2008 Proton Persona
December 4, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
Struggling Malaysian car maker Proton has given Australians a preview of its new four door sedan, the Persona. Destined for Australia in March 2008, the Persona will be the fifth model in Proton’s lineup (joining Savvy, Jumbuck , Satria and Gen2).
There will be only one variant, a high-spec model that will début at the Melbourne International Motor Show in late February. Proton are yet to confirm pricing but the company says it will be highly competitive with opposition models.
The car is based on the Proton Gen2 Hatch platform and powered by Proton’s self-designed Campro 1.6-litre engine with 82kW and 120 Nm of torque mated to either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission.
The new Persona has so far been a great success for Proton in Malaysia with the company selling over 20,000 units in the first 3 months. Australians will have the choice of seven colours; Blueberry tea, Light gold, Tranquillity black, Metal grey and Solid red and Solid white.
Although talks between Volkswagen and Proton are now well and truly over and many analysts are signalling troubled times ahead, the company is determined to prove its worth with the most recent JD Power customer satisfaction survey awarding Proton with the greatest improvement of any marque.
Print it: 
***PRIMO!***
Another piece [orphan] of overprice/underdone junk!
Have we not enough that we need these junk-boxs too?
Cheers
F-0
PS If they left our market NOBODY would notice…..
who actually buys these cars? judging by the colour choices it must be earl grey tea gens..
proton supposedly walked away from vw but i am sure they did vw a favour.
reminds me of a liberty from the front.Although it is still a
Proton and Proton made the Jumbuck which humour value will never wane.
They can’t be selling a hell of a lot of them, thats for sure, as I see roughly a max of 2 protons a week, or less. Personally the main problem is that absolutely everything in the things feel cheap. The wheels are small, the engine is just good enough to move the thing, the paint doesn’t look great, the interior is tacky, etc. Just lots and lots of little things make for one big thing you don’t want to buy.
They used to have a warm hatchback tuned by Lotus, that looked half decent.
have any of you ever gone to malaysia??
idiots… give them a chance
at least they are not making 6liter V8s
They are cheap atlernatives and the facts that the company is still going means there is a market fo rthem
looks like a 03 or 04 chrysler sebring ……SHAAAAAAAAAME!
Yawn
Arsenalroc,
First of all i’m from Malaysia.
You seem to be the only idiot here. First of all what’s wrong with 6.0L V8’s? You obviously have not heard the eargasmic notes produced by them.
By you saying that they are ‘cheap alternatives’ fully validates what previous posters have mentioned. After all at the end of the day you get what you pay for.
You’re just deluding yourself into thinking that there is a market for them. Get the Malaysian govt. to remove all tariffs imposed on imported cars and watch Proton’s market share dwindle into oblivion. The only reason why people put off with the crap from proton in malaysia is because they have no free choice.
I laughed my ass off when i read that they walked away from Volkswagen. Bunch of dumbasses running the company.
you’re right malaysian….go and live in indonesia…then you will know how tall or low the sky are…
The exterior styling isnt bad, its quite nice actualy, but the ride, interior and the price is probaly crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!And safety!
Mercedez, BMW have been making cars for decades. No wonder they can produce better car for each model that they manufacture. But, Proton is still new. For less than 30 years, I think Proton has achieved so much. I never owned Proton before but driving the new Persona is totally giving me a whole new experience. My perception on Proton changed instantaneously. Yes, previous Proton models were low of quality, underpower, sluggish and what not but this time Proton has shown an improvement. My advise is, don’t buy Persona as you first car. Then, you will realize, it is not that bad after all.
Yeaah, I agree.. if you never own Proton car before, wait until Persona launch in Australia and give it a test drive… then only u decide..
Top Gear Malaysia magazine also has many positive comments on this model when they compared to Honda City and Kia Spectra 5…
By reading some of these comments we can see the kind of people these so called blind bashers are by their comments. Just imagine, most have not owned nor driven any of these Proton products yet they so arrogantly make judgments that are utterly idiotic! The mentality they have! I’d say bark all they want as they probably are doing these sort of heckling and yapping all their miserable and unfulfilling lives. Yes they want a bigger vehicle, a powerful one at that. Well then, move on and shop around! No use hanging around here and taking cheap pot shots at Proton cars and drivers. One may be riding a bullock cars for all matters, but there’s nor point running then off the road!
