Roof down, sun shining, and in top gear the 207CC is hugging the outside lane like its best friend. What can go wrong? Coming down to a roundabout, I lean on brakes and the stealthy little cruiser’s nose dips as the speed washes off. All very poised and controlled. As I roll towards the dashed line, there’s nothing coming, so block change to third and – oh hang on – there it is. Or rather, there it’s not. The car is trapped in 5th. Fortunately when slightly terrified I think quite quickly. Back into 5th, double de-clutch (like Grand Dad used to do) and have another go at it. No problem second time.
Despite that moment, I believe the 207CC is the kind of car you want to own when the world is going a bit to pot. On a sunny day, you press a button and the roof folds away in no time. Then the 1.6 turbo engine lets you pull away like Jenson Button. I pulled away so quickly on one occasion that my phone shot off the dash and now bears a cute little chip in the screen. The 17” alloy wheels are literally on each corner of the car and they send a playful tug of feedback on the steering wheel as you turn out of a parking space or side road. Within 60 seconds all your worries are behind you. Doctors could prescribe a car like this as an anti-depressant.
Provided the patient knows where they are going that is. I was merrily following the Sat Nav around a part of London I don’t know very well and suddenly the system switched itself off. No radio, no Sat Nav. It came back a little while later, but it was a sweaty moment.
So if you are going to use the 207CC for therapy, I suggest heading out of town to the open road. The car is impressively quiet when cruising, roof up or down. The steering is light, as you might expect from a Peugeot, but it feels directly connected to the front wheels which builds your confidence in country lanes.
Impressively, the 1.6T offers 39mpg and sits in band H for road tax. So it’s fun and fairly thrifty. Practicality can be argued either way. The rear seats are more a gesture than a serious passenger provision. Once the roof has folded into the boot, there is only enough room for overnight bags, so the back seats seem quite practical at that point. But there is lots of space in the front and the seats are big and comfortable.
In the city, I found the CC easier to move about than its conventional full-size 5 door brother. Even with the roof up, which I feared might create a blind spot, parking was easy. In short, this is very nearly a car I would buy. It’s almost as compelling as an MX-5. But it is just slightly too effeminate for my tastes – which perhaps explains why most previous owners of the used stock seem to be women.
What’s the market like?
The demand for the Peugeot 207 CC is huge and supply is reasonable. This means that prices, especially in the first two years are rock solid. Depending on the specification, cars losing between £100 and £200 a month on average. Buying nearly new and selling within 2 years is very cheap motoring for a car that is arguably a bit frivolous.
What else can this budget buy?
£12,000-£14,000 doesn’t buy that many nearly-new soft-tops and the only direct rival to the 207CC is the Vauxhall Tigra. Looking at 2007-year cars, the Tigra is up to £2,000 less, but looking at 2008-year cars, it’s about the same. So the Vauxhall is suffering worse depreciation. Which means if you want to spend under £10,000, you need a Vauxhall. If you want a nearly new car however, you will lose a lot less owning the Peugeot for a year.
Summary
It isn’t cheap, but it is tremendously good fun and for a Peugeot depreciation is very light. On equipment levels, power, refinement and versatility it scores very highly.
By: Matthew Tumbridge