No Regrets?
by David Finlay (21 Nov 06)

If you started at Land's End and asked everyone you met to name the first Peugeot that came to mind, you would probably be north of Inverness before you found anybody who gave the 607 as an answer. By far the largest model in the range (apart from the 807 MPV), it suffers from Large French Car Syndrome - people in the UK just don't seem to be interested in this sort of thing when there are so many British and German equivalents to choose from.

Over the next twelve months, therefore, Peugeot expects to sell only about 1000 607s (which is still a few more than Citroen's claim for the C6), and most of those are likely to go to corporate buyers. A Peugeot spokesperson recently told me - with a frankness that I found quite refreshing - that few private customers could be expected to buy new, simply because the car depreciates like a punctured balloon in the first twelve months.

Obviously, that's not an exact quote, but you get the idea. Since fleet business justifies the selling of 607s in the UK, this new model makes a lot of sense. It's fitted with the Ford/PSA Peugeot Citroen 170bhp 2.2-litre turbo diesel engine, which combines adequate performance (0-62mph in 9.3 seconds and a maximum of 139mph) with accountant-friendly fuel consumption (44.1mpg combined) and CO2 emissions (170g/km).

These figures make the car quite appealing to private buyers too, but the 607 has other charms which can't be enumerated so easily. It's reasonably attractive, mostly because the wide-mouthed frog look characteristic of other Peugeots isn't as pronounced here. It's also comfortable, and it has a lot of space for front passengers and for luggage (509 litres), though the rear is surprisingly cramped considering the overall size of the car; I doubt that four occupants could happily travel very far in it if they were all over six feet tall.

It doesn't feel in any way like a luxury car, but it rides quite well, with better body control than large French saloons of the past. In fact, it's not much less nimble than the similarly-powered 407 SW, which says a lot for how good a job the Peugeot engineers have done on the suspension.

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