Peugeot 107 - "Rocky": The greatest car of all time

[St.Jude]

I realised today that when I joined Autoshite, I never posted about my Peugeot 107 because it wasn't old enough for this section. It's now 13 years old in September, so quite overdue a thread. Especially given the shenanigans with the Land Cruiser and Rover. I'll also tell you now this is going to be a long old post.

So here it is, Rocky. My Peugeot 107. It's a 5 door "Millesim". A limited edition from 2010 when Peugeot were celebrating 200 years of being a thing.

I can't remember how much I paid for it, as I bought it brand new on the "Just Add Fuel" scheme. I paid £250 a month for 3 years, and then paid (I think) £4,000 balloon payment after 3 years. But I'm getting ahead of myself. You need a back story.

At the time I bought this, I had been driving for about a year. I had a Peugeot 306 XLdt which after 6 months my Dad told me I needed to get rid as the engine was shagged. I ended up getting a red Honda Civic 1.4 S which was an automatic. Up until the work I did on the Corolla, it was the best handling car I ever had. But after 6 months it needed a lot of work which I couldn't afford. I was working in Nuneaton in my first proper job, which was about 50 mile round trip a day. I needed something more economical that worked, and I thought the Peugeot 107 was the cheapest form of motoring I could afford. So I signed my life away, ended up with the car, and in the first week it took me and 3 friends camping for a weekend. None of us were lightweights, and we trundled over the mud paths of the peak district in it and I named him Rocky.

Part of the "Just Add Fuel" scheme meant it paid for the road tax, insurance, and servicing. Great! Servicing is for the life of the agreement - even better! Except me being a young idiot I didn't see that they put down my mileage for 3 years as 20,000. I had that done in the first year, so had the 3 services all done in that time. Again, couldn't afford the servicing, and again being stupid I decided to buy myself a toolkit, a jack and axle stands, and do the servicing myself. Never touched a car mechanically until this point, and the first two jobs I did on it were the oil change etc and the front brake pads and discs. All with the Halfrauds toolkit I paid £100 for and the jack set for £40. I've still got the toolkit!

The car has been ever present in my adult life really, through the highs and the lows. The then-girlfriend-now-wife and I went across europe in it in 2012. We drove all the way to Budapest from Stourbridge and back again, and it's been as far west as Oban in Scotland. It took my sorry arse back and forth to London on the weekends in a period of time that was really dark for me. I took a job in Covent Garden and had digs in High Barnet, and a fortnight in to it my girlfriend/wife was struggling with depression. So I would come back up on a weekend to see her. One weekend I'm alone with my dad and he breaks the news he had lung cancer. It got that bad during this time, personally, that it got towards my girlfriend's birthday and I had my last £50. The contract I took on wasn't great, it was expensive to live in London, pay monthly payments for this thing, and I didn't want to make my mom or dad worry about me being skint but the tyres on the Peugeot were bald. They weren't far off slicks. I bought a pair of Sailun tyres for the Peugeot, and with my last £10 I bought my girlfriend a bear from Build-A-Bear. She wasn't happy with that, with everything going on for her, but now she still has the bear and sees it for what it was. A cute present for when we were young. I don't think I've ever told her everything I had going on when I bought it. The older I get, the further I get away from the bad times, it's only now do I comprehend how difficult that time was. I didn't at the time, I was quite self destructive, I know all of this now. But the car was still there, reliable transport on a shoestring.

Things started to improve a bit, I got a really good paying job. I think with my first pay cheque I bought proper Toyo tyres for it as I'd nearly crashed too many times in the wet with the deathtrap Sailuns. We got a place together, I moved out, I was adulting. Then my Dad dies, the lung cancer was always terminal (cheers asbestos) but a stroke got him in the end. In the 6 days before he died I spent the day at his bedside, taking it in turns with my mom and sister. During these 6 days my sister's car broke down, so my Peugeot became the car that took us back and forth to the hospital. But didn't the clutch start slipping and it sounded awful, and I remember sitting in the car just saying to it that if it lasted for as long as I needed it while all this was going on, I'd never let it go. Dad died, my sister got her car fixed, and I continued to nurse the car until the clutch slip was too much. I parked it up and used my Dad's Honda CR-V instead. It stood on my mom's driveway for 2 years.

At this point my girlfriend wanted her own transport, and I said Rocky would be ideal for her. It'd be good for her to use, give her confidence, and the car gets used. She drove Rocky mostly to work, short journeys, took questionable care of it. I was still servicing it on the button, and I would occasionally use it when I needed to.

In the last few years Rocky has become a background car, but always serviced and always looked after. When the RAV4 needed welding it was Rocky that became my daily, picking up the welding gas and steel for the job. When my Land Cruiser spent most of it's time in my ownership off the road, it became my daily. Now the Rover isn't a go-er, it's still my daily. My boy loves it, even if he's just 15 months old. We walk out on the driveway going somewhere, he always toddles over to the Peugeot and never to any other car. It'll always be the second car, just there being brutally reliable. I took it to Dusseldorf last year, first time it had been in Europe for 10 years, and I'll be honest while I am not the 20-something I was when we went to Budapest, I'd do the trip again in the Peugeot.

