PROTON GEN 2 Review

Summary:

What we like: Styling; Handling; Price.

What we don't like: Engine; No glovebox!

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PROTON GEN 2 review in detail:

The Proton Gen.2 is an attractive little car from the Malaysian maker.

The interior styling is as interesting as the body, with good ideas and a real sporting flair.

The British sports car maker Lotus was involved in the styling process, which perhaps explains the somewhat bizarre lack of a glovebox in a passenger car.

Lotus also helped with the suspension and steering so it comes as no surprise that the Gen.2 is extremely well balanced, being very responsive to steering and throttle input and happy to be moved along close to its dynamic limit in safety.

The brakes have a nice meaty feel.

Engine performance is not one of Proton's strong points and the Gen.2 is, sadly, hampered by this.

It often has to be hunted along with lots of revs to get the best from it.

Keeping the engine on song by being in the right gear can be enjoyable, as the gearbox has well-chosen ratios and the action is light and reasonably positive.

There has been speculation for some time that Proton is about to enter a partnership with one of the big European marques and that new engines may be the result.

Proton called in German specialist TUV to closely monitor the build of the car, so quality in later models has improved considerably.