How motoring writers used to do it October 7, 2009
Posted by richard in : What I learned today , trackbackI don’t remember when car launches were for real men. Wish I had been about, though, back in 1983, when Peugeot launched the sacred 205.
A small airfield in the middle of bleakest Morocco, reported Car Magazine from the scene. Throwing it down with rain, it was. Within a Spartan hangar, PSA bosses were telling our man all about the 205.
Before sending him out to, over two days, drive 650 miles of the world’s worst roads. Now that’s a launch drive.
So, what were his surely slightly daunted first impressions? Well, he loved the looks, even if the rear end did look like an Austin Allegro (aye, what, etc).
He reckoned the heating and ventilation were ‘excellent’ (so wasn’t fazed by supermini air con being 15 years away – like I say, hardy souls), and deemed the ‘sufficiently precise’ four-speed gearbox passable.
His favourite model was the 60bhp 1124cc engine finding it the nicest and most well balanced of the lot. He didn’t like the GL trim, mind, finding it austere, and grumbled the GT had overly hard suspension, plus a noisy and relatively uncivilised 1360cc engine. Which wasn’t that fast, anyway.
The balance of typically French soft ride and near-Teutonic firmness of handling and roadholding made him happy. He wasn’t’ wrong there, either – the 205 was exceptional in both regards. The steering was also light and precise, brakes were progressive and the ride, he reinforced, could only be described as tres bon. Pity the soft seats spoiled his 650-mile epic.
Sure, it rolled. It also understeered a fair bit. But, by the end, our man nevertheless seemed to like it, even if he didn’t realise what an icon it in fact was. Maybe he was knackered from his 1000km epic across Moroccan deserts? Makes the 120km I’ve just done in a BMW 760Li seem like small beer…
Mind you, bet he didn’t have my 18-minute deadline for copy at the end, either.
Speaking live on City Radio FM
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