One may think that test driving a sporty car may be cool, but can it be as cool as booking the whole racetrack with your crew to drive said car? We at Route Hunters Malaysia have finally managed to do so, and that too at Dato Sagor, Perak! Our excitement wasn’t containable as we had the elusive 308GTi to ourselves!
We were already having a heap of fun in the sighting runs where we used the ‘regular’ Peugeot 308 THP to check out the circuit itself. It’s tight, narrow corners overlooking the Perak river was closer in feel to our local mountain roads than a proper circuit. Needless to say the circuit was a hoot to drive in, even with the automatic, 150bhp version of the 308 THP.
However things got a lot better. Not only were we in a race track with the Peugeot 308 GTi, we actually got to ride shotgun while the car was piloted by Karamjit Singh! We don’t know how else to describe it to you, but the title Flying Sikh is definitely not to be taken lightly.
While he threw the 308GTi around critical corners with ease crossing 140kph, we were barely scared at all given the amount of trust we have for the man who drove in the snow sideways above 200kph. This was nothing but child’s play, fun fact is he was too chilled to the point he was letting us know his thoughts and opinions on the 308GTi while throwing it about on the track.
We can definitely conclude that Peugeot has made two amazing cars, though they are worlds apart. The basic 308 starts at about RM93000 and the top spec model costs about RM98000. The 308GTi on the other hand, coming with a sensational close ratio 6 speed manual, LSD, and pushing out 270bhp and 330nms torque only costs you RM199999. So if that isn’t worth it, what is? Even when the Flying Sikh has approved this car with a huge smile on his face, should there be a need to think twice? So what do you guys think? Let us know on the comments section below!
-Deva Hariharan Shanker
