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By
EWAN KENNEDY in Jerez
19 March 2006
Peugeot has introduced the coupe-cabriolet variant of the 207 in
Europe. Coming from the company that invented the concept of a folding
hardtop, way back in 1936, the new 207CC is a two-mode sporting car that
can be driven as a closed coupe or a full cabriolet.
A pretty machine using the latest evolution of the
expansive-grille Peugeot styling theme, the 207CC, while looking
its best with the top down, still has plenty of stylish presence
even with the roof raised. The bold design of the sculpted sides
works particularly well, giving this 207 the appearance of a
full-on sports machine.
The 207CC's roof is now fully automatic, unlike that of it’s
predecessor, the 206CC, which required manual unlocking of the
roof at the header rails. The 207CC's roof can even be opened and
closed at speeds of up to 10 km/h, thus giving you the opportunity
to turn it into a topless car almost at a whim.
For example you can power it down while you are slowing to a
stop at a red traffic light as it only takes 25 seconds for the
complete operation. A fascinating pictogram of folding roof
operation is shown on central screen to let you keep track of its
position.
As the Peugeot 207CC is about half a size larger than the 206CC
it has good space in the front seats and two large adults find
themselves comfortable. The driver’s seat is now height
adjustable, when combined with a steering wheel that can be moved
both telescopically and vertically this gives a large range of
driving positions.
The back seat remains strictly an emergency-only proposition as
only small children can be carried, and even then the front
occupants will have to surrender some legroom by moving forwards.
A boot volume of 145 litres when the roof is lowered isn’t
bad in a cabriolet of this size, and it expands to a positively
cavernous 449 litres when used in coupe mode. An optional luggage
rack can be fitted.
Power comes from a choice between three 1.6 litre engines: two
petrols and one turbo-diesel. The latter hasn’t been confirmed
for Australia, but may come later as Peugeot has been a strong
player in the diesel field in Australia for many years.
The petrol engines come with or without a turbocharger and have
outputs of 88 and 110 kilowatts. Torque is a feature of both
petrol engines, with the 110 kW twin-scroll turbo unit being
especially impressive as its torque peak of 240 Nm is at an
amazingly low 1400 rpm. Thus the engine will be giving its best
for most drivers virtually all of the time. Lag is minimal so
throttle response is good.
With this sort of torque it comes as no surprise that there's
torque steer if you get stuck into the throttle of the 207CC. We
don’t mind this as it gives the sporting Peugeot a lively
character, but sloppy drivers should be aware of this
characteristic (or stop being sloppy).
The lower-powered of the two petrol engines can be mated to a
five-speed manual gearbox or a four-speed automatic transmission.
The higher-powered unit is a manual-only proposition. This is a
common practice in Europe where they don’t particularly like
automatics, but may put off some Australian buyers.
Ride quality of the new Peugeot coupe-cabriolet is good on most
roads and scuttle shake is all but absent even on bumpy surfaces.
We noticed a fair bit of tyre/road noise on some coarse-chip
surfaces during our initial tests drives of the 207CC in southern
Spain, but will have to wait until the car is launched in
Australia before we can comment in detail on this.
Safety is featured highly in the new 207CC. There are no fewer
than five airbags, including one in the lower portion of the
steering column to protect the driver’s knees in a crash. The
rear rollover bars are pyrotechnic and pop up in a moment if
sensors realise that the car is flipping.
The Australian debut of the new Peugeot 207CC is scheduled for
June this year. Prices have yet to be finalised but the local
importer expects it to sell for between $35,000 to $40,000
depending on model and equipment levels.
These prices are impressive, being much the same as those of
the Peugeot 206CC when it was launched in 2001. That’s despite
the 207CC being larger and better equipped than its predecessor.
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Marque Publishing Company
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