Peugeot 406/407

[Welly]

These motoring journalists can get a bit excited though, I think it would be fair to say that the 407 handles well "for what it is" i.e. a large FWD saloon. The double fishbones are the best set up for FWD and maintaining tyre contact with the road, I had a Honda with it once and it felt different, but in a good way.

I've not driven a 407 but I remember chasing one on country lanes and loosing horribly [read: brown trousers] so from me watching the thing hoon round corners as if on rails I deduced the 7 handles pretty well.

I was in the 406 BTW, the Volvo is obviously superior to all other motor vehicles in every respect and I hope Doggy reads this.

[jasper5]

407 Not for me...

From Parkers..

"..... 3 out of 5

Handling

The 407 is fairly easy to drive around town and thanks to the light steering, three-point turns aren't difficult. The ride is excellent and soaks up all but the harshest lumps in the road but the downside is that the handling is far from sharp - it rolls through corners and has remote steering. .... "

Sounds like the reviewer was unfamiliar with dual wishbone front suspension, where the steering feedback is completely separate from the suspension travel. That means you won't feel bumps and ruts in the road in the steering wheel like you do in a 406 with its Macpherson front suspension. It feels a little odd and disconnected at first, but there's still plenty of steering feedback, just less "noise".

What the reviewer will have been familiar with would be the experience of driving a broad selection of cars, and in part, comparing the 407 with them.

Here's what other reviewers said. ....

Autoexpress.

"...numb steering, and below par agility."

What Car.

"And the 407 isn't that much better on twisting country lanes, where despite good grip, it's far from agile.".

Car Buyer

"The Peugeot 407 has striking looks, but isn't great to drive.".

Are they all wrong ?

Yes!

I've driven hundreds of different cars in my 45 years in the car trade.

[PeterN]

My problem is not with the car itself but 16 valve engines and all the associated anti pollution equipment, not as reliable or cheap to repair as the 8 valve 2.0. Hdi.

Peter

[trem1]

All 3 of my 407's have handled superbly on dry country roads, my eldest son had a hyundai coupe that was modified and we used to play chasies sometimes, he had to admit to struggling to keep up with me on corners, so much so he's got a 407 himself these days.

[hammerman]

I went from a 406 estate(2003,hdi 110 remapped) to a 407 sw 3 months ago.I did`nt go looking for a 407,i just found it going very cheap.7 years old,2.2 hdi 170,GT spec with red leather,156k miles.It had a new dmf and clutch 5000 miles before i got it,so i dont have to worry about that!!!So far it has cost me £300 on tyres,2 turbo solonoids,and soon to arrive new vdo maf.
Here are my views.
The 406 was better around your feet and legs for driving.The 406 did much more mpg(45mpg easy V`s 35 mpg in my 407)the 406 was much better on visability looking out the rear estate,and down the bonnet.
My 407 handles really well,can carry much more speed through corners than the 406 could.My 407 sw weighs in at 1793 kgs with half a tank of fuel,so is around 300kgs more than my 406.You can feel the extra weight.The 407 is much more refined and alot quieter inside.More toys on my 407,i have the big screen sat nav version.Being a SW i also have the glass roof.I have the heater flap issue on the 407,and some other problems,but the car was only £1400,for a 7 year old car that was the best part of £25000????.
406`s are becoming rarer as time moves on.Mine was costing a fair bit to keep it going before the engine went.The 407 is no more complicated or harder to work on as a 406.And you cant keep driving old cars forever.Someday you have to upgrade to a newer car,with a dpf etc.You just need to get pp2000 if your sticking with a psa car.
I`ve done 3000 miles in 3 months in the 407,and apart from the turbo solonoid/maf issues,its been good.I have over 3 liters of eloys left,with no dpf issues so far.If you were going for a 407,get a 2.0ltr Hdi.Avoid the 1.6 hdi.The 2.2 hdi is nice,sounds alot different to the 2.0,makes a lovely noise over 3000 rpm when i`m giving it some beens,but the mpg is not good.I`m hoping the new maf might help.

[PeterN]

Its horses for courses. The 406 is the ideal car for me, I'm not interested in going fast or cornering hard, I did my boy racing many years ago, I just want a car that is comfortable, economical and reliable, that I can repair myself and is cheap to run, the 406 fits that criteria admirably. My car has done 243k miles of which I have done about 55k, in that time it has cost me practically nothing apart from normal wear and tear, it still has the original clutch, DMF and head gasket.

I don't want to upgrade to anything newer, the eventual replacement for this car will be another 406 or possibly a C5 with the same running gear, although I already have a C5 but prefer the 406 for most applications. I don't know how much longer I will be driving but I am hoping to be able to run a 406 all the while I can.

If I was younger and had more money I would possibly consider something else but for the foreseeable future the 406 suits me fine.

