A very underrated car. We have it as a sport with 110 hp, a panoramic roof, automatic climate control and a JBL stereo system. The car is fast, comfortable and incredibly practical (seat colors and air grills can be changed). In addition, even then the safest small car in the test with 7 airbags (even the driver's knee airbag). And a very good sense of space.
I nearly bought one with a panoramic roof but lost out through dithering. I have a 1.6 sport which is quite nippy, safe (NCAP5 rating) and stable but let down by the pondering semi auto box which is at least very smooth. I would have liked the JBL stereo too, but I have upgraded the rear speakers to Pioneers.
Yes, that is what I suspected the market would be. Anyone with mobility issues would probably find it handy. Never seen one before. Not sold in Australia. Maybe a future classic?????
This is exactly what i intended to write as well. Problem was that not all elderly people who could be interested by this car were able to buy it. As a second hand car, it might have a chance.
It always amazed me that sliding doors on passenger cars never really caught on, less chance of dinged doors in the supermarket car park, easier to load kids into child seats unobstructed by a traditional door. And they can be reliable, manual sliding doors on vans get used and abused all day long and last for decades
@@dizzy2020 my dad's two Toyota Hiace work vans had zero sliding door issues in 14 years :) and he told me always if those Toyotas needed any repair, because it was always big news if they broke any part.
We've got a Ford C Max Grand, that has rear sliding doors, also it can accommodate 7 in one go, a bit cramped in the back if you're around 6 foot tall though At 5' 11' myself, I could just about manage to get in the rear seats. Great for taking out the grandkids, they love it. We've never had trouble with the sliding doors, they just need to be lubricated regularly.
I have had 2 VW Caddy Maxi Kombis over the years and they where brilliant for family duties and for work, and they must have made some advances in sliding door safety standards as the new Caddy Kombi/Life has a 5 star NCAP rating
My dad has one of these. In exactly the same color actually, he calls it his golden chariot! He has reduced mobility so getting in and out of cars is hard for him. The sliding doors and high seat make it perfect for him. There is a fun warning under the sunvisor warning you to lock the car when going trough a car wash! The brushes can activate the doors and open them..
On the design - the doors are the rears off the C8 turned round, they had those plus the engines and the platform so all it needed was a body and no-one has complained about that. A shame it didn't sell. Great review.
Owned one for a couple of years and it never skipped a beat. No issues with the doors, they just need lubrication and making sure crud was kept out of the tracks. Being able to swap the washable seat inserts and dash tops was also clever. And the passenger seat does fills flat for use as a desk.
Some years ago i drove in Copenhagen. It was rush hour. Heavy traffic, but it was moving at a reasonable speed. I was driving beside a little old lady in a 1007. Suddenly the fancy sliding door opened in the driverside, apparently by itself. I looked at the lady and she was in total panic. Luckily my lane was moving faster so I could get away. The fate of the old woman and the car is unknown to me.
I'd have thought the doors would be disabled when moving. Presumably seatbelts are mandatory in Denmark so she couldn't fall out, even if cornering hard.
@@HubNut imagine a 1.9 205 GTI, with a sliding door design, a quick bout of lift off oversteer and an inadvertent press of the door button sees both you and the car flying towards the nearest hedge, independent of each other!
I used to drive a Bedford CF van with sliding doors. Great fun in the summer, loads better than air conditioning, and only slightly marred by items flying out of the cab when negotiating roundabouts. (flasks, stationary, yorkshire terriers, etc)
I reckon that these would be a great use to the many independent delivery drivers there are today. Disable those warning devices and drive with the door open. :) When I was a kid, I helped my dad on many a milk round. I have fallen, at low speed, out of a Transit, Sherpa and CF with sliding doors. Damn vinyl seats. :)
I know the road traffic laws in New Zealand (and likely many other jurisdictions), allows vehicles to be driven with sliding doors kept open, with the proviso that the speed is kept low (I think they allowed 20mph/30kmh) and that the driver was involved in regular stopping, such as milk or other deliveries. Yes I've always thought more cars should have sliding doors, Especially nowadays in city parking.
I have to say that I owned one of these from 2015 to 2017 in the 16 valve 1.6 Sport incarnation. Apart from the relatively atrocious fuel consumption it was quite a nice car, and one I wish I hadn't had to get rid of. Sadly for some time fuel consumption has trumped almost every other consideration for us, leading us eventually to our current daily driver of a Honda Insight, but for what it is worth I actually really liked the 1007.
I've considered the 1.6 Sport before, but been frightened off because of stories of wayward electrics which often resulted in the car being written off, due to expense. It would be nice to find some of the interior trim colour packs and maybe have a different coloured interior each month.
@@michelvondenhoff9673 Exactly. Unfortunately these days I consider anything less than 22 Km/l to be unacceptably low. My Insight just about manages 22Km/l overall, but 15Km/l would be verging on what I would call attrocious, and 11Km per liter unthinkably low. How does anyone even afford that with current fuel prices? I really struggle even 22Km/l. Sad really because as I said the 1007 is a really nice car in all other respects, so I'm certainly not dissing it - but for me running costs have really become very important. If I was only getting 15 I just wouldn't be able to afford to drive it.
This one will become a future classic, if you have one cherish it. I quite like it and the color is magnificent. Nice to see Peugeot going for something different than ordinary. A lot of space in a rather small car. I am all for it.
@@superseven220 Remember people are often conservative: what would the neighbor think atitude. We have enough sheep, be unique so I would buy it for sure. It's something different from all the VW's and the usual things you can see all over the place.Yes the prices were steep but now the prices are very affordable so I would love to have one. Imagine with an 1.6 engine this one would be great on long distances too.
There will be no future classics because no normal people will have cars by 2030 or own any property everything will be on subscription and everyone except top 0.1% will be poor
I always get a tinge of excitement when seeing that Ian is doing a car review as no one does it with better knowledge or humour. This review does not disappoint 🙂
@@WestleyWolf from what I have heard, yes, they have a similar image. Historically (until something like the 70s) Peugeot was a family business for slightly right-wing Catholic and posher clientèle with serious jobs like doctor. Renault, nationalized After WWII, was seen as more left-wing, and being state owned, for civil servants or the like. Citroën was for free-thinkers and engineers. More or less.
