Satria Neo Review: Second Impression

Today, the keys to the Satria Neo were handed to me, and it’s just me and my Neo, a 1.3AT model, and a brief drive in the 1.6MT and 1.6AT variants. I believe to thoroughly review a car; it has to be just you and the car, and not having someone else in the car with you. You wouldn’t need to worry about the other person’s well being; or have someone disturb you when you are connecting with the car. You just let go all of your worries and drive the car to your heart’s content. While this is about the drive experience, I’d also be sharing with you how it feels to live with the Neo.

Getting in the car was easy enough, and after adjusting my seating position, I noticed how low the roof was, or, another way of looking at it was how high the seat was. Don’t get me wrong - visibility is excellent, but I can’t help but feel confined having so little headroom. Still, if our Flying Sikh can be doing stunts in the Neo, I think it can’t be that bad; he is one of the taller Malaysians after all.

With a quick turn of the key, the engine starts immediately, emitting a low rumble, almost inaudible. I wonder if that’s because the engine is refined, or the cabin is well insulated, but either way it is a good thing. While waiting for the car to warm-up, I was fiddling round and about the cabin. The air conditioning vents are rather fancy, though I would have preferred a straightforward vent design, but that’s not a big deal once you’re used to it. Moving down, the air condition controls are pretty straightforward, but I kept wondering what is the space next to each side of the controls is for. For me to put my Touch N Go card? My mobile phone? An odd location, but I guess it could work. Talking about space, I find the lack of it in the glove compartment; the manual and booklets that came with the car took almost half of the space and I hope it wasn’t there just to hold those 2 items.

The side mirrors had to be manually adjusted, which is rather disappointing in my opinion. It was rather difficult for me to reach the side mirror on the passenger side, let alone adjust it. Adjusting the backrest was also a challenge, as with the door closed, the door panel was simply too close to the seat, and the space in between was too narrow for my hand to reach the lever comfortably. On the same topic, the side pockets on the door panels were almost inaccessible with the doors closed. I’m wondering were the engineers at Proton having too much fun driving the car that they disregarded the ergonomics for the interior. I know I wouldn’t mind driving a stripped down Neo on a track, maybe that’s what they were thinking, every Satria Neo owner would strip it down anyway, why bother

From standstill, the car is sluggish; which I attribute to the lower displacement, automatic transmission as well as the high revving nature of the engine, where the powerband rises significantly at higher revs. Do keep in mind that I am driving a brand new car with barely 600KMs done on it. Flooring it didn’t help, or at least, not yet…2,000rpm…nothing…3,000rpm….i feel it coming …4,000rpm… hold on, the car is lurching forward …5,000rpm… the engine explodes to a roar all the way past 6,000rpm to redline! It was scary the first time I did it, as I was worried that the engine might fall apart, but after doing it a few times, I was enjoying myself, feeling the kick while getting an adrenaline rush as the roar of the engine escalates. I absolutely loved the automatic transmission as the shifts were smooth and fast. Cruising at 80km/h, I floored the pedal while I observed the tachometer and I noticed the transmission downshifting 2 speeds; acceleration was almost instantaneous and power delivery was fluid. No jerk due to shifting, no lag, and most importantly, no loss of fun. The transmission is definitely tuned to suit the high revving nature of the engine, almost like a match made in heaven. The brakes were responsive, and you may even find it sensitive if you’re not used to it. In my opinion, it’s more than sufficient to tame the Neo.

Driving a Satria Neo on the road certainly attracted a lot of attention. Every turn I take, I see heads turn, but I was pretty sure I had more fun than them while taking the turns. At lower speeds, the steering felt a little slow to respond, but once up to speed, it wasn’t an issue. I felt confident maneuvering corners as I entered familiar turns at speeds higher than I normally do, and flooring the pedal a little earlier than I usually do before the exit. And not once did the Neo let me down. My eyes see where I want to go; my mind envisions the path; my limb sends the command and the Neo takes me there. If I was asked to describe this with one word, it would be euphoric.

Having the engine mounted in the front and being a front wheel driven car, we’d expect it to exhibit signs of understeer. However, understeer wasn’t apparent, if it even did understeer at all. Not once did the Neo strayed away from the line I wanted to go; maybe I wasn’t pushing it enough, but I was certainly going as fast as I could on the road. Having driven every single mass produced Proton with Lotus inspired handling there is, I daresay the Neo is one of the best handling Proton to date. Holding its steering wheel however is a different story altogether, as it is simply too rough for extended use. I usually steer using one hand while cruising in urban areas, and it didn’t take long for my hand to hurt. Maybe the engineers at Proton figured that the steering wheel wouldn’t slip if they made it rougher, but in this case I think they overdid it because it feels like sandpaper.

The performance difference between the 1.3 and 1.6 variant is significant; with the 1.6MT being the most eager, while the 1.3AT being the most sluggish. I wouldn’t recommend the 1.3AT to our readers here at Zerotohundred.com, and that you’re better off with the 1.3MT. The best bang for the buck? The 1.6MT H-Line - where you get performance and safety, or the 1.6AT H-Line - a compromise between performance and convenience, matched together with safety. The H-Line comes highly recommended from me as the ABS, EBD and airbag is certainly instrumental in times of need; else other countries wouldn’t make it compulsory to have ABS and airbags in all cars. Unless you are taking the Satria Neo to the track (which I believe many would), I don’t see any reason why you should skimp on safety. For the road, it is definitely the Satria Neo H-Line.

There’s a Satria Neo to fit every lifestyle, and you just need to find one that suits you. Overall, the ergonomics leaves more to be desired and the cabin needs to be refined further, but remember that when driving a car, it’s the drive experience that counts, and the Satria Neo is high on drive, which makes up for its shortcomings.

Note: There are unconfirmed reports that test vehicles from Proton Edar are rev limited. All cars reviewed were provided by EON and there are no rev or speed limitations of any kind on them. To fully experience what the Neo has to offer, we recommend that you drop by an EON showroom near you"

EON Berhad

Contact:
1-800-88-3003

Website:
Eon Malaysia

Sales Contact:
Randy Ong
019 334 2587

Rosli Johari
019 2800 333

Mohd Arif
012 630 6666

Ronny Low
019 336 4381

Proton Satria Neo (On The Road in West Malaysia w/ Insurance)

1.3MT: RM43,500
1.3AT: RM46,500
1.6MT M-line: RM48,500
1.6AT M-line: RM51,500
1.6MT H-line: RM51,800
1.6AT H-line: RM54,800

Suggested monthly Installment structure from Eon Malaysia

EON Berhad

Contact:
1-800-88-3003

Website:
Eon Malaysia

Sales Contact:
Randy Ong
019 334 2587

Rosli Johari
019 2800 333

Mohd Arif
012 630 6666

Ronny Low
019 336 4381