New Peugeot 5008 review

The story of the Peugeot 5008 is rather like that of the ugly duckling. Once upon a time, the popularity of this family-friendly seven-seater was undermined by awkward looks, but then it morphed into something much more desirable – in this case, from an MPV to an SUV.

Now in its third generation, the 5008 is arguably more striking than ever, but it's not just its appearance that’s changed. The conventional petrol and diesel engines it was previously sold with have now been binned in favour of two hybrid options and an electric version that you can read about in our separate Peugeot e-5008 review.

While the e-5008 has few direct rivals, there are a lot of alternatives if you’re considering one of the hybrid 5008s. They include models that are closely related to each other – the Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento – plus the Skoda Kodiaq.

In this review, then, we’ll look at how the Peugeot 5008 compares with those cars in all the key areas – everything from comfort and quality to practicality and costs – to see if it's now the best seven-seater you can buy.

Leaving aside the electric Peugeot e-5008, there are two Peugeot 5008 models: a regular hybrid and a plug-in hybrid (PHEV).

The former combines a turbocharged 1.2-litre petrol engine with an electric motor for a total of 134bhp. Meanwhile, the PHEV has a larger petrol engine (1.6 litres), a higher total output (192bhp) and can travel up to 48 miles purely on electric power (at least officially) instead of only for short bursts.

We’ve tested the regular hybrid and while it's not all that fast (we managed 0-60mph in 10.7 seconds compared with 7.6 seconds in a Nissan X-Trail), it still has enough oomph for everyday driving.

The only thing that tends to let it down is its six-speed automatic gearbox, which is sometimes slow to react when you ask for a burst of power and is too keen to sit in high gears in Normal or Eco mode.

Comfort is impressive at all speeds, with the hybrid 5008 noticeably more forgiving than the e-5008 electric SUV and more controlled than the softer X-Trail. Sure, you’re aware of potholes and manhole covers around town, but the 5008 doesn’t thump or thwack over them in the way the e-5008 can. Plus, at motorway speeds the 5008 strikes a fine balance between suppleness and control.

Another area in which the 5008 has the edge over the e-5008 is brake feel, with the hybrid model offering more consistent responses that make it easier to slow or stop smoothly.

True, it leans more through corners than a Skoda Kodiaq and the light steering is optimised for ease of turning rather than feedback, but the handling is still secure enough for the kind of driving you're likely to do in a seven-seater.

In addition, the 5008 is better at shutting out wind and road noise than the Kodiaq and Kia Sorento, and the 1.2-litre petrol engine stays quiet unless you accelerate hard. As a result, it's a relaxing car to travel long distances in.

“I was surprised just how big a difference there was between the hybrid and electric models, particularly in terms of ride comfort.” – Steve Huntingford, Editor

Like all modern Peugeot car models, the 5008 has a high-set digital driver's display, which you look over the steering wheel to see (rather than through it, as you do in most other cars). While in the Peugeot 208 and Peugeot 308 the arrangement can force shorter drivers to set the wheel uncomfortably low, in the 5008 it works pretty well, no matter what height you are.

That's thanks to the supportive front seats being positioned higher in the 5008 – something that also gives the driver a good forward view. Over-the-shoulder visibility is slightly hampered by wide rear window pillars, but all version get rear parking sensors and a reversing camera to help with manoeuvring (a 360-degree bird’s eye view camera is optional with range-topping GT trim).

No matter which trim you choose, the instrument panel flows directly into an infotainment touchscreen, which can be operated without taking your eyes far from the road, thanks to its position at the top of the dashboard. It’s easy to reach from the driver’s seat and the graphics are crisp.

On the minus side, the various menus and sub-menus are rather convoluted. Plus, you don't get separate buttons or dials for adjusting the climate control settings – it's all done using the touchscreen.

The temperature controls are usually positioned either side of the home screen, but unhelpfully they disappear if you use the standard Android Auto or Apple CarPlay phone-mirroring (which you can do wirelessly).

To compensate, the 5008 has a separate touch panel lower down on the dashboard, where you can set up 10 shortcuts for the functions you use most often, with icons that are large enough to be easy to hit when you're driving.

Quality throughout the interior is a match for the slightly more expensive Hyundai Santa Fe. Soft-touch plastics are widespread, plus parts of the dashboard and doors are trimmed in pleasant fabric. Meanwhile, top-spec GT models get dramatic ambient interior lighting to further add to their upmarket feel.

