RAY MASSEY: Peugeot's 5008 seven-seater SUV
Preparing to drive Peugeot's new 5008 family-friendly seven-seater SUV is a bit like getting ready for an aeroplane flight.
How much can you get away with packing? Will you be able to keep it in the cabin, or must you book it into the hold?
Well, this new French vehicle is flexible when it comes to room, and will happily accommodate surfboards, fishing tackle and all manner of sporting kit and luggage.
Indeed, if you're really pushed for load lugging space, the two third-row seats, just 11kg each, lift out and can be carried away like hand luggage. This boosts boot space from 720 litres to 1,060 litres.
Space master: The Peugeot 5008 can seat seven or take a 1,000-litre load
The remaining seats, apart from the driver's, also fold down. All three in the centre row can be adjusted individually, reducing the irritation of being 'piggy in the middle'.
More important, it drives well, looks stylish and feels fairly upmarket with a commanding driving position and a smart dashboard with lots of high-tech and driver assistance features — from automatic emergency braking to 360-degree parking cameras.
The range starts at £24,495 and there is a choice of four petrol and six diesel versions and four trim levels.
Value: The 5008 range starts at £24,495 and there is a choice of four petrol and six diesel versions and four trim levels
Load lugger: Taking the third row of seats out increases the boot space from 720 litres to 1,060 litres
Though styled much more like an SUV, this second-generation 5008 (the first was launched in 2009) still has some of the mini-bus driving style of a multi-purpose vehicle or MPV.
I drove what's predicted to be the biggest seller, the Allure PureTech with a 1.2 litre petrol engine with automatic six-speed gearbox.
It travels from rest to 62 mph in a stately 10.4 seconds with a top speed of 117 mph and has a base price tag of £27,695. It's a practical, easy-to-drive car for young families and couples.
The Allure PureTech with a 1.2 litre petrol engine and automatic six-speed gearbox travels from rest to 62 mph in a stately 10.4 seconds with a top speed of 117 mph
The 5008 is flexible when it comes to room, and will happily accommodate surfboards, fishing tackle and all manner of sporting kit and luggage
It won't blow your socks off, but at 54.3 mpg you might be able to afford to buy a few more pairs. Its nearest rivals are Skoda's Kodiaq and the Nissan X-Trail, and UK deliveries begin from January.
Analysis of more than 400 million MoT records from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, by consumer website Honest John.co.uk, shows that one in six cars fails its first test, with brakes, lighting and tyres among the most-common reasons. Critics of the government’s decision to extend the date of the first test from three to four years think this will increase even further.
FACT BOX TITLE Cheers: Ray gets a brief taste of the high life , sipping bubbly in the back of a chauffeur driven roller Whisper it, but I spent part of this week driving, and being driven in, the world’s quietest car: the new flagship Rolls-Royce Phantom. If you’re super-rich — or a big lottery winner — it could be just the limo for you. It’s also the most technologically advanced car Rolls-Royce has ever built. While it’s a delightful and easy drive, I also experienced the luxury lifestyle being chauffeur-driven in the back. With the champagne chilling on ice, you can even view works of art behind the glass screen on the dashboard, and enjoy the twinkling starlight headliner in the roof from scores of pinpricks of light. This vast, 2.6 ton beast, priced from £350,000, can move, too — 0-62mph in 5.4 seconds thanks to the powerful all-new 6.75 litre twin-turbo V12. Orders are being taken now, with delivery in January.
Seventy years of Italian supercar-maker Ferrari are celebrated in a major exhibition by the Design Museum in London from next month.
Created in collaboration with the car-maker, Ferrari: Under the Skin celebrates in its anniversary year, seven decades of precision design, from the launch of the first Ferrari car in 1947 to the latest production cars.
The exhibition opens on November 15, 2017, and runs to April 15, 2018. Details at: designmuseum.org.