Peugeot 407 SW : BABY GOT BACK

June Neary likes the look of Peugeots sleek 407 SW, a car that offers estate buyers a welcome style infusion

Estate cars have long appealed to the practical side in me but the actuality has left me rather unimpressed. Basically, customers in this market have a choice. Either buy one of the Sportwagon style estates, like a Saab 9-3 Sportwagon or an Alfa 159 Sportwagon, that offer little or no extra carrying capacity over their saloon counterparts but look the part or opt for something with a meaningful amount of space but which is about as alluring as a week in a bail hostel in Hastings. The Peugeot 407 SW is different.

Just look at it. And when youve finished looking at it, look at it some more. Low slung, sleek and beautifully purposeful, the 407 SW looks more like a piece of military hardware than a car. The styling is the work of Peugeots in-house design team and I think it works far better than the 407 saloon, which has some rather awkward angles.

The SW version looks good from every angle, with the chrome grille on the latest models adding to the effect. Even without the added practicality, that would be enough to swing it for me.

Lets leave the styling alone for a moment and concentrate on the bread and butter business of lugging gear. The 407 SW tacks another 87mm onto the rear overhang and features a tailgate with a very low and practical load height. Lift the fifth door and theres a respectable amount of room, Peugeots designers concentrating on sheer utility. The load bay is never less than 1,100mm wide and the front passenger seat can fold forwards, allowing items up to 2,700mm to be carried.

Two side storage pods in the load bay also allow gear to be stowed well out of harms way. A solid carpeted cover aids security by keeping whats in the loadbay out of sight of prying eyes. The rear seats split in a 66:33 fashion and fold virtually flat to the floor without the tedious necessity to remove the head restraints. Thus equipped theres a 1,700mm load length. A full five seater, the 407SW features a number of thoughtful features deigned to make the car easy to live with. As touched upon before, the rear loading lip is only 61cm from ground level and shorter drivers will appreciate the strap that dangles from the tailgate.

The luggage bay incorporates a soundproof membrane to isolate road and suspension noise and includes four support bars so that heavy suitcases can easily be slid in and out without risking a herniated disc. Options include a ski flap, luggage nets and a six CD autochanger and JBL bass box which are mounted adjacent to one of the side luggage bins.

Right from the outset, Peugeots investment in quality is manifest. The 407SW is so far removed from its predecessor, the 406 Estate, that some will no doubt wonder if the French market received a generation of cars denied to us. The fabric seating of our test car felt better and seemed of higher quality than many of the bargain basement leather trims fitted to upper-spec mid range saloons and the seats had both enough lateral grip and were comfortable enough. The steering wheel is trimmed in leather but featured neat cut outs for the thumbs.

The dashboard follows the trend for waterfall centre consoles on which most of the major instruments are placed and sees a welcome move away from the rattly hard plastic ventilation and air conditioning controls that have blighted many Peugeots of yore. Expensively slush moulded plastics yield to the touch along the top of the dashboard whilst there are classy looking appliqué strips along the dash and doors to brighten the interior ambience a little. The Peugeot staple of chrome-ringed dials and a chrome and leather trimmed gear knob are also evident. Thankfully the steering wheel is a little better looking than some of the blandly bulging tillers fitted to many Peugeots. Some thought has gone into this cabin.

Prices start at £18,495 and the 407 features a versatile range of diesel engines to choose from. Proceedings open with a 110bhp 1.6-litre HDi unit. Then come a 2.

0-litre 140bhp and a 2.2-litre 170bhp HDi. All feature FAP diesel fuel particulate filters and manual transmission. There are two engines available with automatic transmission; a 136bhp unit and the largest engine in the range, the 2.

7-litre V6 HDi. If you want to be the alpha-green, a 2.0-litre Bioflex engine is also available that runs on E85 fuel.

A Peugeot 407SW parked outside the Neary residence would turn me into a committed curtain twitcher. I was sorry to see our test car go.