SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.

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*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the stories.

We try out the Peugeot 207 1,4 VVT Active

Quirky but cute

Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday March 10, 2010

Facelifted in July 2009 and released in SA at the end of September, the new-look Peugeot 207 boasts a revised front end (larger grille) new taillight treatment with LEDs, a service plan and upgraded interior. Minor controls still follow the quirky back to front layout typical of French cars, but you get used to them, non?

It also dropped the letter-based model nomenclature and gained names: Urban, Active and Dynamic. A new 1,4 litre engine, for the 5-door Active version, was added too. This is a Euro 4-compliant, 1 397 cc, variable valve timing (VVT) unit developing 70 kW at 6 000 rpm and 136 Nm of torque at 4 000 rpm.  Claimed figures include 11,5 seconds for 0 – 100 and a top speed of 185 km/h. Combined cycle fuel consumption, useful only for comparing against other manufacturer’s claims, is given as 6,1 l/100 km.

The car under review is the 5-door 1,4 VVT Active version that’s available only with 5-speed manual shift and is priced at R170 500.

 The “Active” designation means you gain, compared with basic Urban models, the slightly bigger, more powerful and cleaner engine, colour-coded door handles, rear fog lights, side airbags in addition to those in front, cruise control with speed limiter, electrically operated outside mirrors, boot lighting, an anti-theft alarm system and an electrically switched kiddie lock for the back doors.

So what’s it like to live with? It’s described on Wikipedia as a supermini, so don’t expect limousine-like space. Rear seat legroom for six-footers is a bit cramped, headroom for them is best described as adequate and entry and exit for those with big feet earns only an “OK.” Don’t get me wrong, though. All the above are noticeably better than those for another European product I drove recently and that costs about twice as much.

The 70 kW motor provides very pleasant, if not pavement-shredding, performance. Just right for us sensible mortgage payers who like nice things but have nothing to prove, in fact. Overall road manners are excellent, interior trim is of good quality and the view outward would get four stars on my personal evaluation chart.

I only marked it down because, in common with many new cars, the upward body swoop towards the back results in oddly shaped rear side windows that don’t benefit vision over one’s shoulders. Again, this is not as bad as on some others I have met.

My beloved gave it the wifely seal of approval: “Cute - we’ll have one of these.”

The numbers

Price: R170 500

Engine: 1 397 cc inline four cylinder with VVT

Power: 70 kW at 6 000 rpm

Torque: 136 Nm at 4 000 rpm

Zero to 100 km/h (claimed): 11,5 seconds

Maximum speed (claimed): 185 km/h

Fuel consumption: 6,1 l/100 km claimed and about 8,0 l/100 km over 250 km of real world testing

Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km

Service plan: 4 years/60 000 km

 

 

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.

What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax. 

So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!

 

 

Comments?

Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you thoroughly disagree with what I say? That's your privilege, because if everybody agreed on everything, the world would be a boring place. All I ask is that you remain calm, so please blow off a little steam before venting too vigorously. Contact me here

 

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