PEUGEOT 807 (2002-TO DATE)
The market for large MPVs has gone through a number of seismic shifts since the Renault Espace established the genre in the UK back in the late eighties. Ford, Volkswagen And SEAT weighed in with their Galaxy/Sharan and Alhambra trio and ruled the roost until they were suddenly made to look a little old hat by another heavyweight trio of contenders, the Peugeot 807, the Citroen C8 and the Fiat Ulysse. Of these three, the 807 is the most upmarket choice and therefore comes into the sights of the best of the prestige people carriers. A used example offers you many more options than you?d believe if all you were accustomed to was an early MPV. Take a look at an 807 and you may well be swayed from the usual executive saloon or estate fare.
HISTORY
Product development is an odd business. Some manufacturers go about it in a very stealthy manner, continually and quietly changing parts of a model until the car you look at in the showrooms today shares barely a common part with the ostensibly similar model of a few years back. Others carmakers prefer to sweep the decks, banishing a festering old model to history with a shiny successor. Peugeot certainly adopted the latter tack with the 807.
Its predecessor the Peugeot 806 was a likeable enough large MPV People Carrier, if a little old fashioned. Drive an 806 and you were reminded that the cutting edge had disappeared so far over the horizon that you had to frequently check the rear view mirror lest it came around and shunted you in the rear. Largely abandoned in an inconspicuous corner of Peugeot?s product range, the 806 was left way behind by more modern rivals like the Ford Galaxy and the Toyota Previa.
If revenge is a dish best served cold, then Peugeot?s rivals probably got the mother of all ice cream headaches when the 807 was launched. The 807 is a model which managed to turn the establishment on its head, making what we thought were the class best look a little old hat. The adventurous styling is a major plus in a sea of family hutches, the front carrying its maker?s family look a little more successfully than that worn by its Citroen C8 and Fiat Ulysse siblings. The flanks are a little more generic, but the neatly styled rear is as good as anything Renault could come up with. Moreover, the interior is something to behold, with a dashboard that is quite unlike anything yet seen. The range received a mild tweak in 2003 with automatic gearboxes being added to the 2.0-litre HDi diesel models.
WHAT YOU GET 
Four trim levels are available, starting with LX, rising through GLX, Executive and Executive SE. Even the entry-level model gets a CD stereo, digital air conditioning, a dash-mounted multifunction display screen and remote central locking, but the real party piece comes when you step up to the GLX model. This features electrically operated sliding side doors which can be triggered via the key fob. If only they were a little quicker or the key fob had more range, the effect would be better but it?s still pretty slick stuff. They also remove the embarrassment of children opening rear doors into parked cars in public car parks.
Practicality is also a major plus. All three rows of seats are mounted on runners, which means that adjusting for optimal legroom is simplicity itself. There are the usual zillion and one different combinations as to how you can arrange the seats and the front seats even capable of swivelling to create what Peugeot call "a sitting room environment." Somewhat comically, they then append this with "when parked." The 807 excels at shoulder room but others offer more total legroom. As with any MPV, the rear seats are removable, but they are very heavy and even a minor error in aligning the feet with the runners to re-engage them will cause the seats to jam, requiring a hefty shoulder to free them again. The range-topping Executive SE comes with six individual ?captain?s chairs? rather than the usual two-three-two seating set up. As avant garde as it is, the 807 doesn?t offer up a solution to the eternal MPV gripe that with all the seats in place there isn?t space for luggage. Perhaps Peugeot should offer subsidised roof boxes with every purchase.
Four-zone air conditioning helps combat the effect of no less than three sunroofs. Multiplex wiring allows for such electronic niceties as light sensitive headlamps, automatic windscreen wipers and speed indexing of the stereo volume, as well as rear parking sensors, guide-me-home headlights and remote control operation of the sunroofs, windows, door mirrors and the sliding doors.
WHAT YOU PAY
No real giveaways here ? the 807 is well regarded by the industry who know there are no shortage of ready buyers for clean low mileage examples. You?ll need to fork out at least £12,100 to get behind the wheel of the most basic model, the 2.0-litre petrol LX on a 52 plate, although many will prefer to fork out an additional £400 for an automatic version. The 2.2-litre petrol model opens at £13,100 in GLX trim with Executives starting at £13,400.
Our advice would be to ignore these cars. The diesel models are the informed choice and for a 2.0-litre diesel you can expect to pay £12,700 for an LX with an Executive retailing at £14,100. Automatic gearboxes for the 2.0HDi weren?t launched until 2003. The top of the range 2.2-litre HDi Executive SE is the model to go for if you want to impress your friends with all manner of electronic gizmos but you?ll need a hefty £15,600 to get your hands on the first of the 52 plated cars.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Despite the abundance of complicated electronics, the 807 has thus far received a fairly clean bill of health. As with all MPVs, you'll need to watch for damage to the interior trim ? scratches, cracks and so on. Make sure your 807 hasn?t lived a hard life as an airport shuttle but by and large the diesel engines can shrug off some surprisingly big numbers on the clock. Watch out too for parking bumps and scrapes from drivers unused to the car's size. Check for uneven front tyre wear. If your 807 has been fitted with the electrically sliding doors, make sure these work as there have been reports of faulty units.
REPLACEMENT PARTS
(based on a 2003 807 2.0HDi ex Vat) A clutch assembly is around £185, a radiator (on air-conditioned cars) £165, front brake pads £60, rear pads £40, a starter motor £195 and an alternator around £265.
ON THE ROAD
Four engines are available; two petrol units and a pair of diesels. The petrol engines are both modern 16v items, the 2.0-litre version generating 138bhp and the 2.2-litre powerplant managing a healthy 160bhp. The two diesels will also be familiar to seasoned Peugeot watchers, having seen service in the 607 and 406 ranges. The 2.0HDi 16v is good for 110bhp with its more powerful 2.2-litre sibling generating 136bhp. Like all Peugeots, the 807 is good to drive, with all the engines having a claim on your attention. The gearchange isn?t the last word in sweet shifting slickness, but an automatic is available if this feature grates.
The 807 is stuffed to its very gunwales with safety equipment which has resulted in a creditable four-star Euro NCAP crash test rating. As well as the customary twin front airbags, the 807 gets side bags and curtain airbags for all three rows of seats, making it the first car in the world to feature this facility as standard. Anti lock brakes with electronic brakeforce distribution and brake assist are fitted on every model, whilst ESP stability control and ASR traction control systems are fitted to all 2.2-litre models from GLX up. Recognising that driver distraction by children is a contributory factor in a growing proportion of accidents, Peugeot have fitted an ingenious retractable "child check" mirror. This allows the driver to keep a safe eye on the kids in the back or alternatively see what colour the little horrors would like the upholstery to be this week.
OVERALL
If you want the best nearly new large MPV that sensible money can buy, the 807 is probably it. Of course, it?s very much a case of getting what you pay for. Other MPVs may seem far better value but if you?re used to luxuries and appreciate slick design, the 807 will seem worth the premium. Best buy is probably an early 2.2-litre HDi GLX, which manages to strike a decent balance between affordability, features, power and economy.
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