Proton has added a new Standard Lite AT variant to the Saga MC2 facelift line-up, which joins the initial four (Standard MT, Standard AT, Premium AT and Premium S AT) that were launched back in May this year.
Priced at RM38,300 on-the-road without insurance, the fifth variant gets most of the Standard AT’s equipment, although it does lose out on some features and is RM500 cheaper by comparison. A five-year/150,000-km warranty and three times free labour service accompanies each purchase.
Like other Saga variants, the Standard Lite AT uses the familiar 1.3 litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder engine with 95 PS at 5,750 rpm and 120 Nm of torque at 4,000 rpm. This drives the front wheels via a four-speed automatic transmission.
Standard kit includes halogen headlamps, 14-inch alloy wheels (with 175/65 profile tyres), manual-folding electric side mirrors, a boot lid spoiler, a urethane steering wheel, a multi-info instrument cluster display, ECO Drive Assist, fabric upholstery, two rear USB charging ports, manual air-conditioning (with N95 cabin filter) and a regular head unit (with Bluetooth and two speakers).
These items are the same as what you get with the Standard AT, as are the two airbags, ISOFIX child seat anchors, ABS, EBD, brake assist and two rear parking sensors. However, the Standard Lite AT misses out on ESC, traction control and hill hold assist.
As such, the Standard Lite AT does overlap (in terms of kit) with the base Standard MT that retails at RM34,800, although the latter only comes with 14-inch steelies and doesn’t get rear USB ports and an automatic transmission.
GALLERY: 2022 Proton Saga Standard AT
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I guess Proton feels than some peoples life are only worth RM500…..can’t understand why they would remove safety features and only price it RM500 lower. If it was a few thousand, it may be justifiable difference.
RM500 is only a few ringgit extra per month over the loan duration.
No weird hump behind the HU screen for CRT monitor unlike those other brands > all
Actually, it’s up to customer to choose it. If the customer feel that their life not worth it, then can choose this variant especially biforti.
You can know how stupid is the Proton top mgmt!
They take advantage on the fact that a lot of people don’t really know what these things are at the first place. Ask any old people or people in smaller town or kampung, they won’t even know what the heck is that. All they see is a reduction of RM500. So, for me it’s an irresponsible sales approach from Proton. Government should put a stop on sales of cars with ill equipped safety specifications, period.
Most of time, that passive safety not even used pn…ini malaysia highway bukan nya mcm German Freeway or licin mcm litar lumba…try join defensive driving lesson on you will know the true color of good chassis ability….not easy to slip one without other factor (e.g tayar botak or minyak kt jalan!)…for law abiding citizen no need worry much la or you can have better option to choose…jgn kecoh laa!
ADAS and other gizmos rendered useless when malaysians dare to buy buckle from abangs and DIY and don’t even remember to use the signal stalk. So this is custom to cater these need.
It is called : Giving people choices.
Next, Saga Liter RM500 lesser for driving school.
Driving school uses manual versions altho there cud be AT lite for those kaki tempang leaners using Automatic saja.
ESC should be made compulsory on all car makers model. This is safety feature not show off feature.
This is abad 21…come on ,Dr.Li.Manual folding side mirrors…oh my.
Most of the public carparks r terribly compact.A folding mirror will greatly help.Imagine it rains heavily,n u have to manually TUTUP THE 2 MIRRORS.
Also with those moronic riders who squeeze in between lanes,an auto retractable mirror is useful,to avoid those assholes from banging.
This year DRB made few hundred JUTA RM profits..dont treat the P1 fanboys like a piece of trash.
Kalau you tak suka belilah premium..bukan semua orang kaya macam yu
Please obsolete saga and exora model.
Funny keep face-lift and nothing was special.look quality getting worse and worse.
To develop all-new Saga & Exora would wipe off all profits made by Geely so far. So nope better rebadge Geely cars to make money. Really sad kesian but true. Tsk tsk tsk!
Exora fl, saga fl but look no difference. Proton……..fortunately Geely pity of you, willing to buy you even you still want to maintain as major share holder.
Guess life is cheap…
Proton comes out with this version with less safety features and only RM500 cheaper. Totally nonsense. Why Proton? Why?
Clear stock
It’s like Axia Gxtra Vs Axia G
Nuts cheaper than rm500, really nonsense with NO Safety features, so dangerous!!
Proton should keep all the safety item and throw out all the accessories thing even the radio…just put a wireless speaker…simple
Proton is going backwards. While people are expecting proton to improve their after sales service, build quality etc, they are doing something that’s so called blue ocean strategy konon. Perhaps this car is planning ke laut dalam sana.. Management proton baru balik memancing ke??
