Proton Persona- pride and joy of nation?

I felt proud to know that our country can produces a car when I was in primary school studying "Di Fang Yen Jiu". But as I grown up, the 1st generation Proton car which is in fact older than me by a few months, associated with low quality and using Mitsubishi 1st generation Lancer technology carburetor engine is still in production really disappoints me.


Newer model of Proton Saga, Proton Iswara is not much different except the engine horse power increase by a few bhp.

While Mitsubishi is coming out with its new Lancer Evolution 10, poor Malaysians need to settle with a 22 years old Proton Saga, isn't it a sad thing? Saying national car is the national pride really makes me laugh. I felt rather embarrased to see a dinosour car running on the road. Why they never improve after being given so many years and chances!


The technology and design of this new Lancer is light years ahead of any Proton cars!


Although they have tried hard to improve on their car quality, the new car still lacks in one of the most important aspect - the heart of a car which is the engine.

The same old engine that you can find in the Gen-2 give you bad low end torque, meaning that the engine needs to rev more to move the car from static, directly increasing the fuel consumption which becomes worst when you drive frequently in go-stop-go-stop KL traffic.

Even if they have made modifications to counter this problem, one thing that I had noticed is that they never mention the fuel consumption of this car. Previously they have been boosting that the 1.3L Gen-2 and Savvy can give you a decent mileage, but this time they never say a word on fuel consumption. So for those who is going to spend their hard earned money to pay 7 or 9 years loan to get this car, you should consider whether is there possibility that you need to break a big hole in your pocket to feed this car in order to get it moving.

Personally Persona's design is acceptable to me. This car is price competitively against the MyVi. One is 1.6L small-mid size sedan and another is 1.3L compact car.

Price list:
Proton Persona 1.6AT H-Line Metallic – RM55,800
Proton Persona 1.6AT M-Line Metallic – RM52,800
Proton Persona 1.6MT M-Line Metallic – RM49,800
Proton Persona 1.6AT B-Line Metallic – RM48,449
Proton Persona 1.6AT B-Line Solid – RM47,999
Proton Persona 1.6MT B-Line Metallic – RM45,449
Proton Persona 1.6MT B-Line Solid – RM44,999

Nevertheless, I pick MyVi over Persona anytime if I am going to get a new car when I come out as fresh grads. Engine realibility and fuel economy are the major factors that I made the decision to choose MyVi. May be I will consider Proton Persona if the engine comes with the real CAMPRO, VIM (variable intake mechanism) and CPS (cam profile shifting), otherwise Proton will never get my money.