Aware of the negative perception Proton has in its home country, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad called on all Malaysians to test drive the brand’s latest models before critically judging them. The news comes from his latest blog post, following the successful firing of Proton’s new engine in the UK.
“Proton is aware of the negative perception of its cars in the Malaysian market. This is especially among owners of imported cars. Nothing can persuade them to buy Proton cars. Certainly, pride in a Malaysian-made car is not with them,” explained Mahathir.
The Proton chairman said that regardless of the manufacturer’s previous models, its latest ones are “not like the cars produced before,” offering competitive features typically found in higher-priced models.
“They are much improved and often have more features than other cars in the same category. In fact, the low-priced Protons have features normally found in higher-priced cars. We are the only developing country in the world that can do all of this. I think our workers and engineers deserve to be tested if not supported,” he said.
“The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and so it is with Proton’s new cars. You need to drive them to know their capabilities. I drive the Iriz and the Suprima S, and believe me, I enjoy driving them,” said Mahathir. He takes particular pride in his Iriz’s electric power steering and responsive acceleration.
“I think Proton cars deserve a test drive by Malaysians. Tell us about your experience. Criticise these cars. We want feedback so we can further improve them,” he concluded.
So, do you own a new Proton? An Iriz or a Suprima? Feel free to share your experiences and criticisms of the latest Proton models in the comments below.
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it is not about test drive the car.. it is about the backup service from Proton.. bad impression
Stupid Campro engine and Punch cvt. Better buy engine & gearbox from Perodua new factories. Proven quality and fuel saver.
Imagine Iriz with 1.5L dvvt engine and 4 speed auto, sure selling 100k units per year.
Proton sales are so bad. 100k figure is false. In actual fact, 90% of sales went to Spanco, Bomba, Tentera, TUDM TLDM, PDRM, JKR, every kementerian in Putrajaya etc etc. Spanco alone buys berpuluh ribu to lease back to the Government. With all this help, still Proton cannot survive.
Most Malaysians can enjoy cheap and reasonable cars but because of Proton, all the other car prices have been raised up tremendously to protect Proton.
Malaysians have already suffered so much. For 30 years, 30 million people suffer so much. We struggle paying for our high car prices all because of dying Proton to live. Proton sucks billions of our LHDN money, money which could be used to build more schools and hospitals.
If we did not have Proton sucking money from LHDN, each state can have an addition 10 fully fledged government hospitals and 10 fully fledged government schools every 10 years being built. But all our LHDN money go to the failing Proton. Every year government gives hundreds of million to Proton as form of grants. Every other year, Proton ask RM billions in help. Recently, even under private hands also (DRB) Proton asked the government to give them free few RM billions from LHDN.
Proton also cost us hundreds of billions in ringgit in investments from car companies who moved to Thailand and Indonesia. Car companies got fed up with Malaysia’s MITI for protecting Proton and telling other companies what to price their cars. They got sick and tired of the AP system and how genuine brands cannot get enough APs to import their cars in (like Mercedes, BMW and Honda).
They thought that if they set up their brands and plants in Malaysia, they knew they had to give 30% of their hard earned company free away as well as being told by MITI what to price their cars. They all moved their operations to Thailand making it the AutoCity of the world.
Recently GM announced that they rolled out already 1 million cars from Thailand. Imagine if GM was in Malaysia and we taxed GM RM10,000 per car. Calculate that with 1 million cars. Just from GM alone, we lost Billions in USD. Imagine what will the amount be from other car companies if they had set up in Malaysia?
Because of Proton, we lost hundreds of billion of ringgit in investment and trillions of ringgit from jobs lost. If Malaysia was the autocity of Asia, hundreds of thousands of jobs would have been created for Malaysians. We lost all that. Trillions of Ringgit and hundreds of thousands of jobs. Now, Thailand is benefiting from this trillions lost.
Car companies are flocking to invest hundreds of billions in Thailand despite Thailand being an unstable government, unstable economy and full of bomb blastings and terror.
Yet, global car companies still prefer Thailand.
Which is better? 300,000 jobs created by car companies setting up plants in Malaysia or to sustain the existing 30,000 Proton employees that have been living off us the past 30 years?
If GM was in MY back in 2008, their CEO wud come in their private jets to demand billion dollars to keep afloat. Otherwise they kolos shop move to thai. Then Gov wud have to gip or many wud lose jobs. Which do u prefer?
I prefer BN supporters go take more “donation” and shut up! To Tun DrM “RAKYAT needs reliable car AND not “9 years loan” then 3-4 years life spend car then ROSAK” !!!
Apa benda budah utusan ni cakap. Balik tidur la bang
Mahathir, why is the export Proton so much better quality and higher spec than the malaysian Proton?
Why Malaysians get dirt and Mat Salleh get better Proton cars?
Is this fair Mahathir?
