Final Report
I have now bid farewell to my Expert Crew Van, having come to depend upon it for a variety of assignments during the period of more than half a year it spent on the What Van? fleet.
The beauty of a double-cab van is its versatility – its ability to transport both people and loads by combining car-like seating provision with a decent cargo space and payload capacity. If you want a vehicle to specialise in just one or other of these requirements, though, you’re better off with a minibus or combi-van on the one hand, or a standard, single-cab van on the other.
I found the Expert really came into its own ferrying a family of five (it actually has space for six at a push although the gear lever makes it a tad uncomfortable for the piggy-in-the-middle in the front row) along with paraphernalia such as suitcases, bikes and bags of shopping.
It proved to be ideal, for example, for a weekend break at the seaside, when the ‘sand’ mode on the traction control system also ensured that negotiating gritty and heavily potholed tracks was a doddle.
A plus point as a people-carrier is that the rear seats can be accessed by sliding doors on both near and off sides, which is not always a given on crew vans that are based on standard panel vans. A previous long-termer of mine, the otherwise excellent Ford Transit Custom Double-Cab-in-Van, for example, only came with a door on the near side for rear seat passengers.
Overall, the Expert delivers an impressively comfortable ride because of its passenger car heritage – it is built on PSA’s EMP2 platform that also hosts the Peugeot Traveller and Citroen Spacetourer.
My Expert’s final assignment, however, and the one that proved toughest for both van and man, was as a load-lugging workhorse during an arduous and protracted house move.
The standard-size Crew Van has a load volume of 3.2m3, which compares to the 5.8m3 of the single-cab panel van, but I was frequently surprised by just how much stuff I could squeeze into the square load box.
This varied from bulky but relatively lightweight items, such as kitchen chairs and bags of clothes, to far heavier boxes crammed full of books and an extensive vinyl record collection. I am confident, though, that while my own carrying capacity may have been breached, the Expert’s 1,342kg payload was not and a step up from the ground of just 540mm onto the load floor does take some of the strain out of the lifting.
The cargo bay’s full protective lining was a welcome feature during these journeys, especially on the last trip, which involved transporting a broken up double-bed to its final resting place at a south-east London recycling centre.
Reassuringly for the driver and passengers, the cabin is protected from items coming astray in the load area by a full-height glazed bulkhead. Unless you want to look at what you’ve put in the back, however, the glazed aspect of the bulkhead is redundant because the rear doors are solid, which also renders the rear-view mirror superfluous to requirements. This occasionally made me wish the wing mirrors incorporated a wide-view section to eliminate blind spots and meant I was more reliant on the reversing sensor.
While you may need to make the £3,120, excluding VAT, step up to Professional Plus trim to get all the safety and driver’s assistance kit available in the range, Professional spec offers a decent level of kit, including aircon, rear parking sensors, electrically adjustable heated door mirrors, cruise control with a variable speed limiter, front electric windows with a one-touch operation and a full-size spare wheel.
The steering wheel is adjustable for height, rake and reach and the driver’s seat tilts, goes up and down and backwards and forwards too – all of which make the Crew Van comfortable and easy to drive.
Expert Crew Van Professional STD BlueHDi 120
Mileage 3,473
Official combined consumption 50.4mpg
Our average consumption 38.1mpg
Price (ex VAT) £25,215
Price range (ex VAT) £19,090–£31,435
Warranty 3yrs/100,000mls
Service intervals 25,000mls
Load length 2,017mm
Load width (min/max) 1,258/1,618mm
Load bay height 1,337mm
Gross payload 1,342kg
Load volume 3.2m3
Gearbox 6-spd manual
Engine size/power 1,997cc/120hp
CO2 147g/km
End-of-term report
Equipment 4/5
Peugeot has adorned the Crew Van with a generous helping of kit.
Style and design 4/5
The Expert is a handsome van that, apart from a couple of quirks, successfully combines style with functionality.
Driver visibility 2/5
The side mirrors could be better and you have to step up to Professional Plus trim to get the most useful driver assist features.
Practicality and versatility 4/5
The Peugeot Expert Crew Van can accommodate six people and lug a decent amount of kit too.
Cabin equipment 3/5
Decent enough but not outstanding compared to the competition.
Payload and load-carrying capacity 4/5
A generous payload and well-protected 3.2m3 load bay make the Crew Van an effective workhorse.
OVERALL SCORE 70%
Click below to see previous report
5th Report
It’s a mark of how quickly vehicle interior design moves on that the cabin of our Expert, which initially appealed for being sturdy, no-nonsense and functional with lots of storage provision, now comes across as a little dowdy and lacking the panache of the new Ford Transit Custom or the understated class of the latest special additions to the VW Transporter range.
