Peugeot 107 hatchback (2005 – ) expert review

The Peugeot 107 might be a few years old now, but it hasn’t aged badly. A mid-life facelift has improved the design of the nose, with a chrome bumper sitting in the centre of its grille. Five-spoke 14-inch alloy wheels add some extra appeal to the Verve special edition.

While the outside still looks fresh, the interior is starting to show its age. The plastics are a little on the brittle side, and the flat seats offer little support. It has a simple charm, however, and the speedometer and rev gauge pod (standard with Verve trim) add character.

The 107 is a very small car (shorter than a Mini), which plays its strongest hand on congested streets. Here, it’s easy to drive in traffic and effortless to park. What it lacks is interior space. Front occupants are well catered for, and the rear bench-seat isn’t too bad, because it’s positioned very far back in the cabin. The trade-off is a small 139-litre boot – it’s best to fold a split rear seat if you need to carry luggage.

The 107’s lightweight body and well-sorted suspension add up to a fun driving experience. The steering can feel slightly vague, but turn into a corner with conviction and the narrow tyres will serve up reasonable grip. The smallest Peugeot does lack some refinement, and can get noisy at higher speeds.

The small three-cylinder, 1-litre petrol engine fitted in the 107 is a gem. It might take 14.2 seconds to reach 62mph, but this doesn’t tell the whole story – it’s at town speeds where the car feels nippy. On the motorway it doesn’t feel too out of its depth, but the engine does need to be worked quite hard.

There’s the low cost, and that’s backed up by a combined fuel economy of 61.4mpg and minimal group 3 insurance rating. Thanks to high demand, resale values are good too.

The Peugeot 107 is a relatively straightforward car which should prove simple and cheap to maintain. There have been reports of accelerator pedals becoming hard to depress, slow to return and in rare cases getting stuck half-way through their working travel in 107s with the 2-Tronic semi-automatic transmission, and manual cars with optional ESP, built from the start of production up to August 2009. Peugeot says a small percentage of cars in the UK are affected (around 6,000 in total).

The 107 scored four stars in EuroNCAP crash testing and has driver and passenger airbags as standard, as well as anti-lock brakes, electronic brakeforce distribution and corner steering control.

The entry-level Urban Lite 3-door has a single CD player with aux socket, while the Urban 3 and 5-door has body-coloured exterior trim, 50:50 split rear seats, side airbags, rear headrests, two rear Isofix child seat mountings, electric front windows and remote central locking. The Verve gets 14-inch alloy wheels, air conditioning and a rev counter.

We are big fans of the Peugeot 107, as well as its Toyota Aygo and Citroen C1 sister cars because they prove no-frills motoring doesn’t have to be boring. With cheeky looks, great environmental credentials and a fizzy engine, the 107 has the feel-good factor.