Who were not Proton victim in Malaysia you tell me? Ppl drop Proton after “test” driving it for years.
and 90% of perodua sales is from driving school. how about shut your mind up from commenting like how you shut it from actually driving it.
dont give me the “i have a proton XXXXX fyi” etc.
your argument did not make sense at all..please go back to school and re-study economics again…GM is moving their operations to China and out of thai, e.g u can look to holden close shop in Australia move to Shenzhen china… so this autocity thing in thai is full crap and you are at the mercy of foreign mncs who did not give a hoot about local population but only cares about their shareholders in US.. and fat paychecks for their executives in Detroit. by the way, u built car in thai dfz, u paid no taxes…so get you facts right instead churning false bullshits.
by the way, doubt GM will pay any taxes they are a biggest tax dodgers, in fact the factories in GM Thai is registered and incorporated in Cayman Islands and not in thailand… and u earn a billion us dollar but only pay tax of $100 mil baht….
in foreign markets which are largely a free market, how is proton doing? best selling cars? best selling models? the sales volumes in those market says EVERYTHING about proton. Proton only can survive in Malaysia
Why is car prices getting higher and higher? Very simple. It is because of Songlapping. Malaysia is actually a very rich country IF there is no songlapping. Malaysia is far richer than Singapore because we got oil, gas, tin, rubber, gold, bauxite, iron, kelapa, kurpum, copper etc. Singapore has ZERO. Why is Singapore richer than Malaysia? Again, very simple, it is because of Songlapping.
One man can songlap RM2.6 billion is just one news we know. What about the other times he songlap that we don’t know about? I think it runs to hundreds of billions.
Taib songlap US$20 billion (RM84 billion) also nothing happen to him. Infact he was rewarded for his songlap and made Governor and given a Tunship. In Malaysia, you are rewarded for songlapping.
What about the songlaps by the other Menteri and Government officials?
It all runs to hundreds of billions per annum the Songlap.
This is why we get higher car prices every year. Our guardians are more interested in Songlapping than fighting for the rakyat to get lower car prices.
Oh btw, how come Mahathir’s sons are ALL billionires? So good businessman ah?
Lousy ppl only comment; smart ppl gv suggestions to improve. Car price higher bcos our nation and population too small.
You see Proton is actually a good concept. But when Mahathir created Proton, he made sure every single part of the Proton car is supplied by his crony buddies.
And these crony buddies overcharge Proton by ten times whilst giving poor and inferior parts. That is why your Proton always falls apart and everybody blames quality control. That is the reason also why Proton makes only RM500 per car that they sell. It is solely because of the crony vendors who are overcharging Proton. For example, per car Mat is sold to Proton for RM100 whilst you can buy the same car mat from brothers for RM10.
So, Mahathir can say all he wants about quality being raised and his sarcasm about Gomen not supporting it, but until ALL Proton’s vendors are changed, how can the quality go up?
Mahathir won’t do this. All his buddies have got the contract to be vendors to Proton. Mahathir will just ensure that all the vendors for Proton remain the same. All his buddies and relatives, so why upset his relatives when he can continue his past misgivings?
Proton will still get the same low inferior quality parts it has been getting for the past 30 years and it will still be overcharged by 10 times for each part the vendors supply.
Malaysians have already suffered so much. For 30 years, 30 million people suffer so much. We struggle paying for our high car prices all because of one man’s dream of benefitting his buddies and friends. Until Proton changes ALL their vendors, Proton will be a loss making organisation because it produces super low quality cars due to its vendors supplying Proton Super low Quality parts.
What buddies and relative are you talking about? Can you please refer tender process of Proton before churning bullshit. And surprising facts that almost 70% of the vendor are from chinese dominated companies…so you close proton it will affect all races in Malaysia..especially the hard core supporters of DAP…
Test Drive once and you will never test it again. with all the respect to our beloved Tun M. the cars they give him to test are carefully assembled so they are better that the ones DRB sells to people.
Wonder why Proton never tell rakyat how many billions profit or loss they made last year?
scared to tell. They send idiots like john, kzm and donkeykong here to say Proton doing very well
My mom just got her Iriz last month and I can say it’s really a huge improvement from previous models. She used to Exora before and that car is so bad with the loud engine noise and slow acceleration ( 2010 Exora ). Big improvement :)
Milf alert
But Mahathir sendiri pakai Porsche. All of his sons also use Porsche as well as all his daughters.
His Proton Iriz he use only for Proton launches and this is to fool prospective buyers into thinking that even a great PM can drive Iriz, why can’t us.
Come on Tun Mahathir, Proton is already bleeding so much of money, and yet you cannot even offer your service to them free. As Chairman, they pay you over RM1 million per month (not per year), plus UNLIMITED entertainment allowance, super big office, driver, car, so many support staff and PA etc etc. And your trips also Business Class.
Be honestlah Tun M. If you promote Proton and it is your baby, you and your whole family must use Proton.
