Peugeot 1007 - Peugeots exercise in abject failure.

[cort16]

In 2005 Peugeot introduced the 1007 a small MPV and first car in recent history to have automated sliding doors (as it turns out for good reason). The car was meant to be launched using a  bunch of James Bond 007 references but it seems they didn’t actually have the right to do this it had to be knocked on the head before the actual launch.

When the car was launched it received pretty enthusiastic reviews from the motoring press. Most of them were impressed by how the doors allowed access in and out of the car in tight parking spaces. I imagine peugeot looked at the space benefits the sliding door gave on larger MPV’s and vans and thought it could be applied to small city car. When it came out all I could think about was milkmen and newspaper delivery men cruising around in their Bedford CF’s and Mk2 transits with the front sliding doors open, no seat belt on and with a half smoked roll up hanging out their mouths

While the 1007 was launched as a mini MPV, which could fit 4 adults the rear space was compromised. It had head room thanks to the high roof line but the rear seats are elevated partilary as part of the mechanism for the sliding doors is hidden under the floor at the rear of the front seats. The doors also made the car heavy, it weighed nearly 1300kg. That combined with a set of low powered engines (75bhp 1.4 petrol and 1.4hdi engines and the 110bhp 1.6 petrol and diesel). I imagine the 1.6 HDI is the only one that didn’t make you want to lose the will to live.
The styling is questionable but the given the state of the Peugeot range at the time and the fact they had to deal with sticking a friggin great sliding doors on the side of it I guess it could have been worse?. Maybe. I dunno I imagine a white one could look like one of those american fridges.  The combination of the high roof line to support the doors and heavy weight was the exact recipe for a terrible handling car. If you watch any of the review videos of it at the time when it goes around corners it looks like it’s ready to tip over. 

 

APeugeot also offered it with the option of the 2 tronic automated manual box, which I’m not sure was a match made in heaven in an underpowered over weight car. The gear box seems to be sensitive to battery voltages which seems to cause of most of the issues with them. Although having a door system, which draws a lot of current may not make for the best match in a car with a gearbox sensitive to battery voltage.

 

When peugeot launched the car they thought they’d sell 100,000 a year. This combined with the questionable look of the post 206 mid 2000’s Peugeots makes me think someone was microdosing their water supply. In reality it sold 100,000 cars in it’s whole life cycle being killed off in the UK in 2008 and lasting another year on the continent. The net result is they lost around £12,000 per vehicle sold, which is good going given most of the Peugeot 1007’s sold cost around £11,000. If they’d given the customer a Peugeot 206 for nothing with £1000 in the glove box a week on the algarve they’d still be better off

It doesn’t quite top the £23,000 per car loss VW took on each Phaeton but the over all the losses totals to £1.6 billion on both the 1007 and Phaeton projects. At least it’s not quite as bad as Mercedes who apparently made a £2.8 billion loss on the first Smart for Two project over 8 years. 

 

The sales flop could partially  have been because 1007 was quite expensive. The starting price was just over £10,000 with the base price of the Citroen C3 of the time being under £8000 although the Peugeot was better equipped as standard.

Other reasons could be people don’t like adopting new ideas so didn’t want to be an early the first one on their street to have one before the world decided if it was a good idea or not.. The main reason I think it was such a flop and something that Peugoet didn’t realise which was it wasn’t really a good idea. I think some of this is down to how Peugeot executed it. A part of the selling point of it was you could blip the remote control and it would open both doors. You could be walking across the car park, blip the doors open and by the time you get there you can just jump in the car. Sounds great. What if it’s raining though and you blip the doors and the rain pisses into the car? You then jump in and get a crotch full of water as you wait for the doors to go through their cycle and close.

What about when you need to get fuel and the door opens and covers the fuel flap?  As a result you have to fill the car up with the doors closed and your passenger is then trapped in the car and can’t get out to buy maltesers from the shop.

How about when it’s the winter and water runs into the funny door seals and freezed the door shut?  Or what about how when you go over bumps the doors can unlock themselves?