Peter

[RayneR]

So the overall upside downs of the 407 is the 1.6 hdi version the balls joint ( i dont know what this is ) and their flap heater and of course the DPF ? Is this common problem even for the later models specially the flap heater is it hard to repair?

I'm wondering if i should go for the 407 myself since my 406 it's driving me crazy with problems.

[PeterN]

I wouldn't go for a 407 purely because its a newer, more complicated and more difficult to work on and the estate has much less room. You have been unfortunate to have a troublesome 406, I have bought three, two for friends and none of them have given serious problems, all the problems I have had with mine I have been able to fix myself very cheaply.

I would find myself another 406 that's been looked after, they are cheap enough.

Peter

[RayneR]

It wasn't giving problems until i had the accident in january and after repair it's not working good and it's giving more new problems every week that pass by ... A short and quick list of the top problems:

Loads of Smoke and less power and looks like it's failing sometimes, like it's being struggled.

A/C compressor not engaging ( i have ordered the ripca relay + wiring loom to do the BSI thingy if it really is that the problem because the A/C was working before the accident, don't know how it affected the BSI in that matter anyway or it's just coincidence for the relay to fail just right after)

Engine Water radiator doesn't get hot ( noticed this today )

Engine water is droping somewhere on the back of engine and therefore on the ground and it's a lot that is losing...

Now the clutch pedal goes very high sometimes, it doesn't sit next to the brake pedal ( also the cluch + Cruise switchs got out of the mounting place don't know how this happened )

Need to change front suspension or whatever it's doing a lot of noise when you hit a hole or in bad shape roads it looks like it's hitting something kind of noise...

Automatic Wind flap not working ... i hear the motor doing some noise but it doesn't close.

So...now tell me is it worth checking all this stuff ?

If it was today i would never had it repaired... it really hasn't worth the money i have spent repairing it, the really good thing i see in my car that is worth is it's fuel economy i did 1100km with 50€ last month, most on good roads and highway but still it's a mark, my brother in law that also have a 406 from same year it's not so economic it does more 1,5 2L /100km than mine ...

[PeterN]

Yes you do have a few problems there, if it was my car I would probably get shot of it. A lot of the problems are not serious but a couple may be. You can buy a half decent one from ebay for around £500 or a really nice one for about £750 (that's in this country of course) so unless you are able to fix these faults yourself it probably isn't worth it. Shame but its just economics. You could break it if you have the room and sell the bits on ebay. If and when I scrap mine I shall keep it for spares.

Peter

[steve_earwig]

What are the prices of 406s like in Portugal?

[RayneR]

It's on the 3000+ € mark an HDi example.

AS far the problems goes i don't have the space to do the job neither the knowledge to do it myself...

But the fact is that i have spent more than 2500€ to have it repaired and i'm still full of problems

Love the car it has everything i need but i will have to fix things by steps, dont have the money for everything

[PeterN]

The price of a replacement rather changes things so perhaps we can look at some possible causes of your problems. Firstly the smoke and low power problem. This could be due to a restriction in the air intake system or maybe the turbo not operating correctly, the MAF sensor in the air intake could also cause a problem.

The aircon I can't help you with as neither of mine work which doesn't bother me as it rarely gets hot enough to need it here.

Radiator not getting hot: I suspect you felt it when the engine had not been running for long, the radiator will stay cold until the coolant reaches normal operating temperature, if it stayed cold all the time the coolant would boil and be expelled from the filler cap or overflow. See if you can locate the source of coolant loss, it could be anything from a leaking hose to a failing head gasket.

The clutch pedal is normally quite high on the 406 but it doesn't necessarily indicate a problem.

The heater flap valve may not be a serious problem depending how easy it is to access, yours being left hand drive may be easier or more difficult, I don't know.

The rattle on the front suspension is probably due to a worn anti roll bar drop link, a fairly easy and cheap problem to rectify.

I don't know how many Km yours has covered but the engines should be good for 200,000-300,00 miles with regular oil changes, that's probably around 400,000 km. Mine still has the original clutch and DMF at around 400k km.

Is there not a Peugeot forum/club in Portugal that could give you some assistance?

Peter

[RichardFryer]

Have enjoyed nearly 5 years of almost trouble free motoring in my 2002 406 Estate 110 HDI rapier, taking it from 120k to 170K, and I often wonder where I will go next.
Don't think a 407 is on the cards as I am looking to go smaller so does anyone have any views on the 307 estate

[KozmoNaut]

Have enjoyed nearly 5 years of almost trouble free motoring in my 2002 406 Estate 110 HDI rapier, taking it from 120k to 170K, and I often wonder where I will go next.
Don't think a 407 is on the cards as I am looking to go smaller so does anyone have any views on the 307 estate

None of the x07 cars (or the original x08s) are particularly good cars, but the 307 is probably the least offensive of the lot.

Honestly, I would go for a Focus estate instead. The new 308 is a completely different story, of course. I'd love to have one in estate form with that 130hp 3-cylinder turbo engine.