Peugeot 407 Coupe Review

The Peugeot 407 Saloon was introduced to the UK in June 2004 and was closely followed by the very popular 407 SW (estate) in the following September. By the end of 2006 over 50,000 407’s had been sold in the UK to a mixture of both fleet and private buyers.

We had to wait until January 2006 for the introduction of the 407 Coupe the direct replacement for the popular 406 Coupe. Having recently tested the Peugeot 407 SW we thought that e would see how the Coupe fairs. We quite liked the 406 Coupe when we drove it, nearly 10 years ago, but cars have changed a lot since then. The 406 Coupe was entitled by some as the poor mans Ferrari 456, something that we could never see but it was a very pretty car, penned by the same designer as the Ferrari 456. Unlike the 406 Coupe the Peugeot 407 Coupe has been styled in house by Peugeot rather than using Lorenzo Ramaciotti at Pininfarina.

We tested the Peugeot 407 Coupe HDi V6 Sport priced at £24,820 OTR.

There is a choice of four engines; there are two petrol and two diesels - a four cylinder 2.2-litre petrol, a V6 3.0-litre petrol, 2.0 HDi 136 FAP diesel and a V6 2.7-litre HDi diesel.

Irrespective of engine, the 407 Coupe is fi tted with a six-speed gearbox. The 2.2-litre petrol engine has a manual gearbox, the V6 diesel engine an automatic gearbox and the V6 petrol engine can be fitted with either a manual or automatic gearbox. The manual or automatic gearbox offers six gears adapted to the specific power and torque characteristics of each engine.

We drove the V6 2.7-litre HDi Diesel fitted with a six-speed automatic gearbox, which at first might seem an odd combination but they are really well suited to each other. The gearbox can be left in the normal fully automatic mode, which offers near seamless changes or you can use the sequential mode which favours more participative use with manual gear changes for all six gears by means of the ‘Porsche Tiptronic’ control system. The sports mode optimises the changes for a more enthusiastic response and there is also a winter mode which helps to reduce wheel spin on wintry surfaces such as ice or snow.