Proton Persona 2008 Review

What we liked
>> Willing powerplant, though its no firecracker
>> Plenty of room and convenience equipment
>> Benign and predictable handling

Not so much
>> Safety story is weak
>> Build quality improvements need to be proven as consistent
>> Performance would benefit from five-speed auto

Overall rating: 2.5/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 2.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 3.0/5.0
Safety: 2.0/5.0
Behind the wheel: 3.0/5.0
X-factor: 2.5/5.0

About our ratings

OVERVIEW
Proton is a carmaker in transition. Once almost entirely focused on a tariff-protected domestic Malaysian market, the company is attempting to become a truly international automotive business.

The new Persona sedan isn't strictly the first shot in Proton's battle to be more than a regional also-ran -- those cars will emerge sometime in 2009. It is, however, a significant step along the way.

Though heavily based on the underdone Gen2 five-door hatch (more here), the four-door Persona benefits from major changes in Proton's production practices and also a significant improvement in the company's vendor (parts supply) infrastructure.

Fresh to Australia and already a runaway success in its home market, it is the best product Proton's yet produced. Faint praise some wags would suggest, but as far as first impressions are concerned this is an honest, well executed car.

Such is the demand for the car in Malaysia and other merging export markets such as the UK and South Africa that Proton Australia will get just 600 to sell for the remainder of 2008.

With this sort of volume and work still to be done on the brand's awareness and perception Down Under, it's hardly about to trouble the likes of Mazda3 and Corolla. It will, however, find favour with buyers whose focus is metal for money. It is also proof positive that the well-funded, well-resourced manufacturer is serious about making a wider impact.

PRICE AND EQUIPMENT
Persona arrives Down Under with a simple one-body, one-trim level strategy. Priced at $16,990 for the manual and $18,990 in auto, the car is available as a sedan only. The sole factory option is metallic paint at $350. You'll probably be paying it -- of the seven colours offered, five are metallics.

Given the price, the equipment level is impressive -- at least in terms of convenience and comfort items. There are omissions in safety equipment that we believe need to be addressed (see SAFETY below) but all the mod cons are included.

Aircon, rear park sensors, power steering, windows and mirrors, keyless entry and auto door locks, immobiliser and alarm, multifunction steering wheel with audio controls and trip computer are all standard. The standard spec also includes height and tilt-adjustable driver's seat, 60/40 splitfold rear seats (which fold flat), 15-inch alloys, quality Goodyear rubber and front and rear fog lamps.

The main convenience item missing is arguably cruise control. Proton Australia says it will address this with a dealer-fit system -- albeit an expensive one (circa $700 plus fitting).

MECHANICAL
The Persona is essentially an updated, sedan version of the existing Gen2. Built on the same platform (WR in Proton parlance), the basic structure has been reworked from the ground up. Indeed, though there are some carry-over panels, most are new.

Proton says the car has benefitted from substantial reengineering and refinement -- and certainly noise levels have been reduced. The interior has also been significantly revised, though remains Gen2 based.

No prizes for guessing therefore that the updated version of the five-door Gen2 due Down Under later this year will incorporate many of the changes. It will also be renamed the Persona Hatch for Australia. This should go some way to assuaging the original car's reputation for being a 'work-in-progress'.

Persona sedan builds on the brief of the 'default' front-driver. Featuring a transverse four-cylinder petrol engine with integral transaxle and MacPherson strut front suspension, it boasts a proper multilink independent rear suspension, instead of the beam rear axle with which most 'cheap and cheerfuls' make do. There's even a strut brace fitted at the pointy end and its disc brakes at all corners are also a step up on some vehicles in this segment.

The suspension is tuned by Proton affiliate Lotus Engineering. It's deliberately more comfort-oriented (read: softer) than the current hatch. The next hatch will be sportier again, says Proton.

The Persona's CamPro DOHC fuel-injected four-cylinder engine is Proton's own. A conventional design, without fancy variable cam timing or forced induction (yet!), it produces a modest 82kW (at 6000rpm) and 148Nm (at 4000rpm) from its 1597cc capacity and is Euro IV emissions-compliant.

It's an undersquare, long-stroke design that frankly could do with some more capacity -- especially when matched to the wide-ratioed automatic gearbox. This electronically-controlled four-speeder is smooth and behaves well, but desperately needs a fifth ratio to allow the engine to show its best.

For the record, we'd opt for the cheaper five-speed manual and pocket the $2000 saving. The manual is a proven Mitsubishi design, built under licence by Proton. It features a nicely weighted and defined, though long-throw, shift.

Claimed combined fuel economy for the Persona is an impressive 6.6L/100km for the manual and just 0.1L/100km more for the auto. Proton claims the highway figure is around 4.5L/100km. It's unapproachable in the real world, but the combined figures aren't a world away from our experience on the more sedate parts of the launch drive. We recorded high-6.0L figures for the manual while the auto was happy to record figures approaching the low-8.0s.

The ADR81 fuel stats and Euro IV compliance combine to deliver the car a four-star rating under the Australian Government's Green vehicle Guide.

PACKAGING
With more than a hint of Mazda3 to its styling from all points of the compass, the Persona is a true sedan -- four doors and decent boot. Actually, given the segment benchmarks, at 460 litres it's a thumping big boot!

At 4477mm the Persona's just 2mm longer than the Mazda but rides on a 40mm shorter wheelbase (2600 v 2640). The Mazda is 30mm wider than the Proton (1755 v 1725), taller and also beefier in track front and rear.

By way of comparison, the Persona matches the Holden Viva sedan for wheelbase, track (within 5mm) and width. Height is also lineball (1438 versus the Holden's 1445).

