Ever wished you were in the movies? Stepping out of a car into a blizzard of paparazzi flashbulbs? I have. Still do, sometimes.
Don't get me wrong: being on TV is absolutely fantastic - best job in the world - ut when I was a boy my fantasies ran to something a little more widescreen.
I never wanted to be a romantic lead - no Notting Hill or Mamma Mia! for me. I think I'm a pretty typical bloke, and as far as I'm concerned, if it hasn't got a gun in it, I'm not interested.
My top three films of all time are Heat, Midnight Express and The Godfather. But none of them had the electrifying effect on me that Top Gun did, when I first saw it aged 14.
Seriously, this was life-changing: the day after I saw it I dumped my electro-breakdance look and went out and got myself a white T-shirt, a leather jacket, Ray-Bans and even a Tom Cruise haircut. Then I hit the street, thinking I'd be catnip to all the girls who'd been squealing over him in the cinema.
Did it work? Of course not: every other bloke in the country had had exactly the same overnight makeover, so it was back to square one.
I watched it again recently and, now that I'm not blinded by hormones, I can see what was so special about it: pure speed. You still can't help but fantasise that it's you being catapulted off that aircraft carrier, reaching 250km/h in three seconds and then barrelling into the clouds to take on a squadron of MiGs with your best mate behind you.
To this day, I challenge any man to watch Maverick and Goose hitting the afterburners on their F-14 Tomcat and not get a shiver up his spine.
It wasn't really the same as I taxied onto the runway for my first step on the long road to getting my pilot's licence.
No launch catapult in sight, just an old shed to my left and Goose replaced by Terry, a 60-year-old former accountant. As we trundled over the tarmac, instructor Terry assured me that the plane was perfectly safe despite being twice as old as I was.
Smashing, I thought: I'm stuck in a tin can with an antiques enthusiast. Top Gun this wasn't. But even Maverick had to start somewhere.
I won't describe the flight - I'll save that for when I can do something more exciting than climb, circle and hand back control to Terry - but I did a pretty good job, was debriefed and walked back out to the car park.
And that's when Terry's face lit up in a way it never did in the air. He'd spotted my Peugeot 5008 - his dream car.
TRANSLUCENT PANEL
As I chucked my navigation book in the glove compartment, he gave me a running commentary: Peugeot's roomiest car, with seven seats, it's also its first model in 20 years to have a "5" at the start of its name (the 505 sedan ceased production in 1992, fact fans), and What Car? magazine's MPV of the Year 2010.
And it's due in South Africa towards the end of 2010.
"Best of all, though," he said, "is the head-up display." And he pointed to a translucent panel that I hadn't noticed was there. "It's like Top Gun," he said as I drove off, smiling encouragingly into the rear-view mirror.
It's not like Top Gun. It's a little bit of Perspex that shows your speed and how many seconds it would take you to hit the car in front.
Quite a nice touch and rare at this price level (I've only seen it on executive BMW's), but can it lock on to a MiG-29's heat trail and send a Sidewinder up its tailpipe? I don't think so.
ELEGANT GRILLE
Dress it up all you like, this is still a dad's car. And I'm definitely not the target market. But I can see why the 5008 won its award.
They've got rid of that stupid black "gold-fish mouth" that was spreading across the Peugeot range and replaced it with a much more elegant grille. A good move, given the 5008's length: it needs a sleek line from nose to tail.
But it's the interior that's going to part dads from their cash. The three rows of seats all fold completely flat (except the driver's), expanding the boot all the way to the fascia for more than 2.7m of load space - enough for a javelin. I don't know why I'd be carrying a javelin; I just can't think of anything else that length.
There's is smart wrap-around instrument panel and an optional satnav that, once you figure out how to use it, is one of the best around, with beautiful graphics. Cruise control is standard on all but the cheapest trim levels.
My model had leather seats all round - an expensive option, but it's a lot easier to clean melted chocolate off leather than cloth. There's a huge sunroof overhead that lets in lots of light. Shame it doesn't open.
DYNAMIC ROLL CONTROL
As for how it drives, you quickly forget you're in something the size of a minibus. It's based on the 308 platform, with an anti-roll bar at the front and a torsion beam at the back to give it a much flatter line through corners than most of its competition.
Peugeot's "dynamic roll control" also helps - although the cheaper, non-turbo models don't have it.
Most people would probably be perfectly happy with the cheaper 1.6-litre diesel. But I'd go for this 110kW two-litre turbodiesel, with a manual box: the auto transmission isn't much good, although you do get more horsepower with that model.
As I said, though, I'm not really an MPV man, and I probably never will be. So I'm quite happy to defer to Terry the flying instructor on this one, and give it two thumbs up.
But secretly, I still see myself at the controls of an F-14 or a speeding Kawasaki. You can blame Tom Cruise for that. Teenage dreams die hard. - London Daily Mail
TECH SPEC
UK Price:
£22 945 (R254 000).
Engine:
Two-litre turbodiesel, four cylinders.
Power:
110kW.
Torque:
340Nm at 2000rpm.
Top speed:
195km/h.
Transmission:
Six-speed manual.
Fuel consumption:
5.8 litres/100km.
CO2 emissions:
151g/km.
Standard equipment:
17" alloys with energy-saving tyres, electronic stability programme, automatic electric parking brake with hill hold, radio/CD player, sports leather steering wheel, cruise control with speed limiter, storage under front seats, 512-litre load capacity (1604 litres with seats folded), Cielo glass roof, auto lights and wipers, head-up display showing speed and "distance alert" times, rear parking sensors aid, USB and Bluetooth, dual-zone auto aircon.
Optional extras:
18" alloys, satnav, 3D media satnav with 10GB music hard drive, JBL hi-fi system, video pack, xenon directional headlights, front parking sensors.