Peugeot Expert LWB 2022 review

While many industries around the country have experienced big downturns during the ongoing pandemic, there is no doubt that delivery drivers went through something of a boom time. While everyone else was experiencing travel restrictions and doing their best to work from home, drivers of vans like this 2022 Peugeot Expert were flat-stick keeping up with demand.

Despite the surge in demand and useage, medium-sized vans have seen a decline in overall sales. No doubt a victim of hobbled supply, popular examples like the Ford Transit Custom and Toyota HiAce are experiencing lengthy wait times.

However, this seems to be good news for the Peugeot Expert. Having the ignominious accolade of being the slowest-selling van in its segment, the Expert has seen a slight sales boost, up 1.3 per cent compared to this time in 2022, in a market segment that’s down by 9.3 per cent overall.

Low sales figures don’t always equate to a bad choice, however. Sometimes a brand like Peugeot is working overtime to simply break into the consideration set.

With that in mind, let’s have a closer look.

We’ve got the 2022 Peugeot Expert long wheelbase with the Premium box ticked for some niceties. The Expert starts from $43,397 in short-body manual guise and rises to $53,265 for the kitted-out Expert Premium (both before on-road costs).

The long-wheelbase variant is 5309mm long, which compares to 4959mm for the short-wheelbase variant. The Expert’s gross vehicle mass (GVM) grows to match the additional space, from 2735kg to 3100kg, culminating in a hefty 1357kg payload.

Naturally, the Expert is as much about space in the back as the front. However, we will start with the driver. Ergonomically, the Expert is a nice van to spend lots of time in. The seats offer good adjustment, and there is tilt and reach adjustment through the steering column.

Storage is in good supply, with a few handy tricks to help consume all of that gear you tend to carry day to day. There are twin gloveboxes, along with a small shelf in between on the dashboard for small bits.

Power outlets are handled by single 12V and USB points up front.

There are also some small bits around the rotary gearshifter, but no overhead parcel shelf. Door card storage is impressively huge, and you’ll find two cupholders atop the dashboard for something on the small side. Clearly, they don’t drink much in the way of flavoured milk cartons in the home country of France, so they won’t fit here.

There’s additional handy storage under the seats, with the passenger seat base able to flip upwards to create more storage space for boxes. And if you’ve got something very long you need to fit (like lengths of timber), you can open a flap on the firewall to access this space around where the passenger’s feet would go. All up, there is over four metres of length available.

Pop down the centre armrest and you’ll find not cupholders, but a flat workbench that can be rotated around towards the driver. Paperwork can be stored under an elastic strap, and I found it reasonably comfortable to type on a laptop from the driver’s seat. While not driving, obviously.

In the back, there is a space that measures in at 2780mm long (with the bulkhead closed) and 1628mm wide, with 1258mm available between the wheel arches. It’s a lot of room, and you’ll find tie-down points (six in total) hiding under the rubber matting. Naturally, this space can be modified with shelving and lighting to suit the end application, with loads of places to mount fixings and run wiring.

When you’re loading up, the back doors have a handy function that can open wider through the trick hinge. But be warned that they can still get caught by the wind.

If you’re looking to carry pallets, they need to go into the back doors: side sliding doors (one on each side) are not wide enough.

The 7.0-inch infotainment display on the dashboard of the Expert has been rejigged, and includes elements like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which gets you additional functionality through streaming radio stations and navigation. And that’s important, because there isn’t any native navigation. However, there is digital radio available.

There are buttons flanking each side of the screen for finding additional menus, and a volume dial located on the passenger’s side of the screen.

The digital instrument cluster is mostly basic, offering up a large digital speed readout and trip computer functions. In order to file through the options, use the button on the end of the windscreen wiper stalk.

Unlike many other vans in the competitive set, Peugeot’s Expert goes without any formal ANCAP safety rating to look at. This puts it at odds with the Toyota HiAce (five stars, 2019) and Hyundai Staria Load (five stars, 2021).

It’s not just missing a local rating, as overseas the Expert (and its badge-engineered siblings the Citroen Dispatch, Opel Vivaro, and Fiat Scudo) also lack a Euro NCAP rating.

In terms of active safety technology, the Expert has driver attention alert, autonomous emergency braking and forward collision warning (the sole manual-equipped version misses these two) and traffic sign recognition. Notable omissions here include blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and low-speed reverse AEB.

