Proton GEN-2 road tests and consumer car reviews

Proton GEN-2 Saloon 2008

I purchased my 2008 Gen Saloon in May 2009. It was a brilliant car ex-Proton management vehicle, which Proton only keep for six months then sell on to the public. The only fault really I had with mine is the thin paint; it did chip and when I was hit by another motorist in 2010 a lot of the side damage was to my car and although it was repaired in an excellent way it just didnt feel the same. I wish I had kept it now. A brilliant car with a comfortable ride and quiet engine (Proton introduced a new engine for the Gen 2 in 2010).

Proton GEN-2 1.6 cam pro 2005

I honestly can not understand why so many reviews on different motoring web sites for magazines etc slate/slag this car off so much with negative comments and reviews. I’ve always thought the styling of this car is nice, modern, fresh, sleek and pretty nice. My parents asked me to find them a new car in the price rage of a mere 2k. I looked around the usual car sales and in most cases the 2k would get me something old, high mileaged and pretty beaten up. So, seeing a 2005 Proton Gen-2 Cam Pro 1.6 with only 32,000 I snapped it up. What can I say, but I absolutely love it and so do my parents. It’s sleek and far more attractive than a Focus, Corsa, 407 or anything else they could ever hope to afford. The styling is superb, the ride is perfectly fine and infact stunning when whizzing round a corner at 50 mph (due to the Lotus handling). Again, why oh why the negative press reviews about this car? It’s got Lotus designed handling for crying out loud, and how many cars can claim that? The interior is absolutely fine, being clearly laid out, smart, fresh and a nice place to ride. (decent spec, decent stereo - nicely laid out) Sorry, but people can keep their badge snobbery and buy their Fords etc......as I know what I’ll be buying the next time I need a decent second hand motor. It’s got the thumbs up from me 100%.

Responses to this review

Having recently test driven a Proton Persona Ecologic, I was impressed. I owned an LPG converted Lada 1600 in the early 1980s and it is the LPG cost savings that I am keen to experience for my 48 miles return commute. The tests in the motoring mags/websites are almost universally hostile, but as an "Eastern Bloc" motorist since my first Wartburg Knight in 1976, I am not deterred and moved on to an FSO, Lada and finally Skoda, where I have remained. I shall certainly give the Persona another look after your excellent review - William Read from Staffordshire

Proton GEN-2 1.6 manual 2005

Bought a new GEN-2 purple 2005 model. Had a minor problem which is easy to rectify; slow on pickup because the ecu program will enhance the fuel consumption, power will kick in about 3000rpm. Have fitted bodykit and upmarket audio system. Basically, quite satisfied with this car and planning to upgrade to Persona R in 2012.

Proton GEN-2 Ecological Saloon 2010

Real value motoring these days is hard to find. Super economical diesels are not cheap to buy and as prices continue to rise, the Captain Sensibles amongst us are just not well catered for. Toyota and Honda hybrids with their monster ’power station sized’ batteries are heavy and cost lots of cash - and if you want a Vauxhall or Volvo that runs on LPG/petrol you pay more than for the petrol only powered equivalent. - This is not nice at all when we should all pull together to save the planet. Spending to save doesn’t really make much sense in my book - so it was refreshing indeed to find that Proton sell their dual fuel cars at no extra premium. Such philanthropy and lack of avarice and greed has gone largely unnoticed by the buying public - so I cannot make too strong a case for raising the profile of this Malaysian marque. As a struggling motoring ’hack’ I ’m always jolly pleased when the test car is wallet friendly, so I was delighted to discover that when it was time to fill up the GEN2 4Dr. Saloon with LPG I only had to pay 64P/litre. Even the car is something of a bargain. It’s a Focus sized 1.6 saloon for just £10,995 - and whilst not being at the top end of the spectrum in terms of luxury or performance, it’s just a ’good’ car that is reasonably refined and that drives brilliantly - thanks to Lotus input into the chassis dynamics. ’Yes - But where do you put all that LPG?’ I hear you say. ’It will leave no boot space’. Well I’m pleased to be able to tell you that the gas tank is unobtrusive and takes up only about the same space as a spare wheel - so the boot capacity is still large. If truth be told, running on LPG (at the press of a switch) returns about 35 mpg which is about 7/8 mpg less than on petrol - but that still represents substantial savings and you can delight in the fact that you are not enlarging the Chancellors recession chest to quite the same levels as conventionally fuelled motorists are compelled to do. It’s quite pleasant, in fact, to see a stationary petrol gauge needle when you’re ’on the gas’. In real driving terms there’s no noticeable difference between driving it on petrol or on LPG. It’s not meant to be a high performance car so any attempt to measure the microseconds difference in acceleration is - quite frankly - silly. Suffice it to say that you or I won’t be able to tell the difference. So, eager to travel around cheaply on our great motorway network I pointed the car towards the M6: a fatal decision as it turned out, since I have to say that I had achieved a greater rate of knots on my own drive. As I joined the sluggish snail train of tin that represents the best that scintillating twenty first century motoring can offer in our Sceptred Isle I concluded that the gas would be better put to use in an antique dirigible where floating above the scrummage I could have stuck out my tongue, waggled my ears and gone ’Yah Boo!’ to it all. But I reflected that while I was waiting to extricate myself from the traffic, at least I wasn’t tearing up pound notes at quite the same rate as would have been the case were I not gas fuelled. As the Rock Music teacher might say, ’The experience with the Proton was a total gas.’ and interestingly there is every truth in the rumour that dentists are rushing to buy these Protons because they certainly make for fewer fillings.

