The New Proton Satria Neo - With the backing of its sister company, Lotus, Proton have unveiled their latest creation, a new 3-door supermini to compliment the rest of the Proton clan, the Satria Neo.
Translated, the name Satria means Hero and Neo means New, so can this New Hero appease today’s motorists. Well, two engines are up for grabs, the 1.3 litre mated to either an