Peugeot 4007
Road test - April 2008

When I first drove the 4007 in October of last year, I was impressed with what I found. It was with some considerable enthusiasm, therefore, that I approached this road test. I was handicapped by the fact that I absolutely loved the test car I had been driving the previous week, the Peugeot 207 SW, so when I set off initially I was a little uneasy, as the two cars were so different. However, within a very short distance I had acclimatised myself to my new surroundings and the 4007 quickly began to grow on me. Before very long I was completely at home in it and loving every minute of the experience.
There are those who hate SUVs or Crossovers, or whatever you want to call them and say that they are completely out of place in an urban environment. I have to disagree very strongly with those sentiments. In north Dublin and Fingal our urban roads are in a shocking state with potholes the size of craters, humps and bumps, not to mention severe flooding whenever we get a bit of rain. Fortunately the 4007 took all this in its stride, allowing me to go about my daily business. Then on narrow twisting little roads, that are completely inadequate for the volume of traffic they have to carry, it is actually much safer to sit up higher, so that you can get a clearer view of the hazards up ahead. It is also comforting to know that when conditions deteriorate on these pathetic little roads, you simply have to twist a knob at your side to get the safety of the extra traction provided by four wheel drive.
The more I drove the 4007, the more I liked it. It was especially comforting and reassuring on longer journeys down the country, where its better all round vision enables you to see a lot more of the potential hazards along the road in plenty of time.

The test car was powered by Peugeot’s 2.2 litre, turbocharged diesel engine, driving a six speed manual gearbox. It delivers 115 kW at 4,000 rpm and 380 Nm @ 2,000 rpm. This is sufficient for a top speed of 199 kph (123 mph) and a 0-100 kph acceleration time of 9.9 seconds. That nippy acceleration is useful around town, but absolutely brilliant out in the country, where it enables you to pass slower traffic quickly and safely, especially on narrow country lanes, when you are stuck behind a tractor and trailer combination. Even on main roads, the ability to pass slower traffic quickly and then get back on to your correct side of the road, is a huge safety factor.
Many years ago, my first company car was a three door 1.1 litre Ford Escort. It had a pathetic performance and it never got more than 26 mpg in city traffic. This big comfortable, safe and effortless cruiser has been measured at 29 mpg, while cruising outside the urban areas it gives 47 mpg. This averages out at 39 mpg on the combined cycle. I find that to be very satisfactory.

The interior was mainly black, with items of silver trim to relieve the sombre surroundings. While it would not be my preferred option, I could live with it if I had to. Fortunately the layout is very user friendly. The three heating/ventilating controls are clearly marked and easy to reach by both the driver and the front passenger. Much the same applies to the audio equipment. The small central Digital panel above the audio equipment, which houses the digital clock, was however, impossible to see in certain exterior lighting conditions. For some reason the speedometer on the test car was marked in mph, so you had to keep this in mind when effortlessly cruising along our kph restricted roads.

Like most cars today, the rear bench seat is capable of seating three people, but it is far more comfortable when only two adults occupy this space. It is divided 60/40 so is adaptable in carrying both passengers and awkward items of luggage. The seat backrests initially fold horizontally onto the seat cushion, but then the whole assembly tips up into a horizontal position behind the front seats.

Behind the second row of seats, below the luggage floor, there are two additional seats. Unlike most of the competition, where these two additional seats are separate, so that you can have one or both in use, the seat in the 4007, is a single bench seat with two places. It was hard and cramped and looked to be anything but comfortable. In a family car it looked to be the “Bold Child’s seat !”
With today’s plethora of safety legislation, many ordinary Irish families actually need seven seats. For weekends and family outings, the 4007 will be just fine. Likewise as a general family hack for shopping, whether it be for the normal food supplies, or for special items like household furniture or garden equipment, the 4007 will serve the ordinary Irish family well. The difficulty comes when you go on holiday and need all seven seats and you have all the family luggage to accommodate. It can carry up to 80 kg in a suitable container on the roof, or it can tow braked trailers/caravans of up to 2000 kg. The actual luggage capacity varies from a miniscule 0.184 cubic metres with all seven seats in use, through an acceptable 0.441 cubic metres with five seats in place to an almost van like 1.686 cubic metres with just two seats and loading to the roof. In other words it has that essential requirement of every family car - ADAPTABILITY !

