We have been bringing you many cars review, either from our own experience, thoughts or reviewed from other reliable website. Here we found our very own Proton Satria Neo Reviewed in a UK car review website. Please below is the reviewed…. Enjoy reading.

 

Summary

Assets
Cheap, cheerful drive.

Drawbacks
Cramped driving position, noisy engines, short servicing intervals, no diesel option.

Verdict
Proton's most impressive car to date, but still some way short of the class leaders.

 

Introduction

The Satria Neo is Proton's foray into the ultra-competitive supermini market. Designed and engineered by Lotus, but assembled in Malaysia, the Satria Neo is offered solely as a three-door.

Although designed by an Englishman, there's no doubting the Satria Neo's Far Eastern roots. The sharp-edged lights, oversized wheel arches, fussy alloy wheels and central exhaust certainly make it stand out from the Eurobox crowd.
 

Offered with two petrol engines and in two trim levels, the Satria Neo offers a cheap, no-nonsense option for people who want a car that'll get them from A to B without any fuss, and should last them a long time.

 

Protons are generally renowned for their very good reliability record - that's why the same buyers keep going back to Proton year after year. On first impressions, the Satria Neo looks well put together, with decent shut lines (something which cannot be said for the Savvy) and a well assembled interior, if not one made from the highest-quality materials; the steering wheel feels particularly nasty. The doors close with a weighty clunk, which is always reassuring.

We must note that one Satria Neo with just over 1,000 miles on the clock suffered power steering failure within 50 miles of 4Car taking the wheel. We hope this was an isolated rogue model; the second Satria Neo tested had no such problems.

 

Image

Even though it owns sports car maker Lotus, Proton doesn't really have any sort of image that buyers would be proud of. Protons are solid, dependable cars. The Savvy city car has helped Proton attract a younger buyer, though; a few years ago, the average buyer was a man well into his 80s, but now the average is in the 70s.

CO2 emissions are worse than many in the class, with the smaller of the two engines actually being the less kind to the environment.

 

This is where Lotus's influence is felt most. The Satria Neo drives exceptionally well for a car in its class, but with one problem. The driving position is unacceptably bad for anyone over 5'10" - your head brushes the headlining and the seat doesn't adjust low enough - compounded by the fact that the adjustment wheel can't be reached comfortably when the door is closed. The steering wheel adjusts by only a few millimetres up and down, and there is no in or out movement.

The steering is very direct, not suffering from the woolly assistance that blights many models with electric power steering systems. The body roll is controlled, and the Satria Neo grips reasonably well, but can wash wide into understeer without too much of a push.

 

Performance

This is where Lotus's influence is felt most. The Satria Neo drives exceptionally well for a car in its class, but with one problem. The driving position is unacceptably bad for anyone over 5'10" - your head brushes the headlining and the seat doesn't adjust low enough - compounded by the fact that the adjustment wheel can't be reached comfortably when the door is closed. The steering wheel adjusts by only a few millimetres up and down, and there is no in or out movement.

The steering is very direct, not suffering from the woolly assistance that blights many models with electric power steering systems. The body roll is controlled, and the Satria Neo grips reasonably well, but can wash wide into understeer without too much of a push.

 

Comfort & Equipment

The seating position could cause problems for many drivers, although the seats themselves are very comfortable, so the passengers should be fine. There's not a lot of space in the back, but isn't much worse than many in the class.

Engine noise is an issue, especially on the motorway, where the constant drone will prove draining, although the standard-fit CD player puts up a good fight to quash it. Air-conditioning is standard on all Satria Neos. The alloy wheels on the top GSX model won't be to everyone's taste and will prove tricky to clean.

 

 

Overall the car was rated as 3 star which we think was pretty good. One think we at Luk4all would like to point out is, the site actually says that ‘Protons are solid, dependable cars’ which we felt very proud. Maybe Proton is different now, maybe all of us should give it a chance and start thinking about buying a Proton again.