Maybe these lame bashers havent found anything to suit their bloated egos but puny bank accounts. People who drive big powerful cars aren’t as arrogant as these lamers unless these people too are living off thru some illegal means. So, go get some re-education. Then get a better paying job and then you probably get to drive that Ferrari or Humvee you oh so desired!
have u test-driven the proton persona 2008, haven’t u?
if u have, then ur commentary is highly appreciated :)
You’d be surprised at the level of comfort and refinement this car has for the amount of its asking price. One just have to be realistic and consider the class this vehicle is in. If you’re shopping for a 3-series, this car is certainly not an alternative. But from what I can see, things are certainly in the positive direction for Proton and many past troubled aspects have certainly been improved upon in this vehicle. Anyway, to be fair, one has to at least get a first hand account before making any conclusions…
The interior has improved heaps. Just wait for the ultra low new Proton Saga. You’ll be surprised.
Yes.. Just wait all new Proton Saga, you’ll be suprised.
After 20 years in the car business I find it amusing how uneducated ****wits can give an opinion on things they know nothing about!How about these “cars of the year” Holden Camira,Mitsubishi Magna,EA Falcon etc….! How about driving the vehicle equating the initial cost to future resale,servicing and parts prices to the local product!Pay for a 100k service on a subaru and tell me you should have saved a bucket and bought a Proton.Brain dead biggots!
Hi, I’m from Malaysia, I just want to say that proton was not made for performance or looks. It was made for people who didn’t have enough money to buy a car. I agree that it is not a great car but it gets you from A to B. Its not that bad. However, I think Proton should not export their cars to countries like, the UK, Australia, USA or any other western country, there are better cars for the same price there.
Not much change here, Proton should give up with exports and concentrate with local sales…
the interior plastics aren’t the best that I’ve seen but it is better than some C-segment Japanese sedans I’ve driven recently. The dashboard is based on the one from the GEN2 but it has had its quirkiness removed. Normal is the new black, I say. I think the public is fed up of Proton’s previous attempts to be all “sporty minimalist Lotus”.
Rear legroom was not too bad, a testament to how the increased legroom measurements translate into real life application. That said, once someone tall sits in the driver’s seat, the rear passenger behind him will start to suffer a little, but it is typical of a sedan car in the B-segment size.
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.
COMING SOON IN AUSTRALIA (ALREADY IN MALAYSIA & SOUTH EAST ASIA & UK’s)
The high line version has the Proton Campro CPS engine, which also comes in 1.6 liter displacement. This engine made its Malaysian debut with the Proton Waja Premium CPS recently. It produces 125 horsepower at 6,500rpm, and 150Nm of torque at 4,500rpm, while also making at least 139Nm from 3,000rpm onwards.
the new CPS engine uses two technologies to achieve the new higher output and torque levels. One is CPS, a camshaft profile switching system which changes over at 3,800rpm and enables a higher valve lift. The other is VIM, which stands for Variable Intake Manifold. A longer intake manifold is used at low RPMs to achieve slower air flow; this promotes better mixing with fuel. The short intake manifold allows more air in faster, which is beneficial at high RPMs
The Proton Campro 1.6 IAFM engine produces the same peak torque and horsepower as the barebones Campro, but also has had its low to mid range torque boosted to eliminate the torque dip. The IAFM engine has a variable intake manifold system that produces similiar results to the Campro CPS’s VIM system, using a long runner and a short runner. It also has a coil on plug ignition system which eliminates spark plug cable losses, something that even the CPS engine does not have.