Too bad.. bashers bash Proton cars by comparing current cars with the Iswara, Wira and other old Mitsubishi-derived cars. They’ll continue bashing while openly saying “No more Proton cars for me” based on bad experiences of 10 years ago. Proton took too long to recapture the buyers’ loyalty, especially under that useless Mahaleel. DSZ brought a lot of progress to Proton before the DRB takeover and that was not a good move, because skepticism grew, and more detractors saw this as a greater government participation in Proton with taxpayers’ money, no matter how little sense that made.
I think DRB’s management of Proton has only started picking up momentum since last year, and fortunately they’re pretty ambitious and driven. In the next few years, Proton may be able to be a true world-class automotive player. Forget about the Malaysian market and go global. Leverage on the TPPA signatories and sell to more receptive emerging markets abroad such as Vietnam, Chile and Mexico.
Beat Perodua here first then only can talk about kicking out Toyota in Vietnam, Chile or Mexico. Cakap besar pun tak guna lah.
DonkeyKong aka John, welcome back BN Cybertroopers. We miss you
Own 3 Protons in my family. Proton Saga 1989, Proton Waja 1999 and Proton Saga BLM 2008. I don’t see any improvements in these 19 years. Do you think my family still silly enough to do another experiment on Preve or Iriz? No. Not any more.
No improvement between 89 and 08 Saga?
89 Saga ada CD Player? ada airbag? ada 3 star ANCAP crash rating? ada spacious rear legroom? ada alloy rims? ada fuel injection? ada better stabilty?
Clearly you are oblivious to improvements.
So to you as long as Proton fit USB connection to saga or put a 17inch wheel, it’s improvement good enough for the citizen of Malaysia right?! And we should go all out support right?
Why would you want 17inch wheels on a Saga? It’s a 1.3L entry level sedan, not a sports car. Orang macam kau buat kerja gila macam ni pastu blame Proton no power.
Haha.. omg.. this policeman guy just dont get it.. people are talking about improvements in terms of building a car to world standards in terms of quality, reliability, safety, etc. But all he can think of is proton making improvements in giving him a cd players?? 3 star ANCAP?? alloy rims??
I do agree Proton have made improvement from time to time but as all the others would say, they still need to improve on the quality parts that the supplier provided to them.
And oh yeah, also the after sales services. Some SC give you the best service they have and some are just so so. Probably best to improve on that too.
DonkeyKong, i do not agree on the TPPA parts. This is just one thing that keep bugging me. Even though the TPPA will lowered the taxes if our car come ashore on the US soil (as said by MITI minister, Tok Pa), i still have doubts on their car regulations and laws. Look what happen to Volks now, how much summons they need to pay?
Given by the current quality that proton had (even though the new engine could pass the US EPA law) , do you think other parts can passed it? One heavy summon from the US can easily cripple Proton in a long run. So, before rejoicing the TPPA will boost Proton sales oversea, better to solve the quality parts first.
As what Tun said regarding with the Feedback, my suggestion is simple. Have all of the SC managers & the Plant managers to joined all the Proton fan & owner based FB and sees for themselves how many issues that the proton cars currently had. The most nightmares that they are having is the OCH issue. Although have been rectified, who would want to drive a ‘time bomb’ car?
Hello Tun are you dreaming? Proton cars in the past 30 years failed in every market big time. And this was the super high quality export versions sent to Europe. We Malaysians lagi teruk, if export versions failed big time, imagine what jamban we got?
In his blog with this posting by PT, Tun says Proton was a big hit in the UK in the past. Are you sure Tun?
Proton just waste money. Even when sales were so bad, int he UK for instance, Proton was still maintaning their posh location showroom, paying the monyets from Malaysia to get a free holiday, give them five star posh apartments etc.
And the UK branch will just make 1 or 2 sales per month. Same with Australia also.
But Proton Malaysia will still pay the staff manning the UK branches in sterling (expat pay) and bleed bleed bleed.
Get real Tun. Get real Proton. If your local market also you fail big time, how you want to succeed overseas?
Also, every Mat Salleh car magazine has rated Proton the most dangerous car in the world.
How are we going to run away from this?
Failed big time? Wrong. Proton was one of the fastest growing Asian brand in Europe in 80s and 90s. Still see some of them running here in Germany. Particularly Proton 318 GTi (Satria GTi) which still have an active club today. In 2000 they had to pull out due to Asian economic issues. Sure, QC problems did scare away many buyers, but if they can solve that before they reenter the market, they could repeat the same thing.
If you piss off consumers one too many times, your name is already busuk. Very simple.
Agree. Bad reputation will stick to the public for a long time. The buyers will be only limited to people that are not brand snobbers, and have enough knowledge to identify a good car within it’s bad image.
Yes they have enough knowledge to avoid Proton. The sales figure is the pudding and steadily decreasing year by year. Better try its luck in other market let’s say in Bangladesh.
hurm…u must be having a period right now…thats why u writing some shit here…i’d prefer drive proton than perodua…in term of safety and performance, perodua is way behind proton…once u step in a perodua car, u put your half life in danger already…its a fact! just let me know which Mat Salleh car magazine u read?