That was the last car my late wife owned was one of those. Hers was the same colour as well. Oddly there’s a silver one abandoned a few miles away from here, l pass it sometimes when l go shopping lol
Google maps is so out of date that you can still see the orange wedge badly parked on the driveway 😂 To say she made questionable choices in life is quite the understatement, not only did buy one of those things but she married a duck egg like me too 😂 R.l.P Bev 🙏🏻❤️
We had a blue 2006 1.6 sport one of these with a tiptronic gearbox until 3 weeks ago, we had it 6 years without issue until recently. Fantastic car with loads of cubby holes and storage space in it. My wife has limited mobility and the high driving position and automatic doors was perfect for her. I once parked the car in front of a shop and on the way back to the car I opened the doors of the car as i approached. Just then a woman came out of the shop carrying two shopping bags and she stood there with there mouth open in surprise as the car in front of her just opened the doors and she didn't know why. 😀 Sadly we had to sell as both doors refused to open and the controller was difficult to source, it won't get easier to replace as time goes by so we made the decision to let it go. The only "fault" was the fuel economy which was terrible but my wife loved the thing, it was an cool car in many ways. We replaced it with a Nissan Note which we will not be keeping for long, horrible thing, it's like driving a dishwasher by comparison. Just to note that the 1007 was intended as a city car so it's got a low gear ratio for nipping about town, on a motorway it always feels like it needs another gear because it does.
I bought a blue 1.6 sport tiptronic and touch wood, it's been 4 years without issue. Bought due to a herniated disc in my back and an inability to get in my C class.
Got one of these because it is French 🤠 FYI, the doors are not as iffy as reported. Most of the time it was operator error or lack of knowledge to maintain/repair or even just set (factory) them. The concept was nice and new(ish) yet the mechanics weren't instructed in time to "repair" those.
I never found the issue with the doors being slow to open in rain an issue, even though people mention it as a reason not o buy these. A normal car you have to run up to, open the door and get in then close it. With the 1007 the door can be opened before you get to the car and the seats are set into the car so unless the it's windy it not a problem. If you're parked beside another car then normal cars leave you out in the rain longer while you're trying to squeeze in not to mention if the car's dirty you cloths are going to get dirty to rubbing against the car. Personally i liked the sliding doors and they're perfect for tight spaces.
I owned one about seven years ago. A 1.4 turbo diesel. It was the worst and best car I have owned. It always put a smiles on my wife and I's faces and always got comments from people. The main problem was a slipping clutch which had to be replaced then it developed a problem with the traction control which was traced to a faulty abs unit which wasn't economical to repair. I ended up trading it in against another a quite a loss . I believe in France it was purchased by the younger trendy population. In this country it was the older generation because it was very easy to get in and out of. It was a very heavy car as much as a Mondao.
"All that non sense that we apparently need", so true. In addition to the automatic sliding door, 1007 has so many windows which made it look interesting but expensive to manufacture. A precursor to modern SUV/MPV with it's ride height and easy access for front seats
This brings back memories of a Ford Transit I drove in the 70's with front sliding doors. In the summer I drove with the doors open all the time to get some airflow into the cab. Fine around town at slow speeds, but over about 40 mph anything loose inside the cab blew out onto the road.
Those doors were rendered illegal in the Australian market, I think, except for the Post Office, which used them on mailbox pick-up runs with the sliding door open. My Dad once borrowed an old International box truck from work for our house move, which had similar doors. Fun to watch the bitumen whizzing past!
I don't think I've ever seen one of these, but according to the 'How Many Left' site there were only 2,255 on the road at their peak in the UK in 2007, with about 1000 still licensed or sorned.
They should have focused on the mobility scooter market, with a tailgate that opens as a ramp and removable seats to accommodate either a mobility scooter or wheelchair in the back. There are grants and international markets including the USA. Production could be outsourced to a contractor, for example Magma, with the car a 'halo' product showing that Peugeot cares about the customer, regardless of how able bodied they are.
Mine has an automatic gearbox and it does not drive while the doors are open, one more thing; you forgot to mention that the backseats are removable for making it as a small van 🚐 😊
I have one, and I love it! Everybody drops their jaw when they see the doors 😂 If you don’t expect too much from it, it is perfect!! I call it lunchbox… 😂😂
They're a strange car in so far that everyone who ever owned them loved them. People just come up to you asking about them and asking where they can get one. They draw as many questions as a vintage car does. I saw a t shirt with a picture of one on the front and it said something like "If you don't own one then you can't understand" :) They have a lot of personality for a little car. I've owned a lot of cars but they were all motorway cruisers because I never like small cars. The 1007 was my wife's car but out of all our cars combined it was our all time favorite one, the only small car I ever liked. We genuinely did a lot of thinking before we let it go even considering putting it in the garage and keeping it. But it will suit somebody else so we sold it.
That anteater driving position with the distant windshield and front seats in the middle of the wheelbase is very much like GM's Chevrolet Lumina/Pontiac Transport/Oldsmobile Silhouette minivan triplets of the late 1980s. I think it's fair to say the Jeep Grand Wagoneer had conclusively proven that consumers did want a luxurious four by four long before Land Rover thought of it.
Excellent Review as always, there is one round the corner from me in this exact same colour and I honestly think it's a funky wee thing even if it was a white elephant back in the day!
I had one, this brought back so many memories of it, I miss having it but it was rubbish to drive. The interior was great to sit in for two people as the Bach seats are small. The doors never went wrong.
I had lots of memories in a basic 1.4l petrol 2005 1007. My mother and sister shared it, I learned to drive in it. I could say lots of good and bad about it, but I miss it. Also, make sure not to lose the keys because apparantly when my folks did, the replacement malfunctioned the doors which couldn't operate by that remote key. Couldn't pass the NCT because of it, even when it had plenty of life left in it
I remember when I first saw one and it was a combination of 'that's cute!' and 'that's strange!' Plaudits to Peugeot for trying something different. Oh and that's one of the most impressive "ptchooooo!s" so far!
My brother in law had one it was funky and a nightmare the doors would open and close by there self at night the worst thing they did was open at 70mph on the motorway
A French car with a James Bond connection. The sliding doors could also be considered somewhat Bondesque. Great little car, something of a pity that it never made its mark in a Bond movie. Could have been a great marketing opportunity.
I looked at one of these for a runaround car...One looked at was a quicksilver with satnav and heated half leather ..but..the doors only worked manually ..where's the fun in that
Hi Ian. A thoroughly marvellous video. I always like a peugeot review many fond memories of a few summer jobs working with my dad at a peugeot dealer. i had a 1.4 tu in my 106 and a 1.1 in my ax great engines. ps thanks for my merch. good times.
friend of mine has one and set it up for lapping the nurnburgring.he has the 1.6 petrol one with a lot of engine work done,cams,valvesprings and so on.lowered as well with huge brembo brakes on it.im pretty sure he has done a couple of hundred laps with the car and a couple of hundred more himself.ive done a couple of passenger laps with him and i can tell you its pretty scary,he set the car up really well though its just scary cause you dont expect that kind of handling on a car like that
With doors like these, and an ability to drive it with doors open, it would make quite a good car for gangsters in the Al Capone era :D. More seriously, though, I think that this door design make it just about the most convenient car to get in and get out of for the elderly or for people with some motoric disability. The access seems absolutely fabulous!