Other reported side effects are if there’s an issue with the ABS system it doesn’t know the vehicle speed so the protocol which stops the doors opening over 3mph kicks in and your doors won’t open. 

You can open the doors manually but they don’t like it. If its not done carefully you can bind up the bowden cable at the winch end then you’re in deep shit. If the doors stop functioning you have to go through a reset process, which involves doing this manual process on both doors.. Also a lot of the microswitches are in exposed locations so get clogged up or can no longer make contact to need regular cleaning or you can’t get in the car. 

A basic function of a car is being able to get into it so you can drive it. If you can’t do that then it’s not a very good car.

 

I don’t think the sliding doors part of the car is particularly a bad idea especially in a city car. I think it's the automated part that causes the problem. If the doors are manually operated like they are on an old transit you can just jump in slam the door and you’re off like you do in black cab. I can understand why you wouldn’t want people driving around with the doors open but I’m sure a mechanism could be put in place to stop people doing that.

The doors on the 1007 can be manualised by removing the bowden cable link to the door. It’ll still pop out so you can slide it when you grab the handle but it won’t pull the door open and closed. You’d probably want to remove the cable mechanism though so it doesn’t get snagged around your leg when you’re driving along.

 

I suppose with so many boring new cars around just now  (VWG) you can’t criticise Peugeot them too much for trying something new.  You do wonder how a misfire like this got past all the customer panels and acceptance testing. I wonder if some high up had this idea as a brain wave and forced ii through. If that is the case I’m sure they’re changing brake discs in a van service centre in the middle of france somewhere. It does seem if main stream cars go too far off the standard path they don’t succeed. I can;t think of anything really radical that that caught on other than Land Rover deciding to make the Range Rover posh 50 years ago. Things like the Avantime, Vel Satis and the C6, Mercedes R Class are admired from afar but never sell many.  It’s not the customers fault they don’t sell it’s the manufacturer misread what their customers want. Just because people bought the Espace doesn’t mean they want a coupe version.

I guess Citroen got the balance just about right with the Cactus and Honda probably by accident with the space ship Civic. The germans rarely have major  misfire as they just subtly/lazely evolve their current models or create a new model, which is just a mild spin off of a current derivative to cut down on development costs. (although Mercedes did have a funny turn around the time of the 1007).  Maybe the i3 is the exception to that as they did that ground up with no influence from the current line up. The i8 looks great but did they sell many? I’m also not sure that counts as a mass produced car.

 

Has anyone every driven or owned a 1007? I’d love a shot. The survival rate seems about 50%, which I guess is okay for a budget car with weird mechanical doors. 

 

[ETCHY]

Interesting read thanks for that.

I saw one the  other month parked on a car park, still couldn't believe how odd it looked. It always resembled an Invalid carriage to my eyes.

Bonus points  to Peugeot for having the balls/insanity to produce it. As you say with manual doors it might have actually worked but.. French, so had to have a wacky over complex way of doing it.

Got to love it  though for just being mental/shit.

 

[cort16]

 

2 minutes ago, ETCHY said:

Interesting read thanks for that.

I saw one the  other month parked on a car park, still couldn't believe how odd it looked.

Bonus points  to Peugeot for having the balls/insanity to produce it. As you say with manual doors it might have actually worked but.. French, so had to have a wacky over complex way of doing it.

Got to love it  though for just being mental/shit.

 

I'm just baffled how it made it into production without there being someone pushing it hard internally.  Maybe it didn't become obvious it wasn't a great idea until it'd been out for a few months. I seem to remember at the time the motoring press was quite keen on it.

[Timewaster]

1007 should be in duck egg blue for the full invacar look. 

 

Incidentally I believe the i8 sold like hot cakes in Russia and Asia. 

I think the first A class was pretty ground breaking.  Elk test and resultant reputation must have done huge damage to the sales. 

Therefore it was replaced with a dull porridge fwd hatchback. 

