Peugeot RCZ a show stopper

With no zeros to its name and just letters on the boot lid, the RCZ is unlike other Peugeots. It doesn't exactly look like other Pugs either says DAVE MOORE.

As with most of the sexier cars out there, Peugeot's RCZ started its life as a show model, designed to test the waters of public opinion before the company ventured to the more expensive parts of developing a new product when engineering and production costs start to snowball into a full development budget.

Audiences liked the look, so Peugeot proceeded, despite it being at the start of a recession, and the RCZ's design cues are to be the main themes for the brand in the years to come. Already the new 508 sedan - to be launched at October's Paris motor show - has nose and bonnet treatments it can thank the RCZ for, and the company has stayed with its wide- mouthed look and not opted for the hollow-cheeked face it dabbled with in the recently-released 3008.

Peugeot's recent four-cylinder coupe offerings have been of CC, or Coupe Convertible type, with metal-folding roofs, to quickly take advantage of the sun or just as quickly get you out of the rain.

I've often wondered what the company would do if it didn't have to take in the compromises of styling, weight, lack of stiffness and bulk that such roofs bring with them. After all its 406 coupe was drop dead gorgeous and a supremely good drive and surely a smaller rendering based on one of its family hatches could be just as snappy. After all Audi adapted the Golf-derived A3's underpinnings to create the TT.

So, with the staple 308 hatch as its basis, here's the RCZ. The RC comes from Peugeot's racing nomenclature, while the Z comes from the Zagato styling inspiration that helped its designers, an in-house team, come up with the car's shape and stance and that tell-tale moulded glass double-bubble roofline with bridge-like alloy side hoops.

The RCZ's designers have done a convincing job on the car, not the least because of its deceptive size. It looks compact and almost small from every angle, but there's a good amount of space up front, and more surprisingly there's sufficient room in the rear. The RCZ's doors are long and wide-opening and it looks good even in the rear.

With the seats up, the boot can hold 384 litres of luggage and almost twice that much when they're folded down. Try that in a TT!

For all its low-slung, muscular style, the RCZ's visibility is not too bad at all. The front pillars don't appear to get in the way as much as I suspected they might, though there is a question mark at the rear, thanks to the car's headrests and a high-rear glass line, exacerbated a little by the RCZ's low-seating position.

You can't even see the car's moveable spoiler, a little wing that doesn't spoil the car's svelte lines when the car's parked, being flush with its bootline. The device is made to automatically deploy to a 19-degree angle at more than 85kmh, and to 34 degrees, as soon as the speedo clocks 155kmh. While you won't see the wing automatically fully deployed in normal conditions in New Zealand, you can use a switch in the car to send it up manually.

In line with the disarmingly well-executed cabin presented by the 3008 crossover, the RCZ also displays Peugeot's classy new style with its interior. While you can recognise the car's basic 308 hatch architecture inside, the execution, use of materials and delightful leather and stitchwork means that yes, you can compare the model with the TT, they've put it together that well.

Two versions of the same engine will be offered in the RCZ. There's a turbocharged 1.6 for the six-speed manual car, with 147kW on tap, and a normally-aspirated variant offering 115kW for the automatic. The two cars ask the same $64,990. The logic of that being the cost of the extra power is cancelled out by a cheaper gearbox in one car, while the more expensive automatic is coupled to a less pricey engine in the other. The manual also includes a smaller more sporty steering wheel, and alloy finished shift knob and pedals.

Both cars are easy to drive, but the turbo car is definitely better fun. As well as offering sufficient get up and go to record hotter than most hot hatch zero to 100kmh numbers, the turbo 1.6 has a special diaphragm that allows the engine to make a little more noise when it's under load. With a precise, short-throw snick-snick gear shift and lots of low and mid- range torque, the turbo car is a terrific backroad car which can be made to really get a move on. The driver's footwell is a little snug and my first few minutes of driving the car found the side of my clutch foot snagging the footrest until I adjusted my driving style a touch.

Otherwise the car was a delight, effectively demonstrating how good the basic 308 chassis is without extra door openings and the hatch area to compromise its rigidity and strength. The RCZ has much wider tracks than the 308 and, of course, a lower ride height and centre of gravity, which means the body and platform of the car feels strong and completely lacking in flex, and thus, with its suspension set so that it doesn't have to work torsionally as well as in the up-down plane, the coupe had a way with bumps and broken surfaces that previously would have seemed impossible to me with such aggressive 19-inch rims.

The less-powerful automatic model also uses these sporty rims, but the car is more mildly damped to suit its relaxed demeanour which encourages brisk touring rather than the point-to-point blasts the manual car appears born to. I liked both and would surmise that the younger driver would opt for the manual car, while their father or mother might take a liking to the automatic.

Either way, they get one of the best looking cars to arrive on New Zealand's shores for some time, and though $64,990 might seem like a lot for a four-cylinder Peugeot, it's cheaper than a TT by about $22,000. For its asking price, the RCZ also packs leather trim, power-heated front seats, a high- end JBL six-speaker 240 watt sound system with USB and auxiliary sockets, Bluetooth, cruise control and a speed limiter, and dual-zone automatic air conditioning. With black and three different greys available for the RCZ, as well as white, blue and red there's a good choice. However, I'd make sure that whatever I chose would allow the contrasting alloy finish of the pillar hoops to show through. So it'd probably be black.

However, it's not all about looks. Here's a show car for once that goes a bit too.

PEUGEOT RCZ

* Drivetrain: Transverse FWD DOHC 1558cc 16v four with six- speed manual or automatic transmission. Manual - Turbocharged, 147kW at 5500rpm and 275Nm at 1700rpm. Automatic - Fuel injected, 115kW at 6000rpm and 240Nm at 1400rpm.

* Performance: Manual - Max 240kmh, 0-100kmh 7.5secs, 6.9L/100km, 147g/km CO2. Automatic - Max 213kmh, 0-100kmh 8.4secs, 7.3L/100km, 168g/km CO2.

* Dimensions: L 4287mm, W 1845mm, H 1362mm, W/base 2612mm, Weight 1372kg, Fuel 55L.

* Pricing: RCZ manual and automatic $64,990.

* Hot: Stunning looks; manual's performance; taut, yet comfortable chassis; classy cabin.

* Not: Deserves a name; rear visibility; auto could do with DSG.

* Verdict: Out-sexes the TT for less money and with plenty of performance in manual form.

- © Fairfax NZ News