City cars don’t come much better than Peugeot’s 107 Urban Move. Andy Enright reports
Peugeot maintains that running a budget city car shouldn’t be a miserable experience and the 107 Urban Move adds a few touches to make schlepping though the city traffic that little bit more tolerable. Like any 107, the fun factor is fitted as standard, but the air conditioning takes the sweat out of the urban sprawl.
Some cars don’t hit a nerve right away, instead taking that little bit longer to grow on you. I’ve run some long term cars where this has been the case, the Ford Fiesta ST and the Toyota Corolla Verso not initially doing much for me but later establishing themselves as lasting favourites. The Peugeot 107 could well be going the same way. At first I thought it was too small to face up to the Fiat Panda but the combination of very aggressive pricing and a drive that’s never less than a hoot have endeared the tiny Pug to me and many of the British public.
As part of a triumvirate that includes the Citroën C1 and the Toyota Aygo, few would have predicted the 107 to be the biggest seller but it trounces its siblings and models such as this Urban Move edition only compound its superiority.
There’s not a lot wrong with the 1.0-litre petrol unit used in the variant we’re looking at here. Given a bootful, this engine will punt the 107 Urban Move to 60mph in 14 seconds. That doesn’t look too impressive on paper but the 107’s light weight ensures that pick up from rest is very good and you’ll get the drop on much more powerful cars away from the lights. You’ll have to give the 68bhp three-cylinder engine a good whipping on the motorway though. A narrowish power band also means you’ll need to keep on top of the gerachanges if the route gets a bit hilly.
Handling is very good. Although the 107 is short and tall, you can push the car very hard and it never feels disconcertingly ‘tippy’. Yes, it does feel as if it’s suffered a mortal blow if you hit a speed bump with some numbers on the clock but you can’t have everything. The front seats are reasonably good and ride quality is otherwise OK. The steering feels a little rubbery at first but you’ll be able to position the 107 with millimetric precision, helped by a throttle pedal that’s easy to modulate.
"Ultra low emissions and amazing fuel economy will endear this car to many…."
The design brief for the 107 was to engineer a compact car with a cheeky character that would appeal to young drivers, be versatile in use and, above all, be totally at ease in the urban environment. The length of the car wasn’t to exceed 3.5 metres, yet a whole host of safety features needed to be included, as well as enough wheelbase to accommodate a five-door body style. Only the three-door body style is offered in Urban Move guise.
The final execution exceeded initial requirements, breaking the tape at 3.43 metres long. This makes it fully 25cm shorter than the old 106. The dimensions of the 107 can really only be appreciated when walking around the car. Compared to the 1007 that Peugeot introduced around the same time - itself no giant - the 107 is smaller in every regard. The three-door shape looks the most comfortable from a design perspective. The angled window line gives the car a cute wedge profile and the flared rear haunches really emphasise the wheel-at-each-corner design.
The 107 features some neat design touches too. The glazed-in area surrounding the rear window is finished in black, giving it a very distinctive rump, especially when the car is painted in paler colours. The front end also features the wide mouthed Peugeot family design debuted on the 407. Coupled with the huge eyes created by the headlamps, this gives the 107 a more distinctive face than virtually any other car on sale today.
The Urban Move is based on the existing Urban models but tacks another £500 or so onto the price of these cars and includes a fair slug of additional equipment. This includes air conditioning, metallic paint, a rev counter, Matrix red seat trim, bright silver surrounds to speedometer and air vents and similar silver finish to interior door pulls. Priced at £8,295 in 3-door form or £8,645 as a 5-door, the 107 Urban Move squares up to some quite well equipped Fiat Pandas and Toyota Aygos, taking the 107 out of its value-priced comfort zone. This is, in effect, the Urban Move’s Achilles heel. As a budget car, the 107 is extremely appealing. Start specifying it with more gear and the eye starts to wander elsewhere.
Still, if you were already going to add air conditioning to your 107, then the Urban Move makes all kinds of sense. New in the latest ‘Urban Move’ is a choice of three metallic paint finishes: Zircon Grey, Antigua Blue or Carbon Grey, an ‘Urban Move’ logo vertically on the leading edge of the rear window and new Matrix blue seat trim. New Metallic blue surrounds to speedometer, air vents and to the interior door pulls make for what Peugeot hopes is a distinctive and modern environment.
Running a Peugeot 107 Urban Move is about as financially painless as new car ownership gets. The 1.0-litre engine displays an almost pathological refusal to consume fuel, the average fuel consumption figure pitched at 61.4mpg and emissions are pegged at an excellent 109g/km. Depreciation figures look reasonable and the air conditioning fitted to this version is one of the few fitments guaranteed to have some sort of effect on resdiual values. The others? Satellite navigation and metallic paint. Two out of three aint bad. Insurance premiums are almost comically low, the 107 Urban Move being rated in Group 1E, the lowest possible.
The Peugeot 107 Urban Move probably won’t be the first name you pencil onto any putative city car shortlist but it merits serious consideration. The 107 has established itself as the evolutionary victor amongst the trio of small cars that share a common platform (the Citroën C1 and Toyota Aygo being the others) and the 1.0-litre petrol engine is the sole powerplant offered.
Ultra low emissions and amazing fuel economy will endear this car to many but it’s the driving characteristics that cement the 107’s place among the very best city cars money can buy. True, 68bhp doesn’t sound promising but the 107 has an infectious personality and feels relatively indestructible. Use and abuse, the 107 Urban Move will keep coming back for more.
Facts At A Glance
CAR: Peugeot 107 Urban Move
PRICE: £8,295 - £8,645 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 1E
CO2 EMISSIONS: 109g/km
PERFORMANCE: 0-60mph 14s / Max Speed 96mph
FUEL CONSUMPTION: (combined) 61.4mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front airbags, ABS, EBD
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Height 3405/1615/1415mm