16 Long Term Test Cars on The Road Racing to The Hill

'You just don't get it, that's all'
Championed by their impassioned owners, the wider CAR jury is more
reserved about the Audi RS5, Hyundai i30N and Peugeot 5008
SUSPECTED MY lo11g-term part11er l1ad a drinking problem,
but a trip away to Wales confirmed it. The i30N glugs
fuel at the best of times, but after a pasting at the hands of the
CAR team it has an estimated eight miles left in the tank to
get back to base. Not ideal when the nearest petrol station is
13 miles away. Nursing it there is an adventure in itself: aircon
off, lift and coast, and Jake Groves following behind in his
Swift as emergency support. When we reach the Shell station in
Betws -y-Coed, the estimated range has been displaying
hyphens instead of numbers for some time and the needle's
wrapped around the bottom of the fuel gauge. But we make it.
Tl1at tl1e N ends the day running on vapours isn't a surprise;
demand for its keys runs high from the get-go. Ben Whitworth
returns particularly impressed: 'Feels
perfectly judged. I like the way the
engine doesn't just dump all its torque
in your lap at 2ooorpm; the mapping
cleverly meters it out, encouraging you
to wring the engine, rather tl1an drive
it like a diesel.' He adds: 'The steering's
weighty and direct, but not exactly fizzing
with feedback. Name me a 25obhpplus
front-drive hatch that is, though.'
If the i30N's so busy we should have
bought a fuel bowser, that's not the case
for Alex Tapley's 5008. A few venture
motorway drive I'd plump for the Pug.
Few are convinced the 5008's exterior
will age well, but hats off to Peugeot's
design studio for the bold interior, a
cabin that looks like it's gone straight
from a motor show concept car to the
street without being diluted. It's not a
paragon of ergonomic good practice,
and it could lear11 a thing or two from
the Audi about fit and finish-the 5008's
dash and door cards don't line up, as if
designed using different units of measbehind
its miniature octagonal steering wheel to drive it while
it's being deployed as a camera car, but few fancy jumping into
the big Peugeot purely for the fun of it. Tapley, who's no slouch,
reckons we're missing out. 'It's your loss,' he tuts, quietly. 'Get
the hang of it and there aren't many cars it can't keep up with.'
Maybe, but even Alex has to admit the Pug's lacking the legs
to bother Ben Miller's Audi, the steroidal, Hulk-green Audi RS5
squatting next to the 5008 at half its height. It's a funny one,
the RS5. In some ways, deeply appealing: wickedly fast, looks
a million dollars (if a tad fussy in detail) and unstoppable in
any weather-but still it leaves people cold. Wales should be the
RS5's natural habitat, and sometimes its adaptive dampers feel
right at home -Ben Oliver in particular reckons it strikes a nice
balance between shrugging off bumps and giving the driver a
THE
STEROIDAL,
HULK-GREEN
AUDI RS5
SQUATS NEXT
TO THE 5008
good connection with what's beneath them -yet at other times
it can feel flummoxed, alternating between washboard-firm
and beachball-bouncy. Titanically fast, though, as Oliver notes,
and he's a fan of the steering too: 'Okay, not a lot of feel, but really
well judged -fast and responsive off-centre, and very accurate.'
And Miller can't stop telling people how brilliant it was on the
lon.g drive over: 'So comfortable, so grippy and so, so fast when
you need to pass slower traffic.'
In contrast with the sometimes fidgety RS5, Peugeot l1as
judged the 5008's ride perfectly - taut and composed on the
M6, with enough pliancy to absorb big bumps subtly. There's
body roll on windier roads, inevitable in a car of this type, but
it handles tidily for a such a big bus. I'm not suggesting it's n1ore
fun than the RS5, but faced with a long
urement, and I swear the facia is higher on one side of the cabin
than the other. But likewise the son1bre RS5 interior could afford
to take a leaf out the 5008's brave design sketchbook-and
its chassis a leaf out of the i30N's driver engage1ne11t playbook.
Whitworth isn't convinced by the RS5 either: 'It feels confused
-not raw and rabid enough to be a real BMW M4 or Alfa
Giulia Quadrifoglio rival, and not special enough to be a wantone
GT. There's no emotional attachment, nothing that has me
mentally storing it in my fantasy garage when I eventually pick
the right lottery numbers.'
I'd far rather go for a good drive in tl1e i30N than the RS5,
but it's the 5008 I find myself warming to most. Practical and
striking, it deserves more attention than it gets. ►
JAMES TAYLOR
Everything that's_
great about
----- ..-. .
the -
5008 '. s design
stayed on the insid e
.,. .....:r
_.Ill'
2018 I THE BEST CARS AS YOUR CHOICES 9