I actually considered this car once, for the sake of uniqueness. Now I found 7 available in Finland, prices ranging from 1.6k€ to 3.5 k€. The most expensive one has that sweet color, the rest are boring dark blue or silver.
I have one of these , it's my Dad's I bought it for him after he had hip replacement surgery and when it was found he could now walk again easily, my local council took away his disabled parking badge. With this he could park in any space and not worry about fully opening the door. I've just got it back on the road after the pandemic made Dad not able to go out and drive it and it got left to stand. His has the 1.6 engine and the dreadful semi automatic gearbox, and to top off the embarrassment its bright yellow. (its fun to drive though), if you can deal with the gearbox.
I happen to like this! Ingenious design. I must say that electric sliding doors on minivans do have similar issues, ie opening at random times, not closing, etc., so it is not relegated to this specific model. The engine sounds beastly, that clattering, which almost sounds like a diesel, would annoy me. Oh, and on minivans, whilst in gear the door warning beeps excessively, I know since at one time we did own a GM minivan, which were the first in the US to offer an electric sliding door. Yes, I'm in the US, and Peugeot left our market 30 years ago. I think its failure is due to poor market as well as design and execution. Despite all that, I think it is a lovely vehicle that looks quite modern!
As soon as I saw those doors my first thought was, can you drive it with them open? you can! Lol. A car of interest and disappointment. Nice camera work Miss HubNut 👍
my dad used to have one in Dolce spec with yellow paint. very funky cars although the passenger door once randomly opened (luckily, no one was in the passenger seat at the time) its a shame more manufactures don't have sliding doors even if they are Manuel (the ones on the 1007 are electric) another thing i liked with the one my dad had was the fact you could unzip the seat covers, meaning they are easy to wash, say for example you had a child in the car who accidently spilt chocolate on the seats it would make life so much easier.
The TU series engines were fine in 106, 205s etc. but couldn't cope with the extra kerb weight of even a 206. This has double the additional mass, so must be desperate. I guess Ian's complaint about buzziness at motorway speed is because Peugeot tried to counteract the weight penalty with the gearing.
Until very recently there was one at my work’s car park, orange and well cared. Odd proportions but it still looks very original. I remember it was pretty expensive when new and have always been quite uncommon.
Nice colour of the Peugeot, Ian. I've got a Ford C Max Grand, that has rear sliding doors, like the B Max, whereas the ordinary C Max doesn't. The first MPV I saw with sliding rear doors was the Mazda 5, a company that has several ties to Ford.
A few years ago, I witnessed this car 'Shining like no other' ! What I hear you say, well I was driving in Surrey and came across one of these cars which had failed to turn at a T-junction (on my left) and subsequently driven into a hedge and stopped mid hedge ! A big problem for most cars but not for this one, I witnessed the driver exiting through the already activated electric doors ! Bravo !
My boss had one of those back in the days. It was bright yellow, the same color as the mail boxes. One day someone found a big magnetic postal badge saying "I drive for the postal service" and placed it on his driver's door. 😂
few years ago when out working on the street i heard someone shouting they couldnt get out of their car .just a regular car too .turned out theyd still got their seat belt on!
I like them. Peugeot may have lost a lot of money on them but they are interesting. If a car company takes a chance on a new concept that captures the zeitgeist, like the Mazda MX5, they hit the jackpot. In the fullness of time the 1007 may become rare and collectable.
I worked for a Peugeot dealer when these were launched, and sadly they focused very much on the new semi-auto gearbox, which was frankly, dreadful. Great review highlighting, and bringing back memories of other issues of weight, lack of power, price etc.. struggled to sell them. I personally liked the design, and with the diesel engines, it's power issues were resolved, and then it drove remarkably well.
It also overheated if you were in traffic and then would leave you without a gear. Happened to me twice and i learned to keep the car in neutral when you weren't moving. Once you got used of it it was ok, not brilliant but ok.
@@ravenmadd1343 to get the best gear change, you literally had to drive it like a manual. ie, second guess when it was about to change gear and then take your foot slightly off the accelerator, for the imaginary clutch to engage.
@@paulfisher5794 This is very true, the gearbox could be very dumb if you needed performance out of it and the ratios are all wrong for normal road use. It has a very wide 5th gear so it revs too high at speed. It's geared for cities.
There's a household near to me that has THREE of these 1007's in their driveway. Not sure whether this speaks volumes of said household or the car itself.
There's a good Facebook group dedicated to these cars and some of those folks have a few. Some of us keep old classic and vintage cars at an expense far greater than the car will ever be valued at, what would that say about us I wonder?
My girlfriend who owns the family owned Peugeot 307 from her parents uses it as a daily driver and is equipped with the TU5 1.6 16V engine. I must say that engine is really really very omnipotent. Quite low down torque for easy cruising, and as soon as you give it the beans, it does pull and pull and happily revs all the way through. The typical chunky gearbox/synchros are becoming a thing now as the car is approaching 100k miles.
I had a red 1007 on 07 plate. It was a lovely car to drive, the doors were exquisite; but it was underpowered, especially in 2nd gear. That's the only downside.
You were very spot-on about the engine and gearbox. The TU3 is a bulletproof motor, and while yes it doesn't really like doing motorway speeds elegantly, it will still do them, I often drive it for hours on the highway and just keep her at over 3k revs, these things will happily stay at redline all day, and the MA gearbox as always isn't the greatest unit, it's fine but mushy, no matter how many miles or how new the car, every single one fitted with it will have awful shifts, especially when cold it can be very temperamental. But I do love them, dirt cheap to keep running.
@@HubNut Yeah, my C4 was that (and I've owned 2 Smarts and a MB Sprinter with Sprintshift) so I guess that makes me a...masochist? It isn't really that awful, but it's still pretty bad...
A mate of mine used to have a Transit with the sliding front doors. He managed to drive all the way from Brisbane to Canberra (about 1400km) with the door open. As you can guess, the Transit didn't beep at him or flash the interior light.
