Used Peugeot 807 review and buying guide (2003 to 2010): which one to buy and what to check

Which used Peugeot 807 should you buy?

There's no 807 the record clears outright, but the one to approach with most care is a 2.2 HDi built between 2003 and 2007, because it carries the model's one serious recorded fault. Rain running off the windscreen gets past the scuttle and soaks its timing belt and pulleys, and if that belt lets go and the valves hit the pistons, the engine's scrap. That isn't one unlucky car: it's a known fault, and Peugeot owned up to it as a design flaw.

Don't treat a 2.2 from outside those years as clear, either: nothing shows whether later engines were changed, so a 2008 to 2010 car isn't shown to be safe from it. Little is recorded on the other engines, the V6 petrol included, so there's no basis for calling any of them better or worse. Whichever you look at, buy on the paperwork: receipts for belt and pulley work on a 2.2, and proof the recall work was done.

Which 807 engines and gearboxes are the safe choices?

The 2.2 HDi from 2003 to 2007 is the engine to approach with most care. Water corrodes its timing belt and pulleys, a pulley that seizes in a frost can strip the belt, and a snapped belt wrecks the engine. Its injectors can also be close to impossible to get out of the head, and older 2.2 diesels have had particulate filter trouble, especially once the filter's additive runs out.

Beyond the 2.2 HDi, very little is recorded on the 807's other engines, and an empty record isn't a clean one, so none of them can be called the safe pick on the evidence. If you do go for a 2.2, the one to buy has receipts showing its belt and pulleys were renewed, and a dry, unstained area around the belt cover with no squeal from that end.

Nothing on record points to a weak manual or automatic gearbox, and the only automatic complaint comes from a single V6, so neither the petrol nor the auto can be called safe or risky on the evidence. Don't read that silence as a clean bill of health; test an automatic properly and watch the dash for transmission warnings.

What should you check when viewing a used 807?

On a 2.2 HDi, look for rust staining or damp around the timing belt cover, and listen for a squeal or flapping sound from that end of the engine. Ask for receipts showing when the belt and its pulleys were last renewed. One owner's 2004 car had its belt fail abroad at 79,000 miles, and Peugeot covered the whole cost of the repair.

Spend time on the electrics. One owner reported a lot of trouble with the door locks, and a 2003 recall fitted an upgraded door control unit on some cars because outside electrical signals could switch off the sliding rear doors' safety locks on the move. The same recall resealed the airbag control unit, where water could light the warning lamp or set the airbag off. Ask for proof that work was done.

If the car sounds a gong warning, one owner found it meant the battery wasn't holding enough charge and needed replacing. Watch the dash on the test drive, too: one left-hand-drive V6 bought in Germany showed an automatic transmission failure message that cleared after a restart, and an ESP warning traced to a badly mounted brake light switch.

Sit in the back before you commit, because there isn't a lot of head or legroom there. If you want a roof box, check the roof, as some basic versions, eight-seaters among them, weren't set up to take roof bars.

Paste the advert into the free check and it runs these against the listing, the MOT history and the DVLA record before you travel.