Amongst the feed of incoming information on the new Proton X50 is that its suspension that has been revised from that of the Geely Binyue or Coolray that it is based upon. Any fears that changes towards sharper responses to the detriment of ride comfort should be allayed, however, as Proton has actually retuned the setup in the X50 for better comfort on Malaysian roads.
In this brief video with the X50 put through its paces on a short slalom course, our man Hafriz Shah finds that the news is overall positive with regard to how the X50 drives. Driving the course at around 50 km/h, the B-segment SUV demonstrates good body control, especially given that it is taller than a sedan or hatchback.
Here, the X50 has been found to be rather softly-sprung overall, and therefore exhibits a fair amount of body roll, which is the side effect of a setup with comfort in mind in order to be better suited for taking on the speed bump- and pothole-strewn roads in this country.
While this model isn’t a ground-up build like the Iriz and as such, does not get Proton’s end-to-end attention in terms of ride and handling, the X50 does receive revised spring and damper rates to suit local conditions, along with a new front anti-roll bar to suit.
Also demonstrated at the slalom course was a high-speed lane change manoeuvre, where the X50 also demonstrated itself to be stable and well in control, even with the aforementioned softened suspension. Of course, this is but a short sampling of what Proton’s B-segment entry has to offer; stay tuned as we delve deeper into it in the near future. What do you think of Proton’s approach? Let us know your thoughts.
GALLERY: Proton X50 drive preview, Sepang International Circuit
Wish you would stop flailing your arms so much. Must be painful at the end of shooting
X50 soft sussy, con-lan-firm Sampan handling.
50kmh the car is all over the place. At higher speed it will probably turn turtle.
Go do the proper ELK TEST and at the correct 70-80 kmh speed . See what happens to it
Could have but the equivalent Geely model as comparison side by side.
Sounds like as a media reviewer, Hafriz will be ahead of the line in being the first to get their X50 for your review and feedback. A special privilege most mere mortals like us could only drool.
I actually booked one for myself. So the full review will be of my own personal car.
So I bet Proton marketing probably worked some kind of arrangements for you to be amongst the first owners in getting your hands on this car, eh?
Not that I know of. We’ll see
Haha! Can’t wait to see your review. The excellent, the good, and the bad.
Slalom prowess is mainly due to the function of the anti-roll bars/stabilizer bars/sway bars.
So you can tune your suspension for comfort while still getting good slalom performance on smooth tarmac.
Try the same on uneven tarmac, your steering might be all over the place though
To me, that’s a good thing to some degree. It’s better to quickly know what kind of road surface you’re on just from the steering feedback. That also a controllable variable by choosing the right sway bar stiffness, and stiffness combination between rear and front sway bar.
Moose test, anyone?