Motoring-Malaysia: The Proton Preve 1.6 CFE Premium Driven
It has been obvious that in nearly every conversation that I've entered into about Proton usually begins or ends with someone stating their cars are crap and that the only reason they're selling is that they are cheap. So does anyone who reads this article really give two hoots about what I actually think of the way the Proton Preve drives then? They may already have the built in assumption that all Proton cars have shoddy plastics, bad build quality but 'Handling By Lotus'. And then they go out and buy a Toyota Vios, a Honda City or a Perodua Myvi. Malaysians are a brand conscious bunch and they love badging and branding over deriving pleasure from driving. But driving pleasure is actually what the Proton Preve 1.6 CFE would give you at the price it is offered. The Proton Preve CFE is powered by a 1.6liter 4 cylinder turbocharged engine with variable valve timing. It is coupled to a CVT transmission that has 7 set speeds which is sent to the front wheels. As is most small family sized cars these days. It makes about 140bhp and 205 Nm torque.
Now this may seem quite a lot, especially the torque figure which is as high or slightly higher than a normally asiprated 2.0liter engine but it actually isn't impressive as it seems. We'll get to that later. When you get into the car you will notice that the steering wheel and seating position is actually quite spot on. After some slight adjustment you find that steering wheel isn't stupidly low as what you'd find in the Proton Waja, Gen2 and Satria Neo - the Persona seems to be slightly higher, but only slightly. You then find all the usual controls in the normal places. The stalks are nice to flick up and down and feels even better to do so than even a the Ford Fiesta sold locally. The air vents are good to adjust too. It does not feel cheap or flimsy and these are a million years ahead of the crap Proton used for the vents in the Satria Neo. The only issues would be the plastics used on the lower parts of the car.
The glovebox is a little flimsy and the coin box (which I've mentioned in my earlier report) is even worse to open and close. This harks back to the time of the Proton Wira, which was launched a good two decades ago. But then again, Proton has ensured that what the driver or passenger regularly touches is pretty good and I have no complaints about it. In fact, some of the contact points are actually on par with most cars instead of feeling sub-standard. So this is a good thing. Now starting the car requires you to push the key fob into a slot and then press the start button beside it while stepping on the brake pedal. The start button is indeed a gimmick as they should have just done the VW/Audi way - starting the car is by pushing it deeper into the slot. They could have gone the 'keyless go' way, in that the key could be left in the pocket and the driver could just use the start button to start the car up.
But they didn't. This seems to be a compromise or a marketing gimmick in my opinion. Maybe this is because the push start button is only offered with this top of the range CFE model. A key would be needed for the normal Preve models. So you get settled in the car and start it up. The engine is quiet and you get going by moving the gear shift to 'D' and move away like any other automatic transmission equipped car. Tiptronic styling. But there is another option - paddle shifters that actually follow the steering wheel when you turn. A very good thing as it gives you more control especially if you like diving into corners and shifting at the same time. However there is one thing I noticed at low speeds - the CVT emits a slight whine. It is quite a clear and distinct 'whoo' sort of sound. I asked a friend who also tested the Preve whether his test unit emitted a whine and he said it did too.
It isn't that irritating, but it is present as it is the only sound that's loud enough to be heard when you are driving the car at low speeds. If you potter around town you'd notice that the Preve is actually quiet aside from that CVT whine. There is minimal road noise transmitted through its Champiro GT Radial tyres (Proton is somehow speccing Indonesian made tyres for the Preve CFE) and you then notice that the Preve's steering is incredibly well weighted. It isn't feather light and it actually makes the Preve feel quite substantial. As does the rest of the car when it rides over bumps and how it generallly feels on the road. The Preve CFE isn't floaty and feels extremely well planted. This feeling of stability does not change at higher than usual speeds. I took the car to around 160km/h on a quiet stretch of road and it was stable at this speed.
