Peugeot e-5008 review

Fully electric cars that can seat seven people are as rare as black rhinos, the Philippine dwarf kingfisher 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 all manner of electric SUVs can be found in virtually every manufacturer’s product line-up, for now the only fully electric seven-seat company this new Peugeot has is either significantly more expensive (see the Kia EV9 and Mercedes EQB) or significantly more compromised (see short-range electric van-based MPVs like the Vauxhall Vivaro Life Electric).

The e-5008 is based very closely on the Peugeot e-3008 but is bigger (and indeed bigger than the previous Peugeot 5008), offering seven seats as standard and a variety of battery options with a range of up to an impressive 410 miles. Hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions will follow.

But being a seven-seater isn’t enough to make the Peugeot e-5008 a recommendable car. It has to offer the impressive comfort, versatility and value of the very best electric SUVs too. 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 offers a 73kWh battery and official 311-mile range and covers 0-62mph in 9.7 seconds.

Above that there’s the Electric 230, which gets a bigger 98kWh battery and an enormous (by electric car standards) 410-mile official range. We don’t know exact performance figures yet but it will be quicker than the entry-level model.

There's also the Electric 320 Dual Motor AWD, which gets two electric motors (making it four-wheel drive), the 73kWh battery and a 311-mile range from the entry-level model, but a lot more power. Again, we're waiting for official specifications to be released.

So far, we’ve only driven the entry-level Electric 210. It delivers its power smoothly but covering 0-62mph in 9.7 seconds means acceleration is more leisurely than lots of electric SUVs. It’s still punchy enough for everyday driving though. If pace is important to you, the other electric e-5008s will be quicker.

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 beats many electric SUVs that cost thousands more, including the Kia EV9 seven-seater.

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 drive? Well, the ride is on the firm side at low speeds. Passing over speed bumps or manhole covers sends loud thwacks through the interior and a brusque shudder up through the seat.

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.

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 use the brake pedal less at low speeds – but even the strongest setting doesn’t bring the car to a complete stop without using the brake pedal (one-pedal driving).

Will you want to throw out your six passengers and take the e-5008 for a blast down your favourite twisty B-road?

Well, if you do, you’ll probably be left pretty cold. 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 and the handling on the school run and long motorway cruises is certainly fit for the job.

Hybrid and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) versions of the Peugeot 5008 will follow.

The e-5008 offers a sound driving position which is virtually identical to the Peugeot e-3008. That means you have a high-set instrument panel which you look over a tiny steering wheel to see (rather than through it, as you do in most cars). 

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 a reversing camera and there’s a 360-degree bird's eye view camera on GT models.

Every version of the e-5008 will get a curved 21.0in LED panel across the top of the dashboard which combines a digital driver's display with an infotainment screen. It's high enough to make sure the driver’s view of the instrument panel is unlikely to be blocked by the steering wheel (unlike in some Peugeot car models).

Likewise, the infotainment 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.

There also aren’t any physical buttons or dials to adjust the air-conditioning settings – you have to do that all through the touchscreen. While the temperature controls are usually positioned either side of the home screen, annoyingly they disappear if you’re using Android Auto or Apple CarPlay phone-mirroring (which you can do wirelessly).

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

There’s plenty of storage space up front in the Peugeot e-5008. You’ll find a big cubby hole under the central arm rest, as well as a separate lidded storage spot further up on the centre console and decent sized door bins.

In the back the e-5008 has decent space for adults. Leg and head room is fine for tall adults (although if you opt for a sunroof head room for adults is much tighter than models without one), and the flat floor helps sitting three people in the back.

The middle row seats can slide forwards, and the angle of the backrests can be adjusted between seven positions. While each of the three middle-row seats can adjust the angle of their backrest independently, 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 other outer seat are connected and slide together).

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

Plenty of electric SUVs offer decent space in the back for adults – but the e-5008 really stands out from its rivals because it’s a very rare fully electric seven-seater.

So how is access to that third row of two seats? Very simple, thankfully, and you don’t have to be a gymnast or tiny to squeeze yourself into the back.

While 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 seatback 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 if you reach a compromise with the person in front of you, it’s possible to sit two adults behind one another.

Head room is quite tight if you’re tall though. Adults can still fit in back there but ultimately these extra seats are best suited to children (although they don't have Isofix mounts). 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 place, the e-5008's boot offers 348 litres of storage – which is similar to the vast EV9. That boot space isn’t offered all in one open load bay.

Instead, you have an efficient underfloor storage set-up with a kind of draw under the third-row seats that’s a perfect spot to keep the charging cables. There’s also space to store the parcel shelf under the boot floor. Helpfully, the boot floor 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 – but there’s no luxury of pressing a button to electrically fold them down. In five-seat mode, a colossal 916 litres of storage is on offer, making it enormous even against the EV9, which offers 800 litres).

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.

Pricing has yet to be officially announced but the expected starting of the Peugeot e-5008 should undercut the Kia EV9 and Mercedes EQB by thousands of pounds. 

The pricing is also likely to be reasonably competitive compared to five-seat electric SUVs including the Kia EV6 and 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. That charging speed doesn’t stand out as incredibly fast, like the 210kW accepted by the EV9, but it’s still reasonable enough – especially considering the relative lack of extremely fast chargers.

The e-5008 can AC charge at 11kW as standard, but 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 a kettle from the car's battery via an adaptor.

The entry-level Allure trim includes keyless entry and start, 19in alloy wheels and a reversing camera. There's a 21in infotainment screen but not much else in the way of luxuries. If you want heated seats, for example, you’ll need to up your budget, which is a shame.

The only other e-5008 trim is GT, which includes 20in alloys, pixel LED headlights with high-beam assist, an electric tailgate, heated front seats and heated steering wheel, and Alcantara upholstery. We don’t yet know the difference in price to say whether this top trim is worth it or not.

Peugeot came 21st out of 32 car brands featured in the 2023 What Car? Reliability Survey which was below Hyundai and Kia but ahead of Volkswagen. The new e-5008 is too new to have any specific reliability data available yet.

You do get an eight-year warranty, which is fantastic. However, you have to get your e-5008 serviced every two years at an approved Peugeot garage. Still, having eight years of manufacturer cover available is fantastic, and significantly better than the standard three-year cover available with the Enyaq.

The new Peugeot 5008 hasn’t been tested by the safety experts at Euro NCAP but comes with automatic emergency braking (AEB), lane-keeping assistance and traffic-sign recognition – the full suite of standard and optional safety equipment has yet to be confirmed.

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