2022 Peugeot 5008 1.6 Allure AT Review

Peugeot Philippines has an extensive lineup of crossover SUVs in the country. This begins with the 2008, covers the 3008, and ends with the Peugeot 5008. It's the leader of the brand’s lion pride and is technically the flagship for the crossovers. With Peugeot’s recent relaunch in the country, this model got a facelift featuring a more modern and cat-like design. It has a broader face and sleeker LEDs. With these new changes to the 7-seater crossover, the question now is, is the 5008 worth it especially since it now only comes with a 1.6 gasoline engine?

We answer that question and much more as we take a closer look at the Peugeot 5008 1.6 THP Allure AT to see what it has to offer and if you should get it. 

Peugeot has been known to create uniquely styled vehicles, which shows with the 5008. Cat-like design elements can be seen all throughout the exterior of the vehicle. This starts with the front clip which has sleek LED lights, horizontal daytime running lights, whisker-like accents on the front bumper, and a massive grille with a unique pattern that wraps around the nose of the car. It also comes with muscular lines on the hood and throughout the rest of the body. It's almost like when a cat is about to pounce, you can see the body lines of the vehicle emulating this as if it's ready to pounce forward.

Moving on to the sides you get a continuation of the clean and crisp body lines at the front with a belt line that accentuates the fenders of the 5008. You also get body cladding along the lower profile of the vehicle enhancing its muscular look. The Peugeot 5008 also comes with large 18-inch wheels that fit the wheel wells quite nicely producing a great wheel-to-body ratio and proportion.

At the back, the 5008 comes with a boxy rear with a bit of sporty flair thanks to a tailgate integrated spoiler. It also comes with the brand’s iconic lion claw taillights that work well with the overall cat-like design language that Peugeot has with its roster of cars. It also has come body cladding on the bumper with a rear diffuser.

Overall it's a great mix of cat-like design elements on a muscular and otherwise boxy crossover. The bodylines are subtle and clean but speak volumes when you look at the smaller details. The car manages to look big without feeling big a the same time which is a hard look to achieve. It's unique but in a very good way that will help you stand out from the crowd. Subtle but premium is what they were aiming for with the car and we think they pulled it off very well.

The interior of the Peugeot 5008 is similar in design to that of its smaller brother the Peugeot 3008 as both vehicles come with the brand’s i-cockpit design. Where the Lion brand excels compared to its rivals is when it comes to its cabin. It's not necessarily the look of the dashboard but the feel is where they win you over. The materials are soft to the touch yet durable, the multiple textures being used are great and the small things add to a better and more comfortable driving experience. 

The seats are very comfortable and supportive with the aid of power adjustability which makes finding your ideal driving position that much easier. Space in the second row is also good and the seats can be reclined and moved forward to create more room in the back for the 3rd row. The air conditioning is also great and strong and even with a panoramic sunroof that the 5008 has, it can even keep up with the summer heat without any tint. Speaking of the panoramic sunroof, this is a great feature to have especially if you like natural light in the cabin. Lest we forget the Peugeot 5008 also comes with blue mood lighting positioned on the door cards and near the panoramic sunroof. This gives the cabin at night a nice calming blue glow. 

One thing we do have to note is that space in the third row can be a bit tight for average Filipinos. This row is better left to the kids as there is limited room in the back. Thanks to the design of the second row it can be hard to find a place to put your feet despite the second row being able to be moved forward. Another thing to note is that the tonneau cover can also limit space in the 3rd row. While there is a place to put it behind the third row, it eats into cargo space limiting what you can put at the back. When the third row is folded flat, however, there is plenty of room for storage and it can even fit wheelchairs. 

With that said, this brings us to the comfort factor of the Peugeot 5008. It's an overall comfortable ride, the suspension does wonders keeping bumps and potholes at bay making sure that the shocks and springs do all the work without the force being distributed into the body of the vehicle. The seats are supportive even on longer drives. The steering wheel despite being a bit smaller than what we were used to was light and responsive, the steering feel was also great considering that it was an electric power steering system.

The space in the second row is also great and comfortable, especially with the positioning of the blowers that help circulate cold air around the cabin. The third row is a bit tight and the seating position is a bit upright which makes it better for smaller passengers or for kids. It's not really the ideal place to be on long road trips but it is certainly manageable. 

The noise, harshness, and vibrations (NVH) are also great in the Peugeot 5008. It delivers a smooth ride with only a bit of road and tire noise coming in at around 80km/h. The engine noise is well muffled and the way the transmission is programmed helps keep the revs low not only for noise but also for fuel efficiency as well. 

