Billy Tompson: On the road: Peugeot Partner Tepee Outdoor HDi 112

Sunday, April 24, 2011

On the road: Peugeot Partner Tepee Outdoor HDi 112

Forget the names, it's the sliding doors that do it for Sam Wollaston

This one has too many names. What do you drive? Yeah, a Peugeot Partner Tepee Outdoor as it happens. Hey, nice wheels. That's ridiculous, isn't it? The Partner part I can understand ? it suggests reliability. Tepee, though: a conical tent made by Native Americans, sometimes out of animal skins ? where are they going with that? Will someone bring out a rival, the Hyundai Yurt perhaps? And Outdoor: aren't all cars outdoor? Apart from the ones without windscreen wipers and sprayed with water-based paint? Oh, I see, Outdoor just means the suspension is raised a bit, and it has bigger wheels, presumably for tackling the prairie of the Great Plains.

Perhaps all the names are because it doesn't know what it is. Part people carrier, part SUV (without the S part), part van. A lot van actually ? you know, it's one of those vans with windows, which you can easily turn back into a van by removing the seats, like the Citro�n Berlingo Multispace, almost exactly the same, in fact. I've always liked them, for their practicality, their utilitarian charm, and the way they bring out the inner van driver in a man. There's a cheerfulness about them. Plus they have sliding doors.

Sliding doors are brilliant from a practical point of view ? they make loading (children, furniture, bags of sand) easier in confined spaces and are less hazardous for passing cyclists and their collarbones. But the real joy of sliding doors is in setting off with them open, then touching the brake, very gently, so the doors catch up with the vehicle and slide slowly shut. There's an art to getting it right ? applying enough brake to dislodge the doors from their open position, but then immediately releasing so they don't shut with a massive bang. Best practised without children in the back. That's what I mean about your inner van driver; all men have it, somewhere.

Fun aside, this is an incredibly practical vehicle, with endless possibilities for altering its car-to-van ratio and useful cubbyholes all over the place. Because I've got a high-spec Outdoor model, it has all sorts of things like air conditioning and cruise control that are a little incongruous to what it is ? (a bit) like putting scatter cushions in the garden shed. It also makes it too expensive for what it is. Get a more basic one, that knows what it is, that's my advice.

There is one feature I really like on the Outdoor and that's the "internal roof rack". Basically it means a couple of lateral rails under the ceiling above which you can store stuff ? plywood, perhaps, or your surfboard. Or if you were a Sioux Native American, you could put your gun up there. "How."

Peugeot Partner Tepee Outdoor HDi 112

Price �16,495
Top speed 108mph
Acceleration 0-62mph in 12 seconds
Average fuel consumption 53.2mpg
CO2 emissions 139g/km
Eco rating 7/10
At the wheel Sitting Bull