After stealthily dodging the temptation of getting a home-office upgrade throughout our full remote-work era, I’m finally giving in now because of two things coming together: 13th month pay credited into my account just when a test unit appeared in my garage. But there are also two things that could derail the plan: The new desk I’m eyeing is not exactly what you would call compact, and the crossover I have to load it in is, well, subcompact.
The Peugeot 2008 doesn’t score top marks for practicality and convenience, too, in its segment. What it does well is entertain you behind the wheel when you’re in the mood for spirited driving, and kill several of your brain cells every now and then with its questionable ergonomics, as my teammate Leandre found in our last Big Test video. How does it fare in transporting a 200cm Ikea Lagkapten tabletop? That’s what I’m about to find out.
The tale of the measuring tape says the thing, along with two flat-packed Alex drawer units, should fit…provided I fold down the rear seats, recline the front seat, and leave behind my mother, who wants to tag along so she can second-guess my measurements and home-improvement choices.
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If it’s any consolation to her, I start to question myself the moment I see the tabletop in one of Ikea’s display rooms. It’s a classic case of expectation versus reality: Two meters looks a hell of a lot longer when it’s the length of a wooden plank as opposed to metallic ribbon. Suddenly, a 140cm tabletop is looking plenty sufficient for my needs.
But I did not endure the holiday traffic from Fairview to Pasay just to change my mind, so it’s off to the self-serve area to pick up the flat-packed items. At checkout, the cashier eyes the tabletop sticking out both ends of the trolley and helpfully tells me the location of the delivery service counter should I be needing it.
So, moment of truth. The first challenge is getting each 28kg drawer unit over the boot lip and into the cargo floor. I can only imagine how much harder it would have been had I used our midsize SUV instead. Then I hold my breath and push the tabletop in...
...and it fits with room to spare, but I can confirm it’s really only doable without passengers on board because the rear seat split-folds 60:40, with the narrower portion behind the shotgun seat. There’s no way to fit the width of the tabletop with just the seats on the right side folded down. In theory, you can stand it on its side to be able to use the left rear seat—you won’t be able to see anything out of the right-side windows, though.
So, the result of this little experiment is yes, you can fit extra-long items in a subcompact crossover as long as it’s not very wide, but it’s an errand you’ll most likely have to run solo. Save the Ikea family trip for another day.
