"Loping Camshaft" (Loping_Camshaft)
07/10/2014 at 04:27 • Filed to: None
10
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"Loping Camshaft" (Loping_Camshaft)
07/10/2014 at 04:27 • Filed to: None | 10
| 37 |
Old Doug DeDoucheBag just tweeted a picture of a small, French commuter car. and now every other car is dumb.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
I'm sure people in the Olde World will already know about it, but the Peugeot 1007 is a small commuter car made from '04-'07 and came with a few little engines. The 1.6 diesel did have 194 lb ft though. It's has some kind of weird, mostly auto, transmission that I haven't figured out yet. It was also designed by Pininfarina.
The really cool thing is that it has automatic sliding doors, like a minivan. I sure wish this would have been the standard design of all cars ever instead of hinged doors (unless it's a fancy gull-wing or swan-wing style). Think of the future that could have been: no more door dings, no more fighting with your door on windy days or on hills. You can park in the tightest spots and still be able to get out (sorry rotund people). All while being a very safe and frugal hatchback with seating for 4 (probably just kids in the back though) and plenty of room in the back.
And it's a goddamn shame they don't still make it or something similar. A second generation, with some kinks worked out, would make it perfect. I assume there might be issues getting out if the track is damaged in an accident.
I'll let the most French car commercial ever demonstrate:
It also looks good with a bit of styling tweaks:
m2m, apex detective
> Loping Camshaft
07/10/2014 at 04:39 |
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Re:issues getting out
Let me refer to the "Sprengschraube", shown at 1:28 IIRC.
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Loping Camshaft
> m2m, apex detective
07/10/2014 at 04:42 |
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Yeah I thought about that, but I'm not sure how it would work in the 1007. Just blow the sliding mechanism off, I guess? I wonder if Peugeot addressed that? There isn't a huge amount of info out there about it.
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m2m, apex detective
> Loping Camshaft
07/10/2014 at 04:46 |
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The door itself will be attached to a mount that interacts with the tracks, I think. Just blow those mounts and the door will pretty much fall off, unless it's dented in ... which can happen to any other door, too.
Porschephile
> Loping Camshaft
07/10/2014 at 04:46 |
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I believe they take something like 18 seconds to hit 60mph. I had fast Peugeots for years and years until they just started making absolute joyless turds like this.
Ford have the right idea when it comes to car park dings - although sadly it's a cost option:
(Good close-ups after the 50-sec mark.)
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Porschephile
> Loping Camshaft
07/10/2014 at 04:48 |
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Double post, so here's a Rallye for your viewing pleasure:
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Loping Camshaft
> Porschephile
07/10/2014 at 04:55 |
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Hmm yeah, that is pretty slick. Do all Focii (even in the States) have that?
And yeah the 1007 is slow, but the 1.6 HDi gets it to 60 in 11 seconds . So it's not a hot hatch, but it would be fine around town.
Babz
> Loping Camshaft
07/10/2014 at 04:57 |
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It was a HUGE commercial failure for Peugeot. It was also quite expensive to buy in the first place despite its small size. (I believe the base price when it was new was around 12k€, around 15-16k in USD without any optional extras).
Oh, of course the mecanism was super heavy for the small engine to pull making it quite slow and somewhat top-heavy.
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Loping Camshaft
> Babz
07/10/2014 at 05:06 |
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Yeah I figured the mechanism would be heavy. Again, too bad it didn't have a second chance. I could do without the automatic door motors, which should save weight. I don't always like them, but I'll hand it to Peugeot for taking chances and being different.
Jobjoris
> Loping Camshaft
07/10/2014 at 05:15 |
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The 1.6 diesel did have 194 lb ft though. It's has some kind of weird, mostly auto, transmission that I haven't figured out yet.
The Diesel came manual only if I remember correct. The 'automatic' that was optional on all fuel-engines was a semi-automatic. And that's a robotized manual. So no torque-converter. Equals less usage of fuel.
