SECOND-HAND SENSECar- makers have traditionally been slow to reveal the extent of their co-operation agreements with other companies for fairly obvious reasons. Loss-of-face is a main one - nobody wants to admit they needed help with this or that part of a project.
But there is one name which companies love to feature in their marketing drives - Pininfarina. The Italian styling house has been involved with almost every major car-maker at some stage or other and in some cases they are engaged on a regular basis. Pininfarina has also helped save us from some of the design horrors proposed by Japanese and Korean manufacturers, altering them to the point where they can claim some European heritage.
When Peugeot decided to build a coupé version of the 406, it decided, to its credit, to hand the project over to Pininfarina almost in its entirety. The result is a car that truly looks good as a large coupé and can actually accommodate four and not pretend to.
It may have been around since 1997, but the 406 coupé has repaid the investment made in it by ageing much more slowly than other competitors. You won't see too many of them around because they were expensive in their day. However, a well looked after one is a good second-hand investment.
The exterior is typically Pininfarina - lovely flanks, no awkward angles and good road presence. Internally it's slightly let down by the fact that a lot of the black plastic moulding used in the saloon was also used in the coupé. Instrumentation, with rounded dials, is a particularly attractive feature. The car is also very spacious with plenty of room for heads and legs - and, aimportant advantage over other coupés, a good big boot.
It drives very well too and doesn't feel like a derivative car. Handling is really good but ride quality can be a tad soft. The 2-litre petrol version has a nicely performing engine and there is also a 2.2 diesel Hdi version. The petrol, being relatively economical, is probably the best option - the diesel takes it over the 2-litre limit and would require a lot of annual mileage to justify. And, in fairness, a coupé is not really the best choice for constant high mileage.
The 406 coupé doesn't have a recall record, although the 406 saloon had a significant number of recalls, including one for a potential fire risk. Check recall history if buying one of these cars. Neither does the coupé have an individual result in the EuroNCAP crash tests - the saloon scored three stars out of a possible five which, given the achievements of newer smaller cars, is not really a great result.
A 2001 coupé with a 2-litre petrol engine and 48,000 on the clock is on offer at €17,000. Equipment includes alloys, metallic paint, multiple airbags, leather upholstery, air conditioning, a CD player, heated seats and more. A similar 2003 model with a 2.2 petrol engine and 12,000 on the clock is on offer at €29,950.
FOR: Great looks and good interior room
AGAINST: Bigger engines more expensive to run