A
Anonymous
Guest
Dear all,
I've never been part of a car forum before but since this seems a friendly, informative place and not your usual 'mine is better than yours' forum I thought I’d take the plunge!
Please excuse me if it’s all moot, but I thought I’d give my experience on the off chance it might be of some aid or interest to someone…
I previously (still do actually!) owned a Fiat Coupé 1.8 16v that I loved but as the years started adding up and my need to travel increased I started considering the purchase of a new car to reduce the running costs. Having a predilection for ‘sensible’ sports cars – a real niche sadly! – I try to keep up to date with what is on the market and, well, there hasn’t been much on offer for years! The TT was a little more than I wanted to pay and, along with the Scirocco - possibly the only other car with the type of characteristics I was after – neither really got my heart truly fluttering…but otherwise there was nothing on offer without resorting to the used market.
So when Peugeot, a brand not really known for this category of car, brought out the beautiful concept I spent a while praying that 1) it would go into production and 2) that the substance would even come close to the design. After being left high and dry by the Mazda Kabura never making production I was taken aback by the speed with which production was announced and with minimal changes over the concept model.
Fast forward to 2010 and a loooot of research and hey presto, the RCZ with its beautiful design fit the substance bill too!
I spent a while trying to get the best deal; I have noticed that posts here tend to claim they couldn’t get much discount. I live in Italy in a region that has two main Peugeot dealerships and most people in my region tend to go and buy cars (all types) in Milan since prices are invariably lower. As expected at the local dealership where I took my test drive, I could not get him to budge from a max. 4,6% reduction notwithstanding I offered multiple ways (accessories, winter set of wheels, with or without my coupe, display models, etc.) to spread the discount – in Milan I got to 8%. It is definitely a car they are not willing to reduce much! On a whim, I walked into the other main dealership in my town and simply said I had an offer for them : the 2.0 hdi with JBL stereo, Wip Com 3D, optional alloys and external cover sheet for 30000€, take it or leave it (=9,6% discount) and they went for it!
In both Peugeot dealerships they were very cordial and made a big effort to make the purchase seem special without being too patronising (despite showing me their intranet and training schemes in customer service!) but only the second really acknowledged the marketing benefit of this car; from what I gather, the margin is lower than on any other model they sell and the RCZ is simply a symbol of a new brand image from the manufacturer. What better way to turn heads and implicitly usher in the 11 new models they apparently have in the works?! In a small city such as mine (1 million people), where I believe they have sold no more than a dozen RCZ’s, we are a great marketing tool! He even admitted that he doesn’t want to sell the RCZ but wants someone to be curious enough to come in but end up buying a family car, city car or other high volume category. The irony is that I work in marketing myself!
Anyway, I ordered mid-december with an announced 3 month waiting period but for the precise date they told me to ring after New Years whereupon they started slipping up. To make a long story short, after countless administrative delays, misinformation and considerable waste of my time, the dealership received my car a month early and waited three weeks before handing it over. They did remove the ‘Peugeot’ lettering from the back as I’d asked but failed to prep the number plate despite me seeing the very unpersonable head of admin write the specific request on the garage module. I am still awaiting delivery of the external cover. Having said this, my salesman was on holiday during the delivery period but he sorted the problems out in a very apologetic and swift manner upon his return. I disliked intensely the fact that the problems arose as soon as I’d handed over the cheque to pay for the car though…I wonder (but doubt!) if that is only an Italian habit?!
The car is great! A very easy drive, great mileage, reasonably practical for a coupe (good boot) and with just enough ohmpf to be enjoyable (although it isn’t going to outrun any ‘serious’ sports cars). Its looks make it a head-turner but, depending on configuration, I still find it quite elegant. When it sits in my garden it seems like a feline ready to pounce. In Italy, the main auto magazine ‘Quattroruote’ was very harsh on its interior and berated its ‘averageness’; I on the other hand feel very cosy inside and will often look around it at traffic lights and smile, especially looking at the lit cabin from outside via the double-bubble roof! The seats are great too. I agree that the interior of the TT is qualitatively superior (even though a little more drab in my opinion) but when I went back to driving my father’s Scirocco after delivery of my RCZ I was amazed at how they could say that since it is all hard plastic and square units – the nappa leather and stitching on the dash surely helps the RCZ here! And then, my favourite, there is the handling : we have many curvy roads here but only once have I managed to make it seem that it wasn’t being driven on train tracks – fantastic! It’s a shame they didn’t use the same suspension scheme behind as you do really feel the difference from the front ones over street irregularities (v.common here!)
Right, I think I’ve rambled enough – look forward to reading all your tit bits of information (loving the quad exhaust feed!).
