Peugeot 407 Coupe | Shed of the Week
Fancy eh? There's a good reason for that...
This week's choice, a Peugeot 407 Coupe, is a strong entrant for the Bad Parking thread. Equally controversially it’s at the top end of our recently discussed £2k limit.
Don't worry, we won't be automatically choosing £1,995 offerings from now on. Shed has been ordered to weigh up the pros and cons of his now much larger selection (over 1,200 cars in PH classifieds compared to nearer 300 on the old £1,500 limit) and to make a considered judgement based not only on price but also on appeal, interest, rarity and smut potential. Knowing him he’ll be positively discriminating against the posher motors. Let’s roll with it for a bit and see what happens.
Priceyness is appropriate this week actually because when these 407 Coupes were released in the UK in September 2005 they weren't cheap. The premium over the equivalent 407 saloons was a punchy £7k, putting the 3.0 SE at £26,700. In return you got a not very urgent 208hp 2.9-litre V6 which, with 1,640kg to pull along, meant a 0-62mph time of 8.7 seconds and a combined fuel figure of 27mpg that dropped to under 19mpg in town. It was lush though, with heated leather seats, JBL audio, a CD autochanger, front parking sensors, electric tilt/slide front seats and directional headlamps.
The £28,400 GT that you're looking at here was the range-topper, not because it was faster than or mechanically different to the SE but because it added sat nav and a leather dash. Shed isn't interested in mundane matters like tax, which is why his HMRC case is coming up next week, but if this sort of thing is important to you he thinks it's £360 a year for a GT of this vintage.
The GT wasn't the flagship 407 Coupe, mind. That was the 205hp twin-turbo 2.7-litre V6 diesel, featuring the unit used by Jaguar in its S-Type and XJ and by Land Rover in its Discovery. Prices for that auto-only variant were £29,200 for the SE and £30,900 for the GT. How times change. One minute diesels were all the rage, the next they were making U-turning governments rage. If Peugeot was making the 407 Coupe today it would probably be a 1.0 three-cylinder hybrid.
That might have allowed them to chop a few yards out of the pendulous body overhangs which made the 407 Coupe so visually challenging from quite a few angles, especially in lighter hues. When confronted by outraged punters at shows, Peugeot stand staff usually resorted to mumbling some old nonsense about pedestrian protection before pointing at an imaginary squirrel and running off.
What went wrong then? Well, unlike earlier big Pug coops such as the Pininfarina-penned 406 and 504, the 407 was designed in house, a good reason some might say for getting out of the house more. Still, let's be glad Peugeot wasn't tempted to follow the fashion of the time by putting a troubletastic folding metal roof on it.
Shed thinks that these Coupes might have been built on a separate line with a bit more attention to quality control. The ones you see for sale do seem to be lasting quite well. At the end of 2020 we highlighted a Jan '06 65,000-mile 3.0 SE auto at £1,500. That one had a non-functioning electric tailgate and a flat front tyre but it's passed two MOT tests since then, the last one advisory-free.
Today's March '06 shed has a higher mileage (98,000) but it also has the more desirable 6-speed manual box. The only advisory on its just-done MOT test was the fitment of trays. Shed has a love/hate relationship with trays. He likes eating his dinners off them, often on his own, but he doesn't like the sound they make on his head when Mrs Shed is swinging one.
Previous MOT tests suggest that at least three coil springs and one brake disc have been replaced in recent times, and before that some steering and suspension consumables were sorted out. It’s all par for the course on these quite heavy cars. Front end ball joints routinely go. The trick is to attend to them before the inner ballrace is completely destroyed. Let it reach that point and you'll be scouring the auction sites for a complete new hub assembly.
The electrics weren't perfect either. Windows could fritz out, as could sensors generally and sometimes the main brain. You could even lose your horn. The headlamp washer covers are present and correct on this one which is a good thing as they often fall off. At least one wheel on this week's shed has a Pilot Sport 4 tyre on it. The next owner might decide that good rubber is a waste of money because, although these big-motored Coupes were comfy cruisers with good seats, they did munch through tyres at a fair rate.
As for this car, as others have said. I couldn't own a Peugeot of this era
The prior Pininfarina designed cars were so elegant and amongst the best looking of their time. Then for whatever reason they decided to put a gopping nose on them all and make ugly cars. Dont deserve my money for that reason alone
I agree the 406 coupe was a prettier car and that this is awkward to look at from certain angles, but it is good looking and certainly interesting.
It has the right engine (hearing diesel clatter from a coupe freaks me out everytime), good colour scheme and seeing a full set of Michelin PS4 tyres is a huge plus! Tells you so much about the previous owner!
I've always liked the 405 and 406 from years gone by, but this doesn't get my juices flowing quite so much though. I just struggle to get on with the way it looks. In saying that this is a good blast from the past and probably worth a punt I reckon.
A mate, who was a fully functioning car salesman at the time bought a 407 coupe at about 3 years old when the part exchange price they gave the punter was too low to ignore. I think he kept it a couple of years and it halted in price again.
It was an utterly hateful thing, the interior, even for it’s day was laughably grim in quality.
And yet this became the Peugeot design philosophy for a decade of new models at least. Maybe they knew something I didn't as you still saw a lot of Peugeot about, but after the delicate 405 and the very crisp and handsome 406, being confronted by this had me running for some more free vin rouge!
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