2006 Proton Gen-2 1.3

Summary:

An OK car

Faults:

1) At low speeds it has no power. So you have to be extra careful when you move your car off. For example, when you are at multi storey car park, you have to press the accelerator more in order to prevent the engine from stalling. Of course with this action, if you are not careful with your car control, you may rub on the side wall as you move your car up the spiral car park in those multi storey places. I don't know whether you can call this "tuning" problem, because when the car goes up to 40km/h, you feel suddenly the power is coming back. So at a normal 100km/h on expressway, the car moves well. But take note that when you turn the air con fully on, then when you travel at 100km/h, you will notice when you step more on the accelerator, the car doesn't have much strength to move faster.

2) After you stop the car and leave it, you can still here the engine sound, so it is consuming petrol until about 30 seconds to 1 minute later, when all the residual petrol in the engine is finished, then it will then die off. So you know the design is ridiculous, because when you turn off the engine, you expect it to stop. But here you know it drained some of your petrol unnecessarily.

3) The 1.3 litre Gen 2 doesn't have front speakers. There are 2 enclosure at the front doors for the speakers, but the factory didn't install them. So it's ended up with only the rear having speakers. It is ridiculous, because how much can 2 speakers cost? It becomes very inconvenient to the consumers, because if no speakers, we are not happy. But if when go out to get people to install for us, it will cost us $200 or $300. So it is stupid of the manufacturer to save on this small thing.

Also, I went to the show room to ask about the front speakers such as the size, etc. The sales people dont know. So they took me to their workshop just behind the show room and I asked the mechanic. They also don't know. It is ridiculous. I went on the Internet and still cannot find information about the speaker sizes, and cannot find the repair manual as well. So even if I want to buy speakers from my company, which happens to do car audio sets, I don't know what size to get.

If I want to change the head unit myself, I also don't know how to open up the custom-made dashboard front panel, even though I looked around before. I change my previous Proton Wira audio head unit myself before.

General Comments:

Okay, buy because at that time in March 2006, a Toyota Yaris will cost Singapore 53k, but our car only cost us 43k. Also, I got the 15 inch alloy wheel instead of the steel ones some people mentioned.

Anyway, most of the time, I drive the car alone, so there's no need to buy a very big car. And when I bring my wife and child out, it is enough for us. Seldom will I have my parents together with us. So for 90% of the time, this car is very sufficient.

Of course, if I have to go far, I will not drive this car, but again, say we want to go KL Kuala Lumpur from Singapore, do you think I will drive my car there ? Even if I have big car like Mercedes Benz or Lexus, I will not drive there. So really for everyday 15km, 20 km travelling needs, and without carrying so many people at a time, it is really sufficient for my needs. And I think most people have the same situation too.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 27th March, 2007

29th Mar 2007, 00:06

Hi.

In reference to your statement that the car engine keeps running after you switch it off... you may actually be hearing the radiator fan running, trying to cool your engine down after you have switched it off. This will ensure that your engine does not overheat as the radiator stops circulating coolant when the car has been turned off. The fan automatically stops once your car has cooled down sufficiently.

And this does not consume petrol, rather, it's your battery that gets drained, but not excessively so. So.. chill it, man!

18th Aug 2015, 17:47

Does anyone know why the fan in Proton cars is in my own words OVER ACTIVE? Even on a cold day after 5 to 10 minutes, it is so annoying.