The Proton weighs in about the same as the '3', to boot. At 1275kg, the heaviest (auto) Persona is about 30kg up on the Mazda.

There's good room available front and rear of the Malaysian car. Sampling the rear seat, there's sufficient room for two big fellas to be comfortable and a surprising amount of legroom. Three kiddies will be fine.

Headroom has been improved around 40mm over the Gen2, says Proton. This and relatively slim pillars help with impression of space within the cabin.

The dash treatment is an improvement over the Gen2. There's plenty of incidental storage and (unlike the Gen2) a proper glovebox.

The gauges are housed under a Lotus-style compact double-bubble binnacle with the audio system (by Blaupunkt) integrated into the centre stack. There's no AUX jack but a dealer fit iPod kit will be offered in due course.

Plastics are generally harder and glossier than the best in the segment, but only one of the four test cars we drove exhibited any issues regarding rattle and hum.

The only faux pas we can see is the vertical stacked three-dial HVAC controls. Sited low on the centre line of the car below the main dash structure they are too hard to read and adjust on the move.

SAFETY
In our opinion, Proton has miss-called the change in market sensibilities in this category. Although the Persona gets Bosch antilock brakes as standard, there are just two airbags and not a sniff of traction or stability control. Indeed, neither stability control nor side and curtain airbags are offered -- even at extra cost.

What makes things worse for the maker is the fact the Gen2 -- which this car in effect supersedes -- still gets side airbags standard on some models. This will continue to be the case when the Gen2 becomes the Persona Hatch.

Proton says it is working with the factory to offer a 'safety pack' whether it be via an option program or via a higher spec model variant. It says, however, it doesn't believe that either will be available until mid-2009.

The brand makes claims regarding the structural strength of the new body-in-white and the incorporation of crumple zones front and rear -- and the car clearly meets its statutory requirements -- however, the low level of standard safety equipment will deter some buyers.

COMPETITORS
Offering a Small car at a Light car price in terms of purchase and running costs figures large in Proton's recipe for success for the Persona.

Local boss John Startari asserts that the Persona is larger, yet no more thirsty than the current crop of lighter sedans, some of which are actually more expensive than the Persona and offer less standard equipment. As such Yaris, Barina, Accent and Tiida sedan buyers are all in his sights.

Move up a class to the Small Car category and he says the Persona still stands up in terms of equipment and size. We can't see many buyers set on a Mazda3 or Focus suddenly detouring to their local Proton dealer, but the war's not about to be won in a day.

Thus Proton is targeting all and sundry with Persona. Its Achilles heel may be the relatively lacklustre safety story and its relatively modest power output. Truth be known, most buyers in the Small/Light car marketplace will be satisfied by the Persona's 82kW output. As they often opt for lower spec models of 'name' brands, the lack of ESP/extra bags may not be an issue and the extra convenience equipment the Proton offers may be tempting.

ON THE ROAD
In a word, the Persona's dynamics are honest. What you feel is what you get.

Steering is well weighted and direct, but even at moderate levels of enthusiasm there's pronounced kickback and some rack rattle in bumpy corners. And it understeers like William Hale Thompson's Chicago voters -- early and often. That said, in normal day-to-day running the car is controlled and predictable. Exactly what most buyers want and need.

The benign and essentially foolproof handling is aided by reasonable wet grip levels from the Goodyear NCT tyres and the better than adequate performance of the Persona's ABS-equipped all-wheel discs.

Better than average too is the car's ride quality. Yes, big bumps can catch the car out, but there's no crashing or bashing on anything but the worst surfaces.

Noise levels generally are better controlled than previous Protons and the engine, while at times a touch vocal, is a sweet spinning and sounding unit. Some wind noise around the A-pillars aside, about the noisiest thing at 100km/h is the aircon fan and compressor.

There's sufficient power in the manual version, but you'll need to be well acquainted with the five-speed gearbox in hilly going or with more than two onboard. The launch drive from the heights of Dinner Plain down the wonderfully sinuous Great Alpine Road to Bright and beyond to Melbourne was entertaining, but even modest uphill sections had us back to third to maintain momentum.

Lumbered with the four-speed auto, the Persona's performance erodes from sedate to slow -- no other way to describe it. Even with just two onboard and little luggage, the wider gaps in the automatic gearbox are almost too much for the 1.6-litre four to overcome.

At least the auto holds onto gears until high into the rev range to allow you some semblance of overtaking performance. This doesn't seem to totally shoot the fuel economy, either.

Interior materials don't match the likes of Corolla or Mazda3, but if you really expect them to, you're a hard judge. The Lotus-style twin binnacle instruments are smart and clearly logically laid out -- the vertically stacked HVAC controls are cute but clumsy in our short experience.

No budget for too many soft touch points at this end of the market, however. The plastics used for the oddly profiled steering wheel and (conventional) gear lever are literally tacky. Makes for better grip, we guess.

While we're having a slight whinge, we found it hard to get really comfortable behind the wheel. The flat, cloth-covered front seats have cushion tilt/height adjustment but the positioning seemed to place the cushion at odds with the squab. The tilt-only wheel adjustment doesn't help and nor does the lack of any lumbar adjustment.

That said, given the price/size ratio, the Persona's build quality looked solid enough on the low km road test fleet. Although one auto example we drove had an annoying dash rattle, the overall execution of the cars was commendable. So too the styling, which with more than a hint of Mazda3 sedan to it, is attractive -- especially in the brighter paint colours.

Overall, the Persona is a much more convincing vehicle than the Gen2 which spawned it. It's a surprisingly capable small car that offers a good blend of economy and space. The sooner Proton remedies the lack of what are quickly becoming default safety items, the better...

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