its quite an interestng car… very interesting if the price is deem right by potential buyers.

but i heard Nasim will not take a 2nd batch of the 308GT to Bolehland?

So when the 1st batch finish, which i heard is no more than 15 units, then that about it? No more 308GT?

did u even read?
this 308GT is CBU from France.
308VTI and 308THP are assembled in Kedah.

get your facts right.
Have a nice day!

there’s no such thing as a good deal in malaysia.

ok PT, hope made myself clear. don’t take my feedback in the negative way. most probably, i’m asking too much anyway. And due thanks for the additional inputs in your last comment.

Have a nice monday…

As for handling, perhaps the car is simply not exciting enough to spark much say about it. Nicely balanced and accurate yes but steering is devoid of feel and honestly that is really all there is to say, or at least what I found I could say. Yes the level of equipment makes the car amazing value for money but I think perhaps you are expecting it to be showered with too much praise. I have a feeling the 308 Turbo will be more impressive to me taking into account equipment, experience and price point but unfortunately no chance yet.

i wished not to list .. it is quite a long list. Beside, andy214 has sort of did it. Perhaps readers will find it out on their own if it is in their interests.

And on the ride n handling portion, as a reader, i was expecting something more from an independent reviewer. Beside i am quite positive a Golf GTI Mk VI, Megane R26, CTR or other hot hatches test drive will generate beefier paragraphs about these two aspects. The test feedback here is unfortunately rather short which disappoint, as i believe this is one of the outstanding value-for-money, best-priced warm/hot hatches around.

Until you consider its lesser sibling, another warm hatch, the 308 Turbo.

Anyway, this GT comes packed with features; Imagine the owners who bought the normal spec 206GTi (smaller car, only 138bhp) at around RM150K last time! This 308 GT has so many quality stuffs, check out the JBL Speakers, the “Directional” Headlights (it can turn left or right according to your steering), Moonroof, etc. All these are not cheap stuff but comes with the car in a package at such price. Paul Tan also didn’t take any pictures of the MFD, it’s colour screen which is something many “normal” car owners don’t see everyday, not to mentioned the usual MFD available in european cars is already something “new” to many “normal” car owners. Check out the VTI MFD, and the features it has, then check out the THP with more powerful and detailed MFD, then check out the 308 GT with COLOUR SCREEN MFD and with additional features. It’s like when we switch from a non-colour screen handphone to coloured screen, and later smart-phone and so on. As we “upgrade”, our demand increases and it’s hard to look back.

Anyway, the car is rich in features and it’s very nice to have, but of course, some people prefer raw power or purely performance and less electronics, then it simply not a car for those people and no point telling others that he/she is not interested or rather buy xxx car as if everyone wants to know. I think interested people/buyer would want to find out more about the car, rather than reading through comments that are not contributing or talk about how someone prefer to buy another car.

Lastly, I totally agree with Paul Tan on the clutch, it’s very high and it can delay your shifting time and not-smooth gear change, but actually you don’t have to press fully. I was told by one of the previous SC Manager the clutch can be adjusted, while when I googled around, I come across “Clutch Stopper” from Scooby and BMW forums. But the gears slide it smoothly though, compared to the older Peugeot models, it’s consider a big improvements; except the clutch are still the same. Another nice thing is the steering and the gear, they look great, sturdy, feels great and nice to hold/grip. The meters are actually pretty nice in the night as I read some comment which hasn’t seen the real thing but judging plainly on the description.

I guess Paul Tan could’ve take more pictures or probably even better videos. But nonetheless, it’s still a job well done. If the readers are really interested, they would’ve automatically googled for more information or watch some videos from YouTube anyway.

i do not see why you missed my comments on the car’s performance in the story. i’ve already said rowing through the gears somehow feels lacking… and as for handling, maybe you are used to other kinds of stories and expecting more insight on the handling… i am not the type to go on and on about how the car behaves at its extremities because i never push test cars that hard, don’t want to end up in a ditch. where am i supposed to drive like that safely anyway? i got the car on thursday to saturday i think… returned it on saturday morning, so i did not have a chance to try out some nice far away roads because it is hard to get away during week days. i think the 308 gt has a very nice balance between a slightly firmer ride to remind you that you’re in a slightly performance-oriented car but the ride remains quite pliant on crappy malaysian roads. it’s a nice balance that i would like to try to achieve on my old 5er. i also like how the steering weights up by itself nicely at high speeds to give the driver abit more confidence – i hate the ultra light steerings in Japanese cars. but i really did not push the car any further to be able to judge anything beyond this. i know nasim uses WRC 308 for alot of sales activities so I think they would be pissed off if i put it out of commission for awhile!

