Having 4 children can cause problems when it comes to your average 5 seater car. If we want to travel anywhere as a family, we end up having to take 2 cars, or one of us has to get a lift with someone else – because your average ‘family’ car doesn’t cater for those of us with 4 kids.
Even a lot of the larger cars supposedly designed for large families really don’t cut it when you have small children. Many of them don’t have 3 full seats in the back, which means you can’t fit 3 car seats. Those with 7 seats often don’t leave any boot space at all for the luggage you inevitably end up carrying around on a family day out – and if you have a pushchair to fit in too, forget it. Most have no space at all for that.
So when Peugeot offered to send us their 5008 Allure BlueHDi, we were keen to see if it could meet the needs of our young family.
I’ll be totally honest at this point and say that when the delivery driver pulled up, I thought he had brought the wrong car. It was just SO compact, that I couldn’t see how that was going to accommodate us all. It actually looked smaller than the 5 seater Peugeot we already own. But as soon as you get inside, you get a real sense of space. Opening the panoramic glass roof gives the interior a real sense of light, and it’s a really good looking car both inside and out.
The dashboard is really intuitive to use, with buttons to control the air con, sat nav, radio and bluetooth all at your fingertips. This model has an automatic gearbox, which terrified me at first as I have only ever driven a manual car before, but within a few minutes I was a total convert – it’s just so easy! The ride is smooth, and everyone was incredibly comfortable.
The sat nav screen automatically pops up when you start the car – you can have it as a full screen navigation with or without audio or you can choose to have a half screen map with a compass beside it. If you don’t want the sat nav at all, you can select radio, and the screen will show the name of the station and what is playing. When you put the car into reverse, this screen automatically becomes a rear view camera and an outline of the car position – perfect for helping with parking in tight gaps! There are parking sensors too, so you know exactly how far you can safely move in any direction.
In front of the driver, there is also a Head-Up screen. This displays your speed right in front of you, so you don’t even need to look down to see how fast you are travelling. This is a real bonus in speed restricted areas, as it is so easy to keep an eye on your speed and adjust accordingly without taking your eyes off the road for a second.
The driving position is elevated – I feel much more comfortable driving the 5008 than I do my current car, as the visibility is much improved. The large, wrap around windscreen further improves the visibility and means there are no blind spots or areas where I cannot see fully.
The three full seats in the back of the car all have ISOFIX points, which was a real plus point for us – the 2 younger children are currently in ISOFIX seats and we don’t want to replace these.
Even with 2 large car seats on either side, there is plenty of space for a high back booster in the centre seat, and there is enough room behind the front seats to make getting in and out simple. I can climb right in to strap the little ones in and it’s not a tight squeeze. On the third row, there are 2 seats, which are folded down into the boot space. To open these, you simply fold back the flooring and pull the seat strap, and they will pop up and click into place. Again, they are full sized seats, and although there isn’t as much leg room as there is in the middle row of seats there is more than enough for the kids.
The flexibility of this car is what really appeals to me. There are so many seating and boot options depending on what we need on a specific day. For day to day use, we have 6 seats up and one side of the car as boot space – this leaves a huge amount of room for everything we need – pushchair and scooter for collecting the big children from school, plus space for school bags. If one of the children has a friend home from school, we have all 7 seats up, and still manage to squeeze the pushchair in the smaller boot area at the back. There is underfloor storage there too, where we can pop school bags and lunch boxes.
The Peugeot 5008 Allure BlueHDi is the perfect family car in my opinion. It is spacious, light and comfortable. It is a smooth drive, easy to manouevre and packed with features that make life easier, from sat nav and air con to the parking sensors and reverse camera. It boats 3 full sized, ISOFIX compatible seats in the middle row, and 2 further full sized seats at the back. There is ample storage, even when used as a 7 seater, and it just works for us.
In fact, it works so well for us, we have actually gone on to purchase the 5008 after reviewing it. If that doesn’t convince you how much we love it, I don’t know what will.
Looks great. Spacious plus all the gadgets in the front. I haven’t had a Peugeot since pre-kids when I had a Peugeot 306
Yet Another Blogging Mummy!!! recently posted…Bigfoot Trails Pacific Northwest by S A Jeffers
What a great family car! It’s fab that you have so many different boot and seating options x #triedtested
Emma Plus Three recently posted…Days Out | Belton House
I would never have considered this 7 seater before, maybe I am just a creature of habit sticking to a Zafira, but this looks really nice, I would def consider getting on in the future x #triedandtested
Wow it must be amazing if you have brought one! I have always wondered if you have much boot space with all the seats up and I didn’t realise there was storage underneath too. It offers so much to a family, I can see it appealing to lots of families X
Laura – dear bear and beany recently posted…Review: Personalised Mug From Mr Nutcase…Plus a Giveaway!
This sounds fabulous. We currently have a seven seater but there is very little boot space if all the seats are up – the Peugeot 5008 looks like it has a lot more room than our car. Definitely one to consider for when we get our next car. #triedtested
Louise (Little Hearts, Big Love) recently posted…Review – Real Baking Cake Pops kit
I don’t really do cars but this is a beauty! I bet you didn’t want to give it back! #triedandtested
Jenna Parrington recently posted…Starting Nursery – Part 1
Wow! It sounds great. My husband has been concerned about a family car big enough for a possible third child, but this Peugeot looks fabulous. Not even the extra seats in the boot space, just the three seats that are wide enough for 3 car seats in a row is wonderful. I love the sat nav and dashboard too – so swish! x
Steph – Mental Parentals recently posted…Starting Q’s Weaning Journey with Babease – Review
That really does look so brilliant and perfect for you – no wonder you bought one! You must need that space and flexibility so much with a larger family. I think we are sticking at two so we manage with relatively small cars but I would definitely consider this if we had more. So glad you found a car that was so practical for you! #triedtested
Wow! I see lots of discussions online about cars for families with 3+ children… looks like this is a really good option! I’ll be sharing your recommendation! #TriedTested
Looks great. What a great review.
I get frustrated with trying to get 3 car seats along the back too… The boot on this doesnt look huge if you have both seats up but totally fine for 4 kids…we need a bigger car soon just to stop the older 2 fighting in the middle seat and having to squish the 3 of them in. And as you say all the stuff you end up taking ahha
Our Peugeot 5008 Active arrives this Friday – I’m hoping it will last for the next few years with three kids! #TriedTested
Crummy Mummy recently posted…The 10 worst things about being pregnant
Wow you brought it! That dates it all! I think it’s great that it has isofix in all three seats that is really rare as we were also looking for 7 seater so we can take Hubbys parents out with us and failed miserably we are still taking two cars … Thanks for hosting #triedtested
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Sabbir recently posted…Next-Gen Ranger
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