2008 Proton Persona 1.6 Base Line Sedan

Persona 2nd gen (launched in 2016) Purchased new in 2018 Proton Persona 1.6 CVT Premium Pros (Strengths): 1. Ride & handling: For price below RM60k, delivers best steering feel for an EPS (not numb

Persona 2nd gen (launched in 2016) Purchased new in 2018 Proton Persona 1.6 CVT Premium Pros (Strengths): 1. Ride & handling: For price below RM60k, delivers best steering feel for an EPS (not numb like certain competitors), bodyrolls are expected especially above highway speeds because of its higher center of gravity. But in windy roads, the car feels really stable at turn-in, steering feel is not too light, brakes are relatively okay, but the pedal feel initially abit soft. Suspension soaks speedbumps with minimal rebound rate (rear dampers abit soft). Town driving is nice with minimal steering effort. Go test drive it, driving confidence ada, just my personal opinion. 2. Safety: Dual front airbags, ABS, EBD & ESC are standard equipments for all variants. Specs are specs, but when you are driving, please drive sanely. No point having 100airbags if you drive dangerously and end up in an accident. Safety first! 3. Space: Biggest usable boot volume for the price, best headroom for the price (1.9m adults can sit without their heads touching the roof), comfortable supportive front seats, great rear seats' reclined-angle (many passengers praised this). 4. Others: PROTON AIRCOND LO!!! hahaha... Cold wehhhh especially in early morning, ok ok sound system. Cons (Weaknesses) 1. Transmission refinement: Yes yes... I know. Proton's Punch CVT. The jerkiness is apparent at traffic crawls below 30km/h, stop n go conditions the throttle response is not tally with the gearbox (delay abit). But service center did update & reset the TCU (ECU stuffs), improving the throttle response & reducing the delay. Highway cruising around 110km/h, the rpm is at approx. 3000rpm, noise is on the louder side since other CVT competitors can deliver less than 2000rpm. 2. Space: wait a minute... I thought space is a pro. In this case, rear legroom is the main weakness. It is not cramped but if compared to other competitors, it feels the tightest back there if the front seats are pushed quite far behind. Go try it for yourself but it's sufficient for average adults (less than 1.8m tall). 3. Design: this one many people said the new Persona is bulky, ugly. But for me, memang the proportions memang lari sikit here and there. But once sit inside, the interior design not too bad la. Design is subjective also, don't judge a book by its cover? 4.Others: NVH level... Wind noise quite loud above highway speed, tyre roar too during highway cruise (can try replacing with better tyres), abit rattling noise in the dashboard (creaks) so better turn the music volume up? Haha... Fuel usage: errrm.... If you are a hypermiler, then confirm can drive more than 20km/l. But as for me, I'm just an average working person, this car serves as a workhouse, carrying friends and family, balik kampung trips once while. Throughout one year+, city driving (jam alot): average 10-12km/l, highway cruising average 14-17km/l. Differs for everyone, since some people drive like F&F, some drive delicately. In short, below RM60K, if really want a new car, a not very compact sedan, that can ferry 5 with relatively good comfort level, with huge boot, decent performance & handling (really not that bad la), cannot complain so much anymore, for the budget, then the new Persona 1.6 is the option. Cheers peeps!!! Kurang