World’s First Test Drive Report of Proton Gen.2
Testing a new model which a whole nation is talking about can be exciting and it’s been the same almost everytime I have tested a new Proton – right from very first one in 1985 which attracted so much attention wherever I drove. These days, though, the need for secrecy means that we journalists don’t get to drive the car in public right away and have to do it in the compound of the Proton factory complex in Shah Alam, Selangor – and we have to observe an embargo otherwise we get sued!
Anyway, Proton has a big test-track so we can’t really complain as many aspects of the new car can be assessed – and in safety too. The test-track has a large oval where a car can be driven at high speeds (120 km/h was specified for the steep banks on either end) and long straights to test braking and acceleration. There’s also a large circular skidpad to check out handling and a few other areas to test ride comfort.
This is where I met the Proton Gen.2 on February 4th 2004.
The first thing that caught my eye was the nice metallic colours on the testcars – Angel Blue and Metropolitan Grey. Even under the rather gloomy sky, the colours sparkled and enhanced the looks of the car. I think the six colour choices are most appropriate for the car and complement its sporty image.
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While the Gen.2’s styling is a departure from whatever Proton has had before (with the exception of the Juara, of course), it is not controversial like what Chris Bangle has done to change the direction of BMW styling philosophy. It is a change that is refreshing and certainly the right direction for Proton’s new range of models.
The proportions of the car are well balanced and the way the body panels interface is nice too. The line that runs from the nose to the fastback tail is also a nice smooth curve that does not get too high (it’s 45 mm lower than a Corolla).
Both the front and rear lighting units are eye-catching, the rear ones more so. They wrap around the bodywork and have integrated reflectors, making it unnecessary to have extra holes for smaller reflectors on the bumper. For sure, you are not going to mistake the Gen.2 for any other car with those unique lights!
From the outside, the cabin looks fairly spacious and when you get in, it is actually very much so. Though the wheelbase is the same as the Waja, there is something about the Gen.2’s cabin that makes it feel spacious. The critical hip point is at just the right height (slightly raised) and allows most people to slip into the seat smoothly. However, I must say that the shape of the rear doors is not so ‘friendly’: as you open them, their somewhat triangular shape means you have to move slightly out of the way as the door swings open. This does not happen if the door has less of a projection.
The inside door handles have a circular design and I am not sure if they are practical. They seemed to work okay but at the same time, they felt flimsy and I wonder if they may break after some time. In the Waja, I found that the grab handle to close the door was somehow positioned rather forward which made closing the door a bit less convenient but this is not so awkward in the Gen.2.
Sporty is clearly the theme of the interior, especially the front half of the cabin. The front seats resemble racing seats with accentuated side supports. However, the sides are not so extended that they restrict body movement which typically occurs when you are driving in town. The fixed head restraint is no issue at all and is set at a height which should be suitable for most people.
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When I first started looking at the pictures of the dashboard, I thought it was rather Spartan but once it was explained that the design concept was a minimalist type, as what you would find in a Lotus sportscar, then it was very clear why it looked that way. A sportscar driver wants to enjoy the drive and is usually not too bothered by the cockpit so the Gen.2 dashboard has that sort of thinking.
Look longer and you will find that all the necessary stuff is actually present so it is a credit to the interior designers that they managed to have that clean, functional look and yet also provide all the things found in a sedan. The integrated audio system gives a neat look but it also means that owners will not be able to readily put in their preferred system if they wish to. They’ll probably have to remove that whole panel to install their own super-duper set and then the looks will be spoilt…
From the user-friendliness point of view, though, I don’t think the space-age layout of the audio panel is all that good. The buttons are too small and if you look at the original equipment audio units in most cars, buttons are big and for a valid reason: they should be easy to identify and operate while driving. That said, there are also buttons on the steering wheel which allow the driver to make adjustments more easily.
The three large knobs below the centre panel are more practical and they are for the air-conditioning system. It’s a bit unusual the way they are set on a narrow vertical panel as in most cars, that area would have a recess or something.
Storage space is something I always look out for in a car because I tend to have many things with me. The absence of a glove compartment is not that bad though there should at least be a place where valuables can be locked away. The handphone can go into the single cupholder which is between the front seats or (according to a Proton guy), there is a spot to the right of the steering wheel where you can magnetically mount a phone (the circular pad). There are also pockets in the doors (not particularly large) and a console box between the seats. If you have sunglasses, there’s a space to stow them and behind the vanity mirror on the passenger’s side, there’s a namecardholder.
The handbrake lever will probably get varied comments but I think it is just the designer’s way of making the Gen.2 unique and at least it is not an impractical sort of design! The ball-topped shift lever is also okay to hold and I hope that the shifter for the automatic will be more conventional than the awkward one in the Waja.