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Jobjoris
> Porschephile
07/10/2014 at 05:23 |
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It's not that bad, both slowest diesel and gas engines did it in around 16 seconds. The quickest just over 10 seconds. But it's no hothatch, nor was it meant to be so: So what.
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Loping Camshaft
> Jobjoris
07/10/2014 at 05:29 |
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It seemed like it should have a manual. The few articles I read through quickly didn't mention it, just the "auto".
BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
> Babz
07/10/2014 at 05:38 |
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It wasn't necessarily the mechanism that was heavy, but the fact that it was operated by electric motors. Make it just a manual affair like the side door of a van, and most of that weight penalty will be reduced.
It's a shame it didn't catch on really. Couple of tweaks and it'd be ideal.
yamanote
> Loping Camshaft
07/10/2014 at 05:43 |
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Cool little car. Toyota's Japan-only Porte has a similar design- albeit with the sliding door only on the left side (the right side still had a conventional door- two doors in the second generation).
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Loping Camshaft
> yamanote
07/10/2014 at 05:51 |
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Yeah that's interesting too. Some of the quirky cars sold in the US like the Honda Element or Nissan Cube or Scion XB should have had these doors.
promoted by the color red
> Loping Camshaft
07/10/2014 at 05:52 |
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Loping Camshaft
> promoted by the color red
07/10/2014 at 06:43 |
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That reminds me that TG did do a piece with the 1007:
KirkyV
> Loping Camshaft
07/10/2014 at 08:44 |
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Honestly, I'd rather they stuck to doing what they - used to - do best; making the most fun ordinary, conventional cars in a given segment, and the best hot hatches. From the 205, in the eighties, through to when they stopped production on the 106 in 2004, Peugeot built some of the most fun practical cars money could buy. Then the 206 came along... And it all went slightly wrong.
In spite of the French reputation for quirkiness, Peugeot have never really been about being 'different'. That's their sister company, Citroen. Peugeot, in their heydey, were one of the more conventional automakers around—they just also happened to be one of the best.
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KirkyV
> Porschephile
07/10/2014 at 08:55 |
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For this, you get all the .gifs:
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KirkyV
> Jobjoris
07/10/2014 at 09:00 |
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The best thing about old school Peugeot was that you didn't have to buy the 'hot' version of a car to have fun. Everything, from the most basic 1.1 through to the GTi, was a huge laugh to drive. These days... Yeah, not so much.
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Jobjoris
> KirkyV
07/10/2014 at 09:19 |
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I know, the 205XS was a blast! They've lost some 'edgy' handling over the years. But that's common to all brands I suppose, even BMW.
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KirkyV
> Jobjoris
07/10/2014 at 09:23 |
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It's a trend across the industry, to be sure, but Peugeot haven't so much declined as dropped off a cliff when it comes to driving fun. They used to make the most fun conventional cars around; these days, even their GTis come up slightly short.
EtrnL_Frost
> m2m, apex detective
02/09/2015 at 23:52 |
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This would be awesome, and should happen on all doors. If stuck, explosive blast jettisons the doors. YES.
Xa4
> Loping Camshaft
02/10/2015 at 07:03 |
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My mom drives one, which means I'm driving it too. Up to a whopping 30 km/h (18 mph) it's quite agressive, untill the automatic gearbox has to switch to second gear.
It's full of kinks and the car has a lot of quirky tricks; the driver-side door sometimes refuses to open, while the passenger doors tries to overcompensate this by opening and closing twice (so you're either trapped in or out of the car, no need to damage the tracks for that), the gearbox is pretty awfull and costs you a lot of fuel because it always chooses the wrong moments to switch gears and can't keep up if you're driving any sportier than the average 90-year-old and like I stated, above 18 mph it's slow as heck.
But man, do I love this little bugger. You mentioned that it is designed by Pininfarina. This is a fact that I cherish and use to justify my love for this car since I'm dreaming of becoming a car designer and adore that Italian design world. And when they do work, the sliding doors are actually pretty useful apart from the fact that they're mostly a funky feature.
