What a brill place to play hunt the thimble! There are more cubbyholes, endless hidey holes, hidden compartments and pockets on the new Peugeot 5008 Compact MPV than Chancellor Darling has places to stash away the draconian taxes he levers from our hard-earned cash.

On test from the David Hayton empire of garages round Cumbria, the Pug came from the Gilwilly showroom thanks to Philip Hayton, and was so new not even he had tested it, so I was a virgin driver, if you know what I mean!

Of necessity any MPV has to be a box on wheels in order to stuff all those people in but as my photograph shows, the 5008 is devoid of boxiness thanks to its rounded snout, it eye-liner chrome embellishments below the window line, 16” alloy wheels, modest sculpting and the neat crease running through the door handles.

From all angles, the 5008 is an attractive vehicle and more of a medium-sized saloon than a tarted-up van which most MPVs tend to be; her-in-doors also passed on her female approbation, providing rare harmony in the Brunskill household.

Accommodating a genuine 7 passengers as long as those in the rear two seats, which neatly fold flat when not needed, are occupied by the family’s small kind. To be honest, as with all seven-seaters, it is rare for all seven to be used except by couples who have the strange belief the world is under populated. That, or the football and rugger fanatics of Great Salkeld who squash themselves into a village Discovery or the Chrysler Voyager with only the driver being alcohol free while the other six ease their discomfort by drinking his or her share!

The packaging is good and materials felt quality - all of which appeared sturdy and well screwed together. Containing all the usual paraphernalia buyers want these days such as a powerful audio/entertainment centre with compatibility for MP3, a huge sat nav and such like, the 5008 is a very practical and well appointed vehicle.

Sitting high in the driver’s captain’s chair, the driver faces a binnacle with its two main and two small dials and sweeps round and down which separates him or her from the front passenger, who also has a captain’s chair.

The stubby, 6-speed gearstick sprouts from the console and falls easily to hand to joyfully set the sweet 2.0-litre engine spinning to give up its huge torquey grunt.

The superb Peugeot oil burner produces 150bhp at 2,750rpm and beefy 340Km torque at 2,000rpm to allow 120+mph max and a 10 second 0 - 62mph dash.

However, it feels faster and the bald figures do not reveal the real benefits of this powerful unit because the mid-range punch is awesome, making overtaking easy peasey and very safe – I loved it!

With the UK’s whopping and unfair duty on fuel, the biggest of any European country, Peugeot have tried hard to reduce consumption , so the 5008, despite its size and load carrying capacity, will eke out a smidgen off 50mpg. Again, to give a hug to Mother Earth, emissions have also been reduced so only 151g/km splutter out of the exhaust.

Continuing Peugeot’s long reputation for building a great chassis, the 5008 is no exception as it handles like a dream with no perceptible roll on corners or roundabouts and its road holding over my Eden Valley test route of A and B roads was exceptional.

Sitting as if in a Boeing 737 cockpit with that neat console’s knobs, logical switches and dials, and confronted by a very clear speed and rev counter, the 5008’s ‘office’ inspires confidence helped by huggy seats, panoramic windscreen and precise steering.

Turn the key and up flips the sat nav and info screen which has useful supplementary information such as an in-built altimeter and as I found out Bassenthwaite Lake is about 350 feet above sea level!

A la posh, the rear seat passengers have picnic trays and in the top Exclusive model (the test car was mid-range Sport) the kids in the back can be silenced by the built-in TV screens and headphones.

All the five rear seats can be folded flat to convert the 5008 to van with a huge 2,104 litres of space, or even a convenient bed if the urge took you -but I have to warn you that there are no curtains!

What is neat, is with one of the rear seats laid flat and one from the middle row or a myriad of other combinations, it gives useful space and still maintains seats for bodies.

Hitting the M6 for the motorway test the 5008 hunkered down to a very quiet and relaxing cruise which would make a family trip to the South of France a luxury one: the space, the muted engine burble and tyre road swoosh, and with the kids (if we had any) cocooned in headphone silence would be a delight.

Add in the chance to give it its head on the continent would mean I could get to the Journi de la Reserve restaurant overlooking the Bay of Angles and Cap de Nice in double quick time for my favourite French meal and several glasses of pression beer!

The Peugeot 5008 is a great package with prices starting at £17,395 OTR for the Active model but rising with more bling should you want to impress the Jones up to around £20k+ for the Exclusive, but to ease the pocket Philip is offering zero per cent over three years finance.

For the sheer fun and joy of the gutsy engine, the clever use of space and thoughtful ergonomic design, were the Brunskills thinking of breeding then the 5008 would be high on my list of MPVs.