This has definitely been a gap in the HubNut catalogue, that I’m very pleased to see filled. I thought it was going to be awful, and I’m glad it isn’t! I quite fancy one now, as a bimbling car. As for the intended buyer, I could see middle class French or low-countries retirees, maybe as the second car. Obviously the less agile driver would appreciate the doors. Possibly even selling it to Parisian fashionistas on its elegant ingress & egress at the kerb…. Who knows, but it’s like someone was anticipating that there would be a Hubnut.
Ah yes the 1007, I bought one of these to flip and it was a total nightmare. Doors always playing up but other than that it drove really nicely. Must admit I found the styling quite funky.
An elderly neighbour of ours had a 1007. I found the design quirky but very practical and deserved to do better but reliability issues, weight and less than amazing fuel economy were not in its favour. Had it been built in Japan it probably would have worked but because French did it no favours.
The 1007 is like a concept idea that sounded great but in reality I don't really see much point of it apart from being different and a spacious 2 seater car. Having learned from this video that it's based on the 206 platform (noticed the mirrors are the same as my 206), it seems to make more sense to get a 206 as a better all rounded car and a better use of space.
Maybe more suited to the elderly, restricted mobility customers and occasionally ferrying the grand kids about? I remember seeing a seatbelt retrieving strap in one of mums special oap catalogues. One of my favourite pschooos ☺.
I actually really like these because they are quirky. The doors are whacky indeed but I love the way Peugeot made these really funky with interior packs and you could even specify things like colour packs to swap trim bits, and a JBL sound system which was a posh add on back in 2004. That TU engine is a little trooper! Some very clever little design touches. A future classic for sure. Great review Ian. NB there was a huge Corner Of Despair too on the passenger side too 🤣
I bought my 1.6 sport semi auto about 4 years ago when my disc popped in my back and what a godsend it's been. The huge aperture that opens up when that door slides back and the low floor line and high roof line make it a doddle to get in and out and with that high seating position and huge windscreen, it really is a pleasant driving experience only marred by the ponderous semi-automatic gearbox. But if you sit back and don't expect rapid F1 gear changes, it pootles along quite nicely and the 1.6 16v is a sweet unit if not driven too aggressively. And if you manipulate the seats properly which fold and slide in all manner of ways, (the front passenger seat can be folded flat to make sort of a table), then you can load a surprising amount in them.
Getting Bedford CA vibes from you driving around with the doors open on that (remembering CA van drivers always driving around with the doors back from my youth!)
I've wanted to see a proper review of one of these since they first came out. Many thanks Ian, for a great review. I confess that I really like the 1007, provided it is a fully manual transmission. I suspect that either the diesel 1.4 litre or the petrol 1.6 litre engines would have lower revs when doing 70 MPH.
Got a 206 with the 1.4 HDi, does about 2300rpm at 70mph. Not a bad engine to be honest, probably even better with a remap that makes it the same power and torque as a base 2.0hdi 90 while still being in the annual £30 tax bracket unlike the 2.0 HDi
I always think that a car that is taller than it is wide, will only ever be driven by old people with hip problems. Having said that I always rather liked the 1007.
I always thought these were made for old people and people with disabilities due to the doors. The whole purpose must have been to be able to get easily in and out.
I've worked on and driven a high spec ultra low mileage one with the 1.6 16v and automated manual gearbox. Much smoother, higher geared and surprisingly nippy. The gear control module failed and it went away, only to resurface via another contact tweo years later. Its OK now so somebody must have fixed it.
I had one of these for a few weeks. I quite liked it, but the novelty of the automatic doors soon wore off. Mine had a habit of closing and then suddenly opening again. Not ideal. If only there was an override switch that would allow you to manually open and shut them.
A late neighbour had one and her son still has it. She'd drive to France every summer for a gathering of her French/Belgian family, the last time at 90 years old. IIRC the problem with the door was it can be operated manually but the mechanism isn't built for this to be done regularly. If the battery goes flat the door doesn't work until it's been closed manually to reset things. In the case of my neighbour's this happened enough times due to short journeys one winter for the mechanism to fail.
I attempted to park an auto version at a main dealership I was doing some work at a few years ago. Absolute nightmare of epic proportions. Even the dealers privately hated them. Possibly one of the worst cars ever to have been produced. Great vid as always though Ian. Oh how you make my day and make me chuckle. 😅
A very underrated car. We have it as a sport with 110 hp, a panoramic roof, automatic climate control and a JBL stereo system. The car is fast, comfortable and incredibly practical (seat colors and air grills can be changed). In addition, even then the safest small car in the test with 7 airbags (even the driver's knee airbag). And a very good sense of space.
I nearly bought one with a panoramic roof but lost out through dithering. I have a 1.6 sport which is quite nippy, safe (NCAP5 rating) and stable but let down by the pondering semi auto box which is at least very smooth. I would have liked the JBL stereo too, but I have upgraded the rear speakers to Pioneers.
That purple color of windscreen if thermal treatment, it filter xray letting a little less hot!
Here in the Netherlands mostly elderly people bought it, for the high seating position and ease of access. And they had the money 😉
That's what happened in the UK too!
Yes, that is what I suspected the market would be. Anyone with mobility issues would probably find it handy. Never seen one before. Not sold in Australia. Maybe a future classic?????
This is exactly what i intended to write as well. Problem was that not all elderly people who could be interested by this car were able to buy it. As a second hand car, it might have a chance.
Here in Denmark it was almost only disabled people in wheelchairs who bought it(was given it by the Social Services), because of the doors..
It always amazed me that sliding doors on passenger cars never really caught on, less chance of dinged doors in the supermarket car park, easier to load kids into child seats unobstructed by a traditional door. And they can be reliable, manual sliding doors on vans get used and abused all day long and last for decades
We love the sliding doors on our Berlingo.
@@dizzy2020 my dad's two Toyota Hiace work vans had zero sliding door issues in 14 years :) and he told me always if those Toyotas needed any repair, because it was always big news if they broke any part.
I’m surprised Tesla didn’t go that route instead of their idiotic gulliblewing doors on the model x
We've got a Ford C Max Grand, that has rear sliding doors, also it can accommodate 7 in one go, a bit cramped in the back if you're around 6 foot tall though At 5' 11' myself, I could just about manage to get in the rear seats. Great for taking out the grandkids, they love it. We've never had trouble with the sliding doors, they just need to be lubricated regularly.
I have had 2 VW Caddy Maxi Kombis over the years and they where brilliant for family duties and for work, and they must have made some advances in sliding door safety standards as the new Caddy Kombi/Life has a 5 star NCAP rating
As someone who craves quirky french mini MPVs from the early 2000s, this pretty much spot-on for me. Adore it!
A light blue one with slightly faulty doors for you to fix would make a good friend for TWC.
