Peugeot 308 GT Test Drive, The 206 New Family Members.

Last Saturday Andy and I (Eugene) were at BlueBox Glenmarie to get our 206 some check up. But to our surprise, we were offered to test drive the 308 GT which was the crown car there; Andy got so excited that he looked/acted like a small kid jumping up and down, OK, maybe not that far, hehe. But the service manager said that he is too short for the car, LoL~ and suspect he might stall the engine due to the "long" clutch. Luckily, he didn't do stall the car, haha, else the video would be funny.

If those who went to the 407 test drive before they will know that you only can touch and sit inside the 308GT ONLY... but now we had actually 'been there, done that'. It's just so nice and unbelievable experience, and we're so thankful to the person who offered us the test drive; and it's quite lucky that Andy requested me to bring my video camera because we were also planning to do some "Top Secret Movie Project", OK, I was just exaggerating, we're actually planning to shoot some video for the "Air Filter" upgrade article.

As I am kinda more into automatic transmission car, so I didnt actually drove the car myself. I leave it to Andy to give his reviews on this car as a manual transmisson *cought* *cough* "GTi" driver/owner.

For my part you can check it out on my own blog. NO ?DEA

Andy, I pass to you.... catch!

Andy: Ok, thank you so much Eugene for such nice video editing and the person who offered the Test Drive; Very very grateful, really~ Thank you so much!

First of all, as usual, in a test drive, I would first like to apologize for causing "fear/scary" moments; Hope you guys still can take it; I really didn't "overdo" or "drive without anticipation", as you can see from the video itself too, I didn't go full on the corners, and for the famous "corner of death" from Eugene 407 Test Drive video, you can actually see I downshift very early and didn't enter very fast, and for those 2 way road/corner, you can see I don't drive onto oncoming car lane, and I only fully throttle when I got a better view of the road.

The scary/dangerous part to know is; Actually, it was my first time driving on the "corner of death" and also the other corners (where in the video you can hear someone saying the Porshe Cayman crashed). I knew about the corner is from the tyre shop guy who drove me there when he was checking my alignment issues, but I never driven there before nor actually remember the road inside.

So hope the news above doesn't scare those in the car...

Next, let's talk about the car; As mentioned by Eugene, I was told I'm short and not suit to drive the car >.<, also, was told that I might stall the car (due to the "long" clutch)

Luckily, the "long" clutch issue is the same with my 206 GTi, so, I have no problems with it; in fact, it is better than my 206 GTi, and the gear throw was shorter and just nice and much smoother; Love it~

I also love the way it engage to "Reverse" gear and also the "behaviour" of the car before and after you engage into "Reverse" gear =)

Due to the "long" clutch, many people might have trouble getting smooth gear change and "fast" response; If you press the clutch fully during gear change, you would have "jerks" or "pull" when you let off the clutch after engaging the next gear, which will result to "loss" or power. It will be most obvious if you're "sprinting". 

If it is done correctly, you can get smooth gear change and smooth acceleration.

Another way is by installing "Clutch Stopper"; but I heard from the Service Manager that the clutch can be "adjusted". Cool!

By the way, sorry for those inside the car feeling uncomfortable during those "poor" shifting moments, especially during 1st and 2nd gear.

Oh, by the way, the brake and gas pedal are quite far apart, so I'm having some problem with heel-toe downshift; or maybe it could simply because my foot is not long enough? LoL, but I have no such problems with the 206 GTi.

In regards to power of this car; It's superb! And the engine is so much quieter compared to my GTi; You can easily OVER-REV this car, as you can see in the video below, I actually OVER-REV few times without noticing it; the RPM goes up way fast and the engine is still so quiet. So sorry for doing the "damages" >.<

There's one part I mentioned about "Blow-Off" which I heard, I don't remember this car having blow-off valve but somehow I heard it that time; When talk to someone in Nasim, he said it was actually not a blow-off valve, so I have no idea where the sound came from~ But it's really nice to hear~

Next, we talk about handling of this car; Despite being a Sports car, the suspension setup is very comfortable and absorbs bump well unlike my GTi which you can feel every bump pretty bad. Anyway, here's a good news for 206 owners (I think); I feel the 206 actually handles better! I didn't know it until after this test drive, I took my 206 GTi for a spin with the same route (my 1st time with 206 GTi on that route too), and actually felt more confident and felt it handles better~

I don't know, maybe the 308 GT was higher? Or maybe the tyre pressure was too high? Or maybe I'm not used to the car yet? (Actually, I didn't really had a chance to sit "properly" yet, too excited!)

Hmm... but anyhow, it's a happy news for 206 owners "lah", hehe~

But that day was also another day which the 206 amazes me "once" again with it's handling~

Ok, I know, I talk too much, hehe, anyway, all I can say is, the car is totally superb! And once again, I would like to say a million thanks for the Test Drive offer, plus, the petrol; We're really really grateful for the offer and I hope the passengers are also "erm" having a great time despite the "thrilling" moments.

Enjoy the video below~

SHINE!!!!