The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)

Effortless cruiser eats up the miles with style

If you’re going on a long road trip, it’s good to have a comfortabl­e cruiser. Something that can effortless­ly swallow the miles at motorway speed and then be equally satisfied tootling along the country roads when you venture off the beaten track.

After just such an excursion of more than 1,300 miles south to Yorkshire and then on to Hampshire, to call on children and their offspring near Doncaster and on the Channel coast, I reckon I had exactly the right car for the job.

When I took my first look at the Peugeot 5008, I had to struggle to see beyond the Sunset Copper – or dirty brown – paintjob.

It grew on me as my week with it continued, I’ll admit, but it wouldn’t have been my first choice and there are more attractive options from the Peugeot palette.

But, as they say, you don’t have to look at the colour of a car when you’re on the inside, and the splendidly designed cabin more than made up for any misgivings about the exterior.

Having spent a long time with the car on my grand tour, I was sad to see it go.

It was a delight to drive, with ample power, a remarkably comfortabl­e interior with lumbar support on the half leathereff­ect Alcantara seats and superbly economical with only three fuelling top-up stops for the 53-litre petrol tank over the whole trip – and there was still more than 100 miles of range left at the end.

That was down to the powertrain setup, a 136hp 1.2-litre petrol self-charging hybrid which used electric power whenever that was all that was needed when starting off or driving around town.

Often the only clue that the petrol engine had kicked in was the rise in the vertical rev counter or movement from “charge” to “eco” to “power” on the driver’s 12.3-inch display.

There’s also the option of a plug-in hybrid and a 1.5-litre diesel, each with a silky smooth automatic six-speed gearbox, and an all-electric version with a possible range of up to 347 miles.

I didn’t need them all, but it’s also incredibly practical with seven seats.

With the third row folded down, the boot is big enough for loads of luggage, although it leaves a sizeable gap at the forward edge of the cargo floor – a trap into which any small items can disappear.

The boot is wide and square without any intrusive wheel arches, while the low opening makes it easy to lift in heavy items and the height is handy for tall objects.

Carrying capacity is very flexible. The front passenger seat folds flat, so if you need to carry a long load you’ve got the whole length of the car available.

The middle-row seats fold down in three sections, rather than the more common 60-40 split, to offer a good range of load options.

The interior space is

superb, especially in the front.

But even in the back, a full-sized adult and two tall teenagers had no difficulty spreading out, helped by the absence of a raised transmissi­on tunnel in the middle of the floor.

Visibility all round is first-class, and reversing is easy with the vertical rear end and 360-degree parking camera.

The weather was kind, but the large hands-free electric tailgate would be a perfect cover in the event of a downpour.

Riding on 18-inch diamond-cut alloys, the suspension and chassis setup dealt with a wide variety of some questionab­le road surfaces to absorb any serious thumps or grinds.

On the motorway, it settled into its stride with very little road or wind noise and it sat happily for hours on end at the national speed limit, when the notorious south-ofEngland traffic allowed.

The interior is well designed and clearly laid out with a row of buttons, including for the heated seats, lined up below the 10-inch touchscree­n, which contains most of the other functions.

Unfortunat­ely that included most of the climate control, which meant you had to scroll through the menu to turn up the heat or increase ventilatio­n.

The touchscree­n worked well, although sometimes seemed slow to react, leading to some wrong calls for the entertainm­ent through the Focal Premium 10-speaker sound system – a £590 option – and some fiddling for the Android Auto and satnav.

While I love Peugeot’s signature tiny flatbottom­ed steering wheel, the left-hand spoke completely covers the adaptive cruise control buttons when going in a straight line, and it’s hardly satisfacto­ry to have to flick the wheel at speed to see the controls to set it.

I suppose any owner would get used to the cruise control button layout and could set it blind, but it would be much easier if it was on the wheel itself alongside the other functions.

Gear changes are made through a small and simple rocker switch on the central console, but I would have liked a brake-hold function, which is now a pretty common feature on most electric parking brakes.

The 5008 comes with all the safety features you’d expect and you can disarm many of the most irritating of them, but it does involve going through the touchscree­n menu.

I really liked the car for its performanc­e, economy, comfort and flexibilit­y, and at just over £40,000 it’s competitiv­ely priced against some of the alternativ­es.

It seems almost petty to mention, but I had just one other complaint – an irritating rattle which seemed to come from one of the rear window blinds, whether it was up or down, and was stubbornly difficult to stop.