“I’ve always liked the small steering wheels in Peugeots but the design meant I couldn’t actually see the dials. The 5008’s higher-set instruments fix that issue and make it the best of both worlds.” – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

There’s plenty of space for the driver and passenger in the front of the Peugeot 5008, along with some sizeable cubbies for their stuff. However, while the cubby under the centre armrest is easy to get to from both sides of the car, the separate lidded storage area further forward on the centre console is positioned in such a way that it’s much more easily accessed by the front passenger than the driver.

Move to the second row, and the big difference between this latest 5008 and the previous version is that the three seats are no longer all the same size: the outer two are now bigger than the one between them. That makes life more comfortable for two rear passengers but less comfortable for a third – although if you specify the optional panoramic glass sunroof, six-footers are likely to find head room a little tight no matter which second-row seat they end up in.

Gaining access to the third row is simple enough – pulling levers on top of the second-row seats causes them to tilt and slide forwards, leaving a good-sized gap to climb through. And although there’s hardly any leg room in the third row when the seats in front are all the way back, if the person ahead is prepared to slide forward a bit, it’s possible to sit three adults behind one another. There’s loads more space than you’ll find in the seven-seat Nissan X-Trail. 

There’s also more head room than you get in the third row of that rival, as well as a Land Rover Discovery Sport or Mercedes GLB, but six-footers will still be happier in the back of the Hyundai Santa Fe or Kia Sorento. Plus, it’s worth noting that there are no Isofix child seat mounts in the third row – only the outer two second-row seats have the fittings.

More positively, all versions of the 5008 have seven seats, whereas the Skoda Kodiaq makes do with five if you go for the PHEV version.

With all seven seats in place, the 5008's boot offers 348 litres of storage – which is similar to the capacity of the Santa Fe – but its boot space isn’t all in one open load bay. Instead, some of it is in an underfloor area that’s big enough to accommodate the parcel shelf and the charging cables of the PHEV.

Folding the rearmost seats down is easily done from the boot via some pulleys on the seatback, so you don’t miss the fact that there’s no option to fold them electrically. In five-seat mode, a colossal 916 litres of storage is on offer, while the second-row seats can also be folded pretty much flat, effectively turning the 5008 into a small van.

“I was grateful for the cut-outs in the rooflining, which boost head room in the third row, although I still wouldn’t want to spend hours sitting back there.” – Darren Moss, Deputy Digital Editor

In the regular hybrid form we’ve tried, the Peugeot 5008 is priced in line with seven-seat petrol versions of the Skoda Kodiaq and undercuts the (admittedly larger) Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento.

On our test route, which mimics driving in town, on country roads and on motorways, the hybrid managed 44.7mpg, so it should keep your fuel bills reasonable. However, the 5008 isn’t expected to hold its value against depreciation as well as any of the rivals we've mentioned.

Likewise, the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) 5008 is cheaper than an equivalent Santa Fe or Sorento (the PHEV version of the Kodiaq is more competitively priced, but as mentioned, that has only five seats). It's also the version to go for if you're a company car driver wanting the lowest BIK tax rate – although the all-electric Peugeot e-5008 will be cheaper still tax-wise.

We reckon entry-level Allure trim is all you need. It comes with 19in alloy wheels, keyless entry and start, cruise control, built-in sat-nav, a wireless phone-charger and tri-zone climate control.

The other option is GT trim, which brings larger (20in) wheels, Alcantara upholstery, a heated steering wheel, heated front seats, adaptive matrix LED headlights, adaptive cruise control and a powered tailgate.

No matter which trim you go for, standard safety kit includes lane-keeping assist, traffic-sign recognition and an automatic emergency braking (AEB) system that can detect pedestrians and cyclists even at night.

Peugeot finished in the bottom half of the 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey table (19th out of 31 manufacturers). Meanwhile, its three-year/60,000-mile warranty falls well short of the five-year/unlimited mileage package offered by Hyundai and Kia’s seven-year/100,000-mile warranty.

The latest 5008 was too new to be included in our reliability survey but the previous-generation 5008 finished towards the bottom of the nine cars in the seven-seater class.

“Even though the main warranty is nothing special, I do find it reassuring that Peugeot covers the drive battery for eight years in both the regular hybrid and the PHEV.” – Claire Evans, Consumer Editor

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