As its main piece of technology, the Peugeot 5008 comes with an 8-inch infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but the tech doesn’t stop there as the vehicle also has a 12.3-inch head-up digital instrument panel that can also be customized according to the driver’s preferences. It also has the brand’s Visopark 180-degree camera system that is paired with ultrasonic sensors on the side of the vehicle. This gives the 5008 an automatic park assist that will help steer the vehicle into a parking slot whether parallel or perpendicular. On top of that, you also get cruise control, advanced driver attention alert, active blind-spot detection, and lane-keeping assistance among other features included in the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) of Peugeot which we will get to in the Safety segment of this review. 

It also comes with cruise control, however, it is not the adaptive kind. As the Peugeot 5008 is a bit different, so are the controls for using this feature. They are positioned behind the steering wheel and require a good memory of what the buttons to in order for you to operate them. Because of their placement, they are hard to look at with a quick glance as the design of the steering wheel blocks your view. You will need to pull over and get familiar with the layout to see what the buttons do. 

Another thing we have to quickly talk about is the power tailgate. While the 5008 does have this feature with its kick/swipe to open and close function, it isn’t what we would call exactly safe. During our testing, we found that a substantial amount of force is needed to stop the tailgate from closing and that it isn’t sensitive to objects. This means that if your arm gets stuck you will have to force the tailgate to stop in order for it to halt its closing function. This also means that if you have kids playing near the back and you activate this feature they could potentially get hurt.

Speaking of Advanced Driver Assitance systems, the Peugeot 5008 comes with six airbags, a tire pressure monitoring system, automatic braking, rear parking sensors, ISOFIX child seat anchor points, along with electronic stability control, hill-start assist, active lane-keeping assist and correction, active blind-spot monitoring, and driver attention warning. It's also one of the safest seven-seaters you can buy today as it was able to score a 5-Star rating during its 2016 EURO NCAP crash testing. 

Powering the Peugeot 5008 is a 1.6-liter turbocharged engine, don’t let its small displacement dissuade you as it is more than enough to rocket the 7-seater vehicle forward as it produces 167hp and 255 Nm of torque mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission. Power comes in a linear fashion with the vehicle always eager to get going. This is great especially when fully loaded as the sense of “torque” or pull is always at the ready when you need it. On the highway, however, it does take a deeper press of the accelerator pedal to get the car going but the 5008 does leap into action fairly quickly when you want it to accelerate.

Peugeot 5008 also comes with remarkably good driving characteristics for a crossover of its size. Peugeot not only has made the vehicle comfortable to be in but also agile which is hard to do especially for a crossover of its size. Maneuvering is a breeze and the car will respond quickly to quick changes of directions when you need it in the event of avoiding a pothole or an accident. 

As previously mentioned, the Peugeot 5008 is powered by a 1.6-liter gasoline engine that produces 167 hp and 245 Nm of torque. Power is sent to the front wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission. While it's not a class leader as its rivals are well above the 160 horsepower mark, it does offer you balanced power. With our testing in bad city traffic, we were able to get 6 km/L when things cleared up a bit we were able to get 8 km/L. On the highway when we stuck to cruising at around 80km/h we were able to 18.1 km/L consistently, however when we started traveling closer to the speed limit, that figure went down to around 16 km/L. 

Overall decent fuel efficiency figures for a 7-seater crossover. If you manage to keep the engine out of boost range when driving then you can expect to get great fuel efficiency numbers, however, once you enter boost even by a little bit when cruising that's when your fuel figures will go down a bit. 

The Peugeot 5008 is priced slightly above the P2.4 million mark which puts it smack in the middle of premium crossover territory. This puts it up against the likes of the Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe, and Mazda CX-8. In a segment that's jam-packed with heavy hitters, the 5008 has a lot to contend with especially with the turbo diesel power that its Korean rivals bring to the table. However, it does set itself apart from the rest with its great and unique styling, premium interior with multiple textures, and gasoline power. They say small things come in big packages and that can be said for the 1.6-liter under the hood. It's balanced as it gives you just the right amount of power and great fuel economy at the same time. With gas prices being more affordable compared to diesel, the turbocharged motor in the 5008 is a more than welcomed powerplant.

Overall, the head of the Peugeot lion’s pride has a lot to contend with thanks to its other rivals, but just as how a lion stands strong, the 5008 does the same in carving a niche in the segment. It's a European car that delivers you Premium at a reasonable price. Its cabin is comfortable and modern technological needs such as plentiful charging ports are met. The reverse camera system is unique as it slowly paints a picture of your surroundings and the sunroof is a great way to bring in natural light into the cabin. all in all the Peugeot 5008 is a great 7-seater crossover that's ideal for a small family as it has what it takes to take on the demands of family life and more.