There are only two airbags for occupants, which is low by today’s standards. Knee, thorax, curtain and centre airbags are all missing in this case.

Minus points for Peugeot Australia in this case, which chose to remove some interior airbags – leaving the Expert less safe in the event of a car accident – in order to keep production flowing with limited semiconductor supply. Perhaps I am taking a simplistic view of this, but I would prefer to see something like the push-button start or climate control removed instead of airbags.

The reversing camera attempts to emulate a bird’s-eye view of the Expert’s surroundings using a single camera at the back and building an image as the vehicle moves. It’s not a clear image, nor is it a top-down view in real-time.

Maintenance costs seem a little high, especially in comparison to other utes in the segment. Using Peugeot’s Price Promise calculator, we saw costs of $1738 for three years and $3049 for five years. Beyond that point, the calculator points users to contact a dealership for a quote.

The service intervals are set at 12 months or 20,000km, which will suit those who want to rack up commercial quantities on the odometer each year.

For reference’s sake, a Toyota HiAce costs $3529.67 over five years with six-monthly service intervals. A Ford Transit Custom costs $1861 over the same period, while a Hyundai Staria Load is similar at $1800.

Insurance comes in at 1714 per year, based on a comparative quote for a 35 year old male driver, living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

It’s also worth noting this insurance quote is for private use, so doing it for business use (along the kind of kilometres this usage entails) will see the number shift around.

Fuel consumption is set at a claimed 6.3 litres per 100km on the combined cycle, which raises to 7.2L/100km and lowers to 5.8L/100km on the highway and around town respectively. During our time with the vehicle, we saw 7.4L/100km, which included laden and unladen driving and some big highway runs in between.

Vans don’t drive like they used to any more, and that’s a good thing. Considering this Expert carries a whopping 1.3-tonne payload, it’s a comfortable jigger that is easy to drive around town and on the highway. The 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engine feels torquey and flexible for the application, with the 370Nm available feeling well managed by the eight-speed automatic gearbox.

Its ratios seem well spread out, with eighth gear only getting usage when cruising at 110km/h. And being a torque-converter-style automatic gearbox, there are no issues with its shifting nature: smooth and predictable.

The powertrain is reasonably quiet and refined as well, especially for a four-cylinder diesel engine. No doubt, using a similar powertrain in some of Peugeot and Citroen’s passenger vehicles helps in the decorum stakes.

And when loaded up with one tonne of bricklayer’s sand – thanks once again to Nepean Landscape Supplies – the Expert proved competent at hauling a load close to its maximum (1300kg). That load, by the way, was squarely over the rear wheels.

The steering, erring on the side of weightiness unladen, didn’t fall into the common trap of feeling vague and wandering when loaded up. And considering the fact that this is indeed a van, this is an important point.

Powertrain performance is commendable when loaded up. Outright punch is certainly blunted, but it’s not too bad overall. Going the final stretches up to 100km/h allows the Expert to start feeling a little asthmatic, but that’s acceptable considering it’s pulling an extra tonne of weight.

Similarly, the suspension seems to handle the additional weight well overall. One tends to take a little more time to brake and go through corners with so much sand in the back, but the Expert’s chassis and suspension happily soaked up the additional weight on board.

This Peugeot Expert is the first new car I have driven in forever without a single button on the steering wheel… Not one. It’s quite a feat in this day and age, and I can happily report that the world didn’t end. I could still adjust the volume and such easily, and only had to move my hand around 10cm to perform common functions.

Safety is a big concern for the Expert, especially when commercial vehicles like this small van could spend bulk hours and kilometres on the road. Pulling out airbags in order to keep the production line flowing is a controversial decision, and it puts the Expert on the back foot in terms of competing against the likes of the Toyota HiAce, Ford Transit Custom and Hyundai Staria Load.

And so far, Australian buyers have seemed to be voting with their feet (and wallets), as the Peugeot Expert is currently coming last in the sales race for vans with a GVM between 2.5 and 3.5 tonnes.

That’s a bit of a shame, because the Expert is otherwise a competent and cohesive offering overall. Having a variety of wheelbases and trim levels helps suit the wide range of user needs, and this long-wheelbase Premium model ticks a lot of good boxes.