|
|
continued...
Click to enlarge
Here we have regular PAULTAN.ORG contributor Shannon Teoh in the rear seat of the car. You can see clearly the legroom and headroom available to the rear passenger - surprisingly good! The only concern would be the width of the car, it is narrower but acceptable given that this is a small B-segment sedan.
Either 2 adults or 3 children will sit comfortably in the rear bench, and there are seatbelts for 3 people, so if the government enforces the rear seatbelt rule anytime soon, the Proton Saga will be ready for it.
Click to enlarge
Interior conveniences include two cupholders in the front, one cupholder in the rear, an open storage compartment where the passenger airbag would be expected to be, a glove compartment, two rear bottle holders, door pockets on each door, seatback pockets, a 1-DIN storage area below the 1-DIN CD player, and finally a little compartment just below the steering wheel column.
 The Proton Saga has a standard car power outlet socket positioned at a 90 degree horizontal angle just below the air conditioning controls. This might cause a problem with some of the longer devices that you might want to insert into the socket, like mobile phone chargers and etc, as it might get into the way of the gear lever. If you have drinks in the front cupholders, these might obstruct the power outlet as well.
The air conditioning controls themselves (click image on the left to enlarge) are very simple and intuitively designed. This is an improvement over the Proton Persona抯 air conditioning controls where the temperature dial was somewhat confusing. Previously readers who have seen the dials have said they look like they were recycled from the old Mitsubishi-generation Protons, but these are new stepped dials. I抦 not sure what the proper term is, but it means that when you twist the dial, you feel feedback from the dials, they 揷lick |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
continued....
On to the new second generation Proton Saga抯 best kept secret. The new 1.3 liter Campro IAFM engine. Let抯 get to the low down on whats changed since the last iteration of the Campro 1.3 found in the Proton Satria Neo. Firstly, the manual gearbox that comes with this engine is now sourced from Aichi Kikai instead of Mitsubishi, which Proton engineers say allows them greater flexibility in specifying gear ratios, something that Mitsubishi did not provide.
Next, the engine has an Integrated Air Fuel Module which integrates a variable length intake manifold system. I will not go into lengths explaining what a variable length intake manifold system is since I have already done that before (click here to read).
The electrical system has also been updated. Ignition now uses coil-on-plug ignition, which eliminates spark plug cables from the ignition system. This eliminates some power losses caused by spark plug cables. The starter is now of a smaller physical size, but has a bigger capacity. If you listen to how this Campro IAFM 1.3 engine starts compared to the Campro 1.3 in the Satria Neo, you can hear the difference. Think of how the Perdana V6 sounds like when it starts.
The Campro IAFM engine keeps the Campro 1.3抯 94 horsepower at 6,000rpm and 120Nm of torque at 4,000rpm figures, with changes only to the way the power and torque is delivered instead of any change in the peak power and torque. Proton抯 dyno tests of the new Campro IAFM engine reveals power ratings of up to 98 horsepower is achievable, but Proton prefers to publish the power figures in brochures at 94 horses for some reason, perhaps for consistency sake as not all engines may be able to achieve the 98 horses figure.
As you can see from the scanned dyno chart comparison above, the original Campro 1.3 was making slightly more than its 120Nm rated torque at peaks, but there are some serious dips in torque in the low to mid rev ranges. The new Campro 1.3 with the IAFM module has a very different torque curve. Its peak torque is lower, but still achieves the 120Nm target. There is also more torque between 2,800rpm and 4,000rpm.
I am happy to report that there is no annoying torque dip with the new Campro engine now, but nevertheless it still did not feel particularly torquey at low to medium revs. One would expect a VIM system to provide stronger than usual low end torque, but I guess in this case the VIM only manages to fix the Campro抯 naturally bad torque curve.
Throttle response still leaves a little to be wanting - the engine is slightly slow to come on and slow to taper off when responding to throttle movements - nothing dangerous but it can be noticed. The laggy throttle response is why you sometimes have a little throttle blip when you shift gears on the Campro, whats happening is the throttle still continues to be open when you抳e lifted your foot off the accelerator pedal and disengaged the clutch, so the result is a little blip.
Proton quotes expected fuel economy for the manual model to be 6 liters per 100km, and 6.3 liters per 100km for the automatic model, at a constant speed of 90km/h.
Click to enlarge
Ride and handling is not the typical feel you would expect from a Proton. While the Persona has very decent handling for a 4 door family sedan, the ride comfort for this new second generation Proton Saga is good, but unfortunately the body roll angle is rather significant! However, the roll rate is at an acceptable rate so the roll is not overly uncomfortable during normal driving. Go abit aggressive and the rear passengers can be thrown about. What makes it worse is the lack of any rear assist grips to hold on to, even though it looks like there are mounting points for the grips!
The Saga抯 seats are your average baseline sedan seats - only the Nissan Latio excels in this area with their oversized seats. We did not drive very far so at the moment we can抰 really tell if they are comfortable during long journeys or not. The rear bench does not do the whole split-fold-down thing, so this will be a concern for those who want to carry long things often, that require the sedan抯 boot length to be extended to within the cabin.
