Peugeot Expert Tepee Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Peugeot Expert Tepee range
Prices: £18,457-£22,557 – on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 7E
Emissions: 191-198g/km
Performance: [120 HDi L1] 0-60mph 13.5s/ Max speed 99mph
Fuel Consumption: [90 HDi L1] (urban) 33.6mpg / (extra urban) 42.8mpg / (combined) 39.2mpg
Safety: Driver’s airbag, ABS, EBA
Dimensions: [L1] length/width/heightmm 4805/1986/1980

LOITERING WITHIN TENT

Our Rating: 7.0 / 10

Named after a tent and based on a van, unfettered luxury might not be on the agenda in Peugeot’s Expert Tepee but it fills the role that families and businesses need it to. Steve Walker reports…

Peugeot’s Expert Tepee might be a van with extra seats but could its robust practicality be preferable for some families over the niceties of a purpose-built MPV? If your family life feels more like hard graft than domestic bliss, this converted commercial vehicle has all the attributes to ease the burden.

Letting on that its latest large MPV is based on a commercial vehicle was once a sure fire way for any manufacturer to hole the product below the water line before anyone had even ventured aboard. The perception being that vans were second class citizens in the automotive world and no amount of seats or windows was going to turn one into a passable family runabout. Such views were not without merit but modern vans, of which Peugeot’s Expert is one, have progressed beyond the iron maiden ergonomics and Ozzy Osbourne refinement that characterised their forbears. Peugeot certainly deems the Tepee worthy of a place alongside its passenger-carrying models.

Citroen’s offers a pair of its HDi diesel engines with the Expert Tepee and both are well-suited to the role. The 1.6-litre 90bhp offering has its work cut out on paper but 180Nm of torque helps and owners will be rewarded for their patience as it plods up steep inclines with low running costs. The more expensive 120bhp 2.0-litre unit has 300Nm to play with and is the one buyers planning on venturing beyond the school run and the supermarket should try and stretch to.

Space is all important for any MPV but the bigger these vehicles get, the more important it is for them not to feel bulky to drive. The Expert Tepee manages this feat well with a surprisingly, low and car-like driving position that gradually massages away the realisation that you’re at the wheel of a five-metre long minibus. The Tepee uses independent suspension at the front but the rear retains the torsion beam that the van version needs to carry its weightier loads. The result is a ride that’s on the firm side and can be jarring on poor surfaces. It’s acceptably smooth on good roads, however, and gives a good degree of composure in corners that, once again, belies the vehicle’s prodigious size.

A product of the Expert Tepee’s low driving position, large dashboard and comparatively long front overhang is that it can be difficult to gauge where the nose of the car actually is when parking or squeezing into small gaps in traffic. The steering is on the light side but this is a welcome quality when running the gauntlet of the town centre at rush hour and isn’t too off-putting on the open road.

Sharply angled windscreen and beefy frontal treatment notwithstanding, the Expert Tepee isn’t what you could term pretty but then, how many large MPVs are? Who really cares anyway, when the Tepee’s boxy shape yields an interior of supreme spaciousness - especially if you opt for the long wheelbase model. Every one of the seats is a proper adult-sized affair and can be folded down or removed completely, so it’s perfectly possible to undo Peugeot’s best efforts and turn the Tepee back into an Expert van again. The seats don’t swivel or fold flat to the floor in the manner of those in some big people carriers but the raw space of the Tepee means it lacks little in terms of versatility. The long wheelbase model’s ability to carry nine people and over 1,200 litres of luggage really is an eye-opener for those with super-sized families or companies that had been resigned to running