[St.Jude]

The issue with the car stemmed from the doors taking so bloody long to open. It's Britain, we're famous for rain. So how could Peugeot decide our pensioners (who would be all over this, most were) stand out in the pissing rain, waiting for the hamster wheel powered door to trundle open? Monsters! They're bloody monsters I'm telling you!

It came out at a time too where they had their electric iOn, which looked like a stretched 1007 but was a Mitsubishi abortion. I've only ever seen 2 of them in the wild.

[cort16]

9 minutes ago, Timewaster said:

1007 should be in duck egg blue for the full invacar look. 

 

Incidentally I believe the i8 sold like hot cakes in Russia and Asia. 

I think the first A class was pretty ground breaking.  Elk test and resultant reputation must have done huge damage to the sales. 

Therefore it was replaced with a dull porridge fwd hatchback. 

That's true with the A-Class as it was cleverly engineered. I guess to owners it wasn't that different other than the interior space.

I remember getting in one of those A-Classes not long after they came out and the interior quality was the worst I've ever seen. Some of the smarts are similar.

[cort16]

1 minute ago, sgtberbatov said:

The issue with the car stemmed from the doors taking so bloody long to open. It's Britain, we're famous for rain. So how could Peugeot decide our pensioners (who would be all over this, most were) stand out in the pissing rain, waiting for the hamster wheel powered door to trundle open? Monsters! They're bloody monsters I'm telling you!

It came out at a time too where they had their electric iOn, which looked like a stretched 1007 but was a Mitsubishi abortion. I've only ever seen 2 of them in the wild.

I think they need to go through their full cycle too so you just had to sit and let the rain piss on you. It would have made so much more sense for them to be manual,

The electric doors seem to cause so many issues just getting into the bloody thing.  You can imagine  Doris and Alf coming back from their shopping to find the doors out of sync and you can't get in the bloody thing. 

[DVee8]

13 minutes ago, sgtberbatov said:

The issue with the car stemmed from the doors taking so bloody long to open. It's Britain, we're famous for rain. So how could Peugeot decide our pensioners (who would be all over this, most were) stand out in the pissing rain, waiting for the hamster wheel powered door to trundle open? Monsters! They're bloody monsters I'm telling you!

It came out at a time too where they had their electric iOn, which looked like a stretched 1007 but was a Mitsubishi abortion. I've only ever seen 2 of them in the wild.

I have driven a Mitsubishi Ion, we had them as pool cars at work..Shite

[DVee8]

10 minutes ago, HarmonicCheeseburger said:

If anyone is feeling brave -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PEUGEOT-1007-HDI-SPORT-2006-DIESEL/133534329285?hash=item1f174429c5:g:WowAAOSw1g1fUsBf

Thats fucking great,look at the spoiler on it. How much down force would that create..

I'm surprised it's manual.

[cort16]

13 minutes ago, HarmonicCheeseburger said:

If anyone is feeling brave -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PEUGEOT-1007-HDI-SPORT-2006-DIESEL/133534329285?hash=item1f174429c5:g:WowAAOSw1g1fUsBf

Oof the 1.4hdi as well.  I thought £1000 Would but you the best one in the world .

[Aston Martin]

It's not tragically slow?

 

 

 

[cort16]

It is compared to a normal door when it’s wazing it down or a seagul is trying to steal your chips 

[320touring]

I was hoping you had bought one!

 

My mum had one years ago - sliding doors were great for her shanner hips (now since replaced)

It was a 1.4 petrol, and that burnt orange colour they came in.

The auto box was fine as long as you booted it 10secs before you needed motion

*Sees car enter roundabout*

BOOT IT

*Car makes its exit*

*Time passes*

*1007 moves off serenely*

[2MB]

I have nothing to add apart from the memory of seeing one of these parked neatly in the grass where the M62 splits around the farm, having somehow leapt over the barrier. Can imagine they are a perfect storm of shit handling/susceptible to sidewinds/driven by giffers

[cort16]

£475 with a years mot Although the doors have been converted to manual 

 

https://m.facebook.com/marketplace/item/781678345728805/

[HMC]

Presumably you can’t drive around with the sliding doors open? I’m thinking of the all imprortant* 1970s commercial vehicle driving retiree market, as I’m sure Peugeot were all too aware of as well. 

