Due to changing circumstances I realised I need a car that I can pile high
mileage onto without guilt. After much consideration I decided the answer
was a modern as a company car.
So sitting in the driveway is the very latest product from what we used to
know as Rootes. It's a Peugeot 206 built in the Rootes factory at Ryton
which produced our Alpines from mid-Series II onwards.
After a week or so with the car I can report that build quality is good. The
Rootes brothers would have no complaints.
It's fairly quick too. On paper at least, it should be able to match a bog
standard 260 Tiger for performance. With the airconditioner on there's no
chance of doing that, but with the aircon off it certainly feels very fast.
Best feature is the handling. You can throw it into corners and it just goes
around vice free.
Second best feature is the airconditioner. Vital here at this time of year,
it's the best one I've ever encountered.
It runs a 1.6 litre DOHC 16 valve engine. I would very much have liked the
2.0 GTi but had to let me head overrule my heart on this one. There's a big
price difference for not that big a gain in performance.
But here's the big question. Is it more fun than our Sunbeams? The answer is
definitely no. My Alpine and my Imp offer big grins without exceeding the
speed limit. To get the same grin factor out of the 206 would mean getting
into licence-losing territory.
Russ
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