km77

very cool car. PGT's fortunes are riding a lot on this car. Its Euro,without being uptight German. And its quality looks better than older PGTs.

I love the face of this car, very distinctive. And the stance is very sporty and aggressive.

interior photos

km77

this car is WAY cooler than any new VW's. i would even consider this over an A3.

Edited January 15, 200620 yr by regfootball

i think this car would do well here in the US, if priced right.

*cough* three posts that easily could've been just one *cough*

Anyways, it's alright although that grill is a bit too large for my tastes...

Not bad at all.

Those gross plastic braces plastered across this car's HUGE mouth is enough for me to never buy it in any marketplace.

Open wide, here come the bugs!!!

MMMM yummy! That car's got a big enough mouth (err "grille") to swallow any of its competition whole!

Awful goofy-looking small car.

Awkward emblem is luxury-car gigantic.

I never thought toyota would be one-upped as far as getting the headlights as close to the A-pillar as possible, but here it is, unfortunately.

4-dr seems to be designed around a mandate to use the 2-dr roof stamping; most in the small car segment tend to try & maximize interior room instead of arbitrarily compromising it.

If it wasn't for the stylistic goofiness of it, it would quickly get lost in the roiling sea of compacts. As that is, I don't see 'weirdness' garnering much marketshare from the established models.

Edited January 15, 200620 yr by balthazar

Open wide, here come the bugs!!!

MMMM yummy! That car's got a big enough mouth (err "grille") to swallow any of its competition whole!

It's for eating Beetles

The 206 it succeeds is an established model, one of Europe's most popular. This new larger 207 should be a real compact, like the Fiat Grande Punto and Renault Clio a much bigger car. Toyota's new Yaris (barely in the B-segment) once again manages to be a generation behind. These new Europeans make buying a more expensive Corolla hatch a really dumb idea.

Car    Wheelbase Length  Width Height
Yaris    96.9    150.0   66.7  60.0
Clio    101.4    156.9   67.2  58.8
Rio      98.4    157.1   66.7  57.9
Punto    98.8    158.7   66.4  58.7
207     100.0    158.7   67.7  58.0

its much better looking than a civic or fit. the interior is very nice and euro without going overboard.

Edited January 15, 200620 yr by regfootball

OG- I can relate: Dad had a commuter Dodge Colt years ago that was the same size (156"). I would never drive a deathtrap so tiny unless I was maybe in Wyoming.

As a rule, I prefer European cars to Asian cars, for their brave, interesting style. This Pug is no exception.

Actually the 207 replaces 206. It's just the usual "car growing" trend that makes it larger.

http://auto.china.com/zh_cn/dongtai/yejie/...13031806_1.html

Interior pics here.

Edited January 15, 200620 yr by ToniCipriani

Great use of color! Looks to be another winner.

The 206 it succeeds is an established model, one of Europe's most popular. This new larger 207 should be a real compact, like the Fiat Grande Punto and Renault Clio a much bigger car. Toyota's new Yaris (barely in the B-segment) once again manages to be a generation behind. These new Europeans make buying a more expensive Corolla hatch a really dumb idea.

Car    Wheelbase Length  Width Height
Yaris    96.9    150.0   66.7  60.0
Clio    101.4    156.9   67.2  58.8
Rio      98.4    157.1   66.7  57.9
Punto    98.8    158.7   66.4  58.7
207     100.0    158.7   67.7  58.0

All those cars have comparable interior space. The Yaris is shorter because of the front and a smaller length of the trunk. The rear seats can be pushed forwards to compensate for that.

The Euro Corolla competes with the Peugeot 307, Renault Megane and Fiat Bravo if we keep it to the brands you mention. It also has one of the smallest trunks, but is just as large in the cabin as the others. The only 'dumb' thing about buying it is that a new generation is on its way.

(Kia is rarely compared to these because it is a discount brand like Chevrolet in Europe)

The Yaris is smaller internally as well, believe me. You can't cut 3-4" from the wheelbase and not lose some interior room, no matter how much smaller you make front and rear overhangs. The impression of size matters as well and these new European cars are 7-9" longer than the Yaris, and that really is a different size class. Along with the Suzuki Swift the Yaris occupies a definite niche in the European market, and the European makes are all keeping their smaller previous-gen models in production alongside their larger successors.

BTW Fiat has not made a Bravo for years. The compact Fiats are the Stilo in Europe and the older Marea in Latin America.

That grill is ridiculous. Everything else looks great though. Most subcompacts look like absolute crap when they don't need to. Could be a real winner in the States if it was sold here.

Why is it that subcompacts are getting inflated? I mean like, they're becoming not-so-attractive compacts in the vein of Toyota Yaris and Nissan Versa (and even Chevy Aveo, as much as I like it). If these companies think most of their business will come from youth, they'd better think again. I mean, yeah subcompact exterior dimensions and a compact class interior (sadly, the smaller and IMO better Aveo has more room than the Cobalt)-great idea, but the compacts are getting a little oversized too without gaining interior room (Honda Civic, Chevy Cobalt).

The Yaris is smaller internally as well, believe me. You can't cut 3-4" from the wheelbase and not lose some interior room, no matter how much smaller you make front and rear overhangs. The impression of size matters as well and these new European cars are 7-9" longer than the Yaris, and that really is a different size class. Along with the Suzuki Swift the Yaris occupies a definite niche in the European market, and the European makes are all keeping their smaller previous-gen models in production alongside their larger successors.

The Yaris is not smaller internally, believe me! I have been in most of these cars.

The "A-segment" city car from Toyota is named Aygo. The Yaris is one of the smaller superminis, but it is still a supermini, or "B-segment" as you like.

Would you also classify Peugeot 1007 in the "A-segment"?

Try to go from a Yaris to a Hyundai Accent - the Yaris's interior actually feels larger although the Accent is clasified as a small family car (C-segment)!

Funny how I forgot about the Fiat Stilo. That car has sold so poorly that I hardly ever see it.

Definitely interesting. Peugeot's new front design language reminds me of the 1998-2003(?) Chrysler Concorde. I like the 207, but, I guess I prefer the larger 407.

Chrysler Concorde

Peugeot 407

Chrysler styling often seems imitated, at least to me.

Massive grille? Yeah, we've those too:

Chrysler LHS

Audi A6

Know what this means, don't you? The next or next-after-next generation of competitors' vehicles will probably bear more than a passing resemblance to Chrysler's current and coming stable of vehicles.

Edited January 19, 200620 yr by MyerShift

Call me when there's an AWD Turbo 16 version.