Review
But its run-of-the-mill lifestyle is down to me, not through any fault of the car itself which deserves to show off its exciting styling.
The longest journey I’ve made in the car is to Heathrow Airport from Peterborough, a mostly motorway journey of around 100 miles each way. The car proved an ideal cruiser but the addition of cruise control would have been welcome.
You almost expect a car like the 407 – predominantly aimed at the fleet industry – to have such a feature as standard. If Vauxhall can include it as standard on all but the very cheapest Vectra, why not Peugeot with the 407?
However, it is an option at £150 and you get it as standard on the Executive model, which costs £3,000 more.
I recently had a couple of weeks off work and made plenty of local journeys which this car tackles with ease. Light low-speed steering makes parking a breeze and it has a responsive diesel engine.
Although lacking cruise control, it offers other nifty features like door mirrors that fold when the car is locked and hazard lights that activate when you brake hard.
But it is suffering from a problem with its front passenger door, which can be opened even when the car is supposedly locked, although it does sound the alarm which gives me some comfort.
It appears to be a problem with the central locking mechanism not working on that door rather than the key fob, but we’ll get it checked out and give details of the fault in our next report.
It also needs a rubber seal replacing under the front spoiler as the middle section has rubbed away, leaving the two ends dangling.
It’s a shame about the faulty passenger door because it blighted what is normally a cracking car with a comfortable ride and good looks.
Peugeot 407 2.0 HDi SE
Price (OTR) £17,450
Mileage 7,250
CO2 emissions (g/km) 155
Company car tax bill 2004/05 (22% tax-payer) £54 per month
Insurance group 10
Combined mpg 47.8
Test mpg 38.4
CAP Monitor residual value £4,975/28%
HSBC contract hire rate £378
Expenditure to date Nil
