YOUR BEAUTIFUL – IT’S TRUE
22 January 2006 - Peugeot

“Men are back” is the final pay-off line in a new television commercial breaking on 1 February for the stunning new Peugeot 407 Coupe.

The theme of the commercial is a theoretical world populated by women, no man appears in the commercial at all. In the final scene in comes the new 407 Coupe and we hear “Men are back” spoken. All very strange but true.

Dean Drew, director for advertising at Peugeot said, “The theme of the commercial is to show the 407 Coupe as a car that’s particularly ‘masculine’, not ‘macho’. In claiming, “Men are back” we wanted to reaffirm male values, rather than male domination. We assume the humour will be appreciated by men just as much as women”.

However Peugeot’s PR team this week were quick to point out that whilst 75 per cent of customers who bought the previous 406 Coupe were men, they fully expect more women to be attracted to their new and more glamorous 407 Coupe models which will be in showrooms at the end of January.

With prices ranging from a very acceptable £21,900 to a significant £30,900 the majority of these new 2+2 coupes will be sold into the company and business ‘user chooser’ market sectors where they are a increasing number of female business executives.

Only 2,500 of these 407 Coupes will be available in the UK each year. The Coupe sector is worth around 44,000 units and year and the Peugeot 407 Coupe as a GT style tourer will fill the middle ground between such models as the Mazda RX8 through to Aston Martins and the like. The leading sales contender in the sector is the BMW 3-Series Coupe which accounts for 25 per cent of total sales.

The 407 Coupe is a two-door, four-seater designed in house by Peugeot and built at a rate of just 130 units a week at their specialist-product facility at Rennes in France. This is the third body style in the 407 range and dimensionally it is the largest model. Only the door mirrors are the same as the Saloon and SW models. All exterior panels are new and an aluminium bonnet, composite boot lid and frameless doors reduce weight. Acoustic comfort is improved with the use of laminated glass front and side windows. The now familiar Peugeot smiling face in its latest form fronts this attention grabbing car.

The elegant 407 Coupe is available with 2.2 and V6 3.0-litre petrol engines and the PSA Ford joint venture highly acclaimed V6 2.7-litre HDi turbocharged diesel unit, also used in Jaguar, Land Rover, Ford and Citroen models. Peugeot expect in the UK that initially 50 per cent of customers will opt for the HDi V6 diesel model and 66 per cent will choose a model with automatic transmission. Thirty five per cent of customers will go for the price leading 2.2-litre petrol version. The gap in the line-up appears to be the lack of a tax-busting four-cylinder diesel unit. Watch this space.

The 2.2-litre petrol model is available with a six-speed manual transmission; the V6 petrol with manual or auto transmission options and the V6 diesel is with auto transmission only. The automatic transmission is a six-speed unit with added tiptronic and ‘sport’ modes.

There are three trim levels, the S, SE and GT. The SE includes leather upholstery, stereo sound system, heated front seats and directional bi xenon headlights likely to be the most popular. However the GT with added bespoke leather dashboard and door panels and satellite navigation with a hands free GSM telephone feature will be the favourite for business ‘high-fliers’.

The interior design allows for two sports style front seats and two dished rear seats. Access to the rear is reasonable but the headroom is pretty limited for tallish passengers. A huge boot will carry enough overnight luggage for four people. The quality of the interior is really very good and the car seems well put together. The full-blown leather treatment for the GT versions is very desirable. The array of controls and switchgear is a bit ‘busy’ and it takes time to initially find what button or switch does what.

Safety is another big plus for this car. It is the most torsionally stiff of any Peugeot bodyshells says the manufacturer. It has a Euro NCAP five-star safety rating for passengers and seven airbags as standard. In addition all models have an electronic stability programme that monitors handling, braking and distance control.

For the money it is a styling and technical masterpiece punching well above its weight in the GT grand tourer class.

Although the 163bhp 2.2-litre petrol engine provides enough performance to live up to the sporty good looks, the star of the engine options is the 2.7-litre, 205bhp, turbodiesel unit. It is so quiet you really cannot tell it is a diesel motor. With 330 lb ft of torque delivered from only 1,900rpm it provides punchy performance and superb flexibility and of course better fuel economy. Top speed is 143mph, 3mph slower than the V6 petrol unit but it is marginally faster than its petrol counterpart for the 0-62mph dash covered in 8.5 seconds. Official average fuel consumption figures for the diesel engine show 33.2mpg, but during my short test session 26mpg was recorded still much better than the 22mpg for the V6 petrol version on the same test route.

In its class the 407 Coupe is certainly not the fastest car on offer but neither is it anywhere near the most expensive. It is a well sorted car. The lowered suspension gives a firm but not uncomfortable ride, the handling is precise, faithful, responsive and untiring to drive. Wind noise is minimal due to the laminated glass but there is some tyre noise intrusion on abrasive road surfaces.

There is no doubt that the V6 diesel unit is by far the best and most practical engine in the line-up for the business user. The V6 petrol engine is good as well but it will be costly to run. So the smart customers might just go for the 2.2-litre petrol model, say with S specification and priced at a very good £21,900 so the tax implications are better. It is a relatively small price to pay for all the ‘style’ sat on your driveway to impress the neighbours.

MILESTONES: Peugeot 407 Coupe GT. Price: £30,900. Engine. 2.7-litre, V6, HDi, direct injection turbocharged diesel with FAP particulate filter, 205bhp, 330Nm of torque. Performance; 143mph, 0-62mph 8.5 seconds, 33.2mpg, CO2 226 g/km. For: Good engines and performance, trustworthy handling, well equipped and smart interior, huge style and road presence. Against: Fussy controls, limited rear headroom, high-ish tax implications for company car users using top models.

From Mile Better News Agency

www.peugeot.co.uk

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