The rear windows do not go down fully. I discovered this when I got into the back seat of the Saga so I could stick my head and camera out and take moving shots of the car while we were on our test laps around Putrajaya. The window only came down about two thirds of the way - there was no way I could stuff my head out that.
The second generation Proton Saga uses a MacPherson strut suspension at the front, and a torsion beam suspension at the rear. These suspension bits were based off the Savvy but tweaked to suit the new car. The front has a lower spring rate, while the rear has a higher spring rate to compensate for the heavier boot. There is a front stabilier bar directly connected to the damper body instead of the lower control arm.
Tyres are 13 inch steel wheels wrapped with 175/70R13 tyres for the N-Line and B-Line models, and 14 inch alloys wrapped with 185/60R14 tyres for the M-Line model. Brakes are 13 inch ventilated discs at the front, and 7 inch drums at the rear. The M-Line has a single driver抯 airbag, but none of the line-up has ABS brakes. The boot is a decent 413 liters and comes with a full sized steel spare tyre.
Fitting its purpose as a family car, the new Proton Saga comes with child lock functions for the rear doors. All models also have central locking, but the N-Line does not have an alarm or remote activation of the central locking.
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
continued....
Click to enlarge and view specifications list for each model
I think the new second generation Proton Saga is a great little family car, with an amazingly adequate interior space that can fit 4 people comfortably, or 5 people if you must. There are a little issues here and there that make me unhappy, for example the central locking knobs are very hard knobs with a small diameter. The small diameter hurts your finger when you press it down to lock the door.
But I can live with all of this, and most people would not even notice the small little details I抳e pointed out in this article.
The car drives well and handles like a Savvy with a softer suspension, the Campro抯 annoying torque dip is gone, the interior is decent with good legroom and headroom, and a 1.3 liter engine should prove to be fuel economical. People, this is your car!
The only thing that worries me is that Proton抯 assembly line still seems to be a hit or miss affair, I have a friend with a perfect Proton Satria Neo, while some others find that they抳e mistakenly purchased moving aquariums with failing power windows. I hope Proton will continue to improve on their QC efforts.
The aftermarket industry should quickly look into designing sportier springs, anti-roll bars, and a short shifter for this car, as I believe these will really be in demand for those who wish for a more engaging drive from their economical buy.
Proton Saga N-Line Manual - RM31,500
Proton Saga B-Line Manual - RM34,998
Proton Saga B-Line Auto - RM37,998
Proton Saga M-Line Manual - RM37,498
Proton Saga M-Line Auto - RM39,998
The new Proton Saga is available in 7 colours - Metallic Black, Granite Grey, Solid White, Genetic Silver, Chili Red, Mountain Blue, and Zircon Green.
Please post any questions in the comments if you want to know more about the car. I will try my best to answer with whatever I remember of the car from the short media test drive we had on Monday.
Please enjoy the following additional photos:
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Manual transmission meter panel - Click to enlarge
Automatic transmission meter panel - Click to enlarge
Automatic transmission meter panel - Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Proton Saga - Chili Red
Proton Saga - Chili Red
Proton Saga - Metallic Black
Proton Saga - B-Line Genetic Silver, with N-Line Solid White in background
Proton Saga - Mountain Blue
Proton Saga - N-Line Solid White
Proton Saga - Zircon Green
Click to enlarge |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
internally memang agak luas...terutama utk orang badan besar macam aku nih... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
pasni savvy leh la convert depan saga baru nih....  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ehemm...ehemm...i dah try dah...not bad price
if compared to "kereta kebal" to this new saga...new saga is better than "kereta kebal"ahaksss...... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
design lagi ok sket arr dari "kereta kebal"hehhee.... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
aku baru je nk paste tp ada yg lg laju lagi.....x dpt nk tmbh kredit....
brp price saga RED nie? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply #8 GAMEOVER's post
|
bleh ker tukar 17?cam tak leh jerr.... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply #9 penpink's post
Tu la pasal. Stock tyre tuh kecik sangat la.
Tak padan ngan body dier. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
cam nih leh jadi 2nd car aku la....1st car aku kuat minyak wooo.. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
brp horsepower saga RED? iskkk......bersungguh2nya aku nk tau nih!! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply #10 GAMEOVER's post
|
huhu...huhu...tau x per |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply #8 GAMEOVER's post
|
masih terkenang impreza ek?...proton must work hard to win back people trust...they dont want to contribute to any cronies again...perhaps this new saga will do |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply #642 satriastendet's post
rege dia rm30k lebihje...
[ Last edited by reenz013 at 21-1-2008 12:32 PM ] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
the cosmetic is quite nice. the looks really convinced me it's a good car. unfortunately i still didn't have the chance to test drive it since people are rushing to have a close look. maybe later.....
but i still love my saga aeroback with it's mitsubishi engine that's proven better...much-much better than the Campro. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
saga RED tu rm30k lebih?? horsepower? Cc? rear disc brake? aku x sempt nk g tgk kt convention centre last week |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply #14 bulalof's post
"but i still love my saga aeroback with it's mitsubishi engine that's proven better...much-much better than the Campro."
hmm...i think so... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Post time 21-1-2008 11:46 AM
