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The Peugeot 107 has been relegated to 'average' in the city car market, being outclassed by the Hyundai i10

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The Peugeot 107, and the near-identical Toyota Aygo and Citroën C1, might have fallen off the front pages now that the Volkswagen Up is here, but owners of the baby Peugeot will wonder what all the fuss is about.

What we have here, then, is the facelifted Peugeot 107. The 107, along with its Aygo and C1 siblings, has been around since 2005, so it was due a spruce-up. The bottom line is that if you liked the previous Peugeot 107, you’ll like this revised one because it is mechanically identical. 

Cheap to run, but no longer cheap to buy

The front bumper is now a little more aggressive, replacing the smiley mouth with a gaping grille that gives the car a passing resemblance to a puffer fish, but its testament to the original car that the basic shape still retains a fresh aesthetic appeal and doesn’t appear dated. There are also some nice styling touches such as the neatly integrated rear door on the five-door version. 

So the 107 Urban is available as either a three-door or five-door car. All variants share the same 998cc engine producing 68bhp, with 70lb ft of torque appearing at 3600rpm. Peugeot has tweaked the ECU for this facelift to improve economy slightly – the 107 now returns 62.8mpg on the combined cycle while emitting just 103g/km of CO2, or 61.4mpg/106g/km for the 2-Tronic-equipped five-speed auto version. Auto or manual, however, this is a cheap car to run as it sits comfortably in VED band B.  

Performance is modest (and unchanged despite a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it 1bhp boost. The 0-62mph dash takes 14.2sec (14.9sec for the auto) and top speed is 100mph – but it’s a gutsy little unit and makes some pleasing noises, so nipping around town can be a lot of fun. The turning circle is impressive too, which, combined with light steering, makes parking a doddle.  

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The ride is a little hard, however, and stray onto fast A-roads or motorways and you’ll notice quite a bit of wind noise at speed. The motor won’t feel too out of its depth, but the lack of refinement won’t make for a particularly pleasant experience.  

Inside, however, little has changed, and the cabin still holds its original appeal. It’s small, yes, but a big glass area and great all-round visibility make it feel more spacious and roomy than it really is. You still get the intriguing back-lit translucent panel for the heating/ventilation, too. Boot space is a little on the small size, however, at just 139 litres (expanding to 751 litres with the seats folded) but at just 3430mm long and 1630mm wide overall (shorter and narrower than an Up, incidentally), there’s only so much you can expect cram into a car with such a compact footprint.   

For a city car the 107 Urban ticks all the right boxes. It’s nippy, easy to drive and surprisingly spacious, but it falls at one significant hurdle: price. 

The Peugeot 107 Urban is quite expensive for what is supposed to be a cheap car. It costs more, in fact, than a Hyundai i10 Style, which has a bigger engine, more power and heated seats. 

Maybe it is time Peugeot looked at a more comprehensive update, or a rethink on pricing.

Matt Prior

Matt Prior
Title: Editor-at-large

Matt is Autocar’s lead features writer and presenter, is the main face of Autocar’s YouTube channel, presents the My Week In Cars podcast and has written his weekly column, Tester’s Notes, since 2013.

Matt is an automotive engineer who has been writing and talking about cars since 1997. He joined Autocar in 2005 as deputy road test editor, prior to which he was road test editor and world rally editor for Channel 4’s automotive website, 4Car. 

Into all things engineering and automotive from any era, Matt is as comfortable regularly contributing to sibling titles Move Electric and Classic & Sports Car as he is writing for Autocar. He has a racing licence, and some malfunctioning classic cars and motorbikes. 

Peugeot 107 2005-2014 First drives