407 coupé 2.2 se

[romatic]

On August 16 2007 I bought at a huge discount and after two test drives a 407 coupé SE in black with EVERYTHING on it. Sat Nav, heated leather seats, JB HI-FI, phone etc etc. I think it's the most beautiful car on the road and I feel $1 million in it. This car has PRESENCE on the road. It drives smoothly, has great torque if I need it, and it handles like a dream. It is so well built it feels hand built. And there are hardly any out there, given that Peugeot are only letting in 2500 a year. Are there any other 407 coupé owners out there?

[Admin]

romatic said:

On August 16 2007 I bought at a huge discount and after two test drives a 407 2.2 SE in black with EVERYTHING on it. Sat Nav, heated leather seats, JIB HI-FI, phone etc etc. I think it's the most beautiful car on the road and I feel $1 million in it. This car has PRESENCE on the road. It drives smoothly, has great torque if I need it, and it handles like a dream. It's is so well built it feels hand built. And there are hardly any out there, given that Peugeot are only letting in 2500 a year. Are there any other 407 coupe owners out there?

I think the answer is in the phrase "huge discount". A good enough car but compared to the 406 and 504 coupés not a classic looker.

I drove a 2.7 turbo. It was OK, massive turbo lag though, scary at times. Lovely to be in, not so great to look at.

[504V6Ti]

It's not selling and when it does, mostly to wealthy enough pensioners... In France, it's put together with the Renault VelSatis into the Armoured Tank category (or Auto Mitrailleuse if you prefer!). Sorry (and no offense to pensioners) but the car does have an image problem (who buys a Citroen C5 or a Rover 75?) and the engines are not suited to a bus car that size and weight.

Peugeot designed it themselves without Pininfarina and the result is quite severe: the car is just massive and unattractive. It's a commercial failure, unlike its predecessor with over 100,000 units in 7years. Gone is the sex-appeal of the 406Coupé. You'll find that the 407Coupé won't last 5years and offering it with the latest 136bhp 2.0 diesel engine won't change anything, quite the opposite. This is why there are so few on the road, not because Peugeot "are only letting 2500 a year" (they're finding hard enough to sell these numbers!)

Glad to read that you feel $1 million in it though. This being said, I'd be interested to read what you say about the car next August though...

Beware, this is a car like the 1007: dramatic residual value (again, hence the HUGE discount you've mentionned).

[504V6Ti]

Found some numbers on the 407 Coupé...

Expected production/sales for 2006:
France: 10,000
Germany: 4,500
UK: 3,500
Spain+Italy: 4,500
Others: 2,500

Now, in France in 2006, Peugeot only sold 5,309 units as follows:
Peugeot people: 2,384
Garages: 1,892
Fleet: 730
Private individuals: 303

Production figures for 2007: about 40 Coupés a day so far. Still very far from the projected 25,000 units a year.

To think that the 406Coupé sold in excess of 10,000 in its first few months and Peugeot had to increase production to keep up with demand!

[romatic]

No, the 407 coupé is not selling. The list price is too expensive. But if you can buy one like I did at a huge discount, the 407 coupé is terrific value for money. I don't know what is happening elsewhere, but here in Scotland Peugeot are selling them cheaply to the dealers to generate sales, and obviously the dealers are passing on the savings. I've had mine four months now and I love the car even more. Yes the 406 coupé and the 504 coupé were beautiful and sold well, but they were beset with problems with their electrics. So far, my 407 coupé has been faultless, touch wood. Je ne regrette rien! Rien du tout! And I REALLY REALLY loved the "MEN ARE BACK" advert.

[Admin]

I don't know if it was after the fact justification but I did ask the marketing director of Peugeot Uk about the 407 coupé at the cpuk agm.

Apparently Peugeot held a design competition between Pinninfarina and their own in house team for the design of the 407 coupé and the in house team won. Mind you there is no way of knowingif it was a level playing field or if the actual decision was pre made as it were but he also indicated that Peugeot were happy with sales of the coupé and were fully expecting it to be a much smaller seller than the 406.

While this is easy to say, he did admit that the 1007 was an almighty disaster in sales terms so it may well be the truth. Peugeot are probably putting their mass sales faith in the new Audi TT rival the 308 RC Z, which is stunning.

I do agree with romatic though. In side the 407 coupé is a great place to be and it's in no way a bad car. The 406 is still drop dead gorgeous but as 504V6Ti will readily admit, it's not always on the road!

[504V6Ti]

admin said:

Apparently Peugeot held a design competition between Pinninfarina and their own in house team for the design of the 407 coupé and the in house team won.

I think this is the diplomatic story. Reality appears that the Peugeot-Pininfarina relationship went sour, mostly because of quality issues at the Italian factory. Hence Peugeot choice to do it alone on the 407Coupé and hence the look of it...

[Piston Broke]

admin said:

I drove a 2.7 turbo. It was OK, massive turbo lag though, scary at times. Lovely to be in, not so great to look at.

Wheras i've drive the SW with that same engine, and it was not afflicted with lag. I now the high output 2.2 HDi can be very variable from car to car, so wonder if the V6 hDi can also be that way?