RM160K for a fully-imported GT with tons of kits (that PT didn’t managed to give good detail insight), classy executed, warm turbo engine, rich in practicality (for a 3-doors) with more than adequate performance shouldn’t be classified as slightly price. its fairly price, fair asking by Nasim. if its rm10K less, then its quite cheap. Rm160K is what you almost need to fork out to buy a 138bhp 206GTi with 2.0L N/A engine back in 2003. Beside name three (3) fully imported warm hatches (e.g. 160bhp n above) that we can buy in M’sia with RM160K that have full warranty and backing by its manufacturers?

I dont think Nasim targeted to make a handsome profit out of the 308GT. This is obviously a ‘halo’ model, just to attract people attention to the 308 model in general (almost all who like it will end up buying the more sensible 308 turbo or affordable vti). That why Nasim is having a ‘nice’ problem when the 308Turbo waiting list stretch to up to 4 months(?), with growing numbers of disillusioned buyers moaning about it almost endlessly – go read Pug AW forum.

Comparing apple-to-apple, the extra RM40K+ that you had to fork out to get a CTR, Megane/Clio 197 or Golf GTI (easily bubble to RM50K+ when compound interest is taking into consideration) is somewhat not really is fair value for the extra umphh than you’ll get from all three (the Megane 197 is a little pricey). RM40K+ is not small sum of money. So 308 GT is placing itself slightly more than fair n square in the GT category, never it claimed itself as a direct competitor of GTi or Type-R kinda of car.

Want to see a hotter 308? Wait for the up n coming 308RCZ. same engine, with 218 bhp. but its a 2+2 coupe… and Nasim seem to be willing to bring it in, when its available. And if Peugeot release a proper 308 ‘GTi’ with that engine too, only then we can speak of the 308, Golf GTI and CTR in the same breath. But i doubt they’ll do it. want a Pug GTi? .. 207GTi is the only choice, so far.

Coming back to the GT, from all 3 hot hatchs above, perhaps only the Golf GTI able to match the kits you’ll get with the 308GT. Of course the Golf is the benchmark in build quality (but i’m just focusing about level of kits here). The rest is rather ‘empty’, relying purely on performance as bait to lure potential suitors.

Therefore, for me, the 308GT appeal to anyone who couldn’t afford a RM200k hot hatch or want such a high performance-oriented hatch (sedan in case of CTR), but find RM160K warm hatch (i.e. 308GT) suffice, within their budget range and would want a car that is perfectly normal for every day use.

If you want the ’superst’ and can afford a RM200K hot hatch, of course, by all means go for CTR, Golf GTI or the Renault. Because having the fastest car is everything for you. The rest can think later.

If second hand Mk.V Golf is preferred due to close proximity of the cost, buying second hand always had its own disadvantage, as maintenance of a RM200K car can be outlandish, more so with hot hatch as it is surely have been frequently trashing by its early owner(s). The probability of secondhand owners to pick up first owner maintenance bills could be higher than normal sedate second hand car.

I am a little perplex by this article as PT don’t really put his comments on the 308GT performance & handling. It is as if PT done a rather short test drive thus have no in depth feedback to share or perhaps find it not up to a GT standard at all.. but decided to be nice to Nasim and choose to be silent. I don’t know. But i surely do appreciate more feedback since its the most powerful Peugeot available in M’sia for quite some time. Even the 405GTi or Mi-16 couldn’t match it outright power. Beside we have more than enuff of journalism over CTR, Golf GTI, Megane 10 97/R26, Evo, Scooby etc, sometime it is nice to hear about others too, especially when it is officially available here in Bolehland.

RM 160k for this segment of car were sightly pricey but with my opinion it gives you more than good power to weight ratio ride but packed with essentials stuff like audio and the ‘romantic’ moonroof. But some might think again to sign up for the Mk.5 Golf instead of this.

this one here is stepping abit into golf terrority. and with the new golf and scirocco lauching soon, expect 2nd hand unit price of golf gti’s to drop.

get your downpayments ready!