The more unkind car reviews at the time did indeed call it an Invalid Carriage! 😏
@@PaddyWV the doors situation similarity is indeed striking.
My dad has one of these. In exactly the same color actually, he calls it his golden chariot! He has reduced mobility so getting in and out of cars is hard for him. The sliding doors and high seat make it perfect for him.
There is a fun warning under the sunvisor warning you to lock the car when going trough a car wash! The brushes can activate the doors and open them..
On the design - the doors are the rears off the C8 turned round, they had those plus the engines and the platform so all it needed was a body and no-one has complained about that.
A shame it didn't sell. Great review.
Owned one for a couple of years and it never skipped a beat. No issues with the doors, they just need lubrication and making sure crud was kept out of the tracks. Being able to swap the washable seat inserts and dash tops was also clever. And the passenger seat does fills flat for use as a desk.
Memory tells me it was designed as a city car mainly for Paris where parking is impossible.
Some years ago i drove in Copenhagen. It was rush hour. Heavy traffic, but it was moving at a reasonable speed. I was driving beside a little old lady in a 1007. Suddenly the fancy sliding door opened in the driverside, apparently by itself. I looked at the lady and she was in total panic. Luckily my lane was moving faster so I could get away. The fate of the old woman and the car is unknown to me.
The buttons are where you expect the electric window switches to be...
I'd have thought the doors would be disabled when moving. Presumably seatbelts are mandatory in Denmark so she couldn't fall out, even if cornering hard.
@@HubNut imagine a 1.9 205 GTI, with a sliding door design, a quick bout of lift off oversteer and an inadvertent press of the door button sees both you and the car flying towards the nearest hedge, independent of each other!
Except for the strange doors this is not a terribly bad idea for a compact utility vehicle.
No need to panic just drive with the open door 😉
I used to drive a Bedford CF van with sliding doors. Great fun in the summer, loads better than air conditioning, and only slightly marred by items flying out of the cab when negotiating roundabouts. (flasks, stationary, yorkshire terriers, etc)
I reckon that these would be a great use to the many independent delivery drivers there are today. Disable those warning devices and drive with the door open. :) When I was a kid, I helped my dad on many a milk round. I have fallen, at low speed, out of a Transit, Sherpa and CF with sliding doors. Damn vinyl seats. :)
I used to love the vans with the sliding front doors
I know the road traffic laws in New Zealand (and likely many other jurisdictions), allows vehicles to be driven with sliding doors kept open, with the proviso that the speed is kept low (I think they allowed 20mph/30kmh) and that the driver was involved in regular stopping, such as milk or other deliveries. Yes I've always thought more cars should have sliding doors, Especially nowadays in city parking.
No it’s shite 😂
It’s a fish tank ?
Yep we had sliders on an early council van ? Doors opened and closed depending on the brakes ? Great on a sunny day ?
I have to say that I owned one of these from 2015 to 2017 in the 16 valve 1.6 Sport incarnation. Apart from the relatively atrocious fuel consumption it was quite a nice car, and one I wish I hadn't had to get rid of. Sadly for some time fuel consumption has trumped almost every other consideration for us, leading us eventually to our current daily driver of a Honda Insight, but for what it is worth I actually really liked the 1007.
I've considered the 1.6 Sport before, but been frightened off because of stories of wayward electrics which often resulted in the car being written off, due to expense. It would be nice to find some of the interior trim colour packs and maybe have a different coloured interior each month.
@@philpaxton2078 I may have been lucky, but I never experienced any issues with the electrics, or indeed the doors.
@@jennyd255 Good to know Jenny, as I do really like quirky cars like this.
I get 15km per liter on the motorway. City is very different 10/11 km per liter.
@@michelvondenhoff9673 Exactly. Unfortunately these days I consider anything less than 22 Km/l to be unacceptably low. My Insight just about manages 22Km/l overall, but 15Km/l would be verging on what I would call attrocious, and 11Km per liter unthinkably low. How does anyone even afford that with current fuel prices? I really struggle even 22Km/l. Sad really because as I said the 1007 is a really nice car in all other respects, so I'm certainly not dissing it - but for me running costs have really become very important. If I was only getting 15 I just wouldn't be able to afford to drive it.
This one will become a future classic, if you have one cherish it. I quite like it and the color is magnificent. Nice to see Peugeot going for something different than ordinary. A lot of space in a rather small car. I am all for it.
The problem is that people may have liked it, but not enough to buy it
@@superseven220 Remember people are often conservative: what would the neighbor think atitude. We have enough sheep, be unique so I would buy it for sure. It's something different from all the VW's and the usual things you can see all over the place.Yes the prices were steep but now the prices are very affordable so I would love to have one. Imagine with an 1.6 engine this one would be great on long distances too.
There will be no future classics because no normal people will have cars by 2030 or own any property everything will be on subscription and everyone except top 0.1% will be poor
I remember Top Gear showed this alongside the Renault Modus and the Honda Jazz.
I always get a tinge of excitement when seeing that Ian is doing a car review as no one does it with better knowledge or humour. This review does not disappoint 🙂
I've always seen them as transport for the elderly. Which was Peugeot's image in general at the time.
So Basically European Buicks lol because here in America our Car demographic for Elderly is Buicks and sometimes Chrysler.
@@WestleyWolf from what I have heard, yes, they have a similar image. Historically (until something like the 70s) Peugeot was a family business for slightly right-wing Catholic and posher clientèle with serious jobs like doctor. Renault, nationalized After WWII, was seen as more left-wing, and being state owned, for civil servants or the like. Citroën was for free-thinkers and engineers. More or less.
That was the last car my late wife owned was one of those. Hers was the same colour as well.
Oddly there’s a silver one abandoned a few miles away from here, l pass it sometimes when l go shopping lol
Google maps is so out of date that you can still see the orange wedge badly parked on the driveway 😂
To say she made questionable choices in life is quite the understatement, not only did buy one of those things but she married a duck egg like me too 😂
R.l.P Bev 🙏🏻❤️
I love the sliding doors.
We had a blue 2006 1.6 sport one of these with a tiptronic gearbox until 3 weeks ago, we had it 6 years without issue until recently. Fantastic car with loads of cubby holes and storage space in it.
My wife has limited mobility and the high driving position and automatic doors was perfect for her.
I once parked the car in front of a shop and on the way back to the car I opened the doors of the car as i approached.
Just then a woman came out of the shop carrying two shopping bags and she stood there with there mouth open in surprise as the car in front of her just opened the doors and she didn't know why. 😀
Sadly we had to sell as both doors refused to open and the controller was difficult to source, it won't get easier to replace as time goes by so we made the decision to let it go.