I have tested the persona and I think its a value for money car.Its built for family in mind not for midnight races. Just stop that no brainer bashing will you
yap! not for midnight reces but you can tune the Campro CPS engine for that. i had gen2 1.6 CPS manual 170whP(wheel horse power) tune by SPEEDWORKS workshop. i love that…
are you for real Alson? 170whp, gen2 cps? are you using any piggyback? how much is the hp alone? 180hp? crazy man..hope you could share the secret. 170hp..without any induction?
no comments no improve, I’m a Malaysian, I hope the comments from oversea can wake proton up and getting more improve than ever. Just like those Japanese car been sooo famous now, til many drivers accept them around the world . Because their improvement and upgrade impressed evry drivers nowadays.(i remember my grandpa told me the Japanese cars is the worst car in the world when i was young 18 years ago). Proton plz take people comment and improve urself,else u be making the low budget and lousy car forever and ever. I hope proton may upgrade their standard to bmw or merZ .I’ll be proud of u proton.
look guys ..
stop arguing ..
here is the reality about proton…
proton cars are not built to last ..
forget about test driving a proton and get a car that really worth your money …
i know i know ..
you wont know how it feels like if you havent driven the car ..
ohhh pleasee…
so what if you came out feeling like a brand new experience with the car..
for your info a brand new car without the decent milleage on it will always give you a new experience anyway ..
dont you know brand new things will give you a certain degree of new experience ..
here is the truth ..
you have to own a proton for about a year before you can tell whether you have used you money wisely ..
wahahahahahahaahaha
i had done that. 3 year to be precise. Nothing wrong with my car. So what is your point than?
My point???
You’ve got a good one out of the batch..
Count by majority ok??
If proton is good it would have achieved a reasonably good sales world wide..
Why do you think it hasnt been so popular overseas after so many decades since it first started??
No excuse ok??
I know Malaysians ppl are good at making up excuses to cover up thier own crap..
Whenever shit goes up they say “Malaysia boleh” to reassure themselves that they can still make it if given another try
They do so without truly admitting that they have failed somewhere in the process..
Look dude..
If the brand sux then just admit to it and do something about it instead of always coming up with stories to make the brand sounds good..
Just face the bloody fact and learn …
I have another point for you ..
9 out of 10 of my Malaysians friends are saying Proton sux..
And a lot of them own at least one proton car each ..
If the same ppl from where the car was originated from are giving so much discouragement to potential buyers then something must be really wrong with the car..
If you want proton to achieve good sales overseas I suggest you try pleasing your own ppl first so they can send some good words out….
From the looks of these comments I would suggest most of the critics have never even driven a proton. As for 6 litre v8s obviously the people who buy them don’t keep them for long look at the second hand market it’s full of them. No good nying a car if you can’t afford to run it
so full of $hit,
could you provide me link to your studies and research paper on the malaysia perception toward proton. what is your sampling method and the population in your survey? If you hate proton, toyota, ferrari, honda, audi are available to you. Why don’t you go to other website and praise whatever car you want rather than bad mounth on proton. or are you just like your nick, full of…? talk rubish wih no supporting fact and figures?
if you got friend, i have more friend driving gen 2, crap…none of my friend complain on the car. So what is you problem anyway? Hate proton so much? My advice, keep walking to the nearest Toyota or Honda showroom and book one. problem solved.
Clarkson typifies Malaysian auto manufacturers (Perodua in particular) want to make money instead of good cars. Like the Koreans before, they tend to borrow design and technology from defunct Jap cars. They’re not as bad as the Chinese, but if they want to make their mark outside their own country, they need to come up with something really nice. They have to start off with cars that are well built but priced significantly lower than a comparable ‘rival’. The Gen2 hatch looks pretty alright, but its sedan derivative (Persona) is kinda dorky, as the Honda Jazz is to its ugly-duckling City (ASEAN small Honda sedan) sibling. The Jumbuck is simply a CE Lancer ute, but designing a pickup from the Gen2 seems feasible.
