets while the little ones will love scrambling into the back two seats where they also get 12-volt sockets, drinks holders and lots of spaces for hiding goodies.

Surprising

For grown-ups getting into the back is a whole different job. Because of the 5008’s height there’s quite a stretch just to lift your legs into the tiny space you have to squeeze into, even with the middle row pushed forwards. Once you’re there, though, there’s a surprising amount of room and there’s still a foot-deep luggage space behind the seats.

Fold the rear seats into the boot and there’s a 3ft 6in space which should cover most needs, but with all the seats out of sight you’ve got a six-foot cavern big enough to take your old sideboard to the charity shop.

Yep, space wise and even off road the 5008 does the job well, but what’s it like to drive? With a choice of six engines – two petrol and four diesels – you’d expect the 180hp 2.0-litre diesel to be the best, especially as it’s got 296lbs of torque. Sorry, it isn’t. That prize goes to the little three cylinder 1.2-litre engine.

What a remarkable motor this is. With 130hp and 230Nm (170lb) of torque it comfortably dealt with the 5008’s 1,310kg weight in a way that the diesel never rivalled.

Even though I liked the 5008 a lot it’s not in the same league as the smaller 3008 on which it’s styled and shares many of its parts. It’s not as sharp, but you can’t expect a car that’s nearly seven inches longer and 60kg heavier to be as good.

If size is a necessity the 5008 does exactly what you need. It’s big, and the seats are far from heavy and genuinely removable. You could say that as far as families are concerned Peugeot has definitely seen the

light.