Friday i booked a test drive of a 206 GTi 180 with my VIP ticket i got through the post, and i'm tieing the whole experience into a Business Decision Making project for my course :) So in i goes with my little voucher for my pre-booked appoitment.
"Ah yes sir certainly" says the young lady behind the desk
"We have no salesmen free at the moment, but because you pre-booked thats out fault not yours, so if you want you can take it on your own? But you're quite welcome to wait 15-20 minutes for one of our salesmen"?
Me - excited but hiding it - "Nah its ok, i have an appointment in a little under an hour, so i need to go now really"
"Yes certainly sir, now if we could hold onto your drivers licence, and we'd be grateful if you could have it back in half an hour" (obviously more words were used than this, i was too excited to remember the whole convo tho :) )
She showed me to the car, stood there gleaming in its metallic blue splendor, asked if i'd been shown round it before, to ensure i knew where all the controls were etc, i lied and said yes so's not to waste time, plus, i knew were all the controls were gonna be! She hands me the key and walks off. The door is unlocked. I climb in - the racing bucket, and this is like a proper bucket seat, grips me tightly, a VERY comfy seating position i might add. As with all 206's i found the pedals (very nice shiny ali things) a bit close together.
I set off out of the dealership - the dials and instruments all wrapped in lovely aluminium finish, the aluminium gear knob grasped tightly in my left hand. I proceed briskly through town, but traffic was heavy so no fun was to be had yea. Being that it has very stiff, low, sporty chassis, and 17" wheels the ride was a little harsh, but i could live with that :) I proceed down the main road and out of town. Once onto the open roads (with a tiny dual carriageway thrown in) i see what it can do. GOOD LORD. 2nd gear, keeping my foot planted whilst rounding a roundabout, the tyres protested a little, but nothing too major. The lateral grip in corners was phenominal. Then, the acceleration hit me, i was over scary speeds in the blink of an eye, it is one SERIOUSLY fast car. All 180 horses were striving to propel me down the road. I catch a line of 4 cars, no bother, doing 45/50, snick it into 3rd, plant it. Nigh on INSTANTLY i'm past, the cars that were once in front are now mere specks in my rear view mirror, 4th, 5th, the speed ever piling on, then suddenly, a roundabout, on i stamp the lovely ABS assisted anchors, and then, its all calm again. I'm in 4th doing a sedate
30 mph. I take a left down a road i know well, and once again, all hell lets lose, the crazy beast flies on some more, the speed piling on, corners approaching, they're no problem, the tyres grasp the road, the super stiff chassis bearly leaning an inch.Then, all too quickly, i've been out 20 minutes, and i'm back in town and trundling towards the dealership. I collect my licence and, with a heavy heart hand the keys in. They were running a 5 year finance deal on this £14,000 beauty, and by lord, i nearly took it....