Peugeot E-5008 review: Is the £49k seven-seater EV the perfect choice for a large family?

By FREDA LEWIS-STEMPEL, MOTORING REPORTER

Updated: 05:32 EDT, 7 October 2024

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This year has been an interesting one for electric cars: January saw the millionth EV hit the road in the UK and a record number of new electric models have launched, all with a backdrop of buyer uncertainty.

And it's safe to say the market still has gaps. One of those is for large family wagons with long range battery performance.

Can the new Peugeot E-5008 fill this gap and offer families a long-distance people carrier that's stylish and practical?

We drove it on the UK launch in the Cotswolds to find out.

Can the new Peugeot E-5008 fill the seven-seater EV market gap and offer families a long-distance people carrier that's stylish and practical?

The seven-seater EV market – what rivals to the E-5008 are out there?

When it comes to electric seven-seaters, it is slim pickings.

Mercedes offers the EQB and the EQS SUV, while Kia has recently brought to market the new EV9, and Volvo's long-awaited EX90 is being delivered to customers as we speak. And that's your lot (unless you count the VW ID.Buzz van as a car, or you want to go full van and enter the Citroen Berlingo territory).

The Mercedes EQB costs £52,800 to £57,860 and the Kia EV9 from £65,025 to £77,025. The EX90 takes a big luxury leap up starting from £96,255 and topping off at £100,555.

The Mercedes EQS SUV is ultra-luxe with a price tag to go with, with the base spec costing £129,470. The highest trim is a whopping £200,860.

The few options available are clearly in the luxury bracket, so a mid-market option is a welcome addition for buyers.

If Peugeot get it right with the E-5008 then the French manufacturer will have added a much needed model to the market.

The Mercedes EQB costs £52,800 to £57,860

The EV9 family SUV aims to compete against Range Rover models and costs from £65,025 to £77,025

The EX90 is a high price tag seven-seater SUV costing from £96,255 and topping off at £100,555

What does it cost?

So, the good news is that the e-5008 is cheaper than any other options on the market. But the bad news is that it's a lot more expensive than people will expect.

The e-5008 starts from £48,550, while the top-end E-5008 GT Electric with a 73kWh battery I drove costs £54,400 (without the extra options it's £52,350).

The HUGE differences in electric car efficiency revealed - which models could cost you almost £850 extra every 10,000 miles?

The prices for the Long Range and Dual Motor versions arriving later this year and the start of 2025 are yet to be released.

The E-5008 is expensive for a Peugeot, especially when the hybrid version starts from £37,735.

Unfortunately, this is quite standard, not just for Peugeot but across the board: EVs come with a premium due to a number of reasons including battery tech, supply and demand and economies of scale.

This is changing - as can be seen by the recent launch of the Dacia Spring, the cheapest new EV in the UK by a long way - but in the case of this model the £10K-plus premium is in-line with the jump between the Peugeot 208 and e-208.

Hopefully though the E-5008 will set the snowball in motion for less expensive seven-seaters to start appearing.

The two USPs: Seven seats and long range

Seven seats

I joined up with a friend on the launch to give the third row seats a proper practicality test.

The seating is modular, which means you can slide the second row forward and tilt the seats to easily hop in behind. Then you can slide the seats back to allow for the amount of legroom you need

Peugeot haven't just shoved a third row in, the designers have come up with smart ways to make the seating highly adjustable, to maximise space and improve accessibility.

The seating is modular, which means you can slide the second row forward and tilt the seats to easily hop in behind. Then you can slide the seats back to allow for the amount of legroom you need.

If you don't want the seats, they fold flat easily for extra boot space.

My friend who's 6'3 had his knees up against the seat in front and was a bit cramped for headroom, but he said he'd be fine for shorter trips, and it was better than a lot of seven-seater situations.

And I had enough room to sit for a full road trip; I'm 5'3 which is realistically the size of a passenger you'd expect in the third row. The Alcantara seats with the leather-effect trim were nicely cushioned and relaxing too, so it was pretty comfy all-round.

The only issues were the lack of storage and the darkness.

There are no charging ports (just a 12V) and no air vents which could make for hot travelling in summer. And the rear privacy glass combined with the very small windows in the back (the windows decrease in size quite noticeably with each row) and lack of panoramic roof in the test car I drove made the back quite a dim place to be.

The second row was nice and spacious and everything you could want if you're ferrying just five around. The seats split 60/40 with 40/20/40 backrests, so you have a lot of flexibility there too.

Boot space with the rear seats up is 348 litres and with the rear seats down is 2,232 litres.

I had enough room to sit for a full road trip; I'm 5'3 which is realistically the size of a passenger you'd expect in the third row.Boot space with the rear seats up is 348 litres and with the rear seats down is 2232 litres

Range

The most impressive factor of the E-5008 is the promised long range: the 415-mile claim has caught plenty of interest.