That’s not to say it’s without creature comforts – it has DAB radio for a start, for which I’m always grateful as it allows me to tune into 6 Music, which is not available on FM.
Surprisingly, DAB is not yet always offered on new vans, particularly entry-level versions.
Reception can be inconsistent, however, and there are occasions when radio silence descends before sound resumes after a few seconds.
The steering wheel and driver’s seat are both height- and reach-adjustable and the seat features lumbar adjustment and an inboard armrest to improve comfort.
Cupholders sit either end of the top of the dash – this means you won’t inadvertently spill coffee over your hand when changing gear or operating the handbrake – but they are not the easiest to reach.
Lift up the passenger seats and you’ll find enough discreet stowage space to conceal tools, workboots or a laptop.
The satnav can be relied upon to find destinations and identify heavy traffic on route but insists you initially feed-in city and street names rather than postcodes.
It has also remained tightlipped. I popped into a dealership to ask how to activate the voiced directions and was told it was a job for a technician.
Spending a lot of time in urban traffic, something I do like is the display indicating for how many minutes stop/start has cut the engine during a journey.
Expert Crew Van Professional STD BlueHDi 120
Mileage 3,376
Official combined consumption 50.4mpg
Our average consumption 37.6mpg
Price (ex VAT) £25,215
Price range (ex VAT) £19,090–£31,435
Warranty 3yrs/100,000mls
Service intervals 25,000mls
Load length 2,017mm
Load width (min/max) 1,258/1,618mm
Load bay height 1,337mm
Gross payload 1,342kg
Load volume 3.2m3
Gearbox 6-spd manual
Engine size/power 1,997cc/120hp
CO2 147g/km
Report Card: Cabin equipment
Decent enough but not outstanding when compared to the competition.
Score: 3/5
Click below to see previous report
4th Report
If your budget doesn’t stretch to investing in a big-booted Scandinavian estate car to serve as the family runaround, or, more likely, if you need a dual-purpose vehicle for load-lugging work during the week and domestic or leisure use at weekends, but you don’t see yourself in an aggressively styled, in-yer-face pick-up truck, then a more understated mid-sized double-cab van could be right up your street.
I have certainly found my Expert Crew Van to be the ideal fit for a short-break getaway with the family.
On a recent jaunt to the Kent coast my Expert comfortably accommodated our brood of three adults, two teenagers and a dog, and the 3.2m3 load bay happily swallowed everything we could throw into it.
To my surprise this included two bicycles, which I discovered fitted snugly across the 1,618mm maximum width of the load area shortly after I had confidently predicted we would not be able to bring them due to not having an external bike rack fitted. Consequently, Dungeness has now hosted pedal as well as nuclear power.
We made full use of the Expert’s six seats on the journey to the coast due to the kids’ insistence that the dog should travel in the cab with us – where he made himself comfortable in a rear berth.
This meant I had two passengers with me (the driver) in the front seats. This is not ideal for the occupant of the middle seat due to having to arrange their legs to the side of the gear stick. It is, however, far less intrusive than in some vans that claim to offer space upfront for three. Probably only the Ford Transit Custom provides more space for the central passenger, and there were no complaints on a drive that lasted about one and a half hours.
Overall, the Expert delivers an impressively comfortable ride because of its passenger car heritage – it is built on PSA’s EMP2 platform that also hosts the Peugeot Traveller and Citroen Spacetourer.
We visited Camber Sands on our short holiday and although I didn’t attempt to drive along the beach itself, the rough and ready parking areas are not much different, being pockmarked with puddles and covered in shingle and sand, so it was reassuring to be able to select ‘sand’ mode on the enhanced traction dial to the right of the steering wheel.
It also offers settings for ‘mud’ and ‘snow’ and could provide another reason for the Expert Crew Van to appeal to customers who need to undertake some gentle off-roading but don’t fancy a pick-up truck.
Our long-term Peugeot Expert’s traction control features a sand mode
Expert Crew Van Professional STD BlueHDi 120
Mileage 3,261
Official combined consumption 50.4mpg
Our average consumption 37.3mpg
Price (ex VAT) £25,215
Price range (ex VAT) £19,090–£31,435
Warranty 3yrs/100,000mls
Service intervals 25,000mls
Load length 2,017mm
Load width (min/max) 1,258/1,618mm
Load bay height 1,337mm
Gross payload 1,342kg
Load volume 3.2m3
Gearbox 6-spd manual
Engine size/power 1,997cc/120hp
CO2 147g/km
Report Card: Practicality and versatility
The Peugeot Expert Crew van can accommodate six people in comfort and lug a decent amount of kit too.
