OLDER BUT BOLDER

Peugeot's 407 is one of the longer serving participants in the medium range sector but the manufacturer has put the hours in to ensure it stays fresh. Steve Walker reports.

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The look of latest 407 has been altered but in a very measured, non-drastic way. The chrome grille has been tidied up, there are new bumpers at each end and the one at the rear incorporates a defuser-style insert at its base. Love it or hate it, you can't have helped but notice the 407 saloon. It's a car that looks utterly stunning from some angles and decidedly odd from others. Much of this is due to the perceived imbalance between the long front end and the abbreviated tail. Imagine getting shot of the notchback rear and instead stretching the 407 back as if it had been squeezed out of a very big tube of toothpaste. That's the effect you get with the SW estate version and it looks nothing less than sensational. For those of you accustomed to medium range estates being saloon cars with a hunched fenestration on the back and all the aesthetic elegance of a conservatory mounting your vehicle, it comes as a welcome change.

Inside, Peugeot has gone large with the Piano Black finishes. This lustrous black plastic now features in selected models, adding a touch more class to proceedings. The 407's interior still feels a little dated with some of the materials not quite living up to expectations and those steering column stalks which seem to have featured in every Peugeot and Citroen product since year dot. The central control panel always looks a little busy with its cluster of small buttons but models with satellite navigation get a modern system with an extremely good display.

Peugeot has been extremely realistic with pricing for the 407 and as a result, it campaigns against a lot of far less talented rivals. What's more, a good browbeat of a shiny-suited salesman could see some quite sizeable discounts, making entry level models about what you'd expect to pay for a decent family hatch. The latest 2.0-litre HDi 140 looks a strong pick. This manages 49.5mpg and emits 150g/km of CO2, both of which are competitive figures but some way shy of the 57mpg and 129g/km available from the 1.6 HDI engine. Go for the punchier 2.2 HDi 170 and there's very little penalty in terms of fuel economy (46.3mpg) but emissions rise to 160g/km.

Building a volume-selling medium range car is a whole lot tougher than it would first appear. Despite the prosaic names that familiarity has caused us to view with a degree of contempt, cars like the Ford Mondeo, the Citroen C5 and the Renault Laguna are all brilliantly fit for purpose and in order to succeed against them, a manufacturer needs to bring something different to the party. Peugeot has exactly that with the 407, a car that's boldly styled and feels at home on the long journeys that it's typically asked to do. It's not the freshest kid on the block but Peugeot has priced it at a level that will keep it relevant for a few years yet.

Serious downsides are few. The centre console is still rather busy and the sporting element to the handling that many buyers look for isn't really present. The penalty for that swooping roofline is tight rear headroom but other than that, the 407 gets a generally favourable report card. The SW estate remains one of the most desirable mainstream estates around with genuine presence.