SHOWING SUV STYLE

French firm’s latest van-car hybrid is its most successful blend of the two ever, writes Steven Chisholm

The Peugeot Rifter looks to blend van-like practicality with car-like road manners

Light activity vehicles are that awkward part-car, part-van class of car that you most often see with a St Bernard in the back – or deployed as an airport taxi.

They are also some of the least appealing looking models on the market typically, with the need for utility and space prioritised over style and aerodynamics.

The Peugeot Rifter, however, aims to bring a bit of SUV, off-road styling to the segment and the result is chunky, robust looking car that stands up in the visual stakes against more svelte cousins in the MPV segment.

Much like stable mate Citroen’ s new berlin go model, in fact, with which it shares a platform.

It replaces the Peugeot Partner Tepee and is a significant

improvement with squared-off, chunky, pseudo SUV details, a short front overhang and a grille that bears a distincttot he 5008 suv.

And despite the substantial cosmetic over haul, it’ s lost none of the practicality that makes it such a popular choice with European cab drivers and people with giant dogs. The boot is enormous at 775 litres with the seats up, 3,000 with the seats down. The back row of seats can accommodate three child seats side by side – making this an affordable alternative to a seven-seat SUV for families with three pre-school children (it starts at a shade over 19k).

And if you’ve got five of the little angels you can buy as even seat version too.

That huge boot has a flat bottom and no overhang which makes it very easy to load. The downside of that is the door is an absolute slab and you need to park well away from walls or other cars to open it up fully. That said, they’ve thought of that too and you can open the rear windscreen with the boot door closed, so it’s still practical for the packed supermarket car park.

It feels huge though. Thanks to the driver height and the fact it is admittedly quite wide compared with more car-likefeels very much like a van or pick-up during low-speed maneuvering.

In terms of interior comforts and materials however, it’s more car-like and once you’re on the open road it could be an SUV in the corners – a touch more body roll and a bit more lumbering than you’d expect in a saloon or hatch. It also has a tight turning circle and that combined with the reversing camera means the relative heft wasn’t actually an issue during our test oft es co car parks, office multi-stories and city traffic.

I tested the car with a 1.5-litre diesel engine in the most powerful 128bhp tuning. You can drive the same engine with 74bhp and 99bhp and there’s a petrol-powered 109bhp and 128bhp unit as well.

Our 128bhp diesel felt a good fit for the car mated to the sixspeed manual transmission and the nought to 62 second time of 10.4 seconds is on a par with many top-selling midmarket SUVS

I though ti was going to dislike this car, as my past experience of the breed has left me feeling like I was driving a van with extra seats.

But the family practicality, big sliding doors and comfortable interior has won me over.

Would it have done so without the cosmetic overhaul? Probably not, I’m still a little shallow – but that’s my issue, not Peugeot’s.