The first thing you notice when you turn the key in the ignition of the Peugeot 3008 Allure is a little see-through Perspex screen that rises on top of the dashboard, in front of the steering wheel. Whoa! What the hell is that? "0mph" it says, in orange, until I start off down the road, when the numbers increase.

Ah, I see, there's a small projector, projecting my speed on to the screen. So I don't need to take my eyes from the road to see how fast I'm going. It's like having my speed written on the road ahead, a constant reminder. You can get other information up there, too – for instance, how many seconds you are behind the vehicle in front, to stop you getting too close – but you could argue that that information is already there. Nothing really beats simply looking. You can get too reliant on gizmos and gadgets. The speed thing is brilliant, though, especially for someone with six points on their licence. If all the cars I tested had them, my career as a famous motoring journalist might last a little longer.

Not that this is a car I'm going to be going very fast in, albeit the 150bhp two-litre diesel model does plenty of low-end grunt. It's one of those crossovers that is becoming increasingly popular. A little bit SUV, but less socially unacceptable and murderous on the old planet; a little bit people carrier, but less like a bus to drive; a little bit estate car, but fatter and therefore roomier... It's a little bit anything you want it to be, really.

Apart from lovable, perhaps. My nine-year-old nephew certainly wasn't much taken. "It's like a turd," he said (apologies for the language – he's been very badly brought up). Oh yes, why's that, Oliver? "Because it's big and brown and it looks like a turd." (He's not colour-blind – the one in the photo is not the one I had. That one was brown, or metallic "hickory", to be precise.) Nothing like anything I've ever passed, mind (my nephew's diet is as bad as his upbringing, it seems). But he does kind of have a point. Certainly it's not beautiful. It does get much better inside – it's spacious and pleasant and light, if you've got a posh one with a panoramic roof.

I was a crossover sceptic, thought they were neither one thing nor the other, but I'm coming round to them, beginning to see the point. Certainly for a winter weekend in Wales, with lots of stuff and muddy boots, the Peugeot 3008 was great. And I didn't once creep above the speed limit by mistake, not even by one mile an hour. Ha, the column, and the famous career, live on.

Peugeot 3008 Allure HDi150

Price £22,795
Top speed 121mph
Acceleration 0-62mph in 9.7 seconds
Combined mpg 51.3
CO2 emissions 145g/km
Eco rating 6/10
Cool rating 4/10