I like to think about this car as a fore-runner, featuring technical elements that we're used to nowadays but which where still in a development stage back then, like the semi-automatic 2-tronic gearbox with flippers behind the wheel (there weren't a lot of other ordinary cars featuring this) and the doors. Yes, the same features that made this car a lemon as soon as it rolled out of the factory, but they're also the unique features that add to this cars image and character.
Combine that with it's relatively good looks and you end up with an iconic failure that might become the Delorean of the future.
Alex B
> Porschephile
02/10/2015 at 07:29 |
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That's pretty cool. Is that an option in the US?
Mau_Ferrusca
> Porschephile
02/10/2015 at 11:52 |
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Duuuuuuuuuuuuuude, I'm at work! Come on!
ShillyDevane
> Loping Camshaft
02/10/2015 at 11:59 |
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The 1.6L diesel...
1.6 liters? Wait, isn't my Coke...2 liters?
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Loping Camshaft
> Xa4
02/10/2015 at 12:01 |
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Haha definitely sounds like it has some typical French "quirks".
Yeah I wish they had stuck with it and worked out some issues, or another company tried the same idea. Just have manual doors, a normal auto or manual gearbox, and a peppy little petrol engine.
If you become a car designer, it is your mission to make a similar car.
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Loping Camshaft
> ShillyDevane
02/10/2015 at 12:07 |
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Yeah, but there's a lot more potential energy in 2 liters of diesel, unless you give that Coke to a little kid....
torque
> Loping Camshaft
02/10/2015 at 13:06 |
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"C'est si bon" indeed great series of wonderfully French commercials
samfNZ
> yamanote
02/10/2015 at 15:07 |
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First-generation Portes are just about everywhere here in NZ at the moment. I've been tempted...
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Xa4
> Loping Camshaft
02/10/2015 at 21:32 |
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About the issues, there seemed to be an update for the engine and electrical system but our car ended up not getting that and I think it wouldn't really improve a thing if it did.
The paddles add to it's sportiness, so I'd keep that, but connected to a working gearbox.
Or even better, a manual shifter with a dog-leg lay out and a chrome shift gate, to emphasize it's Italianesque ( I invented that word ©) roots from Pininfarina.
I'll definitely take your suggestions into account when desiging the ultimate Peugeot 1000007 (Million > Thousand, sounds way more futuristic, maybe I'll even add ''turbo deluxe'' behind it) in a couple of years. And I'll even give you a ring when it's done for test-drive.
Until then, feel free to come and take our 1007 out for a spin whenever you're visiting The Netherlands, in exchange for a killer romanticised hyper-subjective Peugeot-side-choosing story on Oppo, Jalo or anywhere else on the net.
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Loping Camshaft
> Xa4
02/11/2015 at 00:17 |
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I'd love to visit The Netherlands someday. I'll keep an eye out for a Peugeot 1000007 Eagle Hammerhead Thrust Space Turbo.
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Xa4
> Loping Camshaft
05/22/2015 at 06:25 |
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Update: the driver’s side door has completely stopped working. Since repairing this will take a lot of time, which our car guy currently doesn’t have and since the car only gets used in the weekend when I’m home, i’ll be crawling behind the wheel from the passenger side for quite the amount of weekends to come.
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Loping Camshaft
> Xa4
05/22/2015 at 10:54 |
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Thanks for the update!
Too bad about the little Peugeot’s door. Hopefully it won’t be to expensive to repair. I didn’t see what country you’re from, but just pretend you’re getting into a car with the steering wheel on the other side, haha.
Good luck and thanks again!
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BenLikesCars
> Loping Camshaft
12/28/2018 at 22:26 |
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If 2nd gen xB had sliding doors, maybe it would have been more charming.
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BenLikesCars
> KirkyV
12/28/2018 at 22:33 |
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Ford had a chance with the Focus and Fiesta. I have a 2014 Focus S stick with zero options and hubcaps, made in Michigan, it’s quite entertaining to drive.
But they won’t be offering those.
The cheap v6 Mustang had potential, but yeah.
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BenLikesCars
> Alex B
12/28/2018 at 22:35 |
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I have never heard of that before.