Peugeot 207 Touring XT HDi 2008 Review

Road Test

Overall rating: 3.0/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 3.0/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 2.5/5.0
Safety: 3.5/5.0
Behind the wheel: 2.5/5.0
X-factor: 2.5/5.0

About our ratings

It needs to be said up front, Peugeot's 207 SW could have been an absolute winner 12 months ago. But what has happened in the meantime? Skoda has ridden into town -- with the Roomster tucked under the arm -- that's what.

If you'd never driven a Roomster, you couldn't help but be impressed by the Peugeot. It's a very good size for a small family, economical to run but not underspecified... It's also easy to drive and offers a good overall ratio of interior space to exterior footprint. But, then the Roomster -- with debatably a better equipment level and superior packaging -- came along and spoiled everything. It even offers a diesel as well.

That said the Peugeot does have the on-paper advantage. The 207's 1.6-litre engine is more powerful at 80kW (3kW ahead of the Roomster) and offers the same 240Nm torque figure, though from a slightly lower engine speed. The Pug also shaves half a litre per 100km off the 1.9-litre Skoda's combined cycle consumption.

On the road, the Peugeot's engine is willing enough to slog along at 1500rpm, but there's no real sense of urgency until the engine hits its peak torque -- at around 1750rpm. When it gets there, there's a definite lift in torque, but that falls off again well short of the engine's redline. Indeed, unlike some 2.0-litre passenger-car diesels which will still provide quantifiable acceleration right up to the redline, with the 207 you might as well change up at 4000rpm (or earlier) -- there'll be more torque available and progress will be quieter.

Using the car so, our overall average fuel use was about 7.0L/100km. That's almost certainly on the high side of what other users will encounter at the pumps.

Gear ratios are very tall, by petrol engine standards and pretty high even by the standards of some diesels. At 60km/h in fourth gear, the 207's engine is running at around 1500rpm. Below that speed, the engine labours. The torque curve is -- in the view of the tester -- perhaps both flatter and narrower than is the norm in some diesel cars.

On a run in the country, the Peugeot impressed with steering which proved very direct. The car turned in very well, but lacked feel. Front end grip was encouragingly high and the handling was quite close to neutral.

Its suspension was tuned for cornering, less so for ride. This is not the sort of car that will recall the ride/handling compromise of the late, great 306. The 207's ride is firm, not unlike other Euro-handlers driven recently, but might be a shock for drivers of older Peugeots who expect cars to ride as well as handle.

The gearshift was light, but a tad vague and clunky. Most drivers won't miss shifts since it is the sort of shift mechanism that can be rammed into place fairly quickly and easily. It's an improvement on the gearshift of the 207 GTi, curiously.

Up front the seats are excellent. They're both ultra comfortable and very supportive with plenty of side bolstering. Some drivers may feel they're too extreme and not all that easy to enter or leave, but they're well suited to a range of physiques. The headrests are also well designed and can actually support the head properly without detracting too much from the field of vision to the rear.

That view to the rear is very good overall and is complemented by the optional parking assistance fitted to the test car -- although unlike larger cars, the 207 wagon's a pretty easy vehicle to park, even without the acoustic proximity warning chimes.

Other than the seats though, the driving position is sub-standard, in the view of this tester. To obtain a full view of the instruments, it's necessary to adjust the driver's seat to the lowest height and then set the rake of the steering column to strike some -- still less than adequate -- compromise between driver comfort and a clear view of the major instruments.

Another reason to adjust the driver's seat to the lowest height from the floor is because the range of adjustment for the exterior mirrors doesn't permit them to pan high enough if the seat is raised. Once the mirrors are panned up as high as they'll go, the mirrors' ability to pan outwards is also reduced, which will possibly leave blind spots restricting the field of vision to the rear three-quarter.

There's plenty of headroom in the front and more than enough for adults of average height in the rear, but with the front seats adjusted back for the driver's comfort (not even necessarily all the way back), adults occupying the rear seat will find kneeroom at a premium.

Peugeot has found a way of accommodating some rear-seat passengers by a cut-out section in the rear of the front seats, but this is of limited value. Unfortunately, the rear seats are probably going to be no better than teenage-appropriate, at best.

The 207 SW XT HDi is not unduly noisy, but nor is it best-in class. There's some wind noise and engine induction noise at open road speeds and some high pitched vibration was detected on the overrun, through the steering wheel.

From a comfort perspective, the interior was pleasantly styled and featured the seats already mentioned and metallic/carbonfibre-look trim pieces to give the ambience a lift.

While it was useful in the sense of being refrigerated to keep small drink bottles cool and also contained stereo input sockets for the audio system, the glovebox was tiny and wouldn't even accommodate the car's owner's manual, let alone a street directory.

Packaging of the 207 wagon is effective up to a point -- it packs a lot of foot into its footprint. It's a light car, as far as VFACTS is concerned, but is substantially larger than its 206 predecessor and is now virtually a small car.

The luggage compartment floor is virtually flat, with the 60/40 split-fold rear seat folded down and there are some nice touches such as the metal slide plate underneath the tailgate, but the cargo blind folds in three sections and was a little cumbersome to use.

It's there in three sections to facilitate ease of access to the load floor underneath, with just the tailgate window open. The lift-up window is actually the section of the tailgate that opens first when the driver unlocks the luggage section on the remote central locking key fob. If, as will often happen, there's a need to open the whole tailgate -- and not just the rear window -- the driver will need to close the window before the tailgate can be opened in full.

The two can't be opened independently of each other -- which is fair enough -- but the driver should have the option of opening either one before the other. Users will get into the habit of unlocking the whole car if the entire tailgate needs to be raised, not just the window section.

The huge panoramic roof was a fantastic innovation that quickly 'palled' after a couple of days standing in the sun. Not only did the interior heat up quickly, the temperature was not easily lowered by the air conditioning. At full blast (fan speed '4' and lowest temperature setting with 'recirculation' selected), the air conditioning generated lots of noise, but just didn't have the means to cope once the outside temperature exceed 35 degrees.

Once the sun set -- or even in overcast conditions -- the 207's auto-on/off headlights vindicated themselves and the power of the lights themselves was quite good on low beam.

In the final wash, the 207 Touring XT HDi is a car with much to offer, but it lacks something in its execution.

One hesitates to call it a half-baked effort, but there are so many niggles that detract from the whole ownership experience -- and without the traditional charm of even its comparatively recent predecessor, the 206... Let alone other icons in the all-Peugeot pantheon.

Don't discard it as a prospective purchase, but do also try the Skoda Roomster before settling on the Peugeot.

To comment on this article click

More research
Peugeot 207 (2007- ) -- launch review: here
Peugeot 207 HDi -- Wheels review: here