The Peugeot 607 proved just the car to see me home safely during a recent thunderstorm which resulted in the road I was travelling along more resembling a river in flood than a national route, such was the force of the downpour unleashed from the Heavens.
Cars were reduced to a crawl because of the hazardous driving conditions and the danger was increased by some of the heaviest dump truck traffic in the county, with no fewer than three landfills located along the route. On that day, the spray from these monsters hit passing cars with a vengence, totally obliterating any view.
Fortunately for me the Peugeot 607 is a very big, solid car and it coped brilliantly with the awful conditions to see me home safely through the floods. Lesser cars might have floated all over the place!
I was particularly impressed with the efficiency of the brakes after plowing through all that water. Following a few gentle stabs to test them at a low speed, they proved every bit as effective as ever.
This flagship car scores well in the looks department too! Big, strong and imposing looking, it replaces the marque’s 605 and comes with a lot of high tech equipment. It is aimed primarily at the corporate sector and while not being too flashy, is quite distinctive in style. It will most certainly find its way into many executive parking spaces.
Up front, the long sloping bonnet comes down in a curve to the main grille, guarded by that big Peugeot lion. The side view continues with the sturdy look. Here a black running strip adds adds relief from the body colour as does the chrome around the windows - a really nice touch - and the big black plastic strips between the main side windows.
The solid image is continued on the rear. The car has a pretty big boot, which is operated by the remote control, and can accommodate anything you need to take with you for a good holiday. However, the lid comes up pretty slowly and you might want to give it a hand up the last bit of the way.
The Peugeot 607 comes equipped with all sorts of little luxuries. Firstly, there are four levels of specification - Titanium, Diamond, Ebony and Ivory, each with its own variations of materials and trim.
The review car we had was extremely spacious inside with lots of leg and height room, front and back. The various grey materials worked extremely well together. Nice wood effect along the central console extends right down to the front arm rest, adding interest to the overall look. This wood look is repeated on the side vents and on the two door handles.
The extremely big, comfy seats are covered in a luxury material and this is also featured along the doors. Front seats come with electrical adjustment and the on-board computer can memorise up to four driving positions - that’s if you really want to share it with three other drivers! Rear seats can be folded down, either 2/3 part or whole.
Dark quality plastic covers the dash and the top part of the doors. All in all, it’s a nice, tasteful ‘plush’ look.
The leatherbound steering wheel comes with height and depth adjustment and has a good, solid feel to it. So too had the radio controls on the dash, with a radio remote control stalk off the steering wheel. The button at the end of the windscreen wiper stalk controlled the multi function display, giving information such as date, range, distance travelled, current consumption and your average speed.
The typical Peugeot instrument panel is complete with its five-circle group of instruments featuring white numbers and wands on black with narrow strips of metal surrounding each circle. That combination always looks good.
There are lots of places for odds and ends including a pretty large glove compartment, good sized door cubbies, a coin or glasses cubby under the radio controls and a deep area beneath the three-tiered front arm rest. This arm rest can be moved forward to help find a position for comfort or for driving. Other layers include two cupholders and a cubby for CDs or a mobile phone. Another fair-sized compartment is concealed on the top flat area behind the back seats.
On the safety side, there are four airbags plus inflatable side curtains for head protection in a side impact or roll over situation. The standard ‘S’ spec we tested includes alarm, electric driver’s seat, cruise control, automatic windscreen wipers, electrically operated windows, alloy wheels, central locking, air conditioning, trip computer, CD changer, athermic windscreen (a sun senor is situated on the top dash), and automatic ‘lights-on’.
Among the interesting and useful gadgets are automatic tyre pressure sensors which eliminates having to get fingers dirty when checking tyre pressures ... or nails broken! However, if there is a problem, a warning will come up on the instrument panel.
The entry model is powered by a 2.2-litre, 4-cylinder 160bhp petrol engine which can do the 0-62mph trip in under ten seconds. Depending on how you drive, you’ll most likely get around 30mph for the combined cycle. I found the gears very easy and nice to use. The engine was so quiet you could ‘hear yourself think’.
Driving the Peugeot 607 is a pretty nice experience all-round. So good is the car’s suspension system that you won’t notice any uneven road surfaces or bumps, ensuring a very smooth ride.
An impressive and solid, and very much ‘get me home’ car.
July 2001
by Trish Whelan