Score: 4/5
Click below to see previous report
3rd Report
When driving a panel van with the potential to lug weighty loads, such as our Expert Crew Van, which has a generous payload of 1,342kg, it’s reassuring to know a full bulkhead is in place at the back of the cabin to protect the occupants from anything that may come loose in the load bay and hurtle forward into the seating section.
With a full solid bulkhead, however, you have to rely on your wing mirrors to see what’s going on behind the van.
While the side-plate sized mirrors on my Professional trim model are adequate for most situations there are blind spots, and it would be reassuring if the mirrors contained a wide-view section. Irritatingly, the redundant rear-view mirror inside the cabin has not been removed.
It makes you realise how useful the Renault Trafic’s Wide View Mirror is as a safety aid. Set in the passenger side sun visor it gives the driver a better view to the rear.
My Expert does have a reversing sensor with a visual image to accompany it on the dashboard, but it’s rudimentary and can be slow to wake up when reverse is selected.
Stepping up from Professional to Professional Plus trim costs £3,120 (all prices exclude VAT) and brings with it Park Assist 180, consisting of front and rear parking sensors with blind spot monitoring and a rear-view camera.
Unfortunately, the package is not listed as an option for Professional-spec vans while the Safety Pack, which includes lane departure warning along with speed limit recognition, intelligent speed adaptation and driver attention alert, is only available as an option, for £400, on Professional Plus vans.
Expert Crew Van Professional STD BlueHDi 120
Mileage 1,905
Official combined consumption 50.4mpg
Our average consumption 36.0mpg
Price (ex VAT) £25,215
Price range (ex VAT) £19,090–£31,435
Warranty 3yrs/100,000mls
Service intervals 25,000mls
Load length 2,017mm
Load width (min/max) 1,258/1,618mm
Load bay height 1,337mm
Gross payload 1,342kg
Load volume 3.2m3
Gearbox 6-spd manual
Engine size/power 1,997cc/120hp
CO2 147g/km
Report Card: Driver visibility
The side mirrors could be better and you have to step up to Professional Plus trim to get the most useful driver assist features.
Score: 2/5
Click below to see previous report
2nd Report
While the Expert, Citroen Dispatch and Toyota Proace are the same under the skin the Peugeot has the most aggressive front end and, in my opinion, it’s hard to beat for looks.
The Dispatch’s soft, friendly face has an undoubted charm but I’m taken with the more assertive look of the Expert, with its prominent and aggressive grille in which the Peugeot lion comes to the fore in a new three-dimensional arrangement.
From the inside it’s hard to tell the PSA models apart.
What does take some getting used to is the big, chunky, rectangular gear knob that initially feels outlandish compared to most others you come across. But get used to it you do and I now like the robust impression it conveys and, more importantly, the fact that it connects well with the slick six-speed manual gearbox.
Also odd is the big, thick steering wheel, which is squared off at the bottom. I was disconcerted at first to notice it sits slightly off-centre to the driving position; rather than facing it straight on it is positioned to the driver’s left.
Perhaps more disconcerting still, however, is how quickly I began to feel this arrangement to be perfectly natural, helped, no doubt, by the Expert’s first-rate handling.
A couple of other eccentricities though, are more irritating. It is, of course, helpful to be kept informed of changing speed restrictions but why such a startlingly loud alert?
More annoying still is the double dong that lets you know, in case you hadn’t already noticed, that you are approaching a red light. Then there’s the pedestrian warning that kicks in on the same spot of London’s South Circular road every day whether anyone’s around on foot or not.
Expert Crew Van Professional STD BlueHDi 120
Mileage 1,801
Official combined consumption 50.4mpg
Our average consumption 36.0mpg
Price (ex VAT) £25,215
Price range (ex VAT) £19,090–£31,435
Warranty 3yrs/100,000mls
Service intervals 25,000mls
Load length 2,017mm
Load width (min/max) 1,258/1,618mm
Load bay height 1,337mm
Gross payload 1,342kg
Load volume 3.2m3
Gearbox 6-spd manual
Engine size/power 1,997cc/120hp
CO2 147g/km
Report Card: Style and design
The Expert is a handsome van that, apart from a couple of quirks, successfully combines style with functionality.