I think we get that your cars are awesome now Tan Sri.
It’s just, we’re a bit sceptical on how you treat your vendors. Whether you can maintain the consistent quality of a first gen car or not.
It’s on the forums now that the 3rd batch Suprimas are pretty much feeble. They break down easily. I agree I don’t have much content to back my claim, but I hope it’s enough to go and have a check on that one.
Right now is the time for Proton to take any claims and allegations seriously, even those without basis/evidence. Show that you are serious in making good quality everyday cars.
And right now, i think you are right in chasing reliability in engines (the timing chain move). I just hope you can get the whole car to be reliable.
Work hard and buy a Porsche.
Oooh! I like that idea. Working on it right now actually. Personally loved the GT3 RS. Summore with manual. Wooo!
Not on your life. Old man.
with all due respect, i have tested but i dont like the interior especially the dash..except for the iriz..but even though i like proton but i think its over priced. one day when proton makes a proper good car, it will see itself..hopefully i can afford one
Remove/reduce car tax excise duties if Proton cars are really that good.
Redbean and Proton basher! Ready…. 3… 2… 1… GO!!!!!
I test drove it, and I bought Proton.
Verdict? The first and only Proton for me.
Give 10 yrs warranty + free service, then can only consider buying a Proton.
And that is only consider part, not yet convincing enough.
Hahahaha
Test drive? I used to own one, sir. The one who kick started the whole new designed by Malaysians and made in Malaysia: proton saga BLM. In a nutshell, i have now got rid of the seven torturous saga that was proton and am the owner of a Thai made Japanese C segment. And I’m never happier. ‘Nuff said.
What car is that?
30 years old corolla. Even a preve can beat it
I tested your car as well. To be honest the handling is consider good compare to other. The problem is interior. Iriz is good enough improve from there. Put more effort on the part that people will touch the most from everyday driving. Always my comment. You better hire a new marketing head. It failed to deliver the message how great improvement is proton car to the public. Even im a guy read about car sometime i also fail to know what so good of new proton until i need someone in forum to explain.
I still remember asking service centre about dash board noise. The answer was … encik ini proton bukan bmw
Test drove Suprima S premium @ Glenmarie service center. 40+ year old sales agent.
Me: kenapa ada bunyi dashboard (rattling from dash apparent when pressing throttle)
Proton SA: ooo itu biasalah bunyi turbo mengaum. Semua kereta conti ada. Peugeot 408 pun ada bunyi macam tu. (Gila punya kelentong??)
Compared to the same scenario when I took the City V spec for test drive at Glenmarie HZN cars:
Me: Eh why got rattle from the dashboard?
Honda SA: Yes we acknowledge this one is a defect model from our Melaka CKD operations. Few from first batch encountered such problems.
pretty much the problem that proton needs to address. consumers already know they are buying proton. why further demean your own product? even hondas aren’t aiming to be grand, luxurious cars. hondas are basic, everyday layman cars and yet they still thrive to treat their customers right.
btw, hondas are treated as luxury brand here due to the price. i get it. but they are not luxury brand. ever.
Want proton to be successful? Start behaving like an international corporation, improve your supply chain and start poaching talents from top automotive and tech companies. Please stop with the nationalist overtone, it’s getting repetitive and doesn’t instill any confidence in the brand.
Have being supporting and using Proton Saga, Iswara, Wira and currently Exora, but the service personnel are the worst lot. Have problem with them in getting replacement key for Exora. That was 3 years ago… They took more than 3-4 hours and kept me waiting at the service centre then told me that they are unable to do it. In the end, I install another door alarm and try to maintain my last set of ignition key and hoping that it would not spoilt. The design of the Exora ignition key is not good too, there should be a drag over cover for the button. Battery drain when you leave the key in the pocket as the button can be depress without your knowledge in your pocket. My 5 years old Exora is extremely under power. As a pensioner cannot afford to change another new car.
Finally you learn the lesson. Tell your children and your next generations onward to just buy Toyota or Perodua okay. Save them from future troubles and money loss.
I have to comment here. PROTON cars have always drove well since its breakaway from Mitsubishi derived models. Ever since the Gen.2, proton has driven well or better than the same car it’s class. The problem is not how it drives. It’s that the seat adjusters breaks (3x in 6 years), the door handles break (4x in 8 years), eats crazy lots of fuel (for a 2016 car), service is shit (need to make appointment prior even if car broke down in front of service centre). Proton, you have much things to fix, I recommend not fixing the things you are already good in.
i cant really say much about proton after sales in other areas, but proton ampang utama, sin siang hin tayar sdn. Bhd., is pretty good, their service is professional, i dont really bother checking d prices elsewhere tho I do feel it might be cheaper, but as long as the set up is comfortable and service rendered is good, ill gladly part my money there la…
i did test drove an iriz 1.3 manual, for the fun of it, it is really slick with rigid body, too bad the 1.6 manual was not around…
A hot hatch superstar in d making, just waiting for new engine and gearbox…
the infortaiment system was laggy n rear seats are cramped tho….., but a solid product nonetheless,
both proton n mazda showroom is along jalan ampang, you cn compare the interior plastics of iriz n a cx-5, youll be surprised
Please forgive him for being too confident that Proton cars are that ‘good’, the national car project was his brainchild and no matter how bad the company has become now, the cars still look pretty good from his standpoint. At the same time, Proton ain’t that bad either since it has well equipped its latest models with safety gadgets and built them into solid vehicles (structure-wise: hot press forming.)
