Despite being a four-seater coupe, Peugeot's RCZ changes the game for all two seaters.
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| Build by the same angels that did gravity and the humming bird's super fast wings back in that six day creation frenzy |
If you are a serious petrolhead with respect for the likes of the 370Z, the older 350Z, a TT or even a 911, take heed: the RCZ is a sportscar that ticks all the right boxes for the middle end of the this market ...and comes cheaper too.
Super responsive? Tick
Agile in the corners? Tick
Firm on the bumps? Tick
Exhaust roar? Tick
Economical? Tick
Easy in the traffic? Tick
Lower priced? Tick
Also tick two electric seats, a Zeppelin's worth of airbags,
electric windows, park assist, hill ascent, dual climate control, four seat belts, two seat heaters, surround sound, actual space and seats for the two toddlers in the rear, and last but not least, a boot that can swallow a young family's luggage - including the stroller.
electric windows, park assist, hill ascent, dual climate control, four seat belts, two seat heaters, surround sound, actual space and seats for the two toddlers in the rear, and last but not least, a boot that can swallow a young family's luggage - including the stroller.
Sure, for the statistically inclined, the front-wheel driven little Pug's 147kW, 1.6 engine with twin scroll turbos may not rate as powerful on paper as the engines in above competition, but this is important only if you are a racer in drag - sorry, drag racer - who hardly touches the steering wheel.
Take the Pug off a straight line and throw her into corners and your smile will get as loopy as the road.
With the tyres placed as far apart as the corners allow and the suspension seemingly designed by the same angels who did the details of gravity and a humming bird's wings back in that six-day frenzy of creation, this Peugeot just soaks up the ugliest bumps and instinctively noses out the right line through the apex.
Of course, what with me also known to drive trucks and chew hay, you won't want to take my word for it.
So I took the liberty of putting real racers in the Pug's bucket seat to get their reactions on the test track at Eston.
Daniel Malan, marketer at Backdraft Racers, did 206 km/h with a flying start on a 1km straight leading into a hairpin, and said this is one car he'd like to take home. En route, he can play with the exhaust tunes all day long. Bear in mind he sells bespoke race cars, as written about on this blog.
Dean Meiring, the burly, six foot test-track master, managed 212 km/h over the same 1000 metres and couldn't find any point of understeer in that RCZ, even while coming off the power where the hairpin starts to double back so nastily that one of Audi's advance drivers left scary rubber stripes all the way into the nearest tree.
Johan, a former V8 racer (who'll have to go surnameless to protect his job with the cops), took the little Pug over some serious undulating road surfaces at speed on a public road, at no point managing to unsettle the dampers. All four wheels just cling like a Japanese bullet train's magnetic grip. "She's f*ing fantastic," is how he summarised the Pug.
For myself, I can report that, driven sanely in city traffic, she gives 15 km to the litre. Best of all, despite the firm suspension, at no point did my sensitive trucker's kidneys complain they way they do in any other sports car.
Hence my verdict, when it comes to two-seaters, with Nissan's GTR at the super car-end of the scale and any MG at the bottom of the pile, this is the sports car from 2010 that totally changes the game, raises the bar and sets new standards for the middle section of the roadster market.
The price? It sells from just over R370k. Even if you are a dad with two toddlers and loads of luggage, the RCZ is now is the best buy in the coupe market. But because it cannot tick the box for most powerful, only my gay mates who don't need to compensate will look at buying one.