Proton complainants simply dont have time to test drive proton cars. Maybe they only have time to test drive ferrari, bmw, merce…. Hence the birth of myopic proton haters… They dont really wanna see proton improves. They should start their own car production company then…
I am a Brit living in malaysia. I ended up buying a proton although i wanted to buy a toyota. The price of other makes are kept artificially high, making a proton the only viable choice of car (unless you are rich). the proton does an ok job of getting you from A-B. Second hand models are generally tatty due to the fact that they get serviced on street corners and that the locals don’t really look after them. The suspension and manual gearbox is surprisingly good. Across the border in Brunei – cars are almost tax free, very very few people drive protons as all other makes are properly priced.
i’m a malaysian n will always support malaysia,no matter what they said we will never stop developing ourselves.’biarkan luncai terjun dengan labu2nya..’got what i mean?
Hey guys pls…
All this proton bashing and V8 engines…
I had been to Australia and seen the Holden Cars! Yes damn nice and mouth watering big sedans! So?
We can’t get that in Malaysia due to the tax system and probably you don’t know our currency exchange! it’s almost 3.5 times smaller than Aussies!
So? We had to keep to a Proton! Built is not up to par still got some noises and fittings are not tight and nice like european cars! Still its save my money and I am in sales line I need to use almost 40K per year of mileage so it had been a good workhorse for me!
Congratulations to those who can drive better cars! Cheers!
Derik
I just bought a Proton Persona last week and my comment is i’m totally satisfied with proton this time. I took about an hour to test drive proton persona, with better handling, more responsive and more comfortable suspension. Fit and finish is noticeably improved a lot and so are the suspension setting as well because it is tuned more to comfort.
i’m a Malaysian and i see local Proton bashers have gone international and bash Proton products overseas among other nations people..haha wtf? what a bunch of idiots!
see the thing in Malaysia is the people doesn’t know how to appreciate Proton products even if it is GOOD..of course Proton does slacks in the past but they are recovering.. for Persona i’ve test drive it and for the price it is ok with the equipment list provided.. and now Proton come out with Persona SE which the rims are from the Waja/Impian model and the result? the rims are the main bashing point! N i’m wondering why they always comparing Proton products to well established competitors? Nevertheless,Proton started making their own cars just from 1996!
dear fullOFshxt…
mind ur language.
there is no car in this universe created by a human being
made to last.in fact,nothing will last.if that ever happen,you probably won’t be having a job by now.
i am malaysian,and i’m proud of proton.
Hotwheel, my friend from malaysia told me that between year late 19 until year 2000 they do nothing but copy exterior of mitsu and produce.. Is it true ?? If yes then what are they doing all these time ?? at least for now as a 30 year plus company they should at least have a better building quality for their product.. My friends suffer from their Gen-2 for 2 months entering the service center for almost 7 times and finally sold them. I’m not saying that Proton useless.. But try to think about it.. 30 years with the help of Lotus.. They should be climbing up in the market faster than the hyundai that only had 40 years without major help from elsewwhere company until lately they introduced the CVVT engine as project helped by some leading company.
proton = profit = rubbish car maker
Stop giving excuses. Yeah proton is our national car so what…I love to support and proud with our national products too…
DO you know the kind of feeling when you need to visit the workshop every month to fix the defect ?
People buying proton cause it is affordable for their income.
Don;t tell me the QC in proton are too dumb to test the product before release to the market…..All these year with same defect…if proton don;t bother to improve the quality better close shop….
You want proof…just simply pick a few proton users and ask them how many will replace their old proton with new proton model
Relax James.. not to say proton not good.. but they did R&D to find the best product to fit into their production. the old car for proton was parts most if not all are from mitsu so the durability is better… but now they localize everything to cut cost or to support their local vendor but give so many problem to their buyers.. And thanks to their government taxation on other makes like toyota honda kia all price sky high. kinda unfair to Malaysian.
I used to own a Proton Wira 1.3 first batch, after two years I had to fix the windows 3 times a year, I had bearing problems like 4 times a year and probably more. Can I blame it on the roads? Yes I can blame it on the roads but then I have an old 30 year old Celica which never had bearing problems and I drove it like I do with a race car! Despite the cheap proton parts it is not cheap in the long run. The engine was alright as it was a mitsubishi engine. Overall the car is not bad. Driving experience and all it was nothing to shout about but it is a good car for those who are buying their first car. Quality? If you compare to now and more than ten years ago, you would see that the quality was way better back then. How is this? Compare the seats for example, it is obvious the materials used were better back then than now. The dashboard? Yes it is true the Wira dashboards were cheap plastic compared to the Gen2/Persona but if you look at the first and 2nd batch of Wiras, they were WAY better than the Gen2s/Persona. My first generation Wira had less road noise than the Wiras that came out 4 years later. If anyone goes to a dealer and tested the boot or the doors and it is hard to close, the sales people will always say “Proton lah faham lah…” (It is Proton, you understand).