But they are still far from perfect and the term ‘enjoyment’ should NOT only refer to handling dynamics (Read this Tun!). These are some of the nags that made long-term ownership of Proton namely Iriz & Suprima ‘less enjoyable’:
1. Less-than-refined engine (NVH). Much louder than Japanese competitors
2. Sharp handling is heavily compensated by stiff ride especially for city driving
3. Interior plastics and tactility of switches/knobs
4. Reinforced structure is sacrificed with very high kerb weight compared to others in its class (just go to Carbase.my and compare Iriz-Jazz/Polo & Preve-Altis/Mazda3). Affects fuel consumption in the long run.
5. Cushion seats feels too firm for long journeys (despite ergonomics greatly improved in the Iriz).
6. Substandard after-sales service
For sure spec-for-spec Proton beats all others in terms of tangible value, but then, these are the unnoticeable ‘intrinsic’ things that Proton should really bother to address.
And go to any Proton service centre, and see/ask how many Protons come in for breaking handles, POWER WINDOWS, loose parts, foggy cameras, bad hoses.
No use talking until the cows come home.
Just open up the market and see how competitive Proton is.
If cannot compete then just close shop lah.
We had enough after 30 years, what pride is
left to be proud of Tun ?
MAS went down and needed a hard reset.
Perhaps Proton should also follow this same path. Close it down and rebuild it from ground zero. Cancel & renegotiate all contracts.
Fire & hire only highly competent and capable staff. Take care of your customers by offering top notch quality service & not some half past six service centres.
Then only you will see quality in your branding.
I took delivery of my Suprima S on April 2015 (my first proton). About 2 months later, the rear number plate fell off. Then the front number plate misaligned. Then I got to know from my Suprima club members about the Achilles tyres – cracked, bulging, etc. These were proven cases. I brought this up to Proton, but the reply was not forthcoming. I then changed my Achilles tyres to Conti, for safety sake (this was about 6 months after taking delivery of my car). about 3 weeks ago Proton called me to inform about changing my tyres – well, what the heck. Once after sending my car for servicing, the sc did not reschedule my oncar computer . Hence I got the service reminders intermittently. I have to take leave to send my car to the sc to have this rectified. I have been driving for >40 years. Used various brands and types of cars. Frankly, proton has to improve on aftersales service by a very big margin before people take a second look at proton.
thanks.
Your first and last Proton. Once bitten twice shy.
We should proud bcoz of having Proton, other developing countries don’t even have a car manufacturer yet… Gov should ban imported car like Korea used too to improve the economy
Its not just the cars but the ownership experience. All parts of the value chain must work in tandem to serve the customers. I remembered Tengku M saying those who do not support proton, their opinions do not matter. Has this mindset changed? Proton started 1984, Kia 1986. Proton 2015 sales 110,000, Kia 2015 sales 2,800,000.Respect has to be earned
I bought a kia spectra when kia first entered the SG market on a big scale many years ago. A few months later the gear shift gave trouble. Reported to sc but it refused to change the parts, saying it’s not under warranty. I then emailed to kia hq, S Korea. It did not replied. However, about 2 days later i received a call from sc asking me to bring in my car. They then changed the defective parts without asking any questions. Well, that’s we call real fast service. No wonder kia is selling hell lot of cars in SG now. My current proton Suprima S is a good car. However the parts quality and after sales service are quite bad. If proton can rectify and upgrade these, proton can be at par with the rest anytime.
Datuk, ada FREE Test Drive kah??
Datuk, ada FREE Test Drive utk 1MalaysiaTahun kah
Owned the first batch perdana (Manual transmission), First batch Savvy and now first batch Suprima S. Like it. Will I buy another proton? Yes. Why?
No matter how much people hate the tax structure, Proton is still cheaper, so protection or not, I’m not going to waste another 20k on a car with the same features. Kia Cerato comes nearest, but cost 20k. I can use that money for fuel.
Problems with Proton:
1. Service centres could be better. One part of my car required change, it took them almost 8 months to fix it, not because the part was slow. I had to call proton call centre after the 8 month (since I did not bother with the part). I think if I did not call, it would not be fix at all! The part was already at the SC, only that the SC forgot to call me.
2. Reliability is more like hit or miss. My Suprima is built like a tank, worth every money. There are enewer owners who have faced some problems. Suprima is a low volume car, and when there are problems, it speaks loud.
