Ah, missed opportunities. If I'd been clever I'd have used Peugeot's Expert Tepee to transport World Cup tourists and made some bucks on the side.
I happened to road test the French eight-seater minibus smack bang in the middle of the biggest sporting spectacle this country's yet hosted and, had I been more entrepreneurial, could have helped pay off some recent home improvements.
I could also have stashed some decent South African beer in the Expert Tepee's huge boot to refresh the tourists before they were forced to quaff the Fifa-approved brew inside the stadiums.
But at least the Tepee's passenger-carrying abilities weren't wasted and I got to play taxi driver to my teenage daughters and a group of their friends. The Peugeot took seven of us without feeling like we were canned sardines, it's really cavernous, with oodles of legroom and headroom and a monster 761-litre boot.
Getting in and out is a simple exercise: there's a sliding door on each side for rear passengers and the middle row of seats tilts forward at the tug of a lever to allow easy access to the back. To save space in small parking spaces the boot's accessed by two smaller side-opening doors rather than a traditional barn door-sized swing-up one.
If you need to lug TV's and tables instead of tourists or teenagers all the rear seats can be whipped out to create a humongous load area - the Tepee is based on a panel van, after all.
The front two seats have adjustable backrests but rear passengers make do with a fixed seats that might become uncomfy on a long trip. The back benchers do, however, get their own temperature controls and air vents.
The cloth-upholstered seats are relatively comfy but there's a lot of exposed steel and plastic about this French van's cabin so, like that country's soccer team which had to fly home economy class after being beaten by Bafana Bafana, it's not five-star luxury. The Tepee also creaks and squeaks like a haunted house when on the move and that underlines its working-class roots - this ain't no VIP van.
That said, the fascia doesn't look too working class. It's modernly styled and car-like with a decent level of gizmos that include a trip data computer with an outside temperature display, aircon, power windows and mirrors, remote control for the central locking, cruise control and an audio system with steering-column controls.
Driver and passenger crash bags, three-point seat belts for all eight seats and all-disc anti-lock brakes take care of crash protection.
SUPER-SIZED STORAGE
Speed-sensitive electro-hydraulic steering makes light work of manoeuvring this behemoth. The size is manageable once you get used to it and handling is, surprisingly, pretty clean; there's body roll, of course, but it takes corners without feeling like a tugboat being rocked in a hurricane.
Front passengers get a number of super-sized storage places, among them door pockets and a ceiling shelf, but it's not convenient stowage space because items slide around. Rear passengers don't have anywhere at all to put their clutter.
The French bus is moved by a two-litre turbodiesel displaying adequate vooma: 88kW and 300Nm driving the front wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox. It never sets the road alight but its gutsy lowdown torque feels just right for a people-carrier. It never felt overwhelmed by heavy loads and still pulled strongly with a full complement of passengers.
It cruised comfortably at the national speed limit - it will reach a claimed 160km/h if you squint your eyes hard enough - though overtaking requires dropping a gear or two.
TAKE A TRAILER
We averaged 8.3 litres/100km, not thirsty for the buse's size, which could mean 1000km from the 80-litre tank.
Service intervals are 30 000km and the Tepee comes with a three-year or 100 000km warranty but no maintenance plan.
It's rated to tow a 2000kg braked trailer, towbar extra.
VERDICT
Not as refined or luxurious as the venerable VW Caravelle but not as expensive either. At R350 000 (compared to the cheapest Caravelle at R537 800), the Peugeot Expert Tepee's more of a rival to minibuses such as Opel's Vivaro 1.9 CDTi (R325 990) and Hyundai's 2.5 CRDi H1 Wagon (R359 900).