The Proton S70 was launched earlier this week and is offered in four variants with prices ranging from RM73,800 to RM94,800 on-the-road without insurance. Regardless of variant, the S70 is powered by a 1.5 litre turbocharged inline-three petrol engine, which is also used by the X50.
Rated at 150 PS (148 hp or 110 kW) and 226 Nm of torque, the port-injected mill is paired with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission driving the front wheels. With the sedan and SUV sharing the same powertrain, are the maintenance costs for both similar too? Well, let’s find out.
As with past maintenance cost comparisons, a little disclaimer before we proceed. In addition to the S70 and X50, we’re also including Proton’s other sedan – the Persona – to illustrate the difference in maintenance costs when moving up a segment in Proton’s line-up.
The Toyota Vios, Honda City (excluding the hybrid variant) and Nissan Almera are also joining in because while Proton labels the S70 as a C-segment model, its price range puts it well within proximity of the Japanese sedans, which occupy the B-segment space.
At the time of writing, these figures were taken directly from the MyProton app as well as the official websites of the involved car brands. A price rundown for all the models mentioned here is as follows:
Comparing the S70 to the X50 first, the former is cheaper to maintain over 100,000 km/60 months by RM562.41. While there are many service items that are shared, the X50 has fuel filter changes every 20,000 km/12 months at a cost of RM83.80 each time, which the S70 does not require.
We should also point out that beyond 100,000 km/60 months, the X50 does require its drive and timing belts to be changed at 110,000 km/66 months at a cost of RM112.89 and RM195.16 respectively. The latter is also listed for the S70, but at 120,000 km/72 months, and there’s no drive belt change listed for the sedan.
The Persona is cheaper to maintain than both the S70 and X50, which isn’t a surprise given powertrain is less complex without any turbocharging. Over 100,000 km/60 months, the grand total is just under the RM4,000 mark, significantly less than the S70 (RM4,784.94) and X50 (RM5,347.35). If you’re considering ponying up the price difference to get a S70 instead of a Persona, it’ll be an extra RM181.40 a year in maintenance with the larger sedan.
What about the Japanese makes then? Looking at the maintenance schedules, the S70 is more expensive to maintain over 100,000 km/60 months than the Vios by RM234.88, which is around RM47 more a year.
The same is also true when comparing the S70 with the City, the former costing an extra RM465.17 (RM93 more a year) to maintain over 100,000 km/60 months. Keep in mind that the Vios and City both have naturally-aspirated engines and a CVT, and there are service items placed beyond 100,000 km/60 months.
For the Vios, a coolant change is needed at 160,000 km/96 months at a cost of RM123.50, while the City requires a fuel filter change at 140,000 km/84 months costing RM376.15, plus a coolant change at 200,000 km/120 months for RM81.36.
As for the Almera, it matches the S70 by having forced induction with its 1.0 litre turbocharged inline-three petrol engine that is paired with a CVT. The Nissan sedan’s maintenance schedule is quite different from the others, as the service interval (after the first 1,000 km/one month) is every 7,000 km/6 months instead of the typical 10,000 km/6 months.
The Almera also comes standard with alternate free maintenance service, so you won’t need to pay at certain intervals – some of the other models get free labour at specific intervals. If we narrow it down to a five-year timeframe, which would be 70,000 km/60 months, the total maintenance cost for the Almera is RM1,965.80.
That’s incredibly low, but if we expand the scope closer to 100,000 km, which the schedule ends at 98,000 km/84 months, the grand total goes up to RM4,140.90. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison in terms of timeframe here.
As always, maintenance schedules are just a reference and do not reflect the actual cost of ownership, which factors in things like fuel that can depend on a car’s fuel efficiency as well as how frequent and far you drive.
To add, there are also wear and tear items like brakes and tyres that aren’t included as service items and can differ greatly in price. For instance, the S70’s wheels range from 16 to 17 inches in size, while the X50’s wheel sizes are from 17 to 18 inches. As such, it would be cheaper to replace the tyres on the range-topping variant of the S70 compared to the one of the X50.
There’s also road tax, which is RM90 for the S70, Vios and City, all of which are close to 1.5 litres of displacement; the Persona at 1.6 litres also has a road tax of RM90; the X50 at RM120. It’s just RM20 for the Almera with its 1.0 litre engine. Also note that car insurance premiums are typically more expensive for vehicles with high market values.
In summary, the S70 is cheaper to maintain over 100,000 km/60 months compared to its SUV sibling, the X50. This isn’t the case with the Vios, City and Almera, all of which have lower maintenance costs, but with significantly different powertrains.
AD: Drive the Proton model of your dreams. Submit your details and Proton PJ will get in touch with you.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Should also run a comparison in
Fuel cost RON95 as RM2.05
Fuel cost RON95 as RM3.15
Isi minyak RON95 rm2.05.. bayar loan 9tahun
RON95 can also naik harga,
Just like Electric Bill also can naik harga.
