Just seen an advert for the Proton Satira Neo in todays NOTW.
www.proton.co.uk/satria/gallery_exterior_1.asp
Looks quite nice and they are pushing the links with Lotus.
Just wondering if anyone has any opinions on the car or Proton in general. You don't see too many around.
GK
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Blimey, you're Morpheus and the car's Neo. Where's that Trinity when you need her?
Proton's seem to have died very quietly. I used to see quite a few. My father in law had an original Proton on a G plate and it was fine, but the replacement M reg Persona was noisy and the trim fell off. That said, I still see around, so someone thinks it's worth it.
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Auto Express did a group test this week - not impressed with it. It came bottom in the test, below the Suzuji Swift, Ford Ka and Hyundai Getz. It didn't seem to do anything that the Swift couldn't do better.
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Looks a really nice car much better looking than a lot of the dross out there - If it wasn't a Proton it would be a big seller but Badge Snobbery and all that.
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The dashboard looks as cheap as my Fiestas and that was designed in 1989.
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The Dash reminds me of the Skoda Fabia
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Protons sold on the back of (a) an existing network (they started out being sold at Lada dealers), and (b) Japanese-style reliability (being nowt but previous-gen Mitsubishis).
Unfortunately both of those have now evaporated. The Ladas have gone, and the bomb-proof mechanicals have been replaced by a hodge-podge of a few Mitsubishi bits, some obscure and unproven home-built engines and a lot of Renault castoffs. It's sad really, but the Proton of today just isn't as well made as the Proton of 10+ years ago, when they were a typical Far-Eastern "look past the cheap plastics and there's a damn good car underneath" effort.
That said they do seem to be finally bringing in some half-decent designers, and are producing a series of quirky, but distinctive and quite attractive cars.
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