You want a car that can fit all the family plus a few extra friends. You want a vehicle that looks good. You want a vehicle from a well-known marque that has a good record for safety and fuel economy. In short, you want the new Peugeot 5008.

The Peugeot 5008 is the latest from the French manufacturer to hit Australia’s shores with a serious competitor for the MPV slice of the market. Yes, the Peugeot 5008 looks pretty darn good but what the Peugeot 5008 is really all about is space, space, space and then some more space. It’s a seven-seater that thinks about everybody’s comfort and safety, from the driver to the person sitting in the very back seats.

Style-wise, the Peugeot 5008 is going to be one of the best-looking people carriers parked outside the school gates (or being fitted up as a mobile coffee vendor’s vehicle, just to give you an idea of the potential for the Peugeot 5008). A lot of MPVs, especially the first few that we were introduced to, had a slight resemblance to an overinflated whale. Not the Peugeot 5008. It’s got class, and it looks “finished” with a lot more integrity in the styling than some types of MPV which look like the designers have taken one of the smaller hatches and inflated it. This looks like it’s been designed as a unit from scratch – something that’s immediately apparent from the side silhouette. But the side silhouette of the Peugeot 5008 isn’t just about good looks – it also has been designed for minimum drag. The Peugeot 5008 is proud to have the best aerodynamics of all cars in its class – which improves its performance and its fuel economy.

And just in case you thought that you might feel cramped in the interior of the Peugeot 5008, that will be taken care of with the panoramic sunroof. This will ensure that even when this car is loaded to capacity, you’ll never feel claustrophobic.
The Peugeot 5008 isn’t just about seating space, although it’s got plenty of that. There has been quite a bit of thought put into the interior cabin storage as well. This means that if you are loading up the whole posse and hitting the trail, there’s room for all the gear as well.

Two engines are possible for the Peugeot 5008. As you can imagine, given Peugeot’s fine history of good diesel engines, there is a diesel variant available: the 2.0 HDi, which manages to be more powerful and more torquey than its 1.6 turbo petrol sibling, but more frugal at the same time. Don’t believe it? According to the official Peugeot 5008 website, the 2.0 HDi manages a combined fuel economy figure of 6.3 L/100 km, while the power and torque peak at 120 kW (3750 rpm) and 340 Nm (2000 rpm). The 1.6-litre petrol’s power peaks at 115 kW (6000 rpm) and the torque at 240 Nm (1400 rpm), while the combined fuel economy is 7.6 L/100 km.

Larger cars can be a bit lumbering on winding roads, but the sturdy suspension in the Peugeot 5008 will help to take care of that, along with the ESP’s ability to detect the faintest hint of a sideways skid or oversteer. ABS brakes with EBD and Emergency Brake Assist also do their thing. Seatbelt indicators tell you exactly who in the seven seats hasn’t made it click. And if the worst happens, the Peugeot 5008 has front, side and curtain airbags, and the curtain airbags go all the way back to the very back row of seats.

The Peugeot 5008 has a good range of technological features that may well have been chosen by a design team with a brief to think about what a family might need in a car on a long trip. So convenience, safety and comfort are the key. To take one example, you ‘ve got the electronic handbrake. The electronic handbrake switches itself off when you start the car up and puts itself on when you stop – no more risk of some child poking around and taking a manual handbrake off by accident when the Peugeot 5008 is parked on a slope (it happens – this writer did that very thing as a child and it was pretty frightening for me and my parents). This works in tandem with the Hill Assist function, which simplifies the process of stopping and starting on a slope.

The display panel for the sat-nav, audio system and handsfree Bluetooth phone connectivity is mounted on the dash rather than in it, reminiscent of a head-up display in an aircraft. This minimises the potential for driver distraction – a really important consideration when you’ve got vulnerable little people on board. The rear passengers can also have a rear video screen that sits in the back of the driver and front passenger seats that interacts with games consoles and a DVD player and (mercifully for parent sanity) comes with two sets of wireless headphones to keep the noise levels down. But for those who want more traditional forms of amusement, the front seats have a pull-down tray in the back that can be used to hold books, board games, snacks and activity pads. The rear view camera, however, is mounted in the rear vision mirror itself, meaning that you only have to look in one place to stay safe when reversing. The second and third row of seats have pull-down sunshields – a bit of a must during the Aussie summer.

Other convenience features of the Peugeot 5008 include:

• cruise control
• power steering
• speed-related volume controls on the six-speaker audio system
• dual zone climate control
• air conditioned central console (great for chocolate bars and drinks)
• three 12-volt power points
• follow-me-home function on the automatic headlights
• rain-sensing window wipers
• rechargeable and removable torch in the boot (now, why did nobody else think of this before?)

The current Peugeot 5008 models series include the:

• Peugeot 5008 1.6 turbo
• Peugeot 5008 2.0 HDi

For any more information on the Peugeot 5008, or for that matter any other new car, contact one of our friendly consultants on 1300 303 181. If you’d like some fleet discount pricing (yes even for private buyers!), we can submit vehicle quotes requests out to our national network of Peugeot dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours. Private Fleet – car buying made easy!

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