[ LATEST UPDATE: Naza has updated the Naza 206 Bestari for the 2008 model year. Click the link for more information! ]

I remember falling in love with the Peugeot 206 a few years ago when I was in college. There was this blue one parked in the college parking lot belonging to some lucky girl with generous parents, and every time I walked up to the college entrance I would take the opportunity to admire it. It’s a sporty little hatchback, and the addition of the air vents on the hoods did wonders to add to it’s sporty look. Although Peugeot has released the 207 recently, the 206 still remains in it’s portfolio, serving a different market segment. Now Malaysians have the opportunity to experience the Peugeot 206 in CKD form, with the launch of Naza’s latest car, the Naza 206 Bestari, previously known by it’s codename the Naza NX-02.

[ Click here for Naza 206 Bestari Test Drive Review ]
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Pictured above is my extremely newbie attempt at photoshopping how the Naza NX-02 could look like. Forgive my noob-ness. At least I tried! Advertisements for the new Naza NX-02 have appeared in the newspapers, meaning the car should be launched really soon.

The advertisement (click the image on the left for a bigger version of the advertisement clip) says the car is open for booking now, and the price is given as RM6X,XXX, which should put it in the RM60,000 to RM70,000 range, just as mentioned before. Other specifications mentioned are 1.4 litre MPFI engines, 4-speed Automatic with Porsche Tiptronic System, a well-tuned agile chassis, 5-door versality (hatchback), central digital display, dual airbags, anti-lock braking system, and a 3 year / 100,000 km warranty. The advertisement states that ABS is standard on AT models, which seems to indicate that a manual transmission model will be available. It also means anti-lock brakes will not be available on all models, but dual airbags will likely be standard following the trend set by the Naza Sutera.

Since we don’t have the official specs of the Naza NX-02 yet, I’ll just list the specifications of the Peugeot 206 1.4 Tiptronic that it is based on here. The 1.4 litre engine is a 1,360cc 8-valve single-cam engine that makes 74 horsepower at 5,500rpm and 120Nm of torque at a low 2,800rpm. This should make the new Naza hatchback really nice to drive around the city, as the engine will not be out of breath at lower RPMs. An 8-valve configuration promotes better airflow velocity at low RPMs, hence the excellent low-end torque. Other examples of modern engines using 8-valve configurations are like Honda’s 1.5 litre i-DSI engine which uses 8-valves. Top speed is rated at 161km/h and 0-100km/h acceleration is rated at 15.2 seconds.

This is the original Peugeot 206 dashboard, so I expect the Naza NX-02 version will look like this with slight variations. They did mention a central digital display as one of the features, so I expect it is that small LCD at the top of the center dashboard area. Or they could also mean they’ve moved the dashboard meters to that area, like the Naza Sutera‘s and are displaying data like speed and RPM in digital form like Honda S2000, though this is more of wishful hoping from a gadget-cum-car enthusiast than reality, likely not to happen.

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Naza 206 Bestari In-depth
Naza 206 Bestari Sport Concept