The only "fault" was the fuel economy which was terrible but my wife loved the thing, it was an cool car in many ways.
We replaced it with a Nissan Note which we will not be keeping for long, horrible thing, it's like driving a dishwasher by comparison.
Just to note that the 1007 was intended as a city car so it's got a low gear ratio for nipping about town, on a motorway it always feels like it needs another gear because it does.
I bought a blue 1.6 sport tiptronic and touch wood, it's been 4 years without issue. Bought due to a herniated disc in my back and an inability to get in my C class.
My friends gran had one and loved the door. Even if it's a horrendous car, I like that she enjoyed it
Got one of these because it is French 🤠
FYI, the doors are not as iffy as reported. Most of the time it was operator error or lack of knowledge to maintain/repair or even just set (factory) them. The concept was nice and new(ish) yet the mechanics weren't instructed in time to "repair" those.
The doors never went wrong on mine either. The battery and suspension did though haha
I never found the issue with the doors being slow to open in rain an issue, even though people mention it as a reason not o buy these. A normal car you have to run up to, open the door and get in then close it. With the 1007 the door can be opened before you get to the car and the seats are set into the car so unless the it's windy it not a problem. If you're parked beside another car then normal cars leave you out in the rain longer while you're trying to squeeze in not to mention if the car's dirty you cloths are going to get dirty to rubbing against the car.
Personally i liked the sliding doors and they're perfect for tight spaces.
In french, we named it the PEUGEOT "one thousand seven" (as you said)
I owned one about seven years ago. A 1.4 turbo diesel. It was the worst and best car I have owned. It always put a smiles on my wife and I's faces and always got comments from people. The main problem was a slipping clutch which had to be replaced then it developed a problem with the traction control which was traced to a faulty abs unit which wasn't economical to repair. I ended up trading it in against another a quite a loss . I believe in France it was purchased by the younger trendy population. In this country it was the older generation because it was very easy to get in and out of. It was a very heavy car as much as a Mondao.
"All that non sense that we apparently need", so true.
In addition to the automatic sliding door, 1007 has so many windows which made it look interesting but expensive to manufacture. A precursor to modern SUV/MPV with it's ride height and easy access for front seats
Yay!! Thanks for this video and your expertise Ian. Been waiting for this to come through your channel for ages.
This brings back memories of a Ford Transit I drove in the 70's with front sliding doors. In the summer I drove with the doors open all the time to get some airflow into the cab. Fine around town at slow speeds, but over about 40 mph anything loose inside the cab blew out onto the road.
Those doors were rendered illegal in the Australian market, I think, except for the Post Office, which used them on mailbox pick-up runs with the sliding door open. My Dad once borrowed an old International box truck from work for our house move, which had similar doors. Fun to watch the bitumen whizzing past!
I don't think I've ever seen one of these, but according to the 'How Many Left' site there were only 2,255 on the road at their peak in the UK in 2007, with about 1000 still licensed or sorned.
Kind of low numbers, half of all bought are destroy then??
They should have focused on the mobility scooter market, with a tailgate that opens as a ramp and removable seats to accommodate either a mobility scooter or wheelchair in the back. There are grants and international markets including the USA. Production could be outsourced to a contractor, for example Magma, with the car a 'halo' product showing that Peugeot cares about the customer, regardless of how able bodied they are.
I agree, that's a good point you make.
Mine has an automatic gearbox and it does not drive while the doors are open, one more thing; you forgot to mention that the backseats are removable for making it as a small van 🚐 😊
The coloured rings around the vents, mats on top of the dash and the inner cushions are changeable, Peugeot dealers sold them in different colours.
Being a wheelchair user a car like this would be great. On many cars the driver’s door doesn’t open far enough to allow good access.
I have one, and I love it! Everybody drops their jaw when they see the doors 😂
If you don’t expect too much from it, it is perfect!! I call it lunchbox… 😂😂
They're a strange car in so far that everyone who ever owned them loved them. People just come up to you asking about them and asking where they can get one. They draw as many questions as a vintage car does.
I saw a t shirt with a picture of one on the front and it said something like "If you don't own one then you can't understand" :)
They have a lot of personality for a little car.
I've owned a lot of cars but they were all motorway cruisers because I never like small cars.
The 1007 was my wife's car but out of all our cars combined it was our all time favorite one, the only small car I ever liked.
We genuinely did a lot of thinking before we let it go even considering putting it in the garage and keeping it.
But it will suit somebody else so we sold it.
That anteater driving position with the distant windshield and front seats in the middle of the wheelbase is very much like GM's Chevrolet Lumina/Pontiac Transport/Oldsmobile Silhouette minivan triplets of the late 1980s. I think it's fair to say the Jeep Grand Wagoneer had conclusively proven that consumers did want a luxurious four by four long before Land Rover thought of it.
Excellent Review as always, there is one round the corner from me in this exact same colour and I honestly think it's a funky wee thing even if it was a white elephant back in the day!
I had one, this brought back so many memories of it, I miss having it but it was rubbish to drive. The interior was great to sit in for two people as the Bach seats are small. The doors never went wrong.
I had lots of memories in a basic 1.4l petrol 2005 1007. My mother and sister shared it, I learned to drive in it. I could say lots of good and bad about it, but I miss it.
Also, make sure not to lose the keys because apparantly when my folks did, the replacement malfunctioned the doors which couldn't operate by that remote key.
Couldn't pass the NCT because of it, even when it had plenty of life left in it
My parents had one. The doors malfunctioned a lot of times. The most scary were the unwanted door openings at 100+ km/h….
Eesh...
I remember when I first saw one and it was a combination of 'that's cute!' and 'that's strange!' Plaudits to Peugeot for trying something different. Oh and that's one of the most impressive "ptchooooo!s" so far!
My brother in law had one it was funky and a nightmare the doors would open and close by there self at night the worst thing they did was open at 70mph on the motorway
Yikes!
One of the best ‘pschooooo’s ever!
First time I've seen one of these and I finding it oddly nice.
I think the white vent surrounds and dash mats you can change on these to different colours. Great video Ian, thanks.
it does if i remember correctly
A French car with a James Bond connection. The sliding doors could also be considered somewhat Bondesque. Great little car, something of a pity that it never made its mark in a Bond movie. Could have been a great marketing opportunity.