My next car will be the Perdana replacement model or whatever its called later on, I guess, unless someone gives me a free car, then I’d take it.
Still wanna buy another Proton and suffer same crap again? Really sohai bebal never learn lesson.
1. How many Proton cars were sold in Jan. 2016 in Oz?
2. Better spec and cheaper than in M country.
3. We subsidize foreign buyers.
years ago, people would flock proton showrooms eager for each new model, pride and patriotism was there..then proton started losing its quality yet higher prices and dissapointed many..gave us junk like savvy and tiara, thought no matter what they did would sell. Only proton to blame ..its a slippery slope uphill, need move fast and make leaps to win back market. have a look at the koreans please
i owned a proton gen2 2004 first batch model…
yaa maybe abit of prob here and there….but that all occur when that car aged around 10 years and above…since its already 12 yo this year…hopefully to change to brand neew one..
suprima s is the best..rather than buying the vios trd sportivo bla bla bla..that even esc dont have…sohai leyyy
In Langkawi you will buy Vios also. Sohem lerrr
so, only few real iriz/suprima review from this comment box so far(or perhaps preve and exora can count also lah).
the rest, its the heightened hatred due to poor experience with this brand, which is clearly admitted by the don himself.
i want to chip in as an owner of two exoras, cps/conventional auto and cfe/cvt. both of which i’m really happy about is the decent space and seat layout that it’s meant to be – an MPV.
– engine power is so-so, but i care less about it as i don’t go genting and cameron daily. as far as bukit tinggi(pahang) is concerned, i got no problem there on the few times of driving. just driving up and down for fun.
– highway cruise vs fuel consumption is acceptable with the full-on load and luggage i’m carrying.
– gearbox is poor, conventional auto on the cps struggles with ratio while cvt on the cfe is a hit and miss during take off from standstill. cvt on this one is a little loud too.
– the cfe itself is a pleasant welcome
For the past 200k km combined mileage (in just under 3 years of usage) by both cars, i would say
– they really have made a better car.
– relatively decent compared to my other cars, livina (also under power lah) and avanza (also noisy lah).
– but they still have poor after sales service. workshop is far from customer-first mindset (the “ini proton bang, bukan honda” is still haunting me)
* i have ‘skipped’ proton for a while during tengku mahaleel era.
* i had early-days saga and spent some good times with the power-window and tail-light ‘aquarium’ issue for a while
* paid attention to proton again when syed zainal came in
Macai bercuti di Pulau Langkawi
Lalu singgah kat showroom Toyota
Wow harga Toyota murah sekali
Terus beli bayar cash sahaja
Memang hipokrit si macai ini
Proton pula pandang sebelah mata!
Sardin,
you hit it right to point out what’s working and what’s not working with proton.
I had my iswara, waja and later saga flx for wifey.
I saw gradual improvements in quality, features and materials. However service center is still way far off. I heard VW service by DRBHicom is nothing to shout about. So perhaps another major improvement in after sales service is the way to go. I heard oriental holding is shifting from Hyundai brand to Proton. am curious if their service center is now Proton service center…
I also think Syed Zainal do bring positive change. Nadzmi and Mahalel is not doing any good. Syed more practical and knows the industry better. Proton is not sport car maker. it wont survive as such. it will only survive making ‘peoples’ car….
Ok Tun, will test drive Proton cars. But sure or not can take feedback and improve on it?
Keranamu Malaysia
Buruh nelayan dan juga petani
Gaya hidup kini dah berubah
Anak-anak terasuh mindanya
Lahir generasi bijak pandai
Pakar IT pakar ekonomi
Jaguh sukan dan juga jutawan
Berkereta jenama negara
Megah menyusur di jalan raya
Alam siber teknologi terkini
Kejayaan semakin hampiri
Biar di kota ataupun desa
Kita semua pasti merasa bangga
Keranamu kami mendakap tuah
Keranamu kami bangsa berjaya
Keranamu kami hidup selesa
Limpah budi kemakmuran negara
Keranamu kami bebas merdeka
Keranamu nyawa dipertaruhkan
Keranamu rela kami berjuang
Demi bangsa kedaulatan negara
Keranamu negara Malaysia
Malaysia…
Terima kasih Malaysia!
30 tahun sokong Proton
Sanggup hutang 9 tahun
Demi patriotisme lah konon
Baru pakai masalah bertimbun
Habis MC cuti sakit dipohon
Kini menyesal memang tak guna pun!
PaulTan – as a serious car blog, refer to Jalopnik and how they take a stand on industry issues. Enough of just reporting the news. We hear enough about Proton everyday.
Had enough of the 98 rational people vs the 2 deluded ones who keep defending Proton.
Everyday:
– people come here complaining about repair costs, breakdown of the Protons they own
– explain the protectionist policies that support Proton
– taxpayer money going towards Proton ‘R&D’
– enough of Proton rebadging
– deaths caused by unsafe Proton cars even from 5-20 years ago which no one can ignore as these are still on the road
– the distortion of the car market that causes people to buy motorcycles and result in road deaths
– prevention of foreign ivnestment by international car companies
– so many related issues
So will Paul Tan make a stand??
