Peugeot 5008 long-term test

• The car Peugeot 5008 Puretech 130 Allure
• Run by Jim Holder, editorial director
• Why it’s here To discover if real life can find any holes in the armoury of our favourite seven-seat SUV
• Needs to Make family life easy with a touch of flair and deliver low running costs across the board

Price £28,780 Price as tested £29,885 Miles covered 5232 Official fuel economy 54.3mpg Test economy 32.1mpg Options Metallic paint (£525), Black Diamond roof (£280), 19in alloy wheels (£300)

7 November – When simple is best

You might wonder at the sanity of a man who recommends a feature of a car operated by nothing more than two pieces of fabric, but bear with me, because the 5008’s rearmost seat folding system really is as ingenious as it is simple.

To erect the sixth and seventh seats from the Peugeot 5008 boot, all you need do is fold back the boot cover (an operation that could be done with one finger, if you chose to be melodramatic about it) and yank on the black piece of aforementioned fabric. It requires a firm tug, but nothing more, and then up pop the seats. All that’s left to do is raise the headrest.

Putting the seats back again is every bit as simple, with a shove of the head rest and another tug of a fabric cord - this time a red one, located lower down the chair base - the seats collapse back down into their storage position and can be covered again.

Simple is usually best, and I can think of no greater demonstration of this mantra than this.

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