Looks like proton is making cars based on whatever parts that are left in the inventory… this is the only strategy I can think of why this variant exist.
Pls change back the stupid signal n wiper position.
Gila la Proton. Remove ESC, traction control and hill brake assist for only rm500 discount. Salesman can give that discount oso. Should be rm5k la at least. Crazy management high on something.
Wow brilliant idea how to make more money, try pasang ESC see how much. Win win for both parties.
I copy and you lekat badge JV is reaching new heights
Proton and perodua craps as usual
I hate to say this, but Proton has been moving backwards in their safety department since Geely group integration. Before that, 2013 to around 2015, Proton management used to GENUINELY care about safety, it was one of their major USPs alongside Lotus/Proton Ride & Handling. It was mainly due to the Preve getting 5 stars in Australia ANCAP… Proton management seized on that opportunity to rebrand themselves with ‘affordable safety for the rakyat’. Late-2013 Preve became the cheapest new car you could buy with 6 airbags and ESC as standard. At the time, Myvi, Vios, Almera etc. were are milo tins with 2 airbags, and City top-spec with 6 airbags was RM90k. Later, Proton management launched the Saga SV and Persona SV with ‘harga marhaen’ while maintaining 2 airbags and ABS (no ESC at the time), and Exora top-spec was also updated with ESC and 4 airbags in early 2015. Similarly, 2013 Suprima S launched with 6 airbags and ESC as standard. 2014 Iriz also launched with 6 airbags, but only for the top-spec; disappointing but somewhat understandable, because every Iriz still had ESC and HPF parts for the BIW, on top of bare minimum 2 airbags and ABS.
Proton really pushed their ‘safety first’ USP even though it made their cars more expensive for their core buyer demographic (mainly urban B40 including student/fresh grad, kampung M40 and civil servants/government agencies). But these demographics are not very educated or familiar with automobile safety terms and new technologies. Most don’t know about the benefits of ESC, HPF, or ISOFIX, sadly salesman must explain it to them. For these buyers, any new car is already a billion times safer than a kapcai or 20 year old Wira/Saga/Kancil… so whether the new car has 2 or 6 airbags, ABS or ESC, it simply doesn’t register on their priority list. As long as it’s affordable, runs reliably, and sips fuel… that’s what really matters to them. Knowledge and thus demand for more advanced safety features is still mainly a M40 and especially T20 thing. Back then, Proton already knew that to survive, they had to attract more customers from M40 (second or third household car) and T20 (two or more cars per person).
But in the end, the ‘safety first’ strategy didn’t work out for Proton. Their market share 2013 to 2017 just kept shrinking, Preve sales was nothing compared to Vios and City (which mind you, cost RM10k to 30k more). Iriz was not the Myvi killer, it was actually the Axia which outsold Myvi. So later around early 2015, Proton management approved a kosong-spec Suprima without ESC and just 2 airbags — this was the turning point. It showed that Proton management was starting to question the added cost for standard safety features to prop up their ‘safety first’ marketing. However, Proton management did at least launch the 2016 Persona with ESC as standard, but 2016 Saga only got ESC for the top-spec. Ertiga and 2016 Perdana cannot be fairly judged because they were JV models, Proton had to make do with the cards they were dealt with.
All the while, Perodua was paying attention to Proton’s moves, and they too were working very hard in line with their typical ‘diam-diam ubi berisi’ attitude. So when the all-new Myvi launched in 2017, nobody… NOBODY was prepared for exactly how much safety specs it was blessed with — all Myvis would now come with standard ESC, and 4 airbags bare minimum. Top-spec had 6 airbags, and most surprisingly, camera-based ADAS features. Even RM300k BMWs and Mercs did not have ADAS here at the time, yet the RM60k Myvi had it. 2017 Myvi was Perodua’s equivalent to 2013 Preve, except it actually SOLD (as expected), and kept selling well every year. Perodua also updated the Axia with better safety standards and later models also got ADAS. Bear in mind that unlike Proton, Perodua had little reason to take on extra costs by raising the benchmark on standard safety features, as their cars were all already best-sellers, and would have probably remained best-sellers with or without ESC let alone ADAS.
In spite of Perodua’s gains, Proton still has HPF and superior ride and handling in their favour. Fortunately, 2018 X70 came standard with 6 airbags and ESC, and top-spec Premium had ADAS. Of course by then, the top-spec Myvi had ADAS for the past year, so it was nothing special anymore, and almost a given with the X70 top-spec which costs twice as much as a top-spec Myvi.
