The interior layout of the 5008 hasn’t changed – and so this remains quite a cleverly arranged cabin with a few reservations to observe.
The rear passenger doors open usefully wide, and the second-row seats both slide fore and aft and fold down easily. None of the rearmost five seats offer great outright space for taller adults, though, with headroom particularly limited in the case of cars with Peugeot’s panoramic glass sunroof. Legroom is better – but even so, if you’re likely to carry full-sized passengers in the second row, a Skoda Kodiaq would be roomier, and a Kia Sorento or Hyundai Sante Fe roomier again.
Up front the top-level, extra-adjustable front seats that Peugeot fits to upper-level cars do get massagers as standard; they’re worth having. The richness and perceived quality of the 5008’s cockpit is otherwise impressive; the chrome trims both look and feel high-quality, the switchgear all feels solid, and the car’s various fascia and door mouldings are nicely finished.
The layered dashboard elements entice your glances also. The way it curls around the cockpit and uses a selection of unusual but – outwardly, at least – high-quality materials will have you reaching for a touch when you first climb in. The wide centre tunnel, meanwhile, and the manner in which it separates the front-seat occupants, lends the cockpit a GT-car feel that is unusual, but very welcome in this class.
The 5008’s infotainment system uses a 10.0in touchscreen but also employs separate toggle switches to bring up media, climate control, navigation, vehicle information and phone applications. Along with the rotary dials for volume, this makes it easy to negotiate on the move; although it’s a shame to see so much of the display lost to temperature display, when separate physical HVAC controls would be both easier to use and liberate display real estate for other things.
Latency of the touchscreen is fairly low, with the software — which features Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility — exhibiting only the occasional delay. The voice control function works well for simple commands, such as choosing a radio station, but it was stumped every time we attempted to set a navigation destination.
There’s also Peugeot’s 12.3in screen within the instrument binnacle. It exhibits fluid graphics and, along with the small steering wheel and central touchscreen, makes up the i-Cockpit. However, it’s a shame the 5008 doesn’t get the neat 3D floating graphics that feature on the smaller 208 and 2008 models.
Peugeot’s compact steering wheel stands out, for better or for worse. It’s designed to sit beneath the high-mounted 12.3in digital instrument binnacle, which is itself positioned in a way that shrinks the interval during which the driver has his or her eyes off the road, like a halfway house HUD.
This small, elliptical wheel is comfortable to hold but hard to position just where you want it; and meanwhile, an awkward, remote feeling of steering the car from between your knees, no matter how the column is adjusted, somehow results from using it. Perhaps it works better on the marque’s more compact hatchbacks, with their lower driving positions.
Crucially, the new 5008 retains the versatility that defined the original – that is, all three middle-row seats can be separately folded, and boast adjustable length and inclination. With the third-row seats stowed away, the boot is cavernous, and accessible via a powered tailgate that can be operated by gesture control, swiping your foot under the rear bumper (in our experience, it works about three-times-out-of-five-attempts).
