Peugeot 107 - Family View : COULD YOU MANAGE WITH A MICRO?

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Peugeot's little 107 is an unlikely family car but it might be more practical than you think. Steve Walker reports.

The basic idea of a family car is that it's big enough to get the whole family inside. Assuming your brood consists of four or five persons, that could mean anything from an MPV to, well, something as small as our long term Peugeot 107 five-door citycar. All right, so the 107 stretches the definition of a family car to its lower limits but in the real world, can it do the job?

A walk around the 107's extremities doesn't fill you with confidence. It seems that no sooner have you set off on your lap of Peugeot's smallest vehicle, than you're back where you started again. At less than three and a half meters long, it isn't big, which is fine for threading through crowded city streets and nabbing parking spaces but less suitable for school runs and shopping trips. At least there are five doors - or at least there are on the version we've been testing. Holding one of the narrow rear side doors open for a couple of kids to hurtle out of the house and onto the rear bench, it's tempting to look over your shoulder for disapproving neighbours on the phone to the NSPCC. From the outside, it doesn't look like anyone should be cooped up in the back for any length of time but Peugeot has packaged the 107 with some aplomb. In actual fact, it's possible to get two adults of over six-feet tall in the back, that's even if the front seat occupants are of similar stature. They don't have a lot of legroom and those in the front will be able to feel the vague impressions of knees in the smalls of their backs but fit they will. Were it not for the lack of a third rear seatbelt, the 107 could take a trio of smallish children across its rear bench. Even if the loading procedure might look to bystanders like a world record attempt. Passengers loaded, attention must turn to the boot and things are less rosy. The available space is tight and the boot aperture itself is quite narrow, which doesn't help when trying to get bulkier items inside. You can forget about suitcases but four or five shopping bags or a large holdall could be crammed inside. The rear seat backs split 50/50 on our Urban model to usefully increase the boot capacity when you're travelling with just one passenger in the rear. Generally though, family holidays in the 107 are out - unless you're off to a naturist camp.

"Four passengers and a bit of luggage is not a major problem for the little Peugeot"

The 107 styling is distinctive, with Peugeot's trademark cavernous front air-intake dominating the front end and a neat rear with its curvy light clusters. You certainly wouldn't have the 107 down as a bargain basement city scoot. On looks, it stands comparison with the sector's best efforts, even if Peugeot's frontal treatment might be an acquired taste. That nose is a bigger issue for the 107 than you might imagine because the car is the result of a three-way collaboration between Peugeot, Citroen and Toyota which also resulted in the Citroen C1 and the Toyota Aygo. The three cars are all but identical apart from their frontal styling and anyone liking the 107 but unsure about its looks might be inclined to spend their money elsewhere. The interior is far less controversial with a simple, modern approach. You instantly glimpse the exposed metal on the doors and the dash. It's a sign of costs being cut but it looks good in the same colour as the exterior paintwork and it's certain to prove more durable than the cheap plastic cladding employed by some rivals. The rest of the cabin feels robustly put together. There aren't concessions to soft-touch plastics or fancy trim finishes but it all looks good and space feels both light and airy. There's a huge amount of storage room for such a compact car, with every spare nook given over to a cubby or shelf. The massed paraphernalia that builds up in a family car will be tough to store neatly but there should be no excuse for slinging items into the passenger footwell or letting them slide around on the back seat. The 107 tips the scales at just 875kg, which is reflected in the light, nimble feel you get at the wheel. Because of the light weight, it can get away with a modest 1.0-litre 3-cylinder petrol engine with just 68bhp but as you cram more and more family members inside, the performance does fall off a bit of a cliff. A fully-loaded 107 struggles up hills and feels ponderous away from the lights where it would be lively and responsive travelling one or two up. With a light load on board, this can be a genuinely fun car to drive and the flipside is a combined fuel economy figure of over 61mpg. With emissions of 106g/km, this spells refreshingly tiny running costs but again, constantly travelling with a family-sized payload will hamper performance considerably. As you'd probably guessed, the Peugeot 107 can't really cut it as a family car in the traditional sense. It's too small and was never designed to take on such a weighty role. Our little experiment hasn't been a complete disaster however, because it has shown just how versatile a modern city car can be. You certainly wouldn't buy a 107 if you intended to load it up with people and cargo day-in, day-out but on the odd occasion, it does a passable job. Four passengers and a bit of luggage is not a major problem for the little Peugeot and buyers who need that kind of capacity only infrequently, will have a sprightly and affordable city car for the rest of the time. If that sounds like you, it might pay to give the 107 and its ilk a second look before shelling out for expensive extra space you'll rarely use.

Facts At A Glance
CAR: Peugeot 107 Urban 5dr
PRICE: £8,545 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 1E
CO2 EMISSIONS: 106g/km
PERFORMANCE: 0-60mph 14.2s / Max Speed 100mph
FUEL CONSUMPTION: (urban) 51.3mpg / (extra urban) 68.8mpg / (combined) 61.3mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front and side airbags, ABS, EBD
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Height 3405/1615/1415mm