Review
The C1, 107 and Aygo are all the same car underneath as they share the same chassis and engine, but with different front and rear styling and interiors.
The main difference comes in price. The Citroen ranges from £6,495 to £8,445 (the higher price is for a 1.5 HDi diesel – only the C1 offers this engine), the Toyota costs from £6,745 to £7,995 and the 107 from £6,995 to £7,345.
All have pretty much the same equipment, too. So all you have to decide is which badge to opt for and which bodystyle you want.
Peugeot’s 107 comes in one trim level – Urban, the choice of three or five doors and either a five-speed manual gearbox or optional 2-Tronic semi-automatic.
The choice is as simple as the car itself. For the money, you get remote-control locking, electric front windows, CD player, driver, passenger and front side airbags, power steering and ABS brakes.
That’s pretty much all you need, although the options list includes alloy wheels, air conditioning, metallic paint and a Smart-style rev counter pod which attaches to the speedo housing.
Peugeot says that 107 sales will be almost entirely to retail buyers, the majority of which will be either to the 18-24 year-old age group or to drivers aged 65-plus.
Steve Harris, Peugeot’s fleet and leasing director, said: ‘We are not excluding fleet business, but demand will outstrip supply for this car as it is very aggressively priced and well-specified.’
Harris said there will be no daily rental deals with the 107 although, thanks to the car’s compact dimensions and ease of use, there could be some scope for supplying cars to driving schools in the future, but certainly not during 2006.
But with just 13,000 cars expected to be sold in the UK next year, Peugeot is confident that its two diametrically opposed key sales groups – the trendy young things and pensioners will combine to meet sales targets.
The Peugeot is, in my view, the better-looking car. Toyota has designed bespoke bumpers and rear-end design for the Aygo and some of the lines are a little awkward, whereas the 107 is more of a box with rounded edges.
Behind the wheel
ALTHOUGH it is designed to be simple, urban transport, the way the 107 copes out on the open road is a surprise.
In town it is perfect – light steering, slick gearbox and well-weighted pedals make stop-start driving and parking a doddle. There’s also great visibility thanks to a big windscreen and narrow pillars, although the way the rear windows sweep up from the bottom cuts vision for parking.
But out on the open road the 107 feels just at home. With 68bhp it takes a while to accelerate up to 60mph, but once there it sits happily in the flow of traffic, with impressively low levels of tyre and wind roar. In fact, the only noise you’re really aware of when driving the 107 is the distinctive thrum of its three-cylinder engine.
The quality of the interior is also a surprise. You’d expect for a car built to such a low price as this to feel flimsy, but the 107 is well screwed together and the dashboard materials are on a par with Volkswagen’s forthcoming Fox city car.
The 107 shares the same dash architecture as the Citroen C1, with a silver-fronted stereo system on the top and funky ventilation controls below. There’s enough space up front for six-foot-plus driver and paessenger, although you wouldn’t want to be in the rear seats behind them. Space is at a premium in the rear, and the boot is tiny, although the rear seat backs fold down to create a much bigger loading area.
If you treat the 107 as a two-seater city car with a big boot, then you won’t go far wrong.
Driving verdict
DESPITE what its price suggests, the 107 does not feel like a bargain-basement runaround. It’s well built, fairly decently equipped and is so easy to drive.
Engine (cc): 998
Max power (bhp/rpm): 68/6,000
Max torque (lb-ft/rpm): 68/3,600
Max speed (mph): 98
0-62mph (sec): 13.7
Fuel consumption (mpg): 61.4
CO2 emissions (g/km): 109
Transmission: 5-sp manual
On sale: Now. Prices (OTR): £6,995–£7,345