Unfortunately though, possibly due to the sales success of the X70, Proton management started to slack on safety standards with the X50. They decided it was ‘okay’ to sell a kosong-spec X50 with ‘just’ 4 airbags and ESC in 2020. Can you imagine ? We are living in the 2020s now … EVERY all-new car launched in the developed world should have 6 airbags and ESC as standard, no excuses. However, most new A-segment cars (i.e. cars aimed at B40 group or third world countries) still use hand-me-down, 10-20 year old platforms, BIWs, and CAN buses which can’t be easily modified to add ESC and 6 airbags (let alone ADAS), so some exceptions can be made.
But the X50 is not an outdated A-segment third-world car, so why did Proton management think 4 airbags was okay ? Because they wanted to cut costs and bring the all-important ‘starts from RM xx,999’ as low as possible. And why did it take so long for the Iriz to get 4 airbags as standard ? Proton management could have done it with the 2019 Iriz facelift, but no, we had to wait nearly 4 years for the 2022 Iriz for that. And yet until now, the Iriz still doesn’t have ADAS, while every Myvi (as of late 2021 facelift) now has ADAS as standard. It seems Proton management is more interested in shilling their ‘Hi Proton’ and bodykits these days, probably because those things have higher profit margins and are more marketable to their buyer demographics.
Truth is, average Perodua/Proton buyer still prefers alloy wheels and chrome/bodykits over ESC and ADAS. Why ? Because it’s hard to show off your new car (bought with 9-year loan with 5.5 percent interest rate, of course) when it has plebian hubcaps (which will crack and disappear after 5 years, no doubt) and matte-black door handles, am I right ?
Anyway, back to topic, what I’m trying to say is that current Proton management doesn’t really care about safety as a USP anymore. Especially not when Perodua has the upper hand now, with better economies of scale. Since 2018 or so, Proton management priority has been profitability first and foremost, and as we know, safety is inherently expensive, for good reason.
But just think of how much you’ve spent on face masks since March 2020. Probably a few hundred ringgit ? Yes, you have ‘wasted’ some money on ‘protection’, but a few hundred ringgit loss is still better than the alternative, that is, if you ‘kena’ and got really sick or worse. So it’s the same thing for ESC and airbags… most likely, you will not need the airbags and ESC to protect you for the 7 to 15 years you might drive your 9-year loan car, but on the off-chance that you do, you’ll be damn glad you paid RM 500 extra for it, because it might have saved you RM 5,000 (or worse) on repairs… so please, just take some time to think about what really matters to you, and those you care about too.
Dont trust proton…
Baru² i kena dgn Proton… Bayar booking bulan March, lepas tunggu selama 5 bulan sekarang proton kata i kena tambah RM2555.10 sebab harga kereta dah naik. Loan saya dah approve bulan April, pilihan saya sekarang kena tambah cash RM2.5k atau kena re loan balik. Fucked up service!
Proton is shoving the Saga Standard Lite AT model literally down the prospective customers throat. When you want to buy infact the Standard AT model there is now a shortage and long wait time and the Saga Standard AT lite version is readily available. Maybe there is a shortage of sensors required for EBS,hill assist and traction control if a proton salesman is to be believed. But the RM 500 rebate is diplorable.The gullible public also doesn’t seem to mind as they are happy to get the Saga Standard AT Lite. They are not the sharpest tools in the tool box. The proton salesman also are downplaying the serious lack of safety features that accompany the lite version of Saga.
Proton is shoving the Saga Standard Lite AT model literally down the prospective customers throat. When you want to buy infact the Standard AT model there is now a shortage and long wait time and the Saga Standard AT lite version is readily available. Maybe there is a shortage of sensors required for EBS,hill assist and traction control if a proton salesman is to be believed. But the RM 500 rebate is diplorable.The gullible public also doesn’t seem to mind as they are happy to get the Saga Standard AT Lite. They are not the sharpest tools in the tool box. The proton salesman also are downplaying the serious lack of safety features that accompany the lite version of Saga.
Proton is shoving the Saga Standard Lite AT model literally down the prospective customers throat. When you want to buy infact the Standard AT model there is now a shortage and long wait time and the Saga Standard AT lite version is readily available. Maybe there is a shortage of sensors required for EBS,hill assist and traction control if a proton salesman is to be believed. But the RM 500 rebate is diplorable.The gullible public also doesn’t seem to mind as they are happy to get the Saga Standard AT Lite. They are not the sharpest tools in the tool box. The proton salesman also are downplaying the serious lack of safety features that accompany the lite version of Saga.
Question for y’all. I just bought this car and I’m realising that the car’s headlight is really dim. When driving at night, I’ve to turn on the highlight just to see what is in the road. Is anyone else facing this issue or is it just a problem with my model??