Adopted a big cat : Peugeot 407

It has been a while since my last update and some are asking me what car I chosen at the end. The last car shopping experience is rather lengthy and full of road blocks. To those that read my previous posts should know I have done some test drives but there are more stories that I didn’t put in the blog. Those included I have test driven the Mazda 3 2.0 Sports, Honda Civic 2.0, Nissan Sylphy which I actually placed booking and canceled after couple of weeks of booking, Suzuki Swift Sport… both MT and AT version, Hyundai Avante X20, the Honda “Transformer” City,Honda Jazz… also 4 very bad experiences in the Toyota’s Showroom visits that seems no one care to entertain me at all.

I originally placed a booking for the Nissan Sylphy 2.0 back in Octorber 2009 and revisited the showroom to retest the same car for another few times after the booking since I somehow having doubt if that is the car I really wanted. At one of the afternoon after work, i suddenly made up my mind and call to my SA and tell him I wanted to cancel the booking. He has been really professional and processed the refund of the booking fees paid earlier.

With the cancellation of the Nissan Sylphy, I waited for the Kia Forte launching in the end of November and place a booking for a Clear White 2.0SX on the day of the launching, where the SA told me the car will be delivered in approximately 2 to 3 weeks time. With the anxiety and excitement on this Kia, I spent a lot of time in the Lowyat.net discussion where the development of the story goes bad. NAZA-KIA is having some problems on releasing the  car to the customers. Everyone knew what is going on but NAZA-KIA has a different reasons given to the customers. I waited for more than 1 month with “Unknow” delivery date been told and what triggered me to cancel the booking is NAZA-KIA’s careline told me that the car will only available in another 4 to 6 months.

I am once again back to square one and I am in deed hoping to have a new car for the Chinese New Year which is due in less than 2 months time. It is time again to look at my shopping list… I discussed with my wife again and that is when we went for the test drive of the KIA Forte, the Peugeot 308 Turbo and Peugeot 407. When I am posting this previous post, we have actually already book for the 407 but I just didn’t mention about it. The KIA Forte is very fast been ruled out on that test drive and we thought the decision is pretty easy.. it is the 308 THP and we proceed to contact the Peugeot’s SA about our decision. The SA was somehow pretty free and offered us to take th 308 THP for another spin and that is when my wife got car sick when I test drove it on a busy traffic….. oh boy, 308 THP is out again unless I just want to get that car for my own spirit drives without needing to have my wife sit in it.

At this point of time, my wife suggested, why not we test for the 407 again. We left for our lunch while waiting for the test drive unit to be available. With some Sushi stuffed into our stomach, we went for a test drive again in the 407.. on the same busy route. It was a very different experience compared to the Forte and 308 drive earlier. A very comfort drive even stuck in the Jam. So, the decision is pretty easy to be made at this point of the time.

Looks like faith has somehow making sure I get the car I really wanted. From what you have read at the beginning of this story, you will probably think that the 407 was my last choice among the tested car list. Well, that is not true.. in fact, the 407 is my first choice.. especially my first criteria was looking for a safe car ( within my financial capability ) but due to the concern on the typical Malaysian’s perspective that Peugeot cars are very “COLD” car in Malaysia with all those bad resell value, expensive maintenance & hard to get spare parts .. I have told myself I cannot afford this car and hence the decision to take away Peugeot cars from my shopping list. The 407 Premium is RM45k more expensive than the Forte 2.0SX and about RM30K more than the Nissan Sylphy… that is a held lot of money for myself.

It has been nearly 4 months now that I have driven this car, I have to say I love driving this car .. aside from some frustrations that I went through which I will share them in some other time. I actually have decided earlier not to write anything on this car as I don’t really want anyone to know I bought this car.. and also to protect myself from the crazy world. We will not know how many people are reading this on  the internet to look for the next victim on some of the crime they wanted to commit.. yet, I cannot resist since there are so many things that I wish to shares and I cannot do it without telling the world I adopted a Big Cat in the family.

Did I regret getting this car ? I guess yes and no… yes because I have a heavier financial commitment .. yes because I am finding myself finding excuses to drive the car out, yes because all the extra driving cost me a lot more not only from Petrol but also on tolls and other expenses. I have clocked for about 7500km today, with the car is only less than 4 months old and I am not a sales person and the distance from my house to my work place is only about 12km in a single trip.. The math just does not make sense if you try to figure out how on earth I am clocking for this mileage on my daily commute.