Motoring-Malaysia: Old Vs New: Part I

Motoring-Malaysia: Old Vs New: Part I

So its now time for me to start writing another one of my 'unbiased' points of view on a certain car or cars. Now writing for a wider audience is a good thing and also a bad thing. The good thing is that I still speak my mind on stuff on these sites, the bad thing is that there is now a wider audience that disagrees with what I say. Of course, there are those who agree with me too. But the point I am making here is that, I do like the attention, and criticism does not hurt me. Maybe I am thick skinned. And this is a good thing isn't it? Anyway, I am now supposed to substantiate my remark that the Proton Persona is the best affordable 4 door sedan you can buy in Malaysia today. I should, as it really is a decent car to buy. So we have the Proton Persona Elegance - recently facelifted model for 2010. Iit is a 4 door version of the Proton Gen2. It has a 110bhp CAMPRO engine with a variable inlet manifold (which Proton calls IAFM) to get rid of the infamous torque dip, no, not infamous.

That is what politically correct journalists who get their cars from Proton and the free food and drives. I had to basically be nice to my friend's cousin to take this latest facelifted Persona SE 1.6 Automatic for a drive. I was so 'nice' that when I kept criticizing the car he still agreed with me. He met my friend, his cousin, and I in Shah Alam while we were spare parts hunting for the twenty year old Mercedes 200E W124 (pic above) I mentioned in this previous article. And since the Persona was newly facelifted (and only two weeks old) I asked to drive it around Shah Alam and then back to his apartment somewhere near Mont Kiara. So it was a pretty long drive of Shah Alam back roads, some traffic, the NKVE, and onwards to Mont Kiara via SPRINT highway and then towards Sri Hartamas. All this with the 200E as company. Now where was I?

Yes, the CAMPRO torque dip. It is not infamous, it is horrendous, terrible, crap, rubbish and life threatening due to the inability to overtake properly. Another of my friend hated this torque dip in his mother in law's Gen2 so much he rejoiced when she wanted to get rid of it. In manual mode this torque dip is slightly lessened by the part where you can choose the gears yourself. In the automatic pre-IAFM Gen2 it was so bad that when you stepped on the throttle nothing happened. It would pick up speed then not pick up speed and then when the engine is screaming at 6,000rpm it tries to go somewhere but by then you're already cursing and swearing. So this new Persona is nothing like that. It has a really sensitive 4 speed auto box that seems to downshift almost all the time. Give it a slight gradient it will downshift if you're cruising at 80km/h. It is very responsive.

Some will say that this is too responsive and it will make the Persona uneconomical. Hello, it's a 1.6. it already is decently economical. If you want total fuel savings buy a Perodua Viva. Live a little, let the autobox downshift and upshift as it likes. I mean, you want perky car instead of a dim witted one right? Anyway, the Persona's autobox works well for the car. Coupled with the IAFM equipped 1.6 liter engine the power felt alright for a car this size and weight. I liked its sporty nature and only in really sharp bends the auto box will hesitate a little. But like the little Mazda 2 Sedan I tried recently, you can shift manually to try lessen this problem. It has that same light footed feeling and that same eagerness to change direction that the Mazda has and I liked it. The thing that differs from the Mazda is that the Mazda feels like it has more cornering grip and less roll.

The Persona rolls a bit, but it is all predictable and the Persona feels very well sorted out. On the NKVE slip road towards the Damansara Toll Booth from Shah Alam it would hold the line nicely while cornering at about 100km/h even with factory fitted 195/60/15 tires (it would be fabulous with upsized rims and tires). It also reacts nicely to high speed lane changes. No drama whatsoever. My friend who was following in his Mercedes Benz 200E said the car looked good while cornering and he had trouble keeping up with the Persona through that sweeping corner. Then again, you can't blame him as it is a twenty year old car. Refinement at 140km/h seems pretty good with not much wind noise too (the Mazda 2 had as much engine noise as well as wind noise - so the Persona is better here). The only drawback is the throaty induction roar that seems ever present at over 4,000rpm. But that also seems to be a minor irritant as it is the by product of enthusiastic driving.