I own wira year 2002 and Preve year 2014. It’s good concept car. Proton need to pay more attention on QUALITY CONTROL. Please makesure all parts work properly before deliver to buyer.
I bought a proton iriz for my daughter in 2015. The car is ok. The noise coming from tye engine is quite loud compared to suzuki. The radio is bad. The rubber lining below the dashboard always comes out and i had tu pushed it in. The lousiest part is the window clip which broke only 1 month after i bought the car. I had to wait for about 2 months just to get it fixed. And that only after i email the customers service 3 times to get the reply and fixd. Hope proton will impove in future and this small defects will not occur.
Good learning experience for your daughter. She will grew wiser smarter and never buy a Proton once she starts working.
Sure, the test drive maybe good but the real pain and disappointment comes after you own the car. Sorry to say
Ah Pek, sales numbers represent the voices of Malaysians towards yur brand. I’m a preve owner and trust me it’s the worst car I’d ever driven and own. Once a proton owner never a proton owner. I’ll never ever buy a proton ever in my life and to all my family members and friends out there they feel the same. Your cars are crap just admit it. The quality sucks, the refinement sucks, your cvt gearbox sucks. Yur suprima s and iriz is the ugliest car on this planet and who will wan to drive a car that looks so ugly like a cockroach?? Please Ah Pek M stop your nonsense and blaming Malaysians for not buying your products. Your products sucks and period. Just vanish and dissappear and we will be very very happy with proton absence on beautiful Malaysian soil.
Dear potential proton buyers
I have to admit that at one time Proton used to produce lemons like Gen 2 but I can vouch that the new Proton models like Iriz are really good. They are solidly built, handle beautifully and have a magic carpet ride. Even their service centres have improved a lot. Don’t fall for the trap of congenital Proton haters like LGE whores and probably Peroda salesmen who incessantly condemn Proton in order to sell their cars and their brands of politics.
These people only maintain sanity by labelling things or people that they don’t like no matter how good the products and the people are. They are also probably trying to maintain their relevancy. To them I suggest they accept differences and some competition and just move forward and work a little harder. Your anger and bad vibes in you denote your chronic failure.
Consider how the car landscape in Malaysia would be without Proton. Believe me the demise of Proton will not bring down the price and the types of cars or the utopia you desire.
Cheers
Telling others to accept competition konon.
Okay. How about reduce or remove car tax.
Ada telur kah jaguh kampung?
Hello! Can you tell me what does ‘Betul2 Onz’ mean?
Betul2 regret.
It means vios drift in Malay
Tun’s vision to design, engineer and manufacture our own cars was critical and correct. This is exactly what Malaysia needed to move from a developing country to a developed country; how we move up the value chain in terms of human resource skills. When that happened, the supplier base would also develop and move up the value chain. Just imagine, how proud we would be if Proton consistently had one of the best selling cars in the world. And the management of Proton massively messed up. I can imagine how disappointed and sad Tun must be. I am sad too. A successful Proton would have propelled Malaysia into the same league as many developed countries, because the skills developed in the market could then be used to develop other industries so we do more design and engineering here, as opposed to just assembly and boxing
I think every normal citizen has test drive rooting for years except your own families…
What car is Dr Mahathir driving?
What about his sons?
Proton? or Porshe?
Leaders should set the example, and walk the talk.
Overall, the Iriz is OK. But lot of minor improvement can be made to make the owning experience much better. Hand brake light lid by itself while driving normally, loud sound from engine bay when switching on the air-cond, need to step on the clutch really hard to be able to start the engine, dashboard vibration sounds, etc. Other than these minor problem, it is really a good car underneath packed with safety features.
not just tested, but already owned it…PREVE CFE 2012
PRO: engine performance, handling, stability, ergonomic
CON: lots of part & component defect, QC out, poor part fitting, high maintenance cost
Every car has their own problems, even expensive cars also. Malaysian…open your mind why bother if proton not so good? kacau your pocket ka? or you dengki with Malaysian own product?
Dude,
Every car has problem, but only Proton so lousy to admit their problem and fix it in prompt and manner. That’s call betraying your customer dude.
Indeed, proton kacau our pocket. U budak 2 inci ka? Mau beli barang, biar berbaloi. Kalau masa sebelum beli mulut manis, tapi masa hantar servis mulut longkang, itu mesti mau kacau gua punya poket sebab servis hamsap tapi duit gua jugak proton sedut.
Kalau lu ada bayar cukai pendapat, u mesti tau banyak BN gahmen sudah tolong proton guna duit rakyat. Itu duit gua, duit kawan gua dan duit keluarga gua bro.
Unless u are a little scum in diaper of cos la tak kacau duit poket lu sebab lu tak bayar cukai.