The instrument panel looks good and both meters are well shrouded. Within the speedometer is the fuel gauge while the tachometer has a small coolant temperature gauges, also at the base. In between is the useful information display (rare in this class of cars) but one thing I found a bit messy was the location of warning lights. Some are in the tachometer and some are in the space between the meters – why can’t everything be clustered in one spot so the driver just has to focus there?
Rear accommodation is pretty good with generous legroom and a comfortable angle for the backrests, with excellent thigh support. Though the roofline seems low, there is actually enough headroom at the back for most Malaysians and sideways too, the elbow room is pretty good.
The only thing I felt about the rear area was that it was lacking in some way, almost like the car was conceived as a 2+2 with rear occupants expected to be the exception rather than the rule. There are no pockets for magazines behind the front seats nor cupholders. Perhaps the more expensive high-line version will have these but there is no indication in the manual issued.
The overall impression I had of the Gen.2 cabin was that the materials are of a high quality, even in the base version. The texture of the plastics and the feel of the fabric on the seats all convey a sense of quality that is not so evident in the Waja. The plastics especially don’t have that cheap shiny look and everything has a good fit. Personally, I don’t like light-coloured interior trim because it gets dirty easily and stains show, but I also recognize that it makes for a nicer atmosphere inside.
The boot space is reasonably large and should be enough for most people. Though the backrests fold down individually (60:40 division) to extend the length of the boot floor, I don’t think a lot of people here use the feature much. But in Europe, I am sure it will be more appreciated and the good thing is that the designers bothered to make the seat flip up so that the backrest lies completely flat. However, I wish they would provide some sort of holder to keep the head restraint when it is removed.
Driving the Gen.2
This is probably the part that you really want to read about! To be honest, it wasn’t my very first experience with the CAMPRO engine as some time back, Tengku Mahaleel had asked me to try a Waja which was fitted with the engine. Of course, I was not allowed to write about it then and the main purpose was for me to give feedback to the engineers. At that time, the engine was still being tuned but it impressed me tremendously with its top end capability. Low-end performance was not so good and I told the engineers that. They said that they would tweak it some more and improve the torque curve, assuring me that the production CAMPRO would be nicer to drive.
So when I met the Azhari Che Hassan, the youthful-looking leader of the team that got RM500 million to develop the engine, my first question to him at the test track was: “ Have you got it right?” His confident answer was that they had and that he hoped I would be able to feel the change.
Yes, they did get it right, as I discovered when I took the Gen.2 out. There is good torque at the low end but if you look at the unusual torque curve, it does dip a bit at the start but in normal driving, you would probably get past that spot fast enough and then from about 2500 rpm, you already have 85% of peak torque which gives pretty brisk acceleration. You do need to work the gears to exploit that kind of steep torque curve but I think that the sort of person who drives a Gen.2 will probably enjoy doing it!
The engine is smooth in most speed ranges but I thought it did not have enough refinement during cruising – NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) could be lower, I felt. the engines were new (less than 400 kms) so they may not have given the best account of themselves. The throttle response deserves mention as there is a drive-by wire linkage from the pedal. In some cars (more are having it), the feel is on the light side but in the Gen.2, it was fine.
The claimed performance figures could not be verified but I would consider them realistic. As for fuel consumption, you can check for yourself whether or not it is as economical as 5.8 litres per 100 kms (equal to 17.1 kms/litre or almost 49 mpg) at a constant 90 km/h because the Gen.2 comes with a built-in tripcomputer to tell you average fuel consumption. If you don’t match it (meaning the figure you get is higher), it may be because the Gen.2 makes you drive less economically!
There’s nothing special about the Mitsubishi-supplied manual gearbox and like all Japanese transmissions, the shift quality is slick, though I thought the positions were not distinct enough and quick shifting may not always be smoothly executed.
The steering wheel, which looks nice and sporty, also has a good feel to it but a thicker rim would be nicer. I’m not sure if my fingers are short but I found that I had to stretch them a bit to reach the stalks for the signals and wipers; incidentally, like the Waja and most European cars, the signals are operated by the left stalk. I also found the tilt adjustment limited (and very stiff to adjust) and seemingly biased towards a low position. Personally, I find a high position more practical for daily driving where you need leverage but I know younger drivers prefer to have it low down like in a racing car.
Steering response can be considered good and in some high-speed swerving, the car changed directions obediently and quickly. The steering ratio is just right for parking and I daresay the Gen.2 is an easy car to maneuver… but rearward vision is not all that great with the thick C-pillar and narrow rear windscreen. This is the unfortunate thing about the sleek shape and reminded of the same issues when I tested the Honda Insight (which also has a similar backside).
