Peugeot Expert

It’s a fact that few people buy commercial vans in Australia, with the 2.5-3.5-tonne commercial segment representing just 2.8 per cent of the national light-vehicle market over the first six months of the calendar year. Fewer people still look to the French for their commercial vehicle needs, with Peugeot’s Expert van making up just 1.2 per cent of the segment.

Despite its niche status, the 2022 Peugeot Expert brings style, polish and some generous features to the utilitarian segment.

It also nails its workhorse brief with ingenious packaging for a day on the job, along with all of the load-lugging ability you would expect of a big panel van like this.

Pricing and features

The Peugeot Expert comes in two wheelbase configurations: a ‘Short’ van that measures 4.95 metres in length, and a ‘Long’ body style that measures 5.30 metres from stem to stern.

A pair of engines are offered within the Expert range, with all except for top-spec Sport models powered by a Euro 5-compliant 2.0-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder producing 110kW and 370Nm.

The halo Sport model gains a more powerful and more efficient engine that develops 130kW and 400Nm at its peak. It is only available in Short configuration and tops the range at $49,990 (before on-road costs).

Opening the range at $38,990 (before on-road costs) is the entry-level Expert City Short with a manual gearbox. The Expert City Short and Expert Pro Long are the only variants offered with a manual; all others are fitted with an eight-speed automatic.

The van we’re driving today is the mid-range Expert Pro Long automatic, splitting the range at $44,990 before on-road costs. Your money nets you a glazed cargo bulkhead, reversing camera and parking sensors, three front seats, automatic lights and rain wipers, auto-dimming rear-view mirror and a 7.0-inch colour touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto mirroring.

Being the Long boy, cargo volume jumps from the standard 5.3 cubic metres to 6.1 cubic metres, with a 1.35-tonne payload and a 1.8-tonne braked towing capacity.

Safety equipment for the Expert Pro includes both active and passive systems, featuring autonomous emergency braking (AEB), forward collision warning, active cruise control, electronic stability control, four airbags and blind-spot monitoring.

Comfort and space

The light grey cabin presents an uncluttered and fuss-free environment. You have the ability to seat three abreast, the driver treated to their own single seat with adjustable armrest while the remaining two seats form a mini bench. It’s an amicably airy cabin but, when seated three across, it can get a bit cosy.

Analogue gauges are easily legible and read with clarity during both day and night.

The 7.0-inch touchscreen is simple and responsive, though functionality is rather basic with radio functions and a rudimentary native Bluetooth hands-free phone function. Wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, however, make the best of the convenient central screen.

There are various storage locations dotted around the cabin, with door trims boasting deep bins at the bottom, another sizeable tray near the door handle and yet another storage slot up high on the sill.

There’s a deceptively deep bin set atop the dashboard centre, with another fistful of bins located in front of the passenger seats. Cup holders, however, couldn’t be located anywhere up front – a rather weird omission for a tradie van.

Hard plastics are prolific across the dashboard, but it feels durable and is likely better suited to the van’s intended purpose than the softer materials found in passenger cars. Overall, cabin ambience strikes a nice balance between function and polish.

Forward visibility is wonderful, thanks to high seating and a large windshield aperture. Rear vision is impeded by the divide of the rear barn doors and the caged bulkhead window. At night, the central touchscreen is reflected in the rear-view mirror from the cargo bulkhead, too.

Of course, being a van, all of the comfort is found up front, while most of the space is found behind that glazed bulkhead.

With the long-wheelbase version boasting 6.1 cubes of useable cargo volume, the cavernous rear can cater for three Euro pallets, with a useable floor load length of 2862mm. Max load height measures 1397mm and max load width measures 1628mm – but narrows to 1258mm between the wheel wells.

For side-loading, the sliding side doors measure 935mm wide on the long-bodied Expert van.

The Expert Pro LWB’s ultimate payload is 1350kg.

On the road

Commercial vans may not boast the best reputation for on-road refinement, but the Peugeot Expert impresses with surprising poise.

Stepping up into the high-riding driver’s seat, there is a decent amount of both height and reach adjustment to be found in the steering column. Seats are solid, if a little basic, but offer good under-thigh support.

Backrests are tilt adjustable, to a degree, though you are working within the confines of the bulkhead and taller drivers may find them too upright.

The 2.0-litre diesel is a smooth unit and rather refined for a work van. It’s still audible from the cabin, given its proximity, but certainly isn’t as unpleasant or vocal as some other diesel engines found in the van and dual-cab ute sectors.

Producing its peak 370Nm at just 2000rpm, it actually feels like quite a sprightly thing when accelerating without a load onboard and gives a faint feeling of being lighter than its 1654kg unladen weight suggests. You can feel it working harder when carrying a full load, however, though it never feels strained.

The illusion of athleticism comes from the smooth powertrain and ease of pace, helped by the eight-speed automatic. It’s a well-calibrated unit that feels adept at keeping the diesel mill plugged into its happiest zone, and scarcely produces any harsh or hesitant gear changes.

With a quoted combined fuel consumption of 6.4L/100km, it’s a rather economical van, returning 7.4L/100km around town over our testing period. It’s worth noting that the Peugeot Expert does require AdBlue additive to help break down harmful nitrogen oxides within the exhaust catalytic converter.

It even rides well, sharing its chassis architecture with the smaller Peugeot 3008 and 5008 SUVs. Whether loaded or unladen, the Expert covers suburban tarmac with impressive composure and body control. Dare I say, it feels rather SUV-like.

The steering is light, with little detectable variance in feedback as you increase and decrease lock throughout a corner. Its 12.4m turning circle is quite respectable for its size although, more often than not, its sizeable 5300m length will require some three-point manoeuvring in tight spaces.

With the driver located pretty far forward, plus the steering and propulsion all happening, at the front, it does feel like you’re dragging lots of length behind you.

However, the large side mirrors – with blind spot monitoring – help keep the rear end in check. Rearward visibility is impeded by the small aperture of the cargo bulkhead and the headrest of the centre seat though.

Ownership

While most new Peugeots come with a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, the Expert van falls under Peugeot’s Light Commercial Vehicle arm and carries a five-year/200,000km warranty.

Buyers are also covered by a three-year paintwork warranty and a 12-year corrosion warranty.

Servicing occurs every 12 months or 15,000kms travelled, whichever occurs first.

On the safety front, the Peugeot Expert remains untested by both ANCAP and our Euro NCAP counterpart overseas.

It brings a solid mix of active safety to the van sector, with autonomous emergency braking, forward collision warning and front driver and passenger airbags.

It must be noted that this is half the number of airbags that the Expert originally launched with, as Peugeot opted to de-specify the side/thorax airbags from the Expert range in reaction to the semiconductor shortage back at the start of 2021.

VERDICT

Commercial vans fill a niche brief, but the Peugeot Expert brings polish and comfort to this usually utilitarian vehicle sector.

Small sales numbers don’t tell the full story, as the Peugeot Expert is a tremendously competent van. It rides with impressive composure, is smooth to drive and features welcome amounts of interior comfort and polish.

Mid-$40K pricing is comparable to other major players in this space, but the Expert presents well in its finish, drive and features.

In this particular spec, with the automatic transmission and extended cargo area, the Expert straddles a line between genuine commercial utility and true commuting poise.

It’s a worthy consideration for those after a load-lugging van.

2022 Peugeot Expert LWB specifications