Showroom Experience: Peugeot 407

It was a busy weekend in the car industry, with the NZWheels Autohaus relaunch, the Mazda RX-8 facelift launch, the Volvo roadshow in Sunway Pyramid and also the Peugeot 407 test drive campaign organised over the weekend at Peugeot’s Glenmarie and Bangsar Blue Boxes. Yours truly concluded his long weekend with a spin in the newly introduced CKD Peugeot 407 at the Glenmarie Blue Box.

Arriving at the Blue Box

It wasn’t really in my personal agenda, as I had already tested the 407 twice when it was still under the C&C umbrella, but was prompted to do so anyway. Indeed, my test drive of the CBU 407 was sufficiently long ago that I don’t quite recall how it feels like compared to the CKD version I test drove today. When I arrived at the Blue Box at 4pm, there was only a moderate crowd present and I needed not wait for a test drive, although I opted to linger around for a while.

The 407′s appearance (interior and exterior) remains unchanged, which is no bad thing, considering there’s nothing wrong with the way it looks. The interior is well put together, and customers can opt for leather seats and an excellent built-in sat-nav system.  Unfortunately, closer inspection does reveal a couple of glaring imperfections, most of all in versions equipped with the sat-nav, the multifunction display housing mounted on top of the dashboard was poorly moulded, revealing jagged edges that have no place in a car like this.

The test cars await prospective buyers

The standard interior

Poor molding of plastic pieces – not acceptable

However, if you can live with the jagged edges, then you would be wise to spend the RM8k uprating your car to include the sat-nav, which comes with a touch-screen interface that seems not too dissimilar from Apple-based systems. I was given a brief demo by the salesperson, and features include a system that stores notes ‘handwritten’ to the screen, interface between the ICE and video output devices, besides the GPS. A very impressive system, trust me.

An extra RM8k gives you the built-in sat-nav and leather seats.

The car looks the part, but does it drive the part? I can only say, I guess so, because like most public test drives, the route was just a simple spin round the block that usually tells you nothing of the car’s true abilities. On a straight road, flooring the accelerator produces brisk, though not jaw-breaking acceleration. However, I felt the car is a tad on the underpowered side, as the car struggled up a 25 degree slope with the transmission held in 2nd gear. On flat roads however, the engine was sufficiently responsive to cater to town driving needs and long distance relaxed cruising.

Two-litre 140bhp motor struggles to pull 407 up steeper slopes, despite uprated output.

Despite being equipped with Tiptronic-style manual shifting, the 4-speed automatic gearbox felt like a dated unit. It shifted gears smoothly enough, but 4-speeders belong to the lower end of the market these days, and the push-up, pull-down action to change gears manually is hardly the most intuitive setup for spirited driving. Having said that, I did not have the chance to test the gearbox in its ‘Sports and ‘Winter’ modes, perhaps it has a few surprises in there!

Ride and handling characteristics are pretty much what you would expect from a continental car, with excellent balance between comfort and tautness. You can push the car hard at corners, yet you don’t have to worry about being shaken by the next pothole. However, I felt the steering was overly light, robbing it of the much acclaimed ‘feel’ among motoring enthusiasts.

At RM126k – RM134k, the CKD 407 strikes deep into Honda and Toyota territory. While it is unlikely to rob the Camry and Accord of any significant sales, it does present buyers at this price bracket more interesting options. Being a Peugeot, it will still be bogged down by concerns of second-hand prices and maintenance costs. However, for those who are willing to forego those considerations, they are in for a treat.

Verdict:

(+): Ageing design still looks up-to-date, fantastic value for money (your friends are likely to perceive your car as being a good RM40-50k more expensive than it really is), brilliant touch-screen sat-nav. Most importantly, sets you apart from the crowd.

(-): Slightly underpowered (more powerful engine options please…), only 4-speeds, built quality can still be improved. 

More photos from the event:

 
Another 407 on display outside the showroom… and what’s that besides…?

The 308 GT.. coming to a showroom in due course.

The 308‘s interior, with six speeds and three pedals.

Some other releases prior to the launch by Shamsul Yunos:-
Peugeot 407 – new specifications and pre-launch bookings.

Or talk about it in Peugeot Forum here.