I looked at one of these for a runaround car...One looked at was a quicksilver with satnav and heated half leather ..but..the doors only worked manually ..where's the fun in that
Hi Ian. A thoroughly marvellous video. I always like a peugeot review many fond memories of a few summer jobs working with my dad at a peugeot dealer. i had a 1.4 tu in my 106 and a 1.1 in my ax great engines. ps thanks for my merch. good times.
friend of mine has one and set it up for lapping the nurnburgring.he has the 1.6 petrol one with a lot of engine work done,cams,valvesprings and so on.lowered as well with huge brembo brakes on it.im pretty sure he has done a couple of hundred laps with the car and a couple of hundred more himself.ive done a couple of passenger laps with him and i can tell you its pretty scary,he set the car up really well though its just scary cause you dont expect that kind of handling on a car like that
With doors like these, and an ability to drive it with doors open, it would make quite a good car for gangsters in the Al Capone era :D.
More seriously, though, I think that this door design make it just about the most convenient car to get in and get out of for the elderly or for people with some motoric disability. The access seems absolutely fabulous!
I actually considered this car once, for the sake of uniqueness. Now I found 7 available in Finland, prices ranging from 1.6k€ to 3.5 k€. The most expensive one has that sweet color, the rest are boring dark blue or silver.
Someone down my street has one of these in the same colour. It has a terrible gearbox whine....
I have one of these , it's my Dad's I bought it for him after he had hip replacement surgery and when it was found he could now walk again easily, my local council took away his disabled parking badge. With this he could park in any space and not worry about fully opening the door. I've just got it back on the road after the pandemic made Dad not able to go out and drive it and it got left to stand. His has the 1.6 engine and the dreadful semi automatic gearbox, and to top off the embarrassment its bright yellow. (its fun to drive though), if you can deal with the gearbox.
I happen to like this! Ingenious design.
I must say that electric sliding doors on minivans do have similar issues, ie opening at random times, not closing, etc., so it is not relegated to this specific model.
The engine sounds beastly, that clattering, which almost sounds like a diesel, would annoy me.
Oh, and on minivans, whilst in gear the door warning beeps excessively, I know since at one time we did own a GM minivan, which were the first in the US to offer an electric sliding door.
Yes, I'm in the US, and Peugeot left our market 30 years ago.
I think its failure is due to poor market as well as design and execution.
Despite all that, I think it is a lovely vehicle that looks quite modern!
As soon as I saw those doors my first thought was, can you drive it with them open? you can! Lol. A car of interest and disappointment. Nice camera work Miss HubNut 👍
my dad used to have one in Dolce spec with yellow paint. very funky cars although the passenger door once randomly opened (luckily, no one was in the passenger seat at the time) its a shame more manufactures don't have sliding doors even if they are Manuel (the ones on the 1007 are electric) another thing i liked with the one my dad had was the fact you could unzip the seat covers, meaning they are easy to wash, say for example you had a child in the car who accidently spilt chocolate on the seats it would make life so much easier.
Honestly this isn't ugly it's rather an interesting design 😊.
The TU series engines were fine in 106, 205s etc. but couldn't cope with the extra kerb weight of even a 206. This has double the additional mass, so must be desperate. I guess Ian's complaint about buzziness at motorway speed is because Peugeot tried to counteract the weight penalty with the gearing.
Until very recently there was one at my work’s car park, orange and well cared. Odd proportions but it still looks very original. I remember it was pretty expensive when new and have always been quite uncommon.
Nice colour of the Peugeot, Ian. I've got a Ford C Max Grand, that has rear sliding doors, like the B Max, whereas the ordinary C Max doesn't. The first MPV I saw with sliding rear doors was the Mazda 5, a company that has several ties to Ford.
Japanese went in for sliding doors pretty early on. Many MPVs and even some city cars.
A few years ago, I witnessed this car 'Shining like no other' !
What I hear you say, well I was driving in Surrey and came across one of these cars which had failed to turn at a T-junction (on my left) and subsequently driven into a hedge and stopped mid hedge !
A big problem for most cars but not for this one, I witnessed the driver exiting through the already activated electric doors !
Bravo !
I like it. A luxurious Invacar!
Unlike any other Peugeot and I like it! Seems very Hubnut to me. Perfect shopping car for two people I would have thought.
My boss had one of those back in the days. It was bright yellow, the same color as the mail boxes. One day someone found a big magnetic postal badge saying "I drive for the postal service" and placed it on his driver's door. 😂
I think driving along with the doors open, it mimics Asterix the Gaul’s helmet lol
few years ago when out working on the street i heard someone shouting they couldnt get out of their car .just a regular car too .turned out theyd still got their seat belt on!
I like them. Peugeot may have lost a lot of money on them but they are interesting. If a car company takes a chance on a new concept that captures the zeitgeist, like the Mazda MX5, they hit the jackpot. In the fullness of time the 1007 may become rare and collectable.
I worked for a Peugeot dealer when these were launched, and sadly they focused very much on the new semi-auto gearbox, which was frankly, dreadful.
Great review highlighting, and bringing back memories of other issues of weight, lack of power, price etc.. struggled to sell them.
I personally liked the design, and with the diesel engines, it's power issues were resolved, and then it drove remarkably well.
The semi-auto gearbox was absolutely awful. It would change gears like someone who couldn't drive a manual.
@@apexherbivore7261 Spot on...😂
It also overheated if you were in traffic and then would leave you without a gear. Happened to me twice and i learned to keep the car in neutral when you weren't moving. Once you got used of it it was ok, not brilliant but ok.
@@ravenmadd1343 to get the best gear change, you literally had to drive it like a manual.
ie, second guess when it was about to change gear and then take your foot slightly off the accelerator, for the imaginary clutch to engage.
@@paulfisher5794 This is very true, the gearbox could be very dumb if you needed performance out of it and the ratios are all wrong for normal road use. It has a very wide 5th gear so it revs too high at speed. It's geared for cities.
There's a household near to me that has THREE of these 1007's in their driveway.
Not sure whether this speaks volumes of said household or the car itself.
There's a good Facebook group dedicated to these cars and some of those folks have a few. Some of us keep old classic and vintage cars at an expense far greater than the car will ever be valued at, what would that say about us I wonder?
Expect used prices to double now. You make so many cars very tempting. Great vid, once again, thanks.
We bought ours for 1200, kept it for six years with out huge expense bar, 150 for a controller board, and sold it for 1200. Can't complain.
My girlfriend who owns the family owned Peugeot 307 from her parents uses it as a daily driver and is equipped with the TU5 1.6 16V engine. I must say that engine is really really very omnipotent. Quite low down torque for easy cruising, and as soon as you give it the beans, it does pull and pull and happily revs all the way through.
The typical chunky gearbox/synchros are becoming a thing now as the car is approaching 100k miles.
