The media launch of the facelifted Peugeot 407 took place on none other than Valentines’ Day itself at the Peugeot Blue Box at Glenmarie. Unveiling the car to members of the press were CEO of Nasim Sdn Bhd, En SM Nasarudin and Peugeot’s ASEAN Regional Office General Director Mr Dominique Dourouze.

There were 2 units of the facelifted 407 were shown to us – the Classic version in Nera black, and the Premium version in Bianca white. Scroll down for pictures from the launch.

Nasarudin giving his launching speech. 

Members of the press getting shots of Nasarudin.

“Ladies and gentlemen…”

“…presenting, the new Peugeot 407!” 

Nasarudin & Dourouze posing for photographers, who happily take it all in.

Nasarudin & Dourouze inspecting the new interior.

Facelifted tail (left) gives 407 sportier look compared to original (right).

Closer look at the taillights. Rear fog lamps standard.

Little changed up front.

Classy Piano black finish for dash. Classic interior gets integrated multifunction display, while Premium gets multimedia touchscreen.

Classic interior (left) vs Premium interior (right)

Multimedia touchscreen very impressive.

Quirky handbrake position a product of its left-hand drive origins.

Models pose with the car. (No, they’re not French)

“Stay away from my car!”

“Happy Valentine’s Day!”

Other related articles about the launch.
- New Peugeot 407 introduced – by Sue
- New 407 Launched – by SBY

I drive a Proton Waja Campro 1.6E manual. I rather like it. I like how it corners, I like it’s high speed composure, I like the precise gear change, and all those other little things Lotus has tuned into its handling. That stupid Campro torque dip aside, it’s a good drive. And since the built quality of the Waja has had visible improvement over the past 8 years, it’s not too bad living with one on a day-to-day basis - until you meet a really tight corner.

The Waja’s turning circle can be described as atrocious, and couple that with poor all-round visibility, it’s a pain to drive one in tight spaces. As such, whenever I have negotiate the backalleys of KL, or brave through the jams of Jalan Pudu, my mind goes back to my previous ride, which was a Proton Iswara 1.5 automatic. I’ll be frank here, when I first started driving the car, I hated it. In fact, I felt miserable driving it.

The big problem with this car, as we all know, is its antiquated 3-speed automatic transmission. The torque converter sapped so much power out of the 1.5-litre engine, it made the car feel heavy and immovable. Every overtaking maneuver had to be performed on second gear, or I would never have stood a chance. Same story with corners, in ‘D’, you simply won’t get enough traction to power out of the apex.

I was never in any danger of getting speeding tickets with this car, because I won’t be able to get close enough to the speed limit anyway, let alone breach it. Even in the off day that I do get the speedo close enough to the magical number of 110, because there is no overdrive ratio, the engine noise would be so loud, I would be forced to ease off before long.

The Iswara followed me to Penang for a working stint of three-months. There, in the congested streets of Georgetown and Bayan Lepas, driving was a living hell. The drivers seemed to have their testosterone levels set to maximum and motorcycles were all over the place. In these adverse conditions, the Iswara shined. There was no U-turn it couldn’t handle, no gap it couldn’t squeeze through, and no spot it couldn’t park.

That it was chronically underpowered was no longer of consequence, because, one, I’ve already learnt to live with it, and secondly, what good does 200bhp do when all you see is a never-ending crawl? In situations like these, all you’ll ever need are power steering, automatic transmission and an engine that’s good enough to move you to 50kph. The Iswara had all that, and more. It had a small turning circle and all-round visibility easily superior to my Lotus-tuned Waja Campro.

The Iswara was rubbish on the highways, but in congested town drive, it was brilliant. In that short spell in Penang, I actually grew to like that car, and I felt a tinge of sadness when it was sold. In many ways, the Hyundai i10 I test drove with my mates last Friday reminded me of that car.

Really? We’ll see…

Three of us walked into HYUMAL Trading Sdn Bhd’s showroom in Glenmarie, Subang. One of them helping to make a family decision in swapping their Perodua Kenari for a new car, and the i10 is in the shortlist. The display car wore in Inokom badge, and retails for RM48k. There is also the Inspired model that bumps the pricelist above RM50k, but you won’t need to consider that, as it’s all just cosmetic enhancements.

