Tour De France

I recently had the opportunity to get behind the wheels of Frances� pride and joy; the Peugeot. After a very long silent era, I have to say these French Lions have made a roaring come-back. I�m not too sure if it was all those �Taxi� movies that have really inspired them to search for that �Need For Speed� instinct that they had back in the mid-80s� when Peugeot dominated the GT, Touring and Rally divisions.

Peugeot has released the all new premium version of the 407, which in my opinion isn�t impressive. The only difference between the premium and stock is that it comes with an additional built in GPS and leather seats. None the less; I did take that mother out for a spin. The car seems to be longer in wheel-base in comparison to her rivals of the same range; the Honda Civic, the Toyota Altis, the Mitsubishi Lancer and the Nissan Sylphy (there is a reason why I personally think THESE are the only rivals the car has in Malaysia). But even though longer the car has a better turning radius than any of its rivals. Two safety features on the 407 did however impress me. The first was that if you had to jam you brakes, the car will automatically turn on its hazard lights till you get the car going once again. The second, the power windows has anti pinch power windows. For all you car-retards out there; this is a newly developed system to prevent you winding your windows up while someone has their finger or some other body part sticking out of the window. Cool eh?

Okay, now on to more impressive things; the Peugeot 308 turbo. Don�t even bother going for the 308 VTi, it�s absolutely rubbish! The 308 Turbo is a rocket on wheels and it comes in a blood red color! The car is heavy, it is stable, turns like its on rails and best of all, gets off the line like it�s on Viagra! I didn�t feel like I was in a Peugeot for a brief moment. Felt like I was behind the wheel of a Golf GTi. Okay, no, not exactly that powerful but you know what I�m talking about.

Now I�m saving the best news for last! The Peugeot, well now marketed and distributed by Naza Corporation is only going for RM129K for the 407 and RM114K for the 308 Turbo. Even better news is that the maintenance is now 75% cheaper than before. So imagine, driving an affordable continental car and it cost the same to maintain a Japanese car! Of course, yes, you can forget about that fuel efficiency and all that Japanese conservation crap but imagine the European power under the hood!