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Faine, Jon --- "Value for money" [ 1997] LawIJV 55 ; (1997) 71(2) The Law Institute Journal 85

• Value for money

Value for money

Sometimes a car seems to be just right as soon as you get in it. It fits, and everything works well . The Saab 9000 is a car like that as far as I am concerned, although others find it totally idiosyncratic and cannot adapt to it.

Sometimes a car is all wrong too, and there are all sorts of design features - or mistakes - that make it outstandingly bad. To me, a Niki, a Lada, a Datsun I20Y and more recently a Suzuki Vitara all stand out as examples of cars that almost make a feature of their bad design. Well, what else can you do about it, some things cannot be hidden.

The new mid-sized Pug is a car that maintains the Peugeot tradition of making cars that just work, and doing it without any great fuss. It is the overall flawless ordinariness that makes it anything but ordinary.

It is an interesting thing to try and work out why a particular car seems to be good. Some cars have outstanding engines, with more valves per cylinder than other cars have pistons. Some have TV sets built into the dashboard. Some have wings glued onto their rears so they can go around town at 240kph and maintain a drag coefficient of 0.22 instead of 0.24 while at speed on the South-eastern freeway at rush hour.

Then there are cars that are designed to be usable. Peugeot has been making useful cars for as long as I can remember. Mind you, not everything that comes from Peugeot is terrific - I recall saying what had to be said about the somewhat underdone 306 Cabriolet about this time last year, although the ragtop version of what is otherwise a terrific little car is now being released with a 2-litre motor which ought to take away one of its main failings, the lack of actual power.

The 406 mid-sized sedan, though, is a car that has no special features. It is not faster than the opposition, it is not quieter, it is not more luxurious, nor is it packed with gadgets. It

does nothing exceptionally, but nor does it fail in any area at all. It is totally competent, easy to drive, adequately powered and as comfortable as you would want a car to be. And compared to the opposition, it is cheap.

The 406 comes with two airbags, ABS brakes, air conditioning, electric mirrors and windows, remote central locking and a fully adjustable steering column. There are a few other things worth mentioning: the rear seat splits and folds to open up the load space from the boot through to the cabin, making a huge area available. The radio is nothing special, but the car is pre-wired for a CD stacker.

The gearbox in the car I drove was the 5-speed, which meant there was no cruise control. The 1997 model will come with automatic "smart" 4-speed gears and therefore with a cruise control fitted. Some car makers, mind you, offer manual cars with cruise - but not this one.The 5-speed manual has a very soft clutch, which takes a day or two to get used to, but after that is fine. There are only two stalks poking out from the steering wheel - with wipers on one and lights and horn on the other. It is a very uncluttered dashboard.

Visibility is good except for that patch common to so many cars where the passenger side mirror meets the windscreen pillar and creats a small blind spot.

The boot lip is not of the kind that makes parking impossible and the 406 slides in and out of tight spots without fuss.

There are a few other things to say. The seat belt anchors are height adjustable - but they are in most cars, there is a strip of what looks like it might be real wood across the middle waist line of the dashboard, and there is a useful collection of storage pockets dotted around the dash and doors. But really, none of these things are that remarkable, and I am yet to meet anyone who decided which car to buy on the basis of the abundance of storage pockets.

On the highway the 406 is stable and easy to control. The steering is tight and direct. Leg room for the rear passengers is good for this sized car - bigger than the Audi, not as big as a Saab or Citroen - and the rear seats have a central armrest and a lidded storage compartment in the parcel shelf.

So all in all, a thoroughly likeable but almost boring car from Peugeot. If it proves to be as reliable as it is unremarkable, they should sell heaps of them. It is just what most people want.

JON FAINE

Car tested: Peugeot 406, rip $39,995.