A tasty French alternative to gloomy Teutonic rivals; in association with fish4cars Alistair Coull drives the Peugeot 407 Coupe 2.0 HDI 136.Byline: Alistair Coull WHEN the Peugeot 406 coupe was new, I think it was back in 1998,1 thought it was the prettiest car I had ever seen. Unlike the 406 Coupe, the 407 coupe isn't designed by Pininfarina, nor is it built in Italy. It was shaped in-house by a design team based near Paris, and is built on a separate line of the 407 factory at Rennes. But it still looks pretty and it is a mouthwatering mouth·wa·ter·ing or mouth-wa·ter·ing adj. Appealing to the sense of taste; appetizing: the mouthwatering aroma of a baking pie. alternative to the dark, gloomy interiors of German-built coupe rivals with hard seats and an even harder sporty ride. Happily, the French continue to sing from their own song sheet - giving us cars like the 407 Coupe that have light, breezy interiors, squidgy seats and a floaty Float´y a. 1. Swimming on the surface; buoyant; light. Adj. 1. floaty - tending to float on a liquid or rise in air or gas; "buoyant balloons"; "buoyant balsawood boats"; "a floaty scarf" buoyant ride. What's even better, French cars these days are more sensibly priced and come as standard with all sorts of electronic trickery, such as rain-sensing wipers and tyre-pressure sensors to make them even more appealing. And, best of all, French cars are cool. You certainly find this with Peugeot's 407 Coupe. With its huge lights and a massive mouth, it has all the front-end drama of a supercar Supercar is a term used for a high-end sports car, typically an exotic or rare one, whose performance is highly superior to that of its contemporaries. The proper application of the term is subjective and disputed, especially among enthusiasts. from a certain Italian factory. It is very cool, very striking and, we're told, very safe in an accident with five Euro NCap stars for front and side impact, two for pedestrian safety and four for child protection. It is also well equipped. For pounds 20,990, you get electric seats, door mirrors that fold away when the car's locked, parking sensors, hazard warning lights hazard warning lights npl (AUT) → señales fpl de emergencia hazard warning lights hazard npl (Aut) → feux mpl de détresse that come on automatically if you brake hard, headlamps that come on when it's dark and wipers that come on when it's raining. Also, there are airbags, for your head, your ears, your passenger and a steering column airbag that protects your knees. Mind you, the test car was fitted with a few optional extras that pushed the price up to almost pounds 28,500 - leather upholstery with heated seats, directional bi-xenon headlights, front parking aid (very useful with that long snout), 19-inch alloys and ultra-low profile tyres. The cockpit was a bit dark, but happily there was nothing Germanic about the ride. There's lots of grip if you want to press on, and tidy handling if you press on too much. But you still have that French float, which isolates you beautifully from the British road workers' slap-happy attitude to making repairs or Liverpool's Big Dig. Not everything in the garden was rosy, however. There are four decent seats, and a boot big enough to take everyone's luggage, but legroom leg·room n. Room in which to stretch the legs while seated. legroom Noun space to move one's legs comfortably, as in a car legroom n → is on the tightish side, and if the driver has his seat set low there's nowhere to push your toes under it. And the back of your head is very close to the sloping rear window The worst part for me, though, was the two-litre oil burner under the bonnet which nearly got me into a bit of bother. There I was approaching a roundabout, foot on the clutch and with second gear already selected. Bags of time, I thought, to be away before that box van arrives. I engaged the clutch, put my foot on the accelerator and absolutely nothing happened. If you were the van driver, I apologise. In any other car, I'd have been a mere speck of dust by the time you got to the same spot as me, but I'm afraid the Peugeot continued to coast. The turbo had gone to sleep, and as a result there was absolutely no power at all. Out on the open road, the Coupe behaved much better. Grand tourer it most certainly is. This car will cruise at the legal motorway maximum all day with barely a murmur from the engine, hardly any wind noise and very little roar from the tyres. The 2.0-litre HDI HDI Human Development Index (UNDP yardstick of human welfare) HDI Help Desk Institute HDI Humpty Dumpty Institute (New York, New York) HDI High Density Interconnect unit has a top speed of 129mph. Acceleration from rest to 62mph is 10.1 seconds, so it's not a sPortscar- Fuel economy is excellent, however. Officially, the test car averages 47.8mpg, although I couldn't get the figure much above 40mpg. The French continue to sing from their own song sheet Peugeot 407 Coupe 2.0 HDi 136 THE FACTS ENGINE: 1,997cc16VHDI VHDI Very High Density Connection Interface 136bhp@4,000rpm 240lb/ft@2,000rpm PERFORMANCE: Top speed: 129mph 0-62mph: 10.1 sees ECONOMY: Town: 36.2/open road: 58.8/ combined: 47.8mpg CO2 EMISSIONS: 156g/gm INSURANCE: Group 14 PRICE: pounds 20,990 without options VERDICT ALL in all, a stylish, nice-riding, well-equipped and well-priced alternative to the Audi TT, BMW's German 3-series or 6-series coupes, or Mercedes Benz Cl or CLK CLK Clock CLK Clerk CLK CDC2-Like Kinase CLK Corel RAVE (file extension) CLK Chep Lap Kok (Hong Kong airport) CLK Ceska Lekarska Komora (Chech) coupes. CAPTION(S): With its long nose and big lights, the 407 Coupe could be mistaken for an Italian supercar; The cockpit is comfortable, logically laid out and easy to use |
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