Peugeot 407 Saloon SE

...kindly got me a Peugeot 106 XN in the Summer of 2004. This car was a total deathtrap (there was glass under the seats) but the most fun to drive. In terms of luxury it had a cassette player and a 'light left on' alarm and that was it ! I graduated through the ranks and purchased a 206 HDI SE 2.0 litre turbo and then a brand new 207 1.6i Sport in January 2007. In September 2007 I got a new job that was a long way from home. I live in Chatham and the ...
...second owner, the first being Peugeot Motor Corporation PLC who used it at their head office in Coventry.

The best features of this car :

Dual Zone climate control - Really useful if you and your spouse cannot agree on the temperature. It blows out Ice cold air in the summer and nice hot air in the winter. I had this re-gassed recently but it kept leaking. The dealer replaced the air conditioning condensor under warranty ... more

I first saw this car advertised in the magical Summer of 2004 on a huge billboard in Maidstone with the slogan "Playtime is Over". This was the car for me I decided (and that I would hopefully get one in time with a bit of luck) ! It looked different and maybe I was a bit biased as I have - lets say a history - with Peugeot.

I passed my driving test in 2003 and as a graduation present my parents kindly got me a Peugeot 106 XN in the Summer of 2004. This car was a total deathtrap (there was glass under the seats) but the most fun to drive. In terms of luxury it had a cassette player and a 'light left on' alarm and that was it ! I graduated through the ranks and purchased a 206 HDI SE 2.0 litre turbo and then a brand new 207 1.6i Sport in January 2007. In September 2007 I got a new job that was a long way from home. I live in Chatham and the office was in Basildon so the 207 simply wasn't going to cut it. I'm 6'5" and needed something more suited for motorways and I'd felt that I had outgrown hatchbacks in more than just a physical way.

My wife was reluctant for me to make a purchase with my heart rather than my head so the caveat was that we would have to look at other saloons as well as the 407. My criteria was that the car needs to be very big, well equipped, reliable and under £15,000

Volkswagen Jetta - Nice size but not the right price (virtually no depreciation on these models unluckily for the second hand buyer)

Alfa Romeo 156 - In the words of Terry Tibbs "Beautiful Car, Beautiful" but not known for their reliability

Renault Laguna - Did not like the look of these at all

There were of course many others but these are the only ones I can remember at the moment.

Therefore the honour fell to the 407, which I was very pleased with ! At the time my local dealer Robins and Day Rochester had 2 407's for sale. Both were 2 litre HDi (turbodiesel) and SE Trim level and were attractively priced at a touch under £13000 and only a year old. I looked at the silver one first but as soon as the key was turned the engine management lights flashed all over - my look to the salesperson said that I wouldn't be placing a deposit on that model. The next one I viewed was a 2006 Ruby Red 407. This ticked all the boxes and after a test drive I was very happy with this model - all that was left was to convince the wife. She was very sad to see our brand new 207, that at the time was only 7 months old go. I was too but we needed something more suited to our circumstances. At this stage we were engaged and so we needed to think of the future. I negotiated the purchase price of the car down to £10990 and made sure that I got a good price for the 207 which was quite easy as the car was very new at the time and there were not many second-hand 207s for sale.

So in Mid - August 2007 I picked up the car with 14,000 miles and was the proud second owner, the first being Peugeot Motor Corporation PLC who used it at their head office in Coventry.

The best features of this car :

Dual Zone climate control - Really useful if you and your spouse cannot agree on the temperature. It blows out Ice cold air in the summer and nice hot air in the winter. I had this re-gassed recently but it kept leaking. The dealer replaced the air conditioning condensor under warranty (normally a £440 repair) It's now back down to a very crisp temperature of 5 degrees at it's lowest setting.

Bluetooth hands-free installation - make and receive calls through the car radio. With some phones it works off voice activation as well

FM Radio displays the artist and name of the track

Cruise control and speed limiter - I find the limiter helps with my drive up and down the A2 every day

Lights under the door - Useful for seeing puddles when you leave the car according to my wife

The only option Peugeot selected was metal door kick sills which add a touch of class to the cabin !

Tyre pressure sensors - Let's you know when there's a puncture or low tyre pressure.

Pearlescent paint (a £400 option at the time of sale) is simply stunning.

