Peugeot 207 1.6 HDi FAP

After having to relocate just over 20 miles from my place of work last year i found i was going through 80-100 pounds of fuel a week in my thirsty 1.8 turbo seat leon , which was straining my bank balance far to much so i knew i had to look for a more fuel efficient car , yet i wanted it to maintain the sporty image and feel i was used to with my leon , after much searching i discovered the peugeot 207 hdi gt , now allow my review to begin.

LOOKS
i wanted something that had a sporty appeal the 207 gt came equiped with 17 in multi spoke alloys on low profiles , a polished stainless steel exhaust and side skirts.
my gt model had a sweeping almost formula one style v shaped bonnet with a grey mesh grill , fog lights with chrome surround and front spoiler , from the front it is difficult to find a better looking car .
though as we make our way around to the back it didnt keep up appearances , aside from the polished sports exhaust it was no different from the standard models and looked almost as if the designers had gotten bored and given up by the time they got to the back , from the sweeping lines and curves seen from the front , the back was just rounded off and had no charisma about it at all and i found that a bit of a let down.

PERFORMANCE
i was initially concerned that going from a 225 bhp car that hit 60 in under 7 seconds to one that was 110 bhp and done the treck in just over 10 that i would really notice the difference , but through the gears this car is suprisingly nippy with 2nd gear being very impressive and 5th managing to pull you from 60-100 smoothly and effortlessly in no time .
but i did find 1st gear to be dissapointing it was a harsh gear and needed to be worked hard to really get it off the mark and seeing as i live in milton keynes which is known for its big round abouts and fast moving traffic it began to wear rather tenuous having to thrash everytime i needed a quick launch off a round about , plus i used to notice the miles per gallon reader on the trip computer tumble everytime i did it which in my opinion defied the whole purpose of having a small engined deisel.

RUNNING COST
what with it being a diesel the road tax is automaticaly cheaper , the insurance was pretty sound at a group 7 .
it claims the average mpg is 56 but i found on a 20 mile journey on both motor way and city i came in at around 50 and over 1000 miles it averaged 44 mpg i went from putting in around 80 pound a week in petrol to about 35 pound a week in diesel so a significant saving .

RELIABILITY
well after having a stress free 6 months with this car and it breezing through its m.o.t i thought it was too good to be true ....it was.
on the way to work one morning i was coming off a round about when i lost all power and the engine shut down , after limping off the road i turned off and restarted the car only to get 100 yrds down the road for it to happen again , this time the trip computer beeped and informed me that the de-pollution system was faulty , after being towed home i phoned various garages who told me they wanted nothing to do with it and that apparently it wasnt an uncommen problem in the 207 diesels and i had to contact a peugeot dealer which i did much to there pleasure and my despair , they ran two diagnostic checks on it which cost 88 pound each and neither came up with what was the cause of the problem so the mechanics said they now have to work off what the checks have given them and there own initiative , they replaced the sensors which cost 400 pound had to top up the diesel de-pollutant additive with 10 litres at 10 pound a litre and flush out the pollution filter , which left me with a bill of over 700 pounds, uipon inspection i discovered that it is indeed a common 207 diesel problem and i learnt the hard way , i have since gotten rid of this car.

all in all it was a regretable buy , though i couldnt have seen it at the time .
as far as cars go it is a decent vehical thought i wouldnt risk ever purchasing one again .

i hope this review has helped , thanks for reading !!