Above : Seats six and seven erected
Below left : Five seat luggage space ----- Below right : Maximum two seat luggage space

One interesting feature is the sill across the rear of the luggage area. It can be opened into a horizontal position, which provides a handy seat for outdoor activities and it can be used to load and unload awkward items. It is clearly shown in the open position in the picture above left.
In days gone by 4x4 vehicles were designed for off-road use, but could still naturally be used on-road. Then Suzuki introduced the Vitara, which was basically an on-road vehicle that had a limited off-road capability. It was obviously a brilliant idea, as it took off in a big way and before long it had been joined by a host of similar vehicles. Over time these were called, first “Soft off-roaders” and then Sport Utility Vehicles. When manufacturers like BMW got involved, the term Utility was no longer acceptable to them so they coined the phrase Sport Activity Vehicle. Other manufacturers decided on Crossover, so you are left with a lot of choice in the matter.
Whatever you prefer to call them, apart from Land-Rover, Jeep, Mitsubishi and one or two others, their off-road abilities are limited. Yes, you can turn off the tarred road and drive up a sand road to your farmhouse. Yes, you can safely drive along the various tracks on your estate, or cross a reasonably flat field to leave an extra bale of hay for the sheep, but taking to virgin countryside is not what they were designed for. While Peugeot do give approach, departure and breakover angles for the 4007, which is unusual amongst this type of vehicle, the 4007 is not a 4x4 designed for off-road use. If that is what you are looking for, you would be much better off with a Land-Rover Freelander 2, which costs about the same amount of money, with a similar engine. While the 4007 can be locked in four wheel drive, it does not have a set of low ratios and its ground clearance is very modest, even by SUV standards. If even more proof were needed, it comes equipped with a Spacesaver spare wheel ! While this is perfectly adequate for on-road use, it would be totally useless off road where maximum grip and traction are needed. Can you imagine descending a rocky slope, or powering through soft sand and having to rely on a narrow Spacesaver tyre for grip and traction ?
No the Peugeot 4007 is much more of the Grand Tourer and even though it does not have the panache of its 407 Coupe sister, it would still be an ideal vehicle for a similar roll. It is spacious and comfortable, it offers an excellent view all round, it has plenty of space for luggage and souvenirs and it is an effortless performer on the open road.

That brings us back to the SELF APPOINTED Green Experts, who claim to be on a mission to save the planet. These people will tell you, that this sort of car is anti-social and will be the cause of the world self-destructing, before you can say CO2. I looked at its carbon dioxide exhaust emission figure and then I went back over the past three years and looked at the corresponding figures for the large family cars I had road tested during that period. This even included another Peugeot, the 407 Estate. Some had petrol engines, others diesels, most had manual gearboxes, but there were also automatics. Some had smaller engines, as small as 1.5 litres, while others had engines of a similar size. The figures I came up with varied from a low of 130 gm/km to a high of 247 gm/km, so at 194 gm/km, the Peugeot 4007 is not horribly out of line with the competition. You could get a smaller car, but will it safely accommodate five children ? You could always get two smaller cars and you can take half the family in one and your wife could follow with the other half in the second car. But two ideal 120 gm/km cars, besides being much more anti-social and divisive, taken together would emit 240 gm/km, which makes the 4007 look like a very frugal economy car, by comparison. Maybe, like Adolf Hitler and his Nazi philosophy, this green doctrine, is just so much propaganda, designed to give certain self appointed dictators a lot of power !

Technical data