It is hard to put into words how Putt-Putt handles but ask wifey and she will say the car is due for a replacement. Obviously, my opinion may sound bias but I always wanted an honest opinion of the car. Thus, just before wifey bought the Peugeot 407 and where Putt-Putt was made a mockery off to a grinning salesman, I invited him for a test drive.
The test route carried out on a quiet Sunday was not very far, still around the Shah Alam Glenmarie industrial area. After adjusting the seat, he started the car and the first thing he said "It sounds different". I explained that was due to the 4-2-1 extractor which gave the car a soft but deep growl. He placed the gear into D and the moment he gently pressed the accelerator pedal, the car surged forward enough to easily overtake a motorcyclist from a traffic light standing start. He said "Sorry, I didn't even press hard. Why is it so responsive?" I said it was due to a combination of modifications but I suspected the modified crank pulley played a large part to that. As we rolled out of the Peugeot service centre compound, he was already impressed and said in a surprised tone "The car seems to have a lot of power". I replied for my mod preference, power was sacrificed in favour of torque. He nod implying he understood what that meant. After getting the feel of the car, he accelerated the car hard then released his foot off the pedal only to feel the car suddenly push itself as it he pressed the accelerator again. He could not keep it to himself and considering the age of the car, he said "Strange, it still wants to go". That caught his attention and I could see he wanted more. His main testing ground was a straight road, maybe 100+m long, had a slight gradient and an unusually small roundabout (even for an industrial area) at the end of the road. He pressed the accelerator, saw the car climb and said he was impressed. I said you don't know the car yet and told him to floor the pedal but don't take it off the floor until I told him to. Reluctantly, he did as I asked as he did not want to thrash the car. This time, the car gave it's all out. Together, starting with a deep yet not harsh growl, it accelerated all the way to the end where by then, the gradient was slightly downhill. As we approached the roundabout he wanted to slow down but I didn't let him and told him to enter the roundabout around 70kph. Upon entering the roundabout, I told him to take control of the steering wheel in both hands as I took over the gearshift and downshifted it from D to 2. I told him to take the whole roundabout at 80kph without braking and saw him press the accelerator to 80kph. We could feel the car push itself down as it swept itself round. At first, the salesman was hesitant but after building confidence from the first quarter of the turn and witnessing the car's road handling, he took the rest of the roundabout very well. He was exhilarated with that experience and acknowledged the car was well beyond what he had earlier imagined. He said it didn't feel pathetic like an old car neither did it feel stock like a brand new car. He said it felt real good and said if it were his, he would not sell the car. I explained that is how I felt and it would be irrational to sell off the car while it could still deliver and deliver well. We returned to the Peugeot service centre and he thanked me for the opportunity to test drive my car.
Before I departed he asked again the nickname I gave. I said "Putt-Putt" and he smiled saying he thought it would have been some He-Man names.
