Naza, for now.

I was born in 1971, when women actually smoked for flavour (not for socializing) and men didn’t wear hairgrip to swipe back their fringe.

Since childhood, my hobbies included smiling (which I have perfected) and growing moustache trying to look like Sam Elliot (which I have stopped doing recently).

I’m telling you this as a point of reference, which I hope makes sense. You see, I grew up around my dad’s Ford Escort, a car with a clutch so heavy you’d need your whole body weight to move it. And the gear synchromesh was so “challenging”, you’d need to acquire surgeon’s precision to select a gear. Over the weekend I had the chance to test drive the Naza Bestari (otherwise known as the rebadge of the outdated base Peugeot 206). It’s been a while since I last drove a brand new car. Knowing it’s actually a Peugeot, I was poised for an ambience of early ‘70s Malaysia where Peugeots, like old Fords were manly cars. Seated in the car, I tried to maintain a gentlemanly posture, wishing that at least my driving position along with the clutchless sequential gearbox would put a smile on my face and probably grow a hair or two downwards on my upper lip. If I didn’t feel as manly as Sam Elliot, Marcus Gronholm would have been good enough. My God! The car was so underpowered I felt a bit gay.

I suppose I shouldn’t blame anybody, because if you look at Naza cars, they seem to rebadge every single girly car out there. The Bestari, the Citra, and the Suria. The Sutera may not be a rebadge, but it was probably designed by men who, after watching BrokeBack Mountain, wonder why we men have nipples.

The Naza Bestari sells for RM68k. Thanks. But no thanks. I’ll take the Proton Gen2 MME anytime.