The new Peugeot 5008 keeps the people carrier alive

Just as night follows day, so a new Peugeot 5008 follows the new 3008, William Shakespeare once famously wrote. Yeah, Top Gear’s home schooling has had mixed reviews during lockdown.

But there’s a sense of inevitability to the car you see here, given a very similar looking 3008 was revealed mere days ago. The 5008 is 20cm longer and two seats better off, mind, and has some slightly different powertrain options.

There are no hybrids for now – better to fill this thing with kids than batteries – and there’s a slightly wider array of diesel options, most notably a more powerful 180bhp tune for hauling your small army around a tad swifter.

Otherwise, you’ve the exact same suite of upgrades as the 3008: a new front end, with refreshed headlights (incorporating a new ‘foggy mode’, stopping 5008 drivers from unwittingly dazzling oncoming traffic with traditional fog lights) and a fancier grille, as well as a heap more tech inside. Highlights include an updated virtual cockpit, smarter phone connectivity and actual night vision. Which should go some way to endowing some cool points upon your otherwise wholly necessary purchase of seven-seat family bus.

Mind, there should be no shame in buying a seven-seat family bus. Peugeot still insists on calling the 5008 an SUV – because that’s what sells – but we'd far rather think of it as a mildly hiked-up people carrier. Because the MPV (remember that acronym?) deserves a stay of execution. You with us?