P2 5yrs maintenance much lower (~3K)
https://paultan.org/2022/08/24/2022-perodua-alza-maintenance-costs-comparison-old-alza-myvi-aruz-ativa/2022-perodua-alza-maintenance-mitsubishi-xpander-honda-br-v-xlsx-9/
i heard EV maintenance is much lower.
LOL of course it’s lower because EVs have ZERO residual value. After 7-10 years, it’s not worth maintaining and you’re expected to dispose it like an old handphone. An ICE car can be continuously maintained and kept running for even 20 years while the environmentally-damaging EVs will just contribute towards more resource exploitation and more e-waste.
This issue Govt buat bodo dulu
the original ICE issue is about pollution
EV batteries is worse after a decade where are we gonna to dump millions tons of toxic batteries? send it back to JAPAN ?
Or send back to China also can
City owner:
“Service 20k km. Apa yang boleh tolak ni. RM420 keras sangat.”
Benci sgt proton fanboi (amin) dgn honda lately. Apalah dendam kesumat dia
He’s Vios design by Daihatsu owner.
Different name but same profile pic. Clearly from same dude using same email. Try hard to be proton cyber tropper
Dont worry, will come with a lot of additional costs
What to maintain and service? No spare part after all
Thats why we have Paultan website.
Some people just plunge straight into booking,without test drive n later rugi banyak by selling to used car apek boss.
THey think we r P1 haters
Then don’t bother to comment
should’ve include the fuel consumption km/l also.
civic 1.5t can do 17.2km/l while the S70 can do 16.2km/l. hence the civic turbo has a more efficient engine.
The civic uses a cvt which is much more efficient
S70 can do 16.2km/L ??? Sure or not ???
That’s Myvi’s level in real-world !!!
…with great (turbo) power, comes great (maintenance) responsibility
Replacing the engine air filter every 6 months, spark plugs every 2 years, brake fluid every 2 years, and engine coolant at just 3 years. I’ve never seen a maintenance schedule like this. The overall maintenance cost of the s70 doesn’t need to be this high. It makes no sense at all.
It doesn’t make sense because they don’t want to make sen, they want to make riggitS
extra service centre visits…S70 is ok as long as its not the only car that you have
Hopefully proton still on plan to keluar s50 4cylinder 1.5l tming chain before moving into ev era. In urban city driving, not really needing a high fuel consumption powerful car.
Are these stated cost realistic? Does it includes labour charges? Will SC’s price be the same as stipulated? This may be a rough guide, but I believed it will be more than this!
Nissan certainly deserves a round of applause. For city driving, 7,000km / 6 months is more than sufficient. Furthermore, its reputation for having the lowest fuel consumption in its class adds to its appeal.
I think the timing belt replacement fee has been missed out which usually requires between 80k-90k km.
That would be additional RM3xx including timing belt parts and labor. Newer generation Proton (Geely) might be cheap to own, but the TCO higher than its competitors. Also to take into consideration of the possible tyre replacement whereby 205/55 tires cost more than its competitors (185/60 or 195/55).
From the looks of it, seems like Proton ain’t using iridium plugs on their S70 and X50 which explains the 40k km plug replacement intervals.
Nice try Proton.
Kudos not the punch cvt that will cost rm500~600 when cvt fluid change at 60k km. But can’t run away from the timing belt change hassle, sc will ask u to change when 80k km to avoid snap and will cost atleast halfday workmanship with reality cost of rm800.
X50 maintenance is only suited for the TDGi model.
Fuel Filter is only required for the TDGi engine and not needed for the port injected engine used in the S70.
Y always want to compare wt the Bengs car
I want to believe but I find it very hard to do so when none of these comparisons show the price of maintenance for the X70 turbo, the x50/x70 TGDI engine port and valve cleaning requirements after a set km usage (nature of the beast unless you telling me Proton is special unlike everyone else) and other smaller things like gaskets, brake pads, water pump, tire service, air-cond. service, etc. etc. Most of these comparisons just want to look nice but I guess end of the day, all parties (hint hint) can say buyer beware and close the book on this issue.
So silly of Proton to launch a new model in December. Unless they are throwing a huge discount (silly bodykits excluded) People will wait for January to buy and by then the excitement is gone and they will forget about buying it and probably end up choosing other cars.
Oh, maybe they will choose the CR-V. Also just launched in November.
Nobody notice that a Renault is cheaper to maintain than a Honda…heck its even cheaper to maintain than a Persona.
In summary:
Better buy Vios, City or Almera. Simple common sense.
All of which have lower maintenance costs. So don’t be a fool ya!
I have a Yaris. Car is comfy but super slow. The turbocharged S70 would feel a lot better to drive.
Just to correct Proton X50 road tax is RM120 no RM90