Peugeot 5008 road test - Peugeot 5008 Car Review

So the car you take your immediate family home in really needs to be a joy. Initially I thought the 5008 would deliver me from my double whammy of visits in some style and with minimal stress.

The seats are significant and supportive. There is bags and bags of room everywhere you look. I think it may actually be bigger than my hall.

In the rear, the test car had the optional DVD screens to keep little ones quiet (a bargain at £510) and even the head sets seemed to have luxurious soft trim around the ear pieces. So even though the car has a handy extra rear-view mirror designed to help you keep an eye on the back-seat delights, there is no reason to think they would be arguing.

Unless they want a drink as the 5008 didn’t seem to have any cup holders up front and if your current car does you will be surprised at how much you will miss them. However, that’s a trivial matter and there are big ‘bins’ that do just fine.

 

The driving position is fault-less and commanding. The enormous windows and mirrors provide unhindered all-round visibility. Which is a boon in the car parks because there is no hiding this car’s 4530mm length and 1837mm width. All parking manoeuvres are 3+. You should also look for the cars that have the parking sensors (another few hundred quid well spent).

But on the open road that doesn’t matter. The steering is precise and the handling - for something similar in length to a truck – is composed at all times. I just wish it had been a little less refined.

Yes, less refined.

Exhausted from family catch-ups and threading through the middle of Sunday driver madness, I suddenly realised that my speed was creeping up. But there was no wind, or road noise to give this away. Just a big speedo, which there is little time to look at on a Sunday – you have to watch out for all the nutcases that  were last on motorway some months ago. As a result, at the time of writing I am waiting to see if a threatening manila envelope turns up on my mat from my local Constabulary.

And it’s no good pointing out, as my girlfriend did, that we could hardly hear the radio. We could hardly hear the radio at any speed because the tinny speakers are a really long way forward on the ballroom-size dashboard. Which is the other thing that will make family life in a 5008 a bit stressful. The radio really couldn’t cope with the kind of music young teenagers want to play, so it will no doubt lead to an argument over turning it up even louder.

Other than these two little gripes though, I can’t fault it as a 7-seat family MPV.  It delivers on every level: economy of 48 mpg, 5 star Ncap safety rating and 0-60 of just 10 seconds.

One of the things to love about Peugeot is how quickly they get ex-demonstrators and short-term ex-fleet cars onto the used market. It almost guarantees you high-spec, low mileage cars at great prices.

Within 6 months of the car’s release there were 100 ex-demonstrators on the market and Used Car Expert expects this to be such a big seller that within a couple of years there will be several hundred on the market, which will eventually help bring prices down.

In the meantime, prices are firm, but not a deterrent. A 5008 HDI 150 Sport may be £21,000 new, but you can have one with 5,000 miles for £16,000. Mouth watering isn’t it?

You could buy a Renault Espace, but we wouldn’t. It feels clumsy to drive by comparison. If you only ‘sort of’ need 7 seats then you could buy a Ford S-Max which feels more nimble.

But because it has such an impressive blend of being practical and ‘cool’ it does hold its price staggeringly well, making it £1,000+ more than the Renault in most years. And if you really do need the 7 seats, then you actually need a Galaxy and again we’d rather have the Peugeot.

A brilliantly-made, refined, enormous family car that looks good and drives beautifully.