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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.

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We experience the 2011 Peugeot RCZ 1.6 THP manual

Hear it howl

Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday January 5, 2011

Holiday motoring takes one of two forms. In the first, you load a hollow cube with kids, bikes, toys, snacks and clothes, add two adults with a seemingly endless supply of cash and get there as quickly, quietly and painlessly as possible. Under no circumstances should any bumps be transmitted through to the cabin; kids' bladders are hypersensitive. The objective is the destination. In the second, the fun is in going there. Drink in the scenery and if the journey has twists and turns, ripples and bumps, feel them; live them; be at one with the road.

The Peugeot RCZ is not a hollow cube for painless wafting of kids and goods.  It is a sleek and potent transporter of one or two persons whose minds are far from thoughts of family responsibility, and with just enough luggage to get by. Its purpose is in the going there. It's hard to decide whether this is the ultimate 'catcher or the quintessential mid-life crisis machine. Other cars qualify, but most of them are hugely powerful and thirsty extensions of you-know-what. The RCZ is torquey, revvy, capable of tempting you into all sorts of trouble, but proof that you can have heaps of fun without going everywhere at 200 kays.

There are two of them. They share the same basic engine, turbocharged versions of the BMW/PSA Prince unit also found in MINIs and Citroëns. The entry-level version has the 'charger turned up to 115 kW and is fitted with a twin clutch auto-manual gearbox, whereas the six-speed fully manual version we tested puts out 147 kW and 275 Nm. This is beyond Cooper S specs and close to those of the John Cooper Works version, that brags with 155 kW but a couple of Nm less torque.

Just as there are two versions, so too does this one display two personalities. It's a Jekyll and Hyde machine - your sister's car and its evil twin. It can be driven quickly yet quietly, or you can let the revs climb, work the 'box and rip away the mask of civility. Let your hands and feet make music together, get its mojo working, let it bark on the upshifts and rasp on the downs. Hear it howl - like a catfight down by the supermarket loading dock.

There's a simple explanation for all this emotive magic. It's called Sound System technology and it delivers differing harmonics to fit with alternative driver inputs. Like a musical instrument, a vibrating membrane with an inbuilt time delay delivers sonority controlled and amplified by an acoustic duct, while moderating the sound level over long journeys.

The car itself is the production version of the 308 RCZ concept car displayed at Frankfurt in 2007. It has since dropped the "308" appellation, being launched as a standalone model range with its own identity. It's lower than other Peugeot hatches, standing just 1.36 metres high and wider than its donor car too, with front and rear tracks up by 44 mm and 63 mm respectively.

The suspension has been adapted specifically for this application, with revised front wishbones and articulation. Dampers have increased rod diameters, larger upper bearings and specific damping patterns, resulting in greater stiffness, efficiency and ride comfort. In the 147 kW model, the front axle gets special, larger-diameter hub carriers derived from Peugeot's 'Platform 3', as used for the 407 range. It also gains a lower separation rod. These characteristics give the car even livelier and more agile road manners, with greater precision and stability.  Brakes are 340x30 mm vented discs in front with 290x12 mm solid units at the back. Wheels are Sortilege alloys fitted with 235/40 R19 tyres.

An active rear spoiler deploys automatically in two positions according to speed, ensuring a good balance between fuel consumption and road holding. The first position kicks in above 85 km/h and retracts below 55. The second deploys at 155 km/h, returning to the lower setting at 142.  It can be activated manually to the second, higher, position by pressing a button on the centre console.

The stylish interior features a sleek and streamlined dashboard with soft, fine-grained leather. Adding to the RCZ’s modern look and feel, the backgrounds of the instrument dials are manufactured from pressed metal, with numerals photo-cut and back-lit. The centre console has a feature-packed but uncluttered layout dominated by a classic chronograph-style clock.

Despite the car's compact dimensions and sporting orientation, the interior remains characteristically practical and versatile. Along with spacious accommodation for front-seat occupants, the RCZ boasts two occasional rear seats, made more usable by the double-bubble roof and rear window that provide extra headroom. There's 384 litres of boot capacity, expandable to 760 litres with the rear backrest folded. The latch for this takes some finding; it's a big red lever in the boot, assisted by a gentle nudge against the backrest.

Summing up, this little car is as sexy as hell, goes like the clappers and makes petrol-head music. It's probably impractical if there are still children in your world, but as there is life beyond the parenting zone or perhaps before it, expand, embrace and enjoy while you can.

The numbers

Price: R376 335

Engine: 1 598 cc inline four with twin-scroll turbocharger

Power: 147 kW between 5 500 and 6 800 rpm

Torque: 275 Nm between 1 700 and 4 500 rpm

Zero to 100 km/h: 7.81 seconds

Maximum speed: 231 km/h

Real life fuel consumption: about 8.3 l/100 km

Tank: 55 litres

Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km

Maintenance plan: 5 years/100 000 km

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.

What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax. 

So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!

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