In the handling department, I have to commend the engineers for their excellent effort in chassis tuning. The suspension is essentially the same as the Waja – even the wheelbase is the same – but the Gen.2 has a far greater degree of controllability and precision. This confirms Proton’s claim of the new model beating the Waja, specifically in wheel control, body control (minimal roll in spite of tallness) and comfort.
““You could say we took the best parts of the Waja’s handling and refined them for the Gen.2,” remarked Chin Swee Ming, the lady who heads Vehicle Program B which involved the development of this new model.
It’s all the more impressive because the Gen.2 is an aeroback (which also stands higher than the Waja) as such a design usually has less stiffness at the back, with implications on handling. This presents a greater challenge to the suspension tuners who have to find other ways to compensate although the body is inherently stiff and that helps. The more compact body (than the Waja) would also be another advantage as it would reduce the yaw rate to some extent.
Without a doubt, the lessons learnt from Lotus Engineering have been well absorbed by our engineers and fully utilized. In the Gen.2, it is clear that they did not just tweak the Waja suspension but also worked on the structural elements as well.
“Think of the Waja’s ride and handling as ‘version 1’ and the Gen.2’s as ‘version 2’. You can say it’s a bit like Microsoft Windows which is continuously upgraded for the better,” said Tengku Azizan, Head of Proton’s R&D division, who was happy to hear that the journalists noted the significant difference.
Such good handling usually carries a sacrifice in ride comfort and although Proton claims the Gen.2 is better than the Waja in this area, I do not think so. They have sophisticated measuring equipment and evaluate using scientifically quantifiable international standards so I am sure they know what they are talking about but subjectively, I felt the Waja’s ride is nicer (or maybe, as someone suggested, I am just getting old!). This is not to say the Gen.2’s ride is harsh but it is on the stiff side and some shocks do come through rather sharply. The 55-series tyres also have short sidewalls that don’t help.
The units we had were all the basic entry-level versions so they did not have ABS but still had 4-wheel disc brakes which are 1 inch larger in diameter than those in the Wira. Having discs at the rear has always been something that has impressed me about Proton specs since the Wira days as the class rivals did not have it. In the Gen.2, the TRW-supplied systems (same as for Waja) worked effectively and had progressive feel.
Driving around the track, I gave attention to the overall noise levels in the car and have to say that the insulation is class-average. Some mechanical noises still come through and I suspect that these may have been due to the fact that the units were pre-production units. Similar issues are also apparent when I test the early production units of new models from other companies during media previews. So let’s see what a production unit feels like.
I am sure the new factory in Tanjung Malim, with its high level of automation, will turn out cars of high quality. But the question which many people will want to know is whether it can be consistently high. In one of the testcars, the power window motor on the driver’s door was noisy and when I tried another car, it was smooth and quiet. Another testcar had vibration coming through the accelerator pedal at all speeds but this was not evident in a second car I drove. Again, I must stress that we were driving pre-production units so final judgement cannot be made on overall build quality of the Gen.2. Perhaps Proton should consider providing journalists with long-term testcars to be able to see how the durability is over a year of usage, along with the experience of after-sales services.
It’s unfortunate that Proton’s image in as far as build quality is concerned has been tarnished in recent years, not necessarily because of its own plant and workers but because some suppliers have not been diligent enough in delivering parts of consistently high quality. This is something I kept stressing to Tengku Mahaleel: people don’t blame the company that made the headlights which have water going in, they blame Proton. So the suppliers need to buck up because no matter how many millions Proton spends on advanced manufacturing facilities, the frequent failure of a power window system made by someone else will prevent it from being able to live up to the promise of producing cars of global quality.
Proton’s image can be likened to Skoda in some ways: older Malaysians may remember what their old range was like and the sort of quality they had. Today, Skoda is making cars that are based on VWs and are of a pretty high quality. Yet, when you mention ‘Skoda’ to many people, there is the perception that the car can’t be of high quality.
So consumers remember such things and Proton has now to work very hard to change this perception, especially among Malaysians. Buying a Proton should not be like ‘Russian roulette’ where you may be the unlucky one. The build quality and reliability of every Proton should be consistent and high.
The Gen.2 is a well conceived car and from the engineering point of view, it is world-class, the same thing I have been saying about the Waja too. Assuming the price is right, this is a car which can beat the Koreans whose strategy is just to offer cars at low prices. Proton, on the other hand, is not only offering a car that is affordable but it also has the added value of superior engineering.
If you look at the past 5 or 6 years of Proton’s ‘journey’ as a climb up a hill, the arrival of the Gen.2 can be likened to having reached the crest and from here on, they no longer need to be in defensive mode but can go on the offensive without any ‘parental help’. At the risk of sounding like The Terminator… It is Time!
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