[cort16]

5 minutes ago, HMC said:

Presumably you can’t drive around with the sliding doors open? I’m thinking of the all imprortant* 1970s commercial vehicle driving retiree market, as I’m sure Peugeot were all too aware of as well. 

I recon if it’s been manualised you can. I see it’s got a Normal hand brake so I can’t see how it could stop you if you can put up with the likely horrible beeping .

 

[SiC]

They're also prone to them going French with their sensors and being unsure if they should be open or closed. So end up cycling between the two endlessly.

 

 

[spartacus]

That black one with the spoiler looks ok I think. I'm interested enough to watch the end of the auction, not to buy it though. Surely they're military spec shite though, somebody needs to buy one and get it in the fold.

 

ETA, it sold for £860

[UltraWomble]

2 hours ago, cort16 said:

 

What about when you need to get fuel and the door opens and covers the fuel flap?  As a result you have to fill the car up with the doors closed and your passenger is then trapped in the car and can’t get out to buy maltesers from the shop.

How about when it’s the winter and water runs into the funny door seals and freezed the door shut?  Or what about how when you go over bumps the doors can unlock themselves?

Other reported side effects are if there’s an issue with the ABS system it doesn’t know the vehicle speed so the protocol which stops the doors opening over 3mph kicks in and your doors won’t open. 

 

All these issues we suffered with on the C8.

Had the 10007 had manual sliding doors instead it would probably have been less of a lemon.

Our new MPV has manual sliding doors now.

[1duck]

I almost bought one when the clutch went on a polo i had at the time, but i wound up buying an almera instead, in retrospect i wish i'd taken a stab at it...it was cheap and hidden away at the back of a bombyard car dealership. I think he was struggling to sell it as it was still doing the rounds about 6 months later.

[St.Jude]

2 hours ago, DVee8 said:

I have driven a Mitsubishi Ion, we had them as pool cars at work..Shite

£7,000 on eBay... somehow.

[Timewaster]

2 hours ago, cort16 said:

£475 with a years mot Although the doors have been converted to manual 

 

https://m.facebook.com/marketplace/item/781678345728805/

Is that like a "Converted to front wheel drive" Freelander? 

I.E Fucked components relocated to the skip.

[motorpunk]

2 hours ago, cort16 said:

£475 with a years mot Although the doors have been converted to manual 

 

https://m.facebook.com/marketplace/item/781678345728805/

I want that. What the fuck is wrong with me?!

[St.Jude]

7 minutes ago, motorpunk said:

I want that. What the fuck is wrong with me?!

Considering that the driver's side is manual, but the passenger is still electric, you want Mrs.Motorpunk to stand in the pissing rain waiting for it to open and close. That's whats wrong with you!

[maxxo]

complete sales flop

i don't mind so much, quite like it when i very rarely see one

but they just have the vibes of the sort of car that would catch fire and trap you inside

actually it's exactly the sort of car that would catch fire and trap you inside

[cort16]

3 minutes ago, maxxo said:

complete sales flop

i don't mind so much, quite like it when i very rarely see one

but they just have the vibes of the sort of car that would catch fire and trap you inside

actually it's exactly the sort of car that would catch fire and trap you inside

Especially if you're the passenger trapped in it in the petrol station! 

[St.Jude]

9 minutes ago, maxxo said:

complete sales flop

i don't mind so much, quite like it when i very rarely see one

but they just have the vibes of the sort of car that would catch fire and trap you inside

actually it's exactly the sort of car that would catch fire and trap you inside

Bloke around the corner from me has one. Well, I assume bloke, as it's black with a spoiler. 

[maxxo]

15 minutes ago, cort16 said:

Especially if you're the passenger trapped in it in the petrol station! 

that sounds like it has the potential to become very exciting

[SiC]

32 minutes ago, motorpunk said:

I want that. What the fuck is wrong with me?!

If you do buy it, I'd love to see Catchpole doing a lap around a track in it. 😁