Peugeot unveiled RCZ concept car at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2007. The car gathered such a big interest from the public that the decision about production was made next spring. It too often happens so, that when a concept car is taken into production, many wonderful design ideas are stripped away as being too difficult or too expensive to implement and therefore the production model looks a lot duller than the original concept. Luckily that’s not the case this time. Peugeot has kept the beautiful design and bold shapes of the concept and brought us one of the best looking cars to date, at least in this price category.
RCZ is based on the Peugeot 308, but that might be a bit hard to see from the exterior. Headlights and rear lights have a familiar form and the front is clearly from a Peugeot, but otherwise RCZ looks something completely different. First of all, RCZ is wider than the 308. The front track is 4,4 cm and the rear track 6,3 cm wider. Of course RCZ also has a lowered suspension. Not just wider and lower, the RCZ’s exterior is full of details that really catch your attention. You might have already noticed the bold front and rear fenders, aluminum roof arches, dual exhaust, rear LED-lights, 18″ alloys and the active rear spoiler, but the best detail is the double bubble roof and rear glass, which look outstanding and give this car a unique look.
Shapely body deserves a powerful engine. However, the current trend is that the car should have a reasonable consumption and low emissions. These objectives in mind Peugeot have chosen three turbo engines for RCZ, two petrol variants and one diesel. Both petrol engines (THP 156 and THP 200) have the displacement of 1.6-litre. 156 horsepower version is more familiar as it has been seen before in many other Peugeot models. More powerful 200 horsepower engine is new and it offers the best performance for the RCZ. Acceleration from zero to hundred takes 7.5 seconds and a top speed is 235 km/h. Both petrol engines have six-speed manual gearbox.
We tested the diesel engined RCZ. The idea of a diesel engine in a coupe sounded a bit lame, but luckily we were wrong. 2.0-litre HDi engine offers 163-horsepower and more importantly, 340 Newton metres of torque, which is available from 2000-3000rpm. Huge torque gives this car a different kind of performance. It’s not very fast when accelerating from standstill. Reaching one hundred takes 8,2 seconds. But when you’re on the road and want to overtake slower cars, then the torque makes all the difference. And how many two-door coupes have average fuel consumption of 5,3 litres, which means that the CO2 emissions are only 139 g/km.
Specification
Engine/cylinder
- diesel
- 4-cylinder
- 1997cc
- turbo
Power
- 120 kW (163 hp) / 3750rpm
Torque
- 340 Nm / 2000-3000rpm
Transmission
- 6-speed manual
- FWD
0-100km/h / 0-62mph
- 8.2 seconds
Top speed
- 220 km/h
Fuel consumption
- 5.3 l/100km
CO2 emissions
- 139 g/km
