Newswheel @ Geneva: Peugeot 207

Newswheel Staff :: 28 February 2006 :: Filed under Hatchback, Peugeot, Peugeot 207, Europe & UK, Trade shows, US

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And so it begins

We’ll make a modest start to our coverage of the offensive display of conspicuous consumption that is the 2006 Geneva Motor Show with Pug’s new baby, the 207…

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Show floor impressions are mixed at best. Exterior-wise, the overall proportions are par for the small Peugeot course, which is no bad thing. But you’d have to be either French or just a pushover for all things Peugeot to fall in love with the front end. The exaggerated lamp clusters are challenging enough, but that gaping grille and beaky bonnet make for a downright gormless visage from some angles.

An unflattering shot of a fairly fugly car

Things get much better inside thanks to a classy overall presentation that gives the new Renault Clio’s dowdy interior a good spanking. Peugeot has also used some unusual fabric-like surface materials for the main dash assembly that really lifts this supermini above the molded plastic masses.

But that’s much more than you can say for the car’s superficial structural integrity. No doubt Peugeot has done its EuroNCAP sums and the 207 will be buried in safety stars. But the hideous clang the rear doors make on closing are straight out of the bad old book of French motor manufacturing, circa 1985.