Responses to this review

Thanks for an excellent review. I took a test drive recently in a Persona and was impressed. Hostile motoring press reviews have never deterred me from buying "odd" cars, as the proud previous owner of a Wartburg Knight, FSO Polonez, Lada 1600 and a range of Skodas will prove. I note your scepticism about "bad press" despite being in the journalism profession yourself. I had my second Lada 1600 converted to LPG in the 1980s, and was very happy with its cost savings. I shall certainly give the Proton another look, before finally deciding between it and another Skoda Octavia - William Read from Staffordshire

Proton GEN-2 Persona Ecologic Automatic 2009

The many factual errors in the above ’official’ RoadTestReports.co.uk article repeats the same lazy mistakes made in most UK road tests - that the text is from a test of an early GEN-2 hatch and seemingly not from the much-improved 2009 Persona saloon version shown in the photos. The steering is height adjustable, and the drivers seat base can tilt a few degrees. There is extra headroom in the back compared to the hatch version and the Persona’s suspension is set-up softer/slightly higher ride height to enhance the ride comfort, which I find is more composed and comfortable than most modern cars. The bootlid has scissor-type hinges, allowing it to fold back and accomodate tall loads. None of the mirrors vibrate on my car, neither does anything else come to that. The interior styling these days is certainly simple, but also cohesive and the finish/quality of plastics used is no worse than average. The style of it is a personal thing, but we find it quite attractive compared to the over-done and cluttered dust trap efforts of many car makers these days. After 9000 miles we still enjoy the car and although nobody knows what it is, they all say it looks smart/modern and assume it’s around the £15,000 level. The engine now has 114BHP and more low-down torque compared to pre-2009 cars. It does get a bit vocal above 4000, but pulls a lot harder once it’s fully run-in. The computer-controlled, (Mitsubishi) autobox is very good. Economy on LPG is less than I hoped for, (about 28 MPG) but that is hard-driving, usualy fully loaded. Still works-out around 40% cheaper than petrol overall and equates to about 55MPG diesel. On petrol it manages 41 MPG, which is fine considering the autobox and size/weight of the car. Fuel, insurance, road tax and servicing are all on the cheaper side of average. Depreciation, like all rare mass-market cars is horrendous, so buy used or like me, new with good discount and keep it for many years to cancel-out the issue. The only problem was one rear door’s central locking stopped working, (quick fix by dealer) Heated rear window is slow, but everything else - especially the climate control and intergrated stereo work well. Overall, very happy with our choice - it was bought as a VFM roomy family car/all-rounder workhorse and does the job very well so far.

Proton GEN-2 Saloon 2008

I purchased my Gen 2 Saloon in 2009, it is an ex-Proton manager’s car. I have had a few what can be called annoying problems but this is my fifth Proton since I purchased a new compact hatchback in 1999, The trouble is Proton launch a new model .The only negative thing I would fault is the leather used in Proton’s 2006 Impian felt like plastic rather than leather and this was fitted outside of the UK. So proton didn’t do themselves much good, but seeing the 2010 Satria sport the leather is fitted in the UK and is of better quality. The quality of the Gen 2 Saloon is near perfect the interior has a solid feel and is well put together the cloth trim is also of good quality lots of room in the rear for three adults and also good on fuel as long as you don’t floor the pedal.

Proton GEN-2 gsi 1.6 2010

Bought car 3 weeks ago, and use car daily from Maidstone to London and back. Very good on fuel returning about 44 mpg. Very nice car to drive.

Proton GEN-2 2006

5 star handling, 5 star reliability, 3 star interior quality, 3 star build quality.

Responses to this review

I have found exactly the opposite! My Gen2 Ecologic was back at the dealership within 3 days with no 12volt socket working, a very faulty fuel system, wheels unbalanced, bad acceleration, even worse fuel starvation. Improperly installed programming and faulty door locking. The dealership has possibly done more miles in it than I have in the 3 months I have had it but the final straw came yesterday when I was getting something from the boot and the boot lid came crashing down. I was extremely lucky not to have been seriously injured or even killed. As it was, I have, I think, been lucky to have only received soft tissue damage to my neck and spine. The dealership has contacted Proton, as I have too, but Proton have been extremely slow in resonding and even slower to do anything about this appalling (rogue?) car - Trudi Starling from England

Proton GEN-2 1.6 GLS 2006

Nice car to drive but the interior feels cheap although there is ample legroom front and back. The boot is nice and big too. Cheap enough to run although resale value isn’t good so I’d recommend picking up a looked after second hand one rather than buying new. Nothing to write home about I’m afraid.

Proton GEN-2 GSX

My Saxo VTR had finally played up once too often, so had to go. The Gen-2 was much more car for the money than any Citroen offerings, and had better residual values! 110bhp, lots of goodies like climate control, and a great sound system, and better handling than the VTR. Just over a year later, my proton still gives me a positive charge!