Peugeot 207 performance options are many and varied. There’s a good range of both petrol and diesel buyers engines with 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre versions of both.

Petrol engines

The pick of the petrols is in fact the 1.4-litre available with 75bhp or 90bhp. It’s nippy, easy to drive around town and more than capable on the motorway. However it’s short on refinement and becomes strained high in the rev range. The 90bhp version was replaced by a 95bhp 1.4-litre VTi engine in August 2007 and the newer engine offers better performance and improved refinement. Trade-up to the 1.6-litre petrol and you get 110bhp, but no more fun – however on the plus side it doesn’t need to be worked as hard to make fast progress, especially up hills.

Diesel engines

The 1.4 HDi and 1.6 HDi units continue Peugeot’s long tradition for strong diesels. Both deliver a good spread of power across the rev range and are fairly refined too. The 1.4-litre model is nippy enough for town driving and capable on the motorway but the 1.6-litre has more power, which is noticeable when overtaking on back roads. Both are a little noisy from the outside but decent noise insulation means the volume is kept down in the cabin.

Parkers recommends

We’d suggest for the lowest running costs you should look towards the diesel engines. The 1.4-litre version would be a good bet if you can live with the slight power penalty.

The 207 delivers competent and assured handling along with a comfortable drive. It’s not particularly fun, but it feels composed and safe at all times. The power-assisted steering is fairly precise and artificially weights-up when you take corners at speed to give more feeling, but it requires more input on the motorway for easier cruising. Body roll is well controlled and the ride is very good over most surfaces.

An electronic stability programme – to aid handling in wet or slippery conditions – is standard only on the GT and GTi (optional on all other trims). A major let down is the five-speed gearbox, which is notchy and vague.