HYUMAL Trading Sdn Bhd, Glenmarie.

The base model already comes with all the necessary equipment – twin airbags and ABS the most notable. Only a 4-speed auto version is available, though the product catalogue listed specs for a 5-speed manual variant as well. Power comes from a 4-cylinder 1.1-litre engine, whose output is too small to be of any consequence. Interior materials and built quality are not impressive, but not at levels that you would feel short changed.

 
Dash materials a little cheap, but still well put together. Twin airbags standard.

1.1-litre four-pot produces double digit torque and horsepower figures.

On the road, it was bad. I have read about cars that ’sing’, or for the modest ones, ‘progress’ their way to the redline, this one had to be dragged kicking and screaming its way there. Wherever ‘there’ is, because there’s no tachometer to tell. I did, however, appreciate the nice weighty feel of the steering, which at least allows you to take a decent corner. At the upper reaches of our national speed limit, this car is seriously out of depth and out of breath.

No tacho

However, when driven sedately, the i10 becomes quite alright. It fulfills the brief of a city car well – good visibility, ease of driving, and ease of parking. In fact, and this is a surprise, the i10’s steering actually lightened when parking, which means that this car comes with variable rack steering – which is unbelievable for a car at this price. Like my old Iswara, this is a car that would shine in the streets of Georgetown and KL, but is probably rubbish on PLUS Highway.

(+): Twin airbags, ABS, variable rack steering, EuroNCAP 4-star rating - who else offers that at this price?
(-): Engine very unrefined, build quality barely acceptable.

Verdict: Perfect for cities like KL, JB and Penang, just don’t travel between them.

I once said to my friends, “BMW events never disappoint.” The very first BMW event I attended was held at the Glenmarie branch, where I test drove the E46 325i and the highly acclaimed E60 530d. I went on to attend one event after another, adding to my list the likes of the 545i, the 645Ci, and the Z4 3.0. Every time, when I thought that there was nothing BMW could do to impress me, they just throw up an event, I attend and go home with a smile of satisfaction on my face.

Therefore, against the backdrop of one excellent event after another, the Joy event at the Auto Bavaria Glenmarie branch last week was a little underwhelming (read comments here). It made me reconsider the validity of the statement I made to countless people about BMW events. With that experience still fresh in mind, I approached the Sg Besi edition of the celebrations with a little less enthusiasm than used to give to BMW events. In fact, I almost decided to give it a miss.

Auto Bavaria Sg Besi.

But, miss it I did not, because there is, at the very least the newly facelifted 3-series to check out, and the BMW Performance Drive that made the event held at AB’s Segambut branch such a delight was restored to the lineup. As I entered the showroom, the atmosphere felt friendlier than what I experienced in the Glenmarie branch, being politely greeted by no less than three different people.

Friendlier atmosphere here.

Unlike the preceding editions at Penang, Segambut and Glenmarie, the Sg Besi branch had the advantage of having the 3-series facelift launch happening just two days earlier. As a result, in the showroom area, all that was on display were the 323i, the 325i Sports and the 335i Coupe. It was most unfortunate that none of the new variants were available for test driving – especially the 335i.

As I was viewing the 335i Coupe, I was approached by a saleslady whom I shall only identify as Ms M (M for M3, M5 & M6). For now, I’ll just mention that two of us enjoyed a brief but pleasant conversation, exchanged name cards, and walked away from each other. During our talk, she gave me the standard salesperson introductions of the new 3-series and all its available variants. I’ll get back to her later in the article.

335i Coupe

From the rear.

The interior

iDrive controller

3.0-litre twin-turbo redlines at 7,000rpm.

The 335i Coupe you see above can be yours for RM470k. With that money spent, your car is armed with a 2,979cc twin turbo straight-six that punches (according to BMW) out 306bhp of power at 5,800rpm and with 400Nm of torque from as low as 1,300rpm. However, according to this entry in Wikipedia, a third party has tested this engine to produce 332hp and 422Nm. Whatever the actual figures are, paired with BMW’s 6-speed Steptronic auto, the N54B30 engine propels the 335i from zero to 100kph in just 5.7 seconds.