I've done some videos on it, especially a buyers guide. Especially as I've 13 years of experience with it!

 

I do have photos of it from the 13 years, I just need to dig them out.

[wuvvum]

'Kinell, and I thought I was doing well going to Devon and back in mine...

[Rustybullethole]

Petite and French. A good combo. Hope it gives you many more years of fine service.

 

[RoverFolkUs]

18 minutes ago, Rustybullethole said:

Petite and French. A good combo. Hope it gives you many more years of fine service.

 

The only thing French about it is the badge 😉

Good old Toyota underneath everything else

[Metal Guru]

2 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

The only thing French about it is the badge 😉

Good old Toyota underneath everything else

Assembled in the Czech Republic too. Not very French as you say.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Brilliant. I always sing the praises of its sister car, the Aygo. Our experiences of a left hooker on the narrow twisties in France a few years were that it was small, but perfectly formed. Such capable little things, yet with decent interior space too. I liked the sound of the revvy three pot despite assuming it would be rough and sluggish. It was quite the opposite, in fact. 

Keep looking after it!

[ETCHY]

There's nothing like a car you truly bond with.

They really do become part of your family somehow.

[Rustybullethole]

4 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

Assembled in the Czech Republic too. Not very French as you say.

Petite Japanese on holiday in a beret then. 

[Dobloseven]

What a heartwarming story. Not ashamed to admit tears welling up in my eyes. Also shows that contrary to popular opinion, PCPs can be a good thing. My oldest sons ex partner bought one of the first 107s,on a PCP. When the 3 years were up, they got a price to buy the car. She'd had a child by then and needed something bigger,and didn't fancy another Peugeot. I lent them the money to buy the 107,which they promptly sold for about a grand "profit" on Autotrader. It was a great little car. As an engineer, my son was fascinated by the minimalism of it. When they went to buy it, he pointed out it had no rev counter. No problem, salesman unplugged one from another car for them. 

[St.Jude]

4 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Brilliant. I always sing the praises of its sister car, the Aygo. Our experiences of a left hooker on the narrow twisties in France a few years were that it was small, but perfectly formed. Such capable little things, yet with decent interior space too. I liked the sound of the revvy three pot despite assuming it would be rough and sluggish. It was quite the opposite, in fact. 

Keep looking after it!

In 2011 some twat came out of a side road and banged the front passenger side wing. While it was being fixed I had a Toyota Aygo Black and, interior wise, they're so much nicer than the Peugeot/Citroen. I've often toyed with swapping the interior of an Aygo Black with my Peugeot. Might still do it, who knows.

2 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

What a heartwarming story. Not ashamed to admit tears welling up in my eyes. Also shows that contrary to popular opinion, PCPs can be a good thing. My oldest sons ex partner bought one of the first 107s,on a PCP. When the 3 years were up, they got a price to buy the car. She'd had a child by then and needed something bigger,and didn't fancy another Peugeot. I lent them the money to buy the 107,which they promptly sold for about a grand "profit" on Autotrader. It was a great little car. As an engineer, my son was fascinated by the minimalism of it. When they went to buy it, he pointed out it had no rev counter. No problem, salesman unplugged one from another car for them. 

Yeah PCP does have it's place. I think at the time it was a slightly stupid decision for me to make as I lost my job 3 months after taking it on, and it made the following 18 months fairly difficult. But it's more than paid for itself since.

 

[St.Jude]

I went and had a rummage for photos, and I found them!

Here is Rocky parked under the Austrian mountains/alps - between Salzberg and Vienna

I got a puncture when we were in Budapest, and I didn't trust the Hungarians to fix it. So I drove from Budapest to Munich and got it fixed there. Was an experience! Bloke with broken english wanting the log book, me with broken german trying to work out why. All fixed with the plug thing for €35.

Quick visit to the Allianz Arena:

Few hours before getting the ferry back to Dover on Dunkirk beach.

Now this one is very interesting. While we were doing a bit of a tour around Scotland, we went to the Glengoyne distillery outside of Glasgow. I didn't even know when I was parking but I parked next to an identical 107! It was a Millesim 5 door just like Rocky.

Have a look at the MOT history of that car, and you're more than welcome to look at mine. I'd like to think it's down to me looking after the car but these Peugeots don't have underseal or rust protection. Mine still doesn't tbh, but that other car is at the mercy of Scottish roads and it's showing.

[UltraWomble]

Things I have done to my 107...

Ripped out and binned the OE radio in favour of a Sony, swapped the dash speakers for some JVC things, jacked up the rear springs because I was fed up of it grounding out on Runshaw College speed humps with my daughter in the back.

Also - TOP TIP

Hot glue / superglue some spare fuses under the speedo cowl so you will always have one when one of the fuckers goes pop on the darkest wettest night of the year.

