Comments on: Melbourne Motor Show: Proton R3 Satria and new Persona

By: akir-malaysia

akir-malaysia — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:25:00 +0000

australians! dont worry… probly, next year the car will be in ur neighbourhood.. cuz, campro will be in turbo charged mode next year… yah i knw, its late for them to caome out with it, but it may worth the wait rite? if peter solber thinking of drivin in a neo, why dont we?

By: Big Fatn

Big Fatn — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:02:26 +0000

Where’s the volvos?

By: Alson Pang

Alson Pang — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:28:33 +0000

I can see what Proton is trying to do with the new Proton Persona sedan. Families want refinement and general quietness in their drive. They don’t want anything trashy or noisy. That explains the choice of tyres. The NVH is also significantly improved over the Satria Neo especially – and better than the GEN2 of course. There is minimal loud and boomy engine noise towards the redline. It sounds rather refined really. The Campro engine had an appealing sound in the manual transmission car. It had a pleasant growl that was not overpowered by vibration or metallic notes, and despite going way over the 6,500rpm redline it felt like it could still go – rev cut off was a little more than 7,000rpm.

As for the Campro engine, it is pretty much the same as previous units. Still the same 110 (82kW) horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 148Nm of torque at 4,000 rpm. There is still a general lethargy with the throttle at low to mid engine speeds, but the engine shines at high revs. This engine still does not have the Bosch Variable Intake Manifold system yet, but the automatic model does have an improved TCU. The improved TCU or Transmission Control Unit seems more intelligent now, making up for the Campro’s unfortunately torque curve shape by having no qualms about downshifting when needed with reduced delay, and the shifts are rather smooth.

There is nothing new about the Campro engine in this car really in terms of performance; it’s just that improved sound dampening have managed to make the car in a whole appear more refined. But there are some design enhancements over the original GEN2 Campro engines that have served to make the engine more reliable.

By: Alson Pang

Alson Pang — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:18:41 +0000

The Proton Satria Neo R3 definitely has the looks and a suspension setup that promises oodles of weekend fun, but the engine really leaves something to be desired. R3 should definitely look at doing a second run of the Neo R3 if/when the Neo gets the Campro CPS engine. With stock power levels of 125 horsepower, it should be possible to push the CPS engine to nearly 160 horsepower, with plenty of kick across the whole rev range. Also, the car’s full “track-throughbredness” potential could not be sampled through this test unit because the brakes were standard.

By: Alson Pang

Alson Pang — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:09:22 +0000

The car I drove was the development unit and some specifications differ. For one, the Neo R3 will come with slotted front brake discs and Mintex M1144 performance brake pads, but the car you see here had the stock brake discs and brake pads fitted.

The wheels are also not the same – the test unit came with 17 inch Enkei alloys, but the production Satria Neo R3 will come with Advanti SG15 17×7 inch wheels. The tyres are the right ones though – Bridgestone Potenza RE001 Adrenalin in 205/40R17 size, but even these were not in the best condition when I picked the car up. Nevertheless, the Adenalins are fantastic tyres and I am using them on my Proton Perdana.

The 1.6 liter Campro engine under the hood is the original Campro – no IAFM, no CPS, no VIM, no nothing. The only thing it has is R3’s touch – new 8mm spark plug cables, an R3 tuned exhaust system and an R3 ECU with remapped settings. All of this boosts power up to 135 horsepower at 6,100rpm and torque up to 164Nm at 4,200rpm, which exceeds the usual normally aspirated 100Nm per liter of displacement ratio, so that’s quite impressive.

By: Allan

Allan — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:58:39 +0000

No it doesnt get ESP either. Its a good looking car, but the engine is a let down. Already lacking torque, it doesnt even rev much. For a track biased hot hatch, they should have at least given it an engine that would rev like the old skool honda B series engines.

By: Richo

Richo — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:38:57 +0000

100kw would make it more grunty then the suzuki swift sport i guess… which along with the ford fiesta xr4 will most likely be its main rival

By: Richo

Richo — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:30:02 +0000

so around the 100kw mark you reckon… hmm it’ll want to be pretty damn light and have a close ratio gearbox if its going to have the kind of performance it will need! Atleast it has ESP.

Oh and Proton calls all of its engine “CamPro” so thats nothing unusual. It’s a bit strange though that the engine is a 100% lotus design, yet it apparently has a serious lack of torque.. i would have thought lotus would have designed a good enough engine

By: Allan

Allan — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:34:28 +0000

I was told by a Malaysian friend that the R3′s engine is normally aspirated 1.6 litres. Although Proton has a new Campro engine with valve timing and variable intake manifold, its not fitted in the R3. In fact the R3′s so called Campro engine is just a normal 1.6 engine from the Persona but with a tuned ECU and better intake/exhaust to bump up power to 135bhp. And the R3 doesnt get airbags, ABS or ESP.

By: Richo

Richo — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 11:35:51 +0000

i actually think this new R3 has potential.. i mean it has a lotus tuned chasis which surely has to be a good thing, it looks kinda cool if its got a decent engine, perhaps a turbo version of the cam-pro with around 140kw or something like that and it has a price of under 25k this could be a real little bargain!