I had a red 1007 on 07 plate. It was a lovely car to drive, the doors were exquisite; but it was underpowered, especially in 2nd gear. That's the only downside.
You were very spot-on about the engine and gearbox. The TU3 is a bulletproof motor, and while yes it doesn't really like doing motorway speeds elegantly, it will still do them, I often drive it for hours on the highway and just keep her at over 3k revs, these things will happily stay at redline all day, and the MA gearbox as always isn't the greatest unit, it's fine but mushy, no matter how many miles or how new the car, every single one fitted with it will have awful shifts, especially when cold it can be very temperamental. But I do love them, dirt cheap to keep running.
I was looking for one of these with an automatic to replace my C4 with but sadly none were to be found at the time. I really like the doors.
Sadly they didn't do them with a conventional auto, only the automated manual.
@@HubNut Yeah, my C4 was that (and I've owned 2 Smarts and a MB Sprinter with Sprintshift) so I guess that makes me a...masochist? It isn't really that awful, but it's still pretty bad...
A mate of mine used to have a Transit with the sliding front doors. He managed to drive all the way from Brisbane to Canberra (about 1400km) with the door open. As you can guess, the Transit didn't beep at him or flash the interior light.
It was obligatory to drive with the door open at all times or risk forfeiting your WVM (White Van Man) licence
@@AndreiTupolev Only ex-postie vans had the feature in Australia by then.
I had a BX with that engine in the mid 90s, I sold it on when the cylinder liner seals started to allow coolant to leak into the sump.
Very tidy little car actually.Very good condition.Future classic👍?
This has definitely been a gap in the HubNut catalogue, that I’m very pleased to see filled. I thought it was going to be awful, and I’m glad it isn’t! I quite fancy one now, as a bimbling car.
As for the intended buyer, I could see middle class French or low-countries retirees, maybe as the second car. Obviously the less agile driver would appreciate the doors. Possibly even selling it to Parisian fashionistas on its elegant ingress & egress at the kerb…. Who knows, but it’s like someone was anticipating that there would be a Hubnut.
It's about as long as Ford Mondeo is wide so you can park them node into the kerb.
Ah yes the 1007, I bought one of these to flip and it was a total nightmare. Doors always playing up but other than that it drove really nicely. Must admit I found the styling quite funky.
Probably one of the greatest pchoos
An elderly neighbour of ours had a 1007. I found the design quirky but very practical and deserved to do better but reliability issues, weight and less than amazing fuel economy were not in its favour. Had it been built in Japan it probably would have worked but because French did it no favours.
Love the skylights on the hood illuminating the clouds.
The 1007 is like a concept idea that sounded great but in reality I don't really see much point of it apart from being different and a spacious 2 seater car. Having learned from this video that it's based on the 206 platform (noticed the mirrors are the same as my 206), it seems to make more sense to get a 206 as a better all rounded car and a better use of space.
i really like the 206 SW
Maybe more suited to the elderly, restricted mobility customers and occasionally ferrying the grand kids about? I remember seeing a seatbelt retrieving strap in one of mums special oap catalogues. One of my favourite pschooos ☺.
A friend of mine had one. She found it really good for shopping, car parks, etc.
I actually really like these because they are quirky. The doors are whacky indeed but I love the way Peugeot made these really funky with interior packs and you could even specify things like colour packs to swap trim bits, and a JBL sound system which was a posh add on back in 2004. That TU engine is a little trooper! Some very clever little design touches. A future classic for sure. Great review Ian.
NB there was a huge Corner Of Despair too on the passenger side too 🤣
I would love to have one.
I bought my 1.6 sport semi auto about 4 years ago when my disc popped in my back and what a godsend it's been. The huge aperture that opens up when that door slides back and the low floor line and high roof line make it a doddle to get in and out and with that high seating position and huge windscreen, it really is a pleasant driving experience only marred by the ponderous semi-automatic gearbox. But if you sit back and don't expect rapid F1 gear changes, it pootles along quite nicely and the 1.6 16v is a sweet unit if not driven too aggressively. And if you manipulate the seats properly which fold and slide in all manner of ways, (the front passenger seat can be folded flat to make sort of a table), then you can load a surprising amount in them.
Very cool video! Thank you.
another great video has always Ian and miss hubnut and hublets and hubmutts 👍
I had one of these on hire and just could not help myself from saying “ Cabin doors to Automatic “ much to the annoyance of higher management.
Getting Bedford CA vibes from you driving around with the doors open on that (remembering CA van drivers always driving around with the doors back from my youth!)
I've wanted to see a proper review of one of these since they first came out. Many thanks Ian, for a great review. I confess that I really like the 1007, provided it is a fully manual transmission. I suspect that either the diesel 1.4 litre or the petrol 1.6 litre engines would have lower revs when doing 70 MPH.
Got a 206 with the 1.4 HDi, does about 2300rpm at 70mph. Not a bad engine to be honest, probably even better with a remap that makes it the same power and torque as a base 2.0hdi 90 while still being in the annual £30 tax bracket unlike the 2.0 HDi
I always think that a car that is taller than it is wide, will only ever be driven by old people with hip problems. Having said that I always rather liked the 1007.
Some German guy once told me they are called elephant cars up there because when you open the doors it looks like elephant ears 😂
Good mobility car 👍
Hi Ian. Just loved that car but I must confess I didn't know that model at all and it was great to see you in our town doing the test drive. Des P🙂
I always thought these were made for old people and people with disabilities due to the doors. The whole purpose must have been to be able to get easily in and out.
I've worked on and driven a high spec ultra low mileage one with the 1.6 16v and automated manual gearbox. Much smoother, higher geared and surprisingly nippy. The gear control module failed and it went away, only to resurface via another contact tweo years later. Its OK now so somebody must have fixed it.
I had one of these for a few weeks. I quite liked it, but the novelty of the automatic doors soon wore off. Mine had a habit of closing and then suddenly opening again. Not ideal. If only there was an override switch that would allow you to manually open and shut them.
A late neighbour had one and her son still has it. She'd drive to France every summer for a gathering of her French/Belgian family, the last time at 90 years old.
IIRC the problem with the door was it can be operated manually but the mechanism isn't built for this to be done regularly. If the battery goes flat the door doesn't work until it's been closed manually to reset things. In the case of my neighbour's this happened enough times due to short journeys one winter for the mechanism to fail.
I attempted to park an auto version at a main dealership I was doing some work at a few years ago. Absolute nightmare of epic proportions. Even the dealers privately hated them. Possibly one of the worst cars ever to have been produced. Great vid as always though Ian. Oh how you make my day and make me chuckle. 😅