Peugeot 5008
Out goes the Kodiaq, in comes a 5008. Our latest seven-seater has a lot to live up to
Beginning of a beautiful friendship
They say you should take your time to fall in love – but, around 30 seconds after settling into the driver’s seat of the Peugeot 5008, I was smitten. And, before you write in, I know that sounds an odd thing to say about any car, let alone a Peugeot, but it is absolutely true.
It is because this 5008’s cabin is a joy to be in and look at. Everything that you first see and touch is not only great in terms of perceived quality but interesting too. There’s the dark faux-denim cloth that breaks up the plastic surfaces. The digital dash display. The ‘piano keys’ that operate the infotainment functions. The gearlever for the auto ’box, which looks and feels designed, rather than just plonked in. I could go on.
It’s pleasing, too, that this Allure trim is just one step up the four-strong range, which starts with Active and ends with GT Line and GT. It is described by its maker as “the ultimate in understated luxury” and, while that statement is (inevitably) laden with a touch of marketing hyperbole, I’m struggling to think of a mainstream family car that looks better inside or out. Styling features include tinted rear windows, trim enhancements and additional chrome f lourishes. All of them look good.
Throw in the extra kit it adds too, including a rear-view parking camera, upgraded sat-nav and various driver assistance systems, and it makes for a highly competitive proposition. This is a large seven-seat SUV that retails from well below £30,000 even with the cosmetic extras – and one which our sister title whatcar.com can already secure you 7-10% discounts on through its New Car Buying service, such is the competition for sales in this sector.
Even so, some context might be needed to fully explain my excited reaction. The Skoda Kodiaq from which I stepped was many great things, but its interior was as rigorously functional as the Peugeot’s is interesting. Both work in their own way, but inevitably my reaction was exaggerated by the contrast. Already, you’ll start to understand why the chance to live with these two sevenseaters back-to-back is going to be such a fascinating test.
Consequently, I’ll confront one of the prejudices that is f litting through your mind now (I know you’re thinking it because it popped into my head) – namely, that my joyous reaction to getting into the 5008 is going to be short-lived, because Peugeot means French, which means style over substance and f laky build quality. Skoda, meanwhile, means Volkswagen, which means German build quality. Sorry, but I don’t buy it.
Stereotypes are usually rooted in fact but also tend to last long beyond them being factually accurate. While the Skoda was largely trouble-free, I did have an issue with the battery that left me stranded more than once. Every Peugeot I’ve driven in the past five years – including a year spent in
a 308 SW, which I found to be a very fine if not quite class-leading car – has been trouble-free. Ownership surveys provide a more mixed view; in most, Skoda outperforms Peugeot. I am a sample size of one but, rather than leap to conclusions, let’s see how this test goes.
Nor is it just the cabin ambience that has won me over, although it is the standout surprise from my first few weeks in the car. As you might hope in a large SUV, the cabin is spacious and well laid out. The kids, so often hard to please, piped up without prompting how comfortable they are in both the rearmost and middle rows of seats. The tape measure suggests they are right.
The engine, too, is a surprise, although in the sense that it remains a critical point of interest. You don’t need to be that old to look at a seven-seat SUV powered by a 1.2-litre engine to think that it is a combination that will never work. The world has, of course, moved on, and what’s evident already in these first few hundred miles is that it works just fine: linked with the auto ’box, it’s smooth and capable enough, and the 10.4sec 0-62mph time isn’t so pedestrian as to be a nuisance. The question marks are around what cost this has on fuel economy, occasionally refinement and the linearity of acceleration. Unladen and around town, 40mpg looks possible, but out on faster roads the concern is that it has quite a thirst. More testing will answer that particular question.
To drive, the 5008 has been decent, if not startling. The deliberately small steering wheel takes some getting used to but, thanks to my height, doesn’t obscure the dash (for normally proportioned people it could) and actually forces you to adopt an interesting, wristy steering style. In terms of engagement with the road, there’s little, but that’s the norm these days, while the ride seems mostly decent, only turning brittle and unsettled on the most broken of surfaces. These are the chief criticisms that held it back from scoring more than a (still strong) 3.5 stars in its Autocar road test, but my suspicion is that when the destination is 200 miles away and the wife, kids and luggage are on board, it may not be my first priority. Again, we’ll see, because no Autocar reader is going to thank me for recommending a car for its ambience and practicality alone.
An intriguing six months lie ahead, then. The latest car launched by a marque should always be its best, but already I suspect this 5008 could be the firm’s very best in many years.
I’m struggling to think of a mainstream car that looks better inside or out