Parked next to the 335i was a 325i Sports sedan which goes for RM310k. Hanging around this car were a series of placards highlighting all the various unique selling points (USP) of the car. When I arrived at the showroom, there was a gentleman with a microphone walking around the car reading out all the various (I presume) newly added features to the car.

Introducing….. the new 325i Sports!

I think everyone knows about this.

… and this too.

New look rear. The E90’s original taillights received heavy criticism for being too bland. BMW responded, though I am not sure if the new ones really do look better.

Bonnet gets more aggressive creases.

The interior, with M-steering wheel. Paddle-shift controls override for 6-speed Steptronic.

New iDrive interface

For the facelift, the 325i will only be offered with the Sports variant which comes with various M-badged accessories and a stiffer chassis setup for improved handling – though the comfort oriented might find it too hard to bear. I’ll be able to tell you more for sure after a test drive. However, I can tell you for sure that the services of the highly rated 2,497cc N52B25 is retained. Featuring a light weight magnesium block, this straight-six engine is rated at 218bhp @ 6,500rpm and 250Nm @ 2,700rpm.

A BMW salesman once told me, that for customers who switch allegiances from Mercedes-Benz are usually introduced to the 523i instead of the more aggressive 525i Sports. The rationale is that someone accustomed to the softer setup of a Mercedes would find the harder sprung 525i too uncomfortable to deal with. Therefore, I believe a similar rationale lies in the introduction of the 323i into the Malaysian lineup.

The BMW 323i

I doubt I’ll need a test drive to confirm this, as it is clear even on paper, that the 323i will cater the more conservative set of customers from the scream-at-your-face 325i. The absence of aggressive body kits say as much, so does the lower state of tune for the same engine as the 325i. Here, the same 2.5-litre straight-six is rated at just 190bhp @ 5,900rpm and 230Nm @ 3,250rpm. I am quite sure the suspension setup is much softer in the 323i as well. The 323i goes for RM276k.

Absent from display were the 320i and 320i Sports, retailing at RM237k and RM249k respectively. Both these variants are powered by the 1,995cc N46B20 inline-4 engine that was introduced back in 2004. This engine, with Valvetronic and double VANOS is still good for 156bhp @ 6,200rpm and 200Nm @ 3,600rpm. Differentiating the Sports from the standard 320i are once again the usual M-badged stuff that hypes up the looks and stiffens the handling setup.

Besides the display cars, there were the usual buffet of finger foods and sales of various BMW merchandises in the showroom. In a room, at the side of the showroom, was a Service Clinic conducted by their After Sales General Manager, Mr Steven Adolpho, who was giving talks on the use of proper car care products and driving safety. On the other side of the showroom was a Playstation simulator and a treadmill, where participants who clock the fastest times stand to win a weekend with a BMW. I tried the Gran Turismo simulation on the PS, and it’s safe to say that I won’t be in the running for the winning prize.

Mr Adolpho giving a talk at the Service Clinic.

The range of BMW car care products.

PS simulator and treadmill – you can win a weekend in a BMW here.

The highlight of this event was definitely the BMW Performance Drive which took place at the Bukit Jalil stadium car park. Unfortunately, when attempting to sign-up for the event at the counter, I was told that the slots were all taken up. Having already did it in Segambut, I did not feel too disappointed, and walked off, ready to go. As I was heading to my car Ms. M (remember her?) called out from behind. She was going to ferry two gentleman (one with his son) to the Performance Drive and invited me to come along. Well, who was I to refuse? One of the two gentleman took the keys, and we headed off to Bkt Jalil in a 523i SE…

Getting ready to go… Interior of the 523i SE

An example of good ergonomics, this gearstick is easy to grip, and intuitive to operate (once you get it)

At the National Stadium carpark, for the BMW Performance Drive.

To be continued….

As part of its 20th anniversary celebrations, Auto Bavaria has been organising a series of “Joyful Events” at its various showrooms throughout the country. The celebrations kickstarted on 20 Sept in the Penang branch, and since then they have been throwing these parties in Segambut (27/28 Sept), Kuantan (31 Oct / 1 Nov) and most recently Glenmarie this weekend.