And rightly so because if Peugeot can deliver that then E-5008 buyers will be able to drive seven people from London to Manchester and back on a single charge.

But we'll have to wait to find out if the claimed range will deliver the promised efficiency because the 230hp Long Range version isn't arriving until the end of the year.

The 230hp 415-mile Long Range version isn't arriving until the end of the year, so we drove the 210 version which has as claimed range of 310 miles

The GT I drove has a claimed range of 310 miles but you're more likely to get about 270 miles out of the 73kWh battery, which is still plenty for most every day running, from school pickup to weekend activities.

Ultra-rapid charging taps out at 160kW, which gives you 20 to 80 per cent charge in 30 minutes – not the fastest on the market but still fast enough for a top up at the service station while you stop for lunch.

Home charging on a 7.4kW wallbox will give you 100 per cent charge in under seven hours.

Interior design – is it nice to sit in? And what's the tech like?

Marmite steering wheel: I found that with the steering wheel set at the right height for driving, the screen perfectly and rather unhelpfully hid the speedometer. While it seems ok for taller drivers the compact wheel might not be a petite person feature

Peugeot said they're going for a high-end lounge vibe, and up front it does feel like this – the execution is on point.

The mix of materials includes aluminum (dash and door alcoves), a textile dash and heated Alcantara seats contribute to the 500kg of green materials used through the new E-5008.

Even the plastics (there are a few hard materials) are recycled - storage bins and carpets (as well as exterior bumpers and deflectors) which gets the sustainability tick - Peugeot are very good at being environmentally conscious when it comes to design.

The eight-colour ambient lighting extends across under the panoramic display, the central console, and across the dashboard and front and rear door panels).

And in the middle of the cockpit, the central feature is the 21-inch panoramic infotainment screen. As a centrepiece for this 'high-end lounge' there's no denying it looks good. Very good.

The i-Cockpit display wraps around the driver, finishing off the Scandi-chic feel with a dose of HD entertainment.

It's not as good to use as it is to look at – it's not on the elite level of BMW intuitiveness – but it's easy enough for the passenger to find their way around, which we'd suggest as infotainment screens are notoriously distracting to drivers.

Peugeot have managed to make an interior that doesn't make you feel like you're being ripped off for the £50k-plus price tag. And the Mercedes EQB doesn't feel a huge jump up.

What's it like to drive?

It's a very nice family drive - it feels light and responsive even though its a very big car

The first divisive part of the driving experience is the small steering wheel; Peugeot's designed it to be compact and sit below the driver's display, so the screen acts almost as a heads-up display.

While the theory is there, in reality the small steering wheel is a marmite feature with some people really hating the size. And personally I found that, with the steering wheel set at the right height for driving, the screen perfectly and rather unhelpfully hid the speedometer. While it seems ok for taller drivers the compact wheel might not be a petite person feature.

As for how the car handles on the road, it's a very nice family drive - it feels light and responsive even though it's a very big car.

The E-5008 doesn't have that instant acceleration people associate with EVs, instead covering 0 to 62mph in a genteel 9.7 seconds and a top speed of 106mph, but it's composed and handles bad quality road surfaces with ease.

I found it dealt with the winding Welsh roads in a confident manner - even if there's some lean in the corners it's controlled.

There is a fair amount of noise at higher speeds though with wind and road noise really picking up on the motorway, which is a bit of a disappointment.

However on the flip side if you're using it in town (an awful lot of drivers do use SUVs in town) then it's actually surprisingly nimble and nifty, and easy to park and the smooth silent EV driving perfectly enhances the lounge-like interior feel.

There are three regenerative braking modes (you can't turn it off fully), and the highest level is almost one-pedal drive which makes long journeys much less effort.

It's not going to get you gasping with thrills but again it holds up quite well against the Mercedes EQB which is more expensive.

Of course you also get more safety assists than one cares to list out, but the main ones including emergency braking, speed limit and traffic sign recognition, lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control.

Pricing and trims

There are three E-5008s to choose from: the 210hp 73kWh, 230hp 98kWh Long Range available from Q4 2024, and the 320hp 73kWh Dual Motor available from Q1 2025.

As mentioned the 210 E-5008 starts from £48,550 for the Allure trim and goes up to £52,350 for the GT trim. Pricing for the other variants is yet to be announced.

Cars and Motoring Verdict:

The Peugeot E-5008 is a great seven-seater package and helps large families who currently have very few options in the electric seven-seater market.

It's stylish inside and out, and is really very practical. The drawbacks are minimal - if this was an exam it would be given an A or A+.

The only real sore point is the price: it's a lot higher than people will expect to pay for a Peugeot. Used to fuel 5008s being under £40k, the considerable mark up might just be inaccessible to a lot of buyers.

That would be a shame because you get a lot for your money and this model will also do a lot for the market - it just remains to be seen if enough people can afford the electric premium to cut their emissions.