First look: Peugeot's five-seat Partner ‘crew van’

PEUGEOT has released a five-seater ‘crew van’ version of its Partner compact van in the UK, which is now under consideration for release in Australia.

Peugeot Automobiles Australia (PAA) this week advised that the model, which features a factory-fit modular rear bench seat, could form part of a rearranged light commercial vehicle (LCV) line-up for the French marque in 2010.

“We are looking at the possibility of making a few changes to our LCV line-up next year across both Partner and Expert – and the Partner crew van is one of the models we are seriously looking into,” PAA spokesman Mark McCartney told GoAuto.

Mr McCartney was unable to elaborate on the forthcoming changes to Peugeot’s current vans, and added that the Bipper micro-van – a mechanical twin to the Fiat Fiorino and Citroen Nemo – remained off the agenda for the time being.

The Partner crew van is based on the longer 4630mm two-seater model, with the rear seat installation offering the same 1800mm load floor length and 3.3m3 cargo volume (when the rear seats are folded) as the standard (4380mm) shorter version.

It comes with unglazed twin sliding side doors and a mesh bulkhead integrated into the three-seater rear bench. The bulkhead provides protection for all occupants, both when the rear seat is in place and (for the front occupants) when folded.

In the UK, the crew van is available only with the higher-output 66kW/215Nm version of the 1560cc direct-injection turbo-diesel engine.

The same engine is restricted to the stretched version of the two-seater van in Australia, while a 55kW/185Nm unit, and a 66kW/132Nm 1587cc petrol engine, is also available on the shorter model. All are paired with a five-speed manual gearbox no automatic is available.

A twin to the Citroen Berlingo, the Partner is built in Spain on the same platform as the Peugeot 308 and Citroen C4 passenger cars.

All models rest on a 2728mm wheelbase and have a front strut/rear torsion beam suspension, four-wheel disc brakes and rack and pinion power steering (with an 11.0m turning circle). Maximum load width is 1500mm (when two sliding doors are fitted), dropping to 1229mm between the wheel arches, while the maximum load height is 1250mm.

Load floor length ranges from 1800mm on the shorter model to 2050mm on the stretched version (for 3.7m3). Payload is 850kg, or 750kg on the longer version.

All Partner variants available in Australia have a driver’s airbag, ABS brakes (with EBD and brake assist), remote central locking, cruise control, a trip computer, tinted windows, electric front windows, air-conditioning and 15-inch steel wheels.

Options include a passenger’s airbag, electronic stability control, rear parking sensors and metallic paint.

The French-built Expert is a medium-sized van identical under the skin to the Citroen Dispatch and Fiat Scudo. It is available in Australia as either an L1 short-wheelbase (3000mm) model or L2 long-wheelbase (3122mm) variant.