Peugeot 5008 SUV
“The Peugeot 5008 is a distinctive seven-seater SUV with a striking interior and a comfortable driving experience”
Pros
- Comfortable and easy to drive
- Fantastic interior design
- Seven seat capability
Cons
- Rear seats tight
- Steering feels slightly strange
- Headroom limited with sunroof
Few carmakers can afford to ignore the call of the SUV, so when Peugeot’s designers sat down to design the seven-seat Peugeot 5008, they clearly chose to abandon its predecessor’s MPV styling in favour of a chunkier, higher-riding design. They did the same with the 5008’s smaller relation, the Peugeot 3008, with great success.
The Peugeot 5008 is pitched at the Skoda Kodiaq and recently refreshed Nissan X-Trail. Being a seven-seater, it could also be regarded as a rival to the Renault Grand Scenic, Vauxhall Zafira Tourer or Citroen Grand C4 Picasso. Given how stylish it is, even the more expensive Land Rover Discovery Sport could have been on the radar of its designers too.
Best seven-seater cars you can buy today
Power for the 5008 comes in the form of two petrol engines, both turbocharged – a 129bhp 1.2-litre and a 179bhp 1.6-litre – and a range of diesels. Of these, the 1.5-litre BlueHDi engine with 128bhp is the most economical. A 2.0-litre diesel engine with 175bhp – completes the diesel line-up. The most powerful petrol and diesel engines are only available with automatic gearboxes.
The 129bhp 1.5-litre diesel returns up to 57.3mpg and emits from 139g/km of CO2. This last figure has a bearing on first-year road tax but from the second year, all petrol and diesel cars will set you back £150 a year regardless.
Don't expect any great diving thrills behind the wheel of the 5008. It’s a comfortable car first and foremost that flatters all but the worst roads thanks to its supple and absorbent suspension. On the downside, it rolls a little heavily in corners and the steering doesn't tell you much about what’s happening with the front wheels. Peugeot’s small steering wheel concept just doesn’t work that well in a car of this size and the Skoda Kodiaq feels sharper to drive.
Just like the 3008, the 5008 has a striking-looking dashboard featuring Peugeot’s i-Cockpit instrument display as standard, which is really impressive. It’s just a pity the infotainment screen isn’t quite as slick as rivals’ systems.
Rear-seat space is more of a mixed bag. Go for the panoramic sunroof and six-footers sitting in the second row will find headroom tight, while the third-row seats are easy to access, but best reserved for kids. The same can be said of many 5008 rivals, but an MPV like the Renault Grand Scenic is a better bet if you plan on using seats six and seven regularly.
There’s no official word on safety yet, but standard autonomous emergency braking should help the 5008 do well when it’s assessed by Euro NCAP, and the mechanically similar 3008 scored five out of five when it was crash-tested. Peugeot performed well in our 2020 Driver Power customer satisfaction survey, coming eighth out of 30 carmakers.