Kalau tak tahu pasal realiti proton, sila naik proton juara, jalan terus, belok kiri, hisap susu politisyen umno diam-diam sana.
Dude,
Every car has problem, but only Proton so lousy to admit their problem and fix it in prompt and manner. That’s call betraying your customer dude.
Indeed, proton kacau our pocket. U budak 2 inci ka? Mau beli barang, biar berbaloi. Kalau masa sebelum beli mulut manis, tapi masa hantar servis mulut longkang, itu mesti mau kacau gua punya poket sebab servis hamsap tapi duit gua jugak proton sedut.
Kalau lu ada bayar cukai pendapatan, u mesti tau banyak BN gahmen sudah tolong proton guna duit rakyat. Itu duit gua, duit kawan gua dan duit keluarga gua bro.
Unless u are a little scum in diaper of cos la tak kacau duit poket lu sebab lu tak bayar cukai.
Kalau tak tahu pasal realiti proton, sila naik proton juara, jalan terus, belok kiri, hisap susu politisyen umno diam-diam sana.
I love Proton and want to support local car industries.I like Preve b’coz it has a good chassis built(reverse on PERODUA). I know about cars and the technology behind it since I’m a mechanical engineer in profession. But, I won’t buy proton car with the CAMPRO engine base(should scrap it after 5 years). Why….the campro will be smooth during test drive but once you are over 30k km on your odometer,it will start to have the harsh feeling when you driving it.I say NO,PROTON has to ensure the qualities in all areas. The competition was so huge out there.Anyway, I still love PREVE but decided to stay with my Civic EK9 type r…a 20 years old car with everything relatively in good condition and never stranded me beside the road.But of course, I need car that have all the safety features and PREVE turbo will be my choice. But again, not with CAMPRO engine base.To PROTON, please act fast.Don’t call people to be patriotic or whatever to make sales.The car must be good.Malaysian never ask you to built Mercedes level of quality then sell cheaper.At least, we want decent car with the hard money earned…I’m talking about low and middle income customer base which is your customer.If you continue to cheat them,they will punish you.Your sales figure will show that(downtrend).Relatively,Malaysians still support PROTON but sometime they feel that they just got cheated.I like the new engine recently launched for the 2017.But I still have doubt on the reliability of the ECU management.
Im not sure what were you thinking about your proton future,Dr Tun Mahathir ,from the past you corporate with mitsubishi,to citroen,buying lotus,nissan renault,volkswagen,honda and all end up break up or maybe “not a good ending”,and NOW Suzuki and develop engine with recardo engineering corp. O.O How many car company you wanna corporate with,see those 30 years past,proton doesnt have any stable partnership or corporation strategy,do you know every time you change the partnership ,you need to change the Hole things like engine,car platform and design,take a look on your vehicle,looks like a “ROJAK”,lots of different engine company,suppler,and design.See perodua,Now they will only getting Stronger,since daihatsu fully own by toyota,and perodua will fully join their team to continued develop a stable partnership and vehicle.They dont have many model,but they do ensure they givin a good quality,after sales service and reasonable price cars,although their safety need to be improve.Im SORRY proton,im one of your longest Fans,but i NEVER SEE YOUR IMPROVEMENT,AND YOUR GETTING WORST AND BACKWARD TOO.We Malaysian cannot support you (proton)anymore :(
Never owned a Proton before. I had both Iriz and Preve cfe driven, in love with its suspension setup. It has the best of both world – comfort and handling. I read an article years back and the editorial claimed only three manufacturers are expert in finding the sweet spot – bmw, Porsche and lotus, and I believe Proton has somehow inherited some handling essentials from lotus. Was seriously thinking to own my first proton. But judging from the lackluster after sales services claimed by readers of this article, the time is not ready for me, just yet.
Its not just about its quality. The unrealistic high price is the worse aspect. In Germany a super high quality cars from brands like volkswagen are sold at 20000 euro and definitely doesnt reach 30000 euro. A mercedes benz is sold at $38000 usd in America. Here we sold a brand new proton iriz car at somewhere around RM 40000++. Are you telling me that proton’s performance and quality is up to the standard of BMW and Mercedes. Oh yes the exchange rate does make our cars looks cheap. But if you didnt create a national car company and instead we import it. We charged a very low 15% import tax for example, rather then the 200% import tax u charge. Wouldnt cars like toyota and honda be sold at a comparable prices? On top of that consumers have better quality. The never ending proton bail out programs can be used to buy new public transport. And worst of all. Even if you really want proton to work it, it could actually work if you let proton to recruit based on merit. But you give the lazy malays to dominate the workforce then it is a perfect recipe for disaster. If you Mahathir want the malays to change. U need to blend them together with the Chinese. They need to be forced to compete. Not segregate them. I am a malay btw. So proton is ur brainchild Mahathir. And your brainchild sucks. I can tolerate a lot of things but there is only one thing that i couldn’t tolerate, and that is stupidity. Especially when that person is a PM.