I attended the one organised by the Segambut branch over a month back and was absolutely blown away by the experience. After going through a brief safety driving clinic, my mate and I set off in a BMW 525i, heading straight for the nearby Matrade Center parking lot to experience what was called the BMW Performance Drive, where we were each given a 320i to do braking, slalom and skidding tests. Later, back at the showroom, we were then treated to a buffet catered from DeCanters.

Memories of the Segambut event.

I have been to more BMW events than I can remember. I have test driven a 645Ci and a Z4 3.0 top down. I have driven a 545i up to 180kph in pursuit of a similarly powered X5 4.4i only to be stopped by a Kancil suddenly coming into our lane. I have even attended an event that served abalone sushi, but suffice to say, the “Joy” event in Segambut trumped them all. There’s nothing like driving a car in a no-holds barred situation.

Seeing what Glenmarie has in store.

Therefore, against the backdrop of the “joy” I had in my last time out, the Glenmarie edition was rather disappointing. Though admittedly, this one seemed to be catered for existing BMW owners, as they were given free 20-point checks for their BMWs. There was also a mini treasure hunt, dubbed the “Joy Hunt”, open to 50 BMW cars on Saturday and Sunday each.

For us non-BMW owners, besides viewing lineup of BMW cars, which on that day included an M3 Coupe, a 325i Sports, and a 525i Sports, we also had the chance to speak to some of their technicians who showed us the difference between a normal tyre and run-flats, how they diagnose faults in the latest electronic laden BMWs, and also AB Glenmarie’s reknowned impressive BMW body repairing capabilities.

Normal tyres vs run-flats – both tyres are deflated

Displaying their impressive arsenal of tools

Going straight into the brains of your car…

This machine reads out your car’s faults like a book

After looking through all the admittedly impressive exhibits, it was all just viewing and photographing the cars on display. Despite the advertisement on the website saying “Test drive and view the latest BMW cars”, there seemed to be more emphasis on the ‘view’ rather than the ‘test drive’ part, my mate and I were pretty much left alone after putting down our names on the front desk.

All in all, it wasn’t really an event which I considered to be worth my time, which is a shame, considering the edition at the Segambut branch earlier was absolutely amazing. It was quite obvious that this event seemed to be catered to existing or prospective BMW customers, with little room for us mere enthusiasts.

 
Crowd was good though

The 325i Sports with aggressive details

Under the hood of the BMW M3

M3’s S65B40 sings up to 8,250rpm redline, producing 420hp and 400Nm along the way

I remember the very first time I took a showroom car for a test drive, I was only 18 years old and was still holding my P-license. On that day, EON was having a Test Drive Carnival at Glenmarie, and I walked in and enquired if I could take the Waja for a test drive. At that point in time, I have only ever driven, not including the Kancils during my L-license time, a Wira 1.6, Wira 1.5 and an Iswara 1.5 – and they were all autos. I filled in the necessary forms, surprised that my P-license did not raise any eyebrows, and also the fact that the salesman was chatting with me as if as I was buying!

No matter, on the road I went. Having only driven other Protons, the Waja came off as a truly impressive car to me. On the long stretch of straight to the old Subang airport, I thought I was doing a mere 80kph until I saw the speedo pointing at 120kph. The car felt planted and stable. Of course, with the test drive lasting about 10-15 minutes, I did not pick up on the inherent ergonomic errors, massive blind spots, and questionable build quality. Nevermind that, I was impressed, and I posted it on Autoworld’s forum (or more popularly known as “AW Forum” in short) . Don’t bother searching, the thread is gone – it was that long ago.

Of course, if I were to test drive that same Waja today, I probably won’t be half as impressed. No doubt I would have appreciated the tight handling and stable riding even more – I would also have noted the coarse nature of the 4G18 at high revs and the cheap nature of the materials used inside. Fortunately, this didn’t happen back then, and it only whetted my appetite to go out and do more test drives. I went on to add the Toyota Vios, Hyundai Elantra and the Nissan X-Trail into my list of driven vehicles.

Not satisfied, I also went on to test expensive and powerful continental cars like BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Peugeot and Alfa Romeo. There was a period of time where I went to every test drive event there was in the Klang Valley. The most memorable ones include a BMW test drive at Souled Out, Sri Hartamas and a Mercedes event where I got my hands on the E55 AMG – I suspect that was a blunder by the showroom staff, because the E55 was parked at a secluded corner after I was done with it.

