Peugeot 1007

A LASTING BOND?
The 1007 Revitalises Peugeot’s Reputation As A Manufacturer Of Innovative And Fun Small Cars. Andy Enright Reports

I must admit there was a pang of sorrow when Peugeot canned the 106. This livewire hatch was the last remaining link to ‘old Peugeot’, the company that brought us hedge- seeking missiles like the 205 GTi 1.9 and its ilk. ‘New Peugeot’ was an altogether more grown up proposition but I couldn’t help feel that much of the personality had been drained from the company. The good news is that the attitude and sense of adventure seems to be back. The 207 is anything but bland and the 1007 citycar doesn’t make any attempt whatsoever to follow the herd. The sliding side doors are only the first conversation starter. The 1007 has a lot more up its sleeve.

Let’s consider those bizarre doors first. The chunky fridge-style doorhandles are tucked just under the door mirrors but a press on the remote control key fob is enough to send the doors sliding aft. Their progress can best be described as leisurely, so you’ll need a decent battery in the remote if the doors are to be fully open by the time you arrive at the car. Despite initial impressions, the doors don’t extend beyond the length of the vehicle, so you can safely reverse close to a wall or another car without fear of damage. In tight multi storey car parks these ‘Open Sesame’ doors are very useful indeed. Side clearance shouldn’t be an issue as the doors are designed to jut out less than the width of the fixed door mirrors. These doors are also an important safety feature as any cyclist who has had a car door opened into their path will attest. The doors also feature an anti-pinch system that detects if they’re closing onto something and instantly reverses the action.

Measuring just 1686mm wide, the 1007, priced from £10,850, is the best part of a foot narrower than a MINI, so parking should be a doddle. Lengthwise, it measures just 3731mm, making it about 11cm longer than a Ford Ka. The door pillar is, rather unusually, curved in profile which means that as long as the front seat passenger doesn’t have his or her seat slid fully back, slim-hipped passengers will be able to slide into the back without tilting the front seat forwards.

Now for the 1007’s next trick. The so-called ‘Cameleo’ system consists of twelve different trim kits that comprise eighteen colour matched parts. The seat cushions, door cards, rear side panels, air vents and fascia can all be removed and changed for another colour or pattern. This exchange requires no tools, can be completed within fifteen minutes and would make a fun Christmas present for any 1007 owner. If you get bored with Trimix Silver you can easily snap in some Trimix Red detailing instead. No doubt a booming trade in kit swapping will spring up on the internet!

"If you’re bored with the colour scheme of your 1007’s interior, it’s the work of 15 minutes to give it a fresh look"

The good ideas don’t stop there. Not content to offer a ‘normal’ citycar seating system, Peugeot have instead adopted a whole bunch of MPV-style tricks. The key to this is two independent rear seats with seat backs that can be folded against the cushion. Both seats slide back and forth so that either passenger space or luggage room can be optimised, although if you’re after both you’re in the wrong sector of the market. Folded forwards, the rear seats feature a sturdy work surface. The front passenger seats can also fold forward to flat, so that it’s possible to transport the occasional long object of up to 212cm in length.

The fascia design itself is, after all of this innovation, surprisingly conventional. Chrome-ringed overlapping dials feature in a binnacle that seems a step on in terms of quality from the small Peugeot’s we grew up with. A ‘2-Tronic’ sequential manual gearbox is offered with petrol models. This offers two gearchanging modes. The first is automated, aping the actions of a conventional automatic gearbox, whereas the other offers manual control via the stick or the wheel-mounted paddles. Most buyers will stick with a clutch pedal and a more conventional manual gearbox.

Three engines are available starting with a 75bhp 1.4-litre unit. The 110bhp 1.6-litre petrol powerplant should give the 1007 quite some zip and the 70bhp 1.4-litre HDi diesel offers the sort of economy once associated with mopeds. Safety features are plentiful including dynamic stability control and airbaggery firing from virtually every point of the compass in the event of a crash. There’s even a seatbelt warning buzzer that sounds if rear seat occupants aren’t properly strapped in. The doors lock automatically when you pull away, meaning that traffic light bag snatchers will have to looks at softer targets. A Range of big car optional equipment is also available including features such as colour GPS satellite navigation and GSM telephone kit. On the road, the car’s handling is competent but unexceptional – as you would expect from a citycar of this kind. You don’t expect to be able to corner a smart car on its doors and nor should you expect life behind the wheel of a 1007 to be much different.

The 1007’s looks will divide opinion, adopting as it does the rather controversial ‘gaping maw’ which is now common across the Peugeot Range. The smeared back headlamps seem to take up a good proportion of the car’s length and the neat detailing at the rear end gives the car a rakish look, especially when specified in one of the lighter colours. The way the stacked rear lights integrate with the sliding rail is a very slick touch of penmanship on the part of Peugeot’s in-house stylists.

The citycar market is undergoing a shakedown at the moment with many of the cars that established the genre struggling in the face of some spirited opposition. Of this opposition, there are the budget cheapies from South East Asia and the more refined offerings of which the 1007 slots in near the top. It’s undoubtedly a premium product that customers will pay premium pricing for but will it shift in the numbers Peugeot requires? The 106 was a monster hit but Peugeot have the 107 to try and replicate that success. We suspect the 1007 may appeal to a more select audience.