Boot space is massive - A relative was recently looking at a Mercedes S Class and the boot in the 407 is bigger

6 forward gears - The 6th gear really contributes to reducing fuel costs

Loads of space in the front. I have it set up so It's like I'm sitting in an armchair.

Armrests in the front and back - An essential for long journeys and those who like me have long chimp-like arms :-)

Boot can be opened remotely and the manual boot opener is in fact the '0' in the 407 badge

Great looking centre console

Informative computer display on the console which shows time, outside temperature, climate control level, radio station and fuel consumption all on the same screen

Automatic lights and wipers - much better than they were on my old 206.

Bad Points

Reverse parking sensors are NOT standard on the pre 58 registration models. Make sure you get these as you cannot see the front or back of the car very well

Servicing costs - I understand that these are amongst the highest in it's class. However it only needs to be serviced every 20k miles or 2 years.

Tyre pressure sensors usually require calibration from a main dealer

Rear space is quite cramped - Not an issue for me as I'm always in the front !

Some may feel that the centre console has too many buttons

So how has been to live with ? I've done over 40,000 miles since the purchase in August 2007 and I've had a few problems. The issues I have had are :

Faulty air conditioning condensor

Faulty tyre pressure sensors - Took dealer 3 hours to properly calibrate on one occassion but usually doesnt take more than about half an hour for tyre fitting and calibration

Front dipped beam bulbs frequently kept exploding for about a month

3 tyres replaced - they are an awkward size and dimensions and cost between £100 - £200 for a decent tyre to be put on

4 new brake pads and discs at around 42k miles - £200+. Covered under the 'brakes for life' programme so the brake pads will get replaced if they wear.

I've serviced it around every 10k miles and it has cost between £99 and £400 a time. I have had the air conditioning serviced and re-gassed £90. There are reports that the 407 diesels drink oil but I've never had a problem with mine although I always check the level and top up the oil every few weeks.

At the moment a full tank of diesel costs about £55 and lasts about 8 days (bearing in mind I do a 70 mile daily commute from Chatham to Woolwich that includes city driving). The fuel counter says that my average is about 47 Miles per gallon.

Insurance I think is group 10 and it costs me around £600 to insure fully comp.

I've used three main dealers when having servicing and warranty work done on my car - Robins and Day Rochester, Robins and Day Maidstone and Toomeys of Basildon. The customer service has been good everytime although sometimes you do need to ask for more details. For example I had a 'major' recall for the car but was never told what this was for. There was also a bit of a discrepancy regarding their safety check. This is something that Peugeot dealers do when a car is brought in for any work - they'll check the tyre depths, brake pad wear and other features for free. One dealer said that the rear offside tyre had 6mm + of tread and then when I took it to another dealer a week later they said that there was only 2mm + of tread left on the same tyre and did I want it replaced ? As a Trading Standards officer I'm naturally very suspicious of this and have since had this double checked ! (Thankfully the first dealer was correct). Main dealers used to give courtesy cars completely free of charge but I understand that they now charge £15/day for this.

In the past there were issues with Peugeot customer service but they seem to have made an effort now and after every bit of work I have done I get a courtesty call and the promise that any issues will be corrected ASAP.

Our family recently increased by one so the back seat has had a baby seat fitted. 407s are not ISOFIX fitted as standard so we had to purchase a base unit.

When thinking about buying a 407 make sure you check the following :

Tyre depth - as mentioned above these can be fairly costly to replace after purchase and willl probably involve calibration

Suspension - check how the ride feels as pre March 2006 models are known to have faults with the suspension, but most would have been corrected under warranty

Electrics - check that all the electric menus work correctly and that the display functions.

Parking sensors - get these put on before purchase if buying from a main dealer as Peugeot charge £200 to have them fitted (although much cheaper third party ones are available)

Consider investing in a decent warranty. I've had a lot of work done with my previous cars and they have saved me a lot of money. The Peugeot extended warranty cost me £300 on the 206 (It's the same for the 407) and I had over £1000 worth of work done under it. As with all warranties read the small print and make sure it covers the components that are most likely to fail i.e. cambelt, clutch. Many warranties cover these areas now.

In Summary the 407 is a great car to own and drive and certainly ticks all the right boxes for me. I can and do indeed drive it around all day and don't feel tired. So if you are looking for a very reasonably priced saloon with lots of extras as standard then consider the Peugeot 407 !
 

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