A very quick and rough estimation tells me that up till now, I’ve easily driven a total of RM15-20 million worth of cars. Somehow or rather, news about test drive events organised by car companies just never seem to escape my attention. Many of them are grandiose events that are part of the company’s investments into good brand building and public relations, some are also haphazardly done and poorly organised. There were quite a few events that I went to with a newspaper advertisement promising test drives, only to be turned away because of one excuse or another.

One event I went to recently, which was advertised in a local paper. It was just a small ad (not occupying more than 2 square inches of area) in the listing of events which was very very easy to miss. Fortunately though, my eyes were sharp enough to spot the words ‘Mazda RX-8 Test Drive Campaign’. The event was listed as happening ‘today’ at the Bermaz Motor outlet at Glenmarie. Needing no second invitation, I headed there after lunch for my first drive of the highly rated sports car.

I have read a lot about the RX-8, thus I know all about the fantastic handling, the suicide rear doors, and the rev happy 1.3-litre Renesis motor. Unfortunately, the closest I got to feeling all these are in the Need for Speed games, which hardly beats the real thing. Driving with the keyboard means you lose out on feedback, you lose on precision, and you don’t get to develop a good old-fashioned bonding with the car.

Arriving at the showroom, I felt a little underwhelmed. For a car with such a massive and enthusiastic following the atmosphere could have been injected with a lot more enthusiasm. There wasn’t really much of a crowd to speak of, and the overall atmosphere was too sombre for a car as exciting as the RX-8. No matter, all the better actually, since I won’t have long queues to deal with.

RX-8 test drive here, are you sure?

I signed up for the test drive, with only one customer ahead of me in the queue. He and his mate left as I was filling in the request forms. He was gone for quite a while, which also excited me to an extent because it meant that I would be out on the road for just as long. As I waited for my turn, I strolled around the showroom, inspecting their range of products that also includes Skoda cars and a Mercedes van.

On display: Mazda6 2.0, a Mercedes van, and the CX-9

The Skoda lineup

The Octavia 200FSi, with the VW Group’s famous 2.0 FSI engine. In NA guise, this engine feels just as powerful and revs smoothly all the way to the redline.

My turn came soon enough, after the previous customer’s long awaited return. I felt like I should have timed his session, because my turn on the wheel felt much shorter than his. Nevermind, I still got a good enough feel of the Renesis motor powering its way to the 7200rpm redline. My test car, was worth RM230k that sports a 6-speed automatic transmission channeling 212 bhp to the rear wheels. There’s an option package worth RM14k that includes a nice bodykit enhancement.

My test car

Turning the ignition key not only brings the engine to life, but lights up an ultra-cool looking three-binnacle instrument panel that houses the all important tachometer in the centre with the fuel and temperature gauges in the flanking binnacles. The digital speed indicator is in the centre binnacle together with the tacho, and while it gives the panel a cool racing game feel, it also makes the side binnacles look decidedly empty

Instrument panel… cue Knight Rider music.

The 6-speed auto is equipped with paddle-shifting manual override mode, and as I said before, all these manual overrides wear off their novelty eventually because under the skin, it’s still a torque converter automatic transmission that’s best left to its own devices. However, in the case of the RX-8, you do need to go to manual mode for more spirited driving – be it to explore the full range of revs or to give you the extra control of traction when taking a fast corner. Having said that, it is a massive disappointment that manual transmission is not even offered as an option for the Malaysian market.

It was also most unfortunate that I was only given a short test route, which did not give the car its chance to sufficiently display the finest qualities of its engine and chassis. I was able to push the car all the way to the 7200rpm redline, but never did I manage to feel the car at the three-figure speeds it was meant to cruise at, nor was I able to fully test the car’s handling abilities with fast sweeping bends.

I have to be frank in saying that it was neither an event nor a test drive that did the RX-8 any justice at all. I truly applaud Bermaz Motor for bringing in fantastic cars like the RX-8, Mazda3 and Mazda6, and I think they deserve even more praise for giving free test drives to the public for this exciting model. Unfortunately, despite the good intentions, the execution lacked enthusiasm and energy, thus undermining the whole exercise. 

See also: Showroom Experience: Mazda RX-8