Is the car cheap? It’s the cheapest car people can afford but not a cheap car. With a 9 year loan to buy a new car the poor people will forever be stuck with the car they buy, hence Proton. Some of you have mentioned that it is because of the Govt imposing tarriffs/tax being the reason why that international makes are expensive. That is so true plus the reason sales will not increase.
Did anyone know that the first batch of Campro branded cars were not the so-called Campro engine? Alot of my friends did not know. How did I know this? It was never mentioned or made obvious but if people had read the magazines with the articles on the cars with the first Campros launched, it was mentioned that the engine was not a Campro. My guess is that in case there was any lawsuit on false advertising, Proton can just say that they had mentioned it in the articles.
There is no denying that there will always be people who support the National brand, unfortunately these will be people who can never be reasoned with.
I can see that Proton is trying but unfortunately they will never survive the Global market. No research done on this but if you compare the Koreans to the Malaysians, both countries had replicated cars but we can see which car brand is giving the better end of the bargain and surviving globally. There used to be Hyundai jokes, now is Proton the joke?
To be fair, Proton is not the only car maker in trouble, check out Ford and GM, both are in trouble as both relied on their “cash cows” without any proper long term product development. Both relied on the sales of trucks/pickups but now other brands (Honda and Toyota) are competing and picking up the pace. Was not Proton doing the same thing? One of the best selling models were the Sagas and how old is the car until they came up with the current generation Sagas. But seriously, if the government had not supported Proton in the form of international car taxes, whereby cornering people into buying the cheapest of the cars in Malaysia, and bailing them out, will Proton survived until this day? I would apply the same thing with MAS. It was fortunate that SIA split with MAS during the earlier stages, see where they are now…
FACT 1: malaysians can easily fall into political trap when talking about proton. No wonder there are lots of proton (a.k.a. BN government) bashers who hardly know about car anatomy. If proton is a brainchild of an opposition political party, all the bashes could become praises.
So my dear malaysians, lets get apolotical when talking about cars. Behave like Koreans who don’t like foreign cars (not because their cars are so superior). Just behave like a citizen whose country never ambitious to produce cars. Independent. Fair. Square. After all, buying a proton is not a mandatory in Malaysia. You don’t like it, don’t buy. If you choose not to buy, don’t influence others with your biased thought.
FACT 2: ‘Critique’ is emotional. Old Protons (old sagas and wiras) are sad history of Proton’s old management, and too bad, these images have been painted on Proton until today. But problems mostly confined to COSMETIC matters (what car don’t, anyway). Proton has reformed under new management. The bashers only have old lousy Wiras or Old Saga to dramatise their trauma while trying to cover-up proton’s new breed of affordable yet outstanding cars like Gen-2, Persona, Savvy or sporty sleek Satria Neo R3. Be fair.
FACT 3: I wrote not because I own Proton Persona (as my other car). I just cannot keep to my self that Persona runs far better than my wife’s (overrated) Toyota Vious! And I only need European cars to compare.
huh…just test drive the persona today ,it feel great ! everyone here , please try before giving your opinion . Thank you.
I have been driving the Persona SE for 2 months. Indeed Proton have come along way and in the case of the Persona SE, owning and driving one is believing! So much bashing about Proton being a lousy car goes down the drain immediately the moment you test drive it!
My findings : The car drives so smoothly and even at 160Kpm, you can hardly feel any strain or notice it. With its leather seats, the car is a comnfort to drive long distance. Really, I have no regrets buying this Persona SE. And if I have to do it again, I will but maybe I will go for the brilliant red color this time round.