5008 another winner for Peugeot

Jan 25 2010 Steve Hughes

NO sooner did Peugeot's stylish new 5008 take to the roads than it was declared What Car? MPV of the Year 2010 - a hugely important accolade.

Although closely related to the existing Citroen C3 Picasso there are enough significant differences to make it a genuine alternative in more ways than simple badge engineering.

Although badged as the 5008, it has seven seats just as the 3008 model has five.

Whilst some rivals such as Audi are more logical in their naming - the Q5 has five seats and the Q7 has seven - Peugeot says that the use of the figure `5' to indicate its seven-seat newcomer harks back to its glory days.

The 505 estate car was one of the most popular seven-seat vehicles in its day, albeit several decades ago now.

The new 5008 is striving to achieve new heights of versatility in a bid to eclipse highly-acclaimed rivals such as the Vauxhall Zafira with its clever seats that fold flat into the floor.

The Peugeot adopts a similar system in order to create a huge cargo platform that can be extended even further by folding the front passenger seat too.

All three seats in the second row are identical and can be reclined and moved forwards and backwards. They can also be folded individually into the floor to form a flat surface that is aligned with the rear loading sill.

With the front passenger seat also folded down the total load length is 2.76 metres and one of the advantages of the Peugeot is that the rearmost pair of individual seats are of full size.

In addition to its class-leading carrying capacity of up to 2,500 litres there are unusually large door pockets to supplement the space provided by the glove box, the storage area under the steering wheel and the cooled centre console with a capacity of 10.5 litres. Second row passengers get storage areas in the floor as well as the rear door pockets and there are other storage spaces throughout.

The driver has a raised seating position for a more commanding view through the unusually large windscreen, which is enhanced by a panoramic glass roof.

The only complaint here is the amount of reflection into the driver's eyes from the deep dashboard.

For those who want the overall size of a compact people-carrier but not necessarily seven seats there will be a five-seat option with a further 60 litres of load space beneath the floor into which the rearmost seats would normally fold.

Passengers in the middle row can have a multi-media system with screens integrated into the backs of the front seats and individual video sources for each.

Another high-tech feature is the head-up display in front of the driver to show information including the vehicle's speed and distance from the vehicle ahead.

Safety is high on the agenda with head and curtain air bags for all three rows of seats, electronic stability control, tyre deflation warning and automatic electric parking brake with hill assist.

Initially there is a choice of two 1.6-litre petrol engines and two diesel units of 1.6 and 2.0 litres, with a choice of power outputs and transmissions for the latter.

The 1.6 HDi 110 Active model weighs in at £18,795 and boasts a top speed of 115mph, acceleration to 60mph in 12.9 seconds, economy of 53mpg and a CO2 figure of 142g/km.

Not only does the 5008 look exceptionally stylish in a classically-elegant way, it drives supremely well with noticeably less body roll than its rivals.

Practicality and safety are high on the agenda and for gadget-lovers the list of equipment is virtually endless, which in the case of Active version includes air conditioning, stability control and half a dozen air bags.

A worthy winner of the What Car? award, the 5008 becomes the new leader of the seven-seat MPV class.