Score: 4/5
Click below to see previous report
First Report
This latest addition to the What Van? fleet can ferry the family and lug a load, as James Dallas starts to find out…
PSA Peugeot-Citroen needed to up its game in the medium van sector to give accomplished rivals such as the Ford Transit Custom, VW Transporter, Renault Trafic, Vauxhall Vivaro and Mercedes-Benz Vito a run for their money, and with the launch of the new Peugeot Expert and Citroen Dispatch in 2016 it succeeded in doing so.
Built at PSA’s plant in Sevelnord, France, the two vans are identical under the skin and the production line also hosts Toyota’s Proace-badged version of the model.
Having driven several iterations of the panel van we were keen to find out how the Expert shapes up as a crew van over a longer period.
Seating up to six, the Expert Crew Van is available in one roof height of 1.90m and two lengths, 4.95m or 5.30m. Unlike the standard panel van it is not offered in Compact (4.60m) guise.
The new addition to our long-term fleet is the Standard BlueHDi (medium-wheelbase) 2.0-litre 120hp Crew Van in Professional trim.
Although not as versatile as a Combi, which can carry from two to nine people depending on how you configure the seats, this double-cab will appeal to customers who need to ferry family members or a team of workers, as well as requiring a regular load-lugging capability, so it’s reassuring to find the cab is protected from the cargo box by a sturdy, full-sized bulkhead – something you don’t get in the more minibus-like Combi.
The van offers a generous payload of 1,342kg and a reasonably practical 3.2m3 load space. By way of comparison, Ford’s Transit Custom Double-Cab-in-Van L1H1 provides a payload of just 890kg combined with a slightly more spacious load box of 3.5m3. Vauxhall’s L1H1 Vivaro Crew Van has a 989kg payload and a load space in line with the Expert at 3.2m3.
In all its guises the Expert impresses when it comes to fuel economy. Our Crew van boasts official stats of 50.4mpg on the combined cycle with CO2 emissions of 147g/km. These figures leave the competition trailing in its wake.
For the aforementioned Custom DCiV, Ford cites combined mpg of 44.8 alongside CO2 of 163g/km while the Vivaro Crew Van delivers an official 43.4mpg with CO2 of 170g/km.
It should be noted, however, that a revised Custom will arrive later this year and that the Vivaro, like the Renault Trafic it is based upon, is now one of the oldest models in the sector. Ironically, the next Vivaro could feasibly, like the Toyota Proace, be a rebadged version of the Expert and its Citroen Dispatch sibling following PSA’s acquisition of Opel/Vauxhall.
Peugeot offers the Expert Crew Van in Professional and Professional Plus trim levels and I do not feel too hard done by to have the lower of these specifications.
A generous level of standard kit includes aircon, rear parking sensors (the minimum requirement for urban assignments in my opinion), electrically-adjustable heated door mirrors, cruise control with a variable speed limiter, front electric windows with a one-touch operation and, unusually these days, a full-size spare wheel.
Auto lights and windscreen wipers are par for the course on modern vans but it’s good to see the rear seats can be accessed via sliding doors on both sides of the vehicle, which is not always a given.
Both the cargo area and cab get 12V sockets, and infotainment is served by a seven-inch touchscreen on the dash, with DAB, Bluetooth, USB, audio jack and MirrorLink for pairing mobiles for hands-free use also included in the package.
The steering wheel is adjustable for height, rake and reach and the driver’s seat tilts, goes up and down and backwards and forwards too.
There is a £3,120 (all prices exclude VAT) step up to the equivalent Professional Plus Crew Van, which costs £28,335, and for this you get body-colour bumpers, door mirrors, handles and side-rubbing strips, LED daytime running lights, alloy wheels and metallic paint. Park Assist 180 with front and rear parking sensors, a rear parking camera and electrically folding door mirrors are also added, as is Peugeot’s Connect 3D satnav system, which our van has as a £500 option along with Grip Control enhanced traction for £660.
Expert Crew Van Professional STD BlueHDi 120
Mileage 889
Official combined consumption 50.4mpg
Our average consumption 34.9mpg
Price (ex VAT) £25,215
Price range (ex VAT) £19,090–£31,435
Warranty 3yrs/100,000mls
Service intervals 25,000mls
Load length 2,017mm
Load width (min/max) 1,258/1,618mm
Load bay height 1,337mm
Gross payload 1,342kg
Load volume 3.2m3
Gearbox 6-spd manual
Engine size/power 1,997cc/120hp
CO2 147g/km
Report Card: Equipment
Peugeot has adorned the Crew Van with a generous helping of kit
Score: 4/5
