I am quite sure that a few of you have waited with baited breath to find out what it like to drive a true piece of motoring exotia in the mould of the Peugot 206, I recently have been in the situation to try one of these bad boys out. My sister has gone on honeymoon with some bloke and left me to take her motorcar for its MOT.

I jumped at the chance, as some of you may know the MOT is some what different here in Northern Ireland, you have to go to an MOT test centre run by the DVLA, I went to the wrong one so was forced to swifty head to the correct one, this gave me to opportunity to really test the metal of the supermini.

So here goes my first ever car review, the review you have been waiting for.

Performance
Blessed with 1.1 litre engine this car was never going to set the world alight with outright speed, capable of 103MPH (verified) The 206 shares alot with the Bugatti Veryon, both machine require prepartion to achive the top speed. The 206 need to have access to apporxmately 20miles of open road a reasonable tail wind, finding a downhill gradient will furher enhance your chances of seeing the impressive three figure speed. While we are on the subject of stats its worth mentioning the 0-60 which is not measured in the standard units of time, instead distance is a preferable and more accurate method to calculate this. Unfortunately the Racelogic GPS timing gear is on loan to EVO magazine this month so i thing the best achived was around the mile mark. Anyway 0-60 doesn't tell much about the real world performance, and third gear is where the majority of work is done for most vehicles. In the case of the 206, perfomance is dissappointing, overtaking other vehicles is only possible if they other car is stationary, or possibly one of those things old people drive in shopping centres (and bizarrely sometimes take to the roads on). In comparsion with an s2000 (a fair compasion in most peoples eyes) the s2000 have the edge even with its lack of torque.
Its worth mentioning that the 206 like the s2000 also has 6 gears, 6 is actually reverse which can be rather confusing at 103MPH on the motorway.

Handling
The 206 has tiny tyres and has a natural tendency to understeer horribly and the meerest sniff of a corner, lift of oversteer is quite predicatable as the car wallows gently under the stress of the excitable driving. The steering wheel will direct the car vaguley in the direction of travel required, however as opposed to holding onto the high quality plastic item, the car is much better controlled with the knees. The helps that driving position as you don't need to stretch into unnatural (and uncomoftable as anyone who has ever tired to recreate imagery form the Karma Sutra can testify) positions to attempt to keep this motor between the hedges. Heel and toeing is achived at every prod of the accelator. This is because the brake peddal and throttle are almost the same piece of steel, approximately 0.41 mircons appart. Its this precision engineering that will bring buyers in their droves to the 206.


Economy
I'm sure the 206 is extrely economical, no figures however, but it does seem a shame to waste the world's finite natural resouces on filling the tank.

Exterior
This model was silver, however i think grey is a closer description of the hue this particluar example is wearing. I think other choices are available however it may not be possible to get these in the UK judging by the thousands of grey ones knocking about our roads.

Interior
Velour seats, in typical french style are not quite up to the recaros as seen in other front wheel drive performance vehilces such as the Integra Typre R, the may be quite good for shagging if the people concerned are not in needing of any extra support. Jizz stains would liven up the interior, but I'm pleased to report my sister's car did not exhibit such features. I think it had a radio and possible a compact disc playing unit, but the sounds of that high revving four pot have me encapulated.


Conculsion
For people to consider buying a 206 there must be a lot wrong with the car industry, however i can understand why so many people have aciddents as they attempt to rid themselves of pegoutitis. Be greatful that your not a girl and daddy didn't enforce this bag of boke on you.

Words: Christopher Price
Pictures: I couldn't bring myself to look at it any longer...sorry!