Sunday, May 13, 2012

New Preve - It's, well, a Proton

The Preve. Kinda hard to say much about it, because, well, it's a Proton.

As ride handling goes, if you're familiar with how solid and pleasurable the Proton Waja feels, then you're right to expect the same thing from the Preve.

It's also quite punchy. Without the turbo charger, the Preve manual feels similar to the Proton Waja manual version.

With the turbo charger, it's pickup is kicked up more than by several notches.

This means that, for those who have been waiting for a Proton sedan to have a turbo charger in it, the Preve would be just the thing for you.

But then, we come full circle. In the end, it's just a Proton.

Styling wise, it doesn't quite set the design trend like most Proton cars. The Preve, for all intents and purposes, looks like... well, it looks like the Kia Forte. This is not bad, but it's not refreshing either.

So, it won't quite be the head-turner that Proton may have intended it to be.

The Preve is cheap relative to others in its class, but herein lies a threat. Being protected by government taxes means that it can come up short in quality and value-for-money, and still have healthy demand, encouraging Proton to continue with its tendency to produce cars with poor quality control.

Hopefully, the Preve will prove to be different from many of its defect-prone forerunners (the Waja included). After all, Proton has a new tag line now "Committed to be better".

Yeah, well, it had better be. It's been a looooong time coming.