Peugeot e-5008 review

Fully electric cars that can seat seven people are as rare as black rhinos and trains that arrive on time. Which presents the new Peugeot e-5008 with a big opportunity to steal a march on other brands.

You see, while there are now electric SUVs in virtually every manufacturer’s car model line-up, very few have seven seats. So the e-5008's rivals are either significantly more expensive – the Kia EV9 and Volvo EX90 for example – or can't go very far on a charge (see the Vauxhall Vivaro Life Electric and other electric van-based MPVs).

The e-5008, though, is available in a variety of battery options, including a version with an impressive official range of up to 410 miles.

While it's based on the Peugeot e-3008, it's bigger and comes with seven seats as standard in every trim. You can also buy regular hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions (to read about those see our Peugeot 5008 review).

Of course, being a seven-seater isn’t enough alone to make the Peugeot e-5008 a recommendable car. It also needs to offer the impressive comfort, versatility and value of the best electric SUVs. Does it? Read on to find out...

The Peugeot e-5008 will be available in three versions. The line-up starts with the Electric 210 Single Motor, which produces 211bhp and covers 0-62mph in 9.7 seconds. Acceleration is more leisurely than lots of electric SUVs, although it’s still punchy enough for everyday driving.

Above that there’s the Electric 230, which gets a bigger battery. We don’t know exact performance figures yet but it should be similar to the entry-level model.

There's also the Electric 320 Dual Motor AWD, which gets two electric motors (making it four-wheel drive) and produces a lot more power (318bhp). Again, we're waiting for official specifications to be released.

The official range on offer from all versions is good. While the 311 miles from the entry-level version is a little less than a similarly priced Skoda Enyaq (which has five seats), the 410 miles from the Electric 230 e-5008 is excellent by electric car standards and beats the significantly more expensive Kia EV9.

Just bear in mind that, as with all electric cars, those official figures will be virtually impossible to achieve in real-world driving conditions.

Numbers aside, what’s the e-5008 like to drive? Well, the ride isn’t as forgiving as a petrol Peugeot 5008, meaning it’s on the firm side at low speeds. Passing over speed bumps or manhole covers sends loud thwacks through the interior. Meanwhile, hitting larger bumps on a country road will result in a gentle bobbing motion before the car settles down again.

At least when you’re at higher speeds – on a motorway for example – the ride settles down, feeling planted and stable. It’s also reasonably quiet inside, with wind and road noise kept to a minimum. You’ll have to look at much pricier electric seven-seat SUVs for a calmer and more hushed experience.

Slowing down smoothly can take some getting used to because there’s a bit of travel in the brake pedal before anything happens and the brakes can feel a bit grabby initially when they do bite.

The e-5008 has three different modes of regenerative braking available to help harvest some energy back when you lift off the accelerator pedal – but even the strongest setting doesn’t bring the car to a complete stop.

Will you want to throw out your six passengers and take the e-5008 for a blast down a twisty B-road? Well, if you do you’ll probably be left pretty cold.

Its light steering makes driving this big car around town a piece of cake, but at faster speeds there’s a lot of body lean around corners and you have precious little connection to what the front wheels are doing. Still, this is a practical family SUV with handling fit for the school run and long motorway cruises.

“The entry-level Electric 210 isn't the quickest but I like that it builds up speed gradually and smoothly, which helps journeys feel more relaxing.” – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

The e-5008 offers a sound driving position which is virtually identical to sitting in a Peugeot e-3008. That means you have a tiny steering wheel that you look over (rather than through) to see the driver's display. 

There are supportive, high-up front seats and a great view forwards (helped at night by adaptive headlights on the top GT trim). Rear visibility is slightly limited by the wide rear pillars, but all versions get rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera as standard. GT trim also comes with front parking sensors, while a 360-degree view camera is optional on both trim levels.

Every version of the e-5008 gets a curved 21in LED panel across the top of the dashboard, combining the driver's display – which is digital – with an infotainment touchscreen. The display is high enough that it should be clearly visible over the steering wheel, unlike in some Peugeot car models.

Likewise, the touchscreen is easy to glance at while you’re driving, and is comfortably within reach from the driver’s seat, so you don’t have to take your eyes off the road for too long when you interact with it.

However, while the graphics are crisp and clear the system isn’t perfect. For example, the menus and submenus are convoluted.

Plus, the air-con settings are controlled using the touchscreen, rather than proper buttons or dials. The temperature controls are usually positioned either side of the home screen but annoyingly they're not visible if you're mirroring your smartphone on the screen using the wireless Android Auto or Apple CarPlay (which is a standard feature).

The e-5008 does get Peugeot's i-Toggle feature, which gives you a separate touch panel on the dashboard below the infotainment screen, where you can set up shortcuts for functions you use a lot. The icons are large and easy to hit on the move – although physical buttons would be more precise.

The raised centre console means the few physical controls fitted there (such as the drive mode selector and volume dial for the stereo) are within close reach.

