A SURPRISE AWAITED US AT BRANDS HATCH

At our 2004 Britain’s

Best Driver’s Car event, alongside the Lamborghini Gallardo, Porsche 911 GT3 RS and Caterham R500 Evolution sat a Peugeot 2.0-litre saloon. It was the high point of a remarkable year for the pretty but porridgy 406 replacement, Peugeot’s attempt to reignite the spark of driver appeal that had so marked out the 405.

It certainly worked on paper. Through the bends of Brands Hatch, the 407 pulled 1.0g, then an unheard-of figure for a massproduced repmobile. The car’s double-wishbone front and multilink rear suspension endowed it with fantastic body control, loads of grip and remarkable agility. It looked quite unlike anything else in the class, too.

But we were perhaps guilty of getting a little too carried away by the looks and handling, because they also created significant compromises. The 407’s thrusting low-drag shape resulted in a small boot and even worse rearpassenger space, and the ride was pretty terrible away from the billiard-table- smooth Brands blacktop. Inevitably, against the wider talents of the Ford Mondeo and Honda Accord, it struggled. But still, 1.0g!