Proton Saga

Recommend this car to my friend who is looking a budget car with larger boot and easy to maintain. He was very impressed with it although the car lacks of accessories such as no rear power window and rear folded seats but still find it very practical and economy if you know how to take care of it. He already install leather seats and power window motor at the rear door.

He like the large boot, FC is above average for city and highway drive.

No rear power window, Too many plastic material inside.

Drives a auto model since sept. Problems start to pop up from third mth.

Hazard light spoilt twice, door lock difficult to unlock from inside car. fuel consuption high - doing 240km on 30ltr of mobil 5000. Check with service centre and got no answer. Brochure and review say good fuel consumption about 16km per ltr while i only do half sometime less. (kept receipt for monitoring) Agree with earlier reviewer, first gear not fast to react to second especially in

the morning or parking for long hrs, thus using more fuel to push the car. worst than my old 19yrs honda concerto who are able to do 9-10km per ltr and smooth gear changing from 1 to 2 in less than 3-4sec

High ceiling. Comfortable even for 1.8m individual. Good leg room

proportion. Aircon powerful. Nice car shape

Seems to have left and right view block by the 2 side beam whenever waiting a junction for pedestrian to cross. dont have this problem for the other cars drove previously.

Sound proofing can be better

Own this car currently. Quite spacious for a 1.3 compact sedan. Good air con even at no 1 fan blowing mode. Could do better if they fitted with rear power windaow and better rear suspension. No problem on maintaining high speed @ 110-120kmh on highways although a bit loud. Adequate pick up even for auto transmission. Reasonable big boot for a compact car. Overall i give 8 out of 10

The boot, speed, spacious, handling. Pricing and fuel consumption

No rear power window and soft rear suspension.

I was pleasantly surprised when I test drove the Saga.

I was expecting to see an average made car like the Wira.

This is one of those budget car that does not feel like one and is great value for money at $36,988 for the manual and $39,988 for the auto, COE inclusive.

The high OMV of $9,000 and $9,500 for the manual and auto translates to a low annual depreciation of only $3,250 / year for the manual and $3,525 / year for the auto.

For this money, there are several choices but nothing beats the Saga.

Let's take the $36,988 manual version to compare.

For $2,000 more, you can get a Kia Rio 1.4M but the Rio's rear is very cramped leaving hardly any leg room if the front passenger and driver are tall and need to push the front seats back. The Rio's engine also feels more coarse.

An additional $3,000 gets you a Cerato Variant 2 1.6M, but this almost 1.3 tonne sedan drinks like a Hyundai Matrix and its road tax is higher, although its interior leg room and finishing beats the Saga. The Saga weighs just 1030kg but does not have that light feel when driven.

You can also get the 999cc Perodua Kenari & Kelisa, or 1086cc Kia Picanto for between $2,000 to $3,000 cheaper but these less powerful and cramped hatchbacks do not come with a boot.

Their lower OMV also means that the annual depreciation is almost similar to the Saga when you scrap it at the 10th year.

The Saga has the reliability of a Japanese, with the built quality comparable to those Thai assembled Japanese makes, but at budget China-made car prices.

For this money, I rather get the Saga than a Chery A168, Geely CK, Dong Feng, Hai Fei or any China made cars.

In summary, if you have a budget of only $40,000 to spare, and want a reliable & spacious family saloon with adequate space for 5 adults, cheap maintenance, and a boot to accumulate your luggages for those driving holidays to Malaysia, you can't go wrong with the new Proton Saga.

- Door closes with a solid THUD, similar to continental cars

- Very spacious interior comparable to the Toyota Vios. The rear leg room is very generous even with the front seats pushed all the way back. Can easily accommodate 1.8m tall passengers.

- Huge boot space easily accomodates three 20" luggages with space to spare

- Generous rear headroom similar to the boxy Nissan Latio

- "Hump" on centre of rear seats is not very pronounced, leaving lots of leg room.

- Generally refined 16V engine much quieter than Wira's 12V engine

- Engine very willing to rev and no shortage of pulling power when moving off for 1.3 auto.

- Steering wheel is not too thin and has good feel and grip

- High bonnet makes it easy to judge when parking

- Cheap spare parts

- Comes with 1 driver air bag

- Air con knob is very small, more durtable for kids sized fingers.

- No rear power windows

- No ABS

- Poor insulation but this can be easily solved by after market sound proofing. But this is a budget car, so cannot complain

- Manual gear knob a little hard to shift. Not as smooth as Japanese makes.

Tried it twice during my holidays in Malaysia. Never dissappointed in its handling, corners and city use. What i dun like about this Savvy based chassis is the rear. Reminds me of the old Corolla. Suspension a bit soft. Malaysia most fast selling cars. Reliable and practical for small family. Price for auto need to slash down.

Driving it.

Price for auto too ex. Rear tailight should include LED.