The e-5008's interior quality is impressive and is a match for the much more expensive Kia EV9. There’s lots of soft-touch plastic and pleasant fabric on the dashboard and doors. Top-spec GT models get snazzy ambient interior lighting to liven things up.

“This newer version of i-Cockpit is much better in the e-5008 than in older Peugeots. It’s much easier to set the steering wheel in a comfortable position without obscuring the driver's display.” – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

There’s a huge amount of space for two occupants up front in the Peugeot e-5008. Storage space is plentiful too, with a big cubby hole under the central armrest and decent-sized door bins. There’s also a pair of cupholders on the centre console and another separate lidded storage spot further up that’s more accessible from the front passenger side.

The second row of three seats offers decent space for passengers. Leg and head room is fine for tall adults (although if you opt for a sunroof, head room is much tighter than models without one), and the flat floor helps maximise leg and foot space when all three seats are occupied.

The seats can slide forwards, and the angle of the backrests can be adjusted between seven positions. Each seat tilts independently, but if you slide the seats forwards you can only do so in a 60/40-split (one outer rear seat can slide on its own, but the middle seat and the other outer seat slide together).

There are Isofix child seat mounts on the outer two seats (the previous Peugeot 5008 had mounting points on all three seats).

Behind those three seats, you get a third row of two seats. And access to them is very simple, thankfully: you don’t have to be a gymnast or tiny to squeeze yourself into the back.

The rear doors don’t open as wide as 90 degrees, they are long and offer a big opening to clamber through once you’ve pulled a lever on top of the middle row backrest to tilt and slide the rear seats forwards. It’s not heavy or awkward to operate at all.

Once you’re in the third row, with the middle row slid all the way back there’s hardly any leg room at all, but the person in front of you has enough leg room to find a compromise, so it’s possible to sit an adult behind another adult.

Head room is quite tight at the very back, though, and ultimately the extra seats are best suited to children (although they don't have Isofix mounts).

For comparison, the e-5008 is more generous for third-row space than the Mercedes EQB but the Kia EV9 is roomier. Unlike with the EV9, there’s no option to have a six-seat layout in the e-5008.

With all seven seats in use, the e-5008 has 348 litres of storage space, which is similar to the EV9's boot capacity. However, the e-5008's storage is split between the boot area and drawer-like storage under the rear-most seats.

There’s space to store the parcel shelf under the boot floor, which can be propped up vertically to help you access the underfloor storage.

Folding the rear-most seats down is easily done from the boot with some pulleys on the seatbacks (there's no electric folding option). In five-seat mode, the e-5008 has a vast 916 litres of storage – even more than the EV9 (800).

It’s a shame there’s no storage under the bonnet, but that’s pretty much the only negative when it comes to boot space.

“At around 5ft 11in, I get a comfortable amount of leg room in the third row of the e-5008 if you slide the middle row seats forward by a few notches. The top of my head is pressed up against the roof lining but it's fine for a short trip.” – Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor

With a list price starting at around £50,000, the entry-level Peugeot e-5008 undercuts the Mercedes EQB electric seven-seater by thousands of pounds and is significantly cheaper than the Kia EV9. 

The pricing is also competitive compared with five-seat electric SUVs including the Kia EV6 and higher-spec versions of the Skoda Enyaq.

The e-5008 can accept a maximum charging rate of 160kW, so a suitably rapid public charger should give a top-up of 20% to 80% in around 30 minutes. The EV9 has a faster charging speed of 210kW but there's aren't that many fast chargers to take advantage of it.

The e-5008 can AC charge at 11kW as standard, and a 22kW on-board charger can be added as an optional extra. A vehicle-to-load function is available, which lets you power, say, a laptop or kettle from the car's battery using an adaptor.

The entry-level Allure trim includes keyless entry and start, 19in alloy wheels, three-zone climate control, rear privacy glass.

GT trim gets you 20in alloys, heated seats, adaptive cruise control, pixel LED headlights with high-beam assist, an electric tailgate, a heated steering wheel, and Alcantara upholstery.

We’d stick with Allure trim, but at least the list price of GT trim is less than 10% more if you fancy the extra kit. A heat pump is optional on both trim levels.

As a brand, Peugeot finished 19th out of 31 car makers in the 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey. That's above Mercedes and Nissan but below Kia and Skoda. The e-5008 is too new to have specific reliability data available for it yet.

Peugeot gives you a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty, which can be extended to up to eight years if you service your car at an approved centre. The drive battery is covered separately for eight years/100,000 miles.

Euro NCAP has not yet done safety testing on the e-5008 (or the new Peugeot 5008) but we can tell you that as standard it's fitted with automatic emergency braking (AEB), lane-keeping assistance, traffic-sign recognition and driver attention monitoring.

"I’d be tempted by the Advanced Grip Control option that adds drive modes for sand, snow and mud to maximise traction. It could be handy in the winter when I need to tackle ungritted country roads." – Neil Winn, Deputy Reviews Editor

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