[Metal Guru]

9 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

What a heartwarming story. Not ashamed to admit tears welling up in my eyes. Also shows that contrary to popular opinion, PCPs can be a good thing. My oldest sons ex partner bought one of the first 107s,on a PCP. When the 3 years were up, they got a price to buy the car. She'd had a child by then and needed something bigger,and didn't fancy another Peugeot. I lent them the money to buy the 107,which they promptly sold for about a grand "profit" on Autotrader. It was a great little car. As an engineer, my son was fascinated by the minimalism of it. When they went to buy it, he pointed out it had no rev counter. No problem, salesman unplugged one from another car for them. 

If you want minimalism , you should have bought an Access model , which my son had. I think this was after the face lift in 2012, though for £5995 new , you can’t really argue. 
Mind you it was still much better equipped than my first car a 1982 Mk1 Fiesta 1.1L, which was the third step up the range, above Popular and Pop plus.

The Peugeot had stability control of some sort, ABS, and CD player and MP3 port. The Fiesta had a simple AM radio. At least 10mpg better in the 107 although it didn’t feel any faster despite having 69 v 55 bhp. 

[Bradders59]

Its funny how we become emotionally attached to cars. They are mass produced tin boxes, but we become very attached to them sometimes. I have had one or two occasions when I had a lump in my throat as a car I just sold disappeared down the street.

My recently bought c1 is a fun little thing to drive locally, but money couldnt pay me to drive it around Europe and back.

I am nearly 64 though.

Ever had problems with the PAS ? Seems a common problem. Its an almost ever present problem on mine, which is annoying as its the only fault it seems to have really. 

[St.Jude]

3 hours ago, UltraWomble said:

Ripped out and binned the OE radio in favour of a Sony, swapped the dash speakers for some JVC things, jacked up the rear springs because I was fed up of it grounding out on Runshaw College speed humps with my daughter in the back.

I know I commented on that thread but I still don’t know how or why your one was doing that. Like I’ve had that fully loaded and never bottomed out.

I won the double DIN radio roffle by @DeanH which is going in to this. I just need to get hold of the harness and DAB splitter. It already has two Pioneer speakers as the left one blew last year, although now I think the replacement is buzzing now so need to look at that.

2 hours ago, Bradders59 said:

Its funny how we become emotionally attached to cars. They are mass produced tin boxes, but we become very attached to them sometimes. I have had one or two occasions when I had a lump in my throat as a car I just sold disappeared down the street.

My recently bought c1 is a fun little thing to drive locally, but money couldnt pay me to drive it around Europe and back.

I am nearly 64 though.

Ever had problems with the PAS ? Seems a common problem. Its an almost ever present problem on mine, which is annoying as its the only fault it seems to have really. 

This is a weird one really. I wouldn’t say the massive life events I had at the time that’s caused this car to be so entwined with me, it’s just been brutally reliable. I’ve had enough of cars letting me down, even now, and I think it’s the bad experiences with other vehicles that’s just reinforced how fucking wonderful this car is.

The only two real issues I’ve had with the 107, and these are recurring issues, is the catalytic converter cracking and water ingress. The water ingress is a bitch as I thought I fixed it last year but I didn’t, as the rear light seals had gone. But then I’ve got to wait for prolonged rain to see if it’s fixed. It’s never shat it’s PAS. Saying this it’ll do it tomorrow now I bet!

The only Peugeot I’ve had with issues with the PAS was my 3008, and that was fucking scary and dangerous, failing at 50mph. Issue there was the tyre pressures at the front. If they’re not identical and are out by a fair bit the ECU of the PAS shits itself and goes “nah mate fuck this you’re on your own” and just stops. Man handling a 1.5t car designed for PAS is not fun.

Maybe try that?

[UltraWomble]

1 hour ago, St.Jude said:

I know I commented on that thread but I still don’t know how or why your one was doing that. Like I’ve had that fully loaded and never bottomed out.

 

You havent seen the size of my daughters....

Do you remember Jack Hargreaves tale of the Bull and the Ford Escort? Well that might give you some idea....

[wuvvum]

5 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

The Peugeot had stability control of some sort, ABS, and CD player and MP3 port. The Fiesta had a simple AM radio. At least 10mpg better in the 107 although it didn’t feel any faster despite having 69 v 55 bhp. 

Mk1 Fiesta 1100 will probably have similar torque to the 107 and lower gearing so will feel just as nippy off the line, although probably not at higher speeds.

[Metal Guru]

3 hours ago, UltraWomble said:

You havent seen the size of my daughters....

Do you remember Jack Hargreaves tale of the Bull and the Ford Escort? Well that might give you some idea....

When my son passed his test, we took advantage for a few weeks being chauffeured around in the 107. When my wife asked him if he minded driving us around, he said “no, it’s great, all my mates think I’ve lowered the suspension”. ( would have to admit , neither of us would be described as “petite”.