2001 Proton Waja from Malaysia - Comments

Just bought myself a Proton Waja a month ago.

Mileage is now around 2000km.

Exterior;

The car looks great, nice design but quite bulky looking.

Interior;

The interior is quite spacious. The dashboard is good in design and very practical, but the plastic and assembling lack quality and it needs refinements.

The seats are quite hard, lack lumbar support. The rear seats were the 40/60 folded type, which is very practical for those who love carrying their Golf sets around.

Sound proving is good, when idling @ 750rpm, the engine purrs and is barely heard when the air-con is ON.

The electronics are of the latest design and can be compared to any car, in terms of technology eg. Beemer 3 series.

Engine;

1.6 litres, SOHC, fuel-injection, Mitsubihsi engine.

Power will only comes in around 3000rpm, which is quite fine with me.

The engine sounds is quite smooth at 5000rpm, but beyond that, the engine sounds is irritating and deafening to the ears.

The engine feels at home at 3500rpm, which is around 130 - 140Kmh.

Ride & Handling;

Since the body works and suspension is of LOTUS technology, handling the car is quite a sensational experience for the said CLASS.

The car act superbly handling turns and corners at manageable speeds with swinging or swaying. I added STRUT bars on the front and the cornering abilities felt even better.

The brake has all around DISC brakes, but the UK version is fitted with ABS.

Braking is still good even without the ABS.

Overall, it's a good car with the EUROPEAN feeling.

The Proton Impian (UK specs), have added Safety and Security features compared to those made locally. I would just love to get my hands on one of those CBU Impians if it was sold locally (Malaysia).

I saw the Impian at the dealers today, very nice, looks like a Merc compact.

I was on my way back to Leeds and I saw this eye catching vehicle on the road.

I believe it was doing a demonstration or something.

Decided to see it closely. Went to the dealer in Bradford.

I was definitely very impressed with the design, interior and price.

A round of applause to PROTON and Malaysia for their consistent effort.

I am definitely going to sell my old Honda... and be a proud owner of this 'IMPIAN'!

Johnny Lake

The Impian has a very impressive ride and handling capability. I've been driving the car for 4 months now and I'm satisfied with the car. The rear leg room is good.

The car would perform better with a 1.8 litre engine.

The interior center air-conditioning vents are not working for the front passenger.

Waja is an indeed a fine looking car if proton did not screw it up, the plastics in the car are so cheap looking that one might mistake it for a tupperware, and we malaysians have to suffer with the poor quality car compared to the u. k spec, we malaysians can't get the spec here. believe me, if any of you guys come to malaysia and drive the waja, you would say that it's a piece of problematic crap.

To me, Proton Waja is a nice car and perhaps a good try by Proton itself to produce a car that is comparable to other European models.

Although the interior material quality isn't that of Beemers or Mercs, I think it worth the value.

A good try for Proton and there shall be room for more improvements.

The brakes go very in deep nearly to the floor before the car start showing any signs of stopping. The brake feel is bad. I am miffed at how this fellow writing that review would say the brakes are good, unless his previous car had worse brakes.

My mum has one of these and I drive it pretty regularly. But for the huge A pillars which are big enough to hide a whole motorcycle it's a pretty nifty design.

Much has been made of Lotus' contribution to the chassis design and handling characteristics, but I'm sure Lotus itself would sooner Proton keep this quiet given that the car handles like a pig compared to any of the Alfas or Fiats of similar size. So it's a huge technological step forward for Proton and it almost makes it. It's a decent car- or would have been, but for the truly abysmal quality control (or lack thereof) at the assembly plant and its spectacular failure to live up to its Lotus heritage. Lotuses (Loti?) would probably regard the Waja/Impian as a very very very distant and slightly embarrassing cousin and wish that it would for crying out loud stop claiming any relationship.

Handling is pretty good, no more. It's better than any of Proton's previous offerings and a good average for any contemporary current saloon. Attempting to out turn any of the more sporty continental saloons will see a Waja/Impian driver quickly in the ditch and looking rather silly. This is NOT a Lotus.

On a more positive note Proton have specced a pretty decent stereo as standard in the Waja/Impian. Use this to drown out the plethora of squeaks and rattles this car will emit after the first week or so of ownership. And if you play the right kind music you wouldn't be overly inclined to errr... explore the limits of this car's handling and adhesion.

I wish people would draw more attention to the stereo and less to the handling. We'd see less accidents that way. I'd also like to see Proton hiring some quality control inspectors or at least looking in the dictionary to find out what the word means.

Then I'd probably buy one.

What build quality does Proton puts into Waja anyway? Besides the cheap looking plastics, that will crack and peel under a hot tropical weather? Has anyone bothered to look behind the trunk of an European car and the finishings in the spare tire compartment. That is what I call Attention to detail. Look behind a waja and judge for yourself. If can't beat the European in the trunk area what makes you think the car is comparable.

Actually I think the Waja/Impian is comparable too many European cars...

Let's see... European cars like say Lada, Trabant or Moskvitch are comparable to the Waja in terms of build quality. Other European cars like the Austin Metro are comparable to the Waja in terms of driving dynamics and yet other European cars like Jaguar/Daimler, Mercedes and BMW are comparable to the Waja in maintenance costs.

So yeah sure... I'd agree that the Waja is comparable to European cars. And I defy anyone to say otherwise.