Ciao,
I've never been part of a car forum before but since this seems a friendly, informative place and not your usual 'mine is better than yours' forum I thought I’d take the plunge!
Please excuse me if it’s all moot, but I thought I’d give my experience on the off chance it might be of some aid or interest to someone…
I previously (still do actually!) owned a Fiat Coupé 1.8 16v that I loved but as the years started adding up and my need to travel increased I started considering the purchase of a new car to reduce the running costs. Having a predilection for ‘sensible’ sports cars – a real niche sadly! – I try to keep up to date with what is on the market and, well, there hasn’t been much on offer for years! The TT was a little more than I wanted to pay and, along with the Scirocco - possibly the only other car with the type of characteristics I was after – neither really got my heart truly fluttering…but otherwise there was nothing on offer without resorting to the used market.
So when Peugeot, a brand not really known for this category of car, brought out the beautiful concept I spent a while praying that 1) it would go into production and 2) that the substance would even come close to the design. After being left high and dry by the Mazda Kabura never making production I was taken aback by the speed with which production was announced and with minimal changes over the concept model.
Fast forward to 2010 and a loooot of research and hey presto, the RCZ with its beautiful design fit the substance bill too!
I spent a while trying to get the best deal; I have noticed that posts here tend to claim they couldn’t get much discount. I live in Italy in a region that has two main Peugeot dealerships and most people in my region tend to go and buy cars (all types) in Milan since prices are invariably lower. As expected at the local dealership where I took my test drive, I could not get him to budge from a max. 4,6% reduction notwithstanding I offered multiple ways (accessories, winter set of wheels, with or without my coupe, display models, etc.) to spread the discount – in Milan I got to 8%. It is definitely a car they are not willing to reduce much! On a whim, I walked into the other main dealership in my town and simply said I had an offer for them : the 2.0 hdi with JBL stereo, Wip Com 3D, optional alloys and external cover sheet for 30000€, take it or leave it (=9,6% discount) and they went for it!
In both Peugeot dealerships they were very cordial and made a big effort to make the purchase seem special without being too patronising (despite showing me their intranet and training schemes in customer service!) but only the second really acknowledged the marketing benefit of this car; from what I gather, the margin is lower than on any other model they sell and the RCZ is simply a symbol of a new brand image from the manufacturer. What better way to turn heads and implicitly usher in the 11 new models they apparently have in the works?! In a small city such as mine (1 million people), where I believe they have sold no more than a dozen RCZ’s, we are a great marketing tool! He even admitted that he doesn’t want to sell the RCZ but wants someone to be curious enough to come in but end up buying a family car, city car or other high volume category. The irony is that I work in marketing myself!
Anyway, I ordered mid-december with an announced 3 month waiting period but for the precise date they told me to ring after New Years whereupon they started slipping up. To make a long story short, after countless administrative delays, misinformation and considerable waste of my time, the dealership received my car a month early and waited three weeks before handing it over. They did remove the ‘Peugeot’ lettering from the back as I’d asked but failed to prep the number plate despite me seeing the very unpersonable head of admin write the specific request on the garage module. I am still awaiting delivery of the external cover. Having said this, my salesman was on holiday during the delivery period but he sorted the problems out in a very apologetic and swift manner upon his return. I disliked intensely the fact that the problems arose as soon as I’d handed over the cheque to pay for the car though…I wonder (but doubt!) if that is only an Italian habit?!
The car is great! A very easy drive, great mileage, reasonably practical for a coupe (good boot) and with just enough ohmpf to be enjoyable (although it isn’t going to outrun any ‘serious’ sports cars). Its looks make it a head-turner but, depending on configuration, I still find it quite elegant. When it sits in my garden it seems like a feline ready to pounce. In Italy, the main auto magazine ‘Quattroruote’ was very harsh on its interior and berated its ‘averageness’; I on the other hand feel very cosy inside and will often look around it at traffic lights and smile, especially looking at the lit cabin from outside via the double-bubble roof! The seats are great too. I agree that the interior of the TT is qualitatively superior (even though a little more drab in my opinion) but when I went back to driving my father’s Scirocco after delivery of my RCZ I was amazed at how they could say that since it is all hard plastic and square units – the nappa leather and stitching on the dash surely helps the RCZ here! And then, my favourite, there is the handling : we have many curvy roads here but only once have I managed to make it seem that it wasn’t being driven on train tracks – fantastic! It’s a shame they didn’t use the same suspension scheme behind as you do really feel the difference from the front ones over street irregularities (v.common here!)
Right, I think I’ve rambled enough – look forward to reading all your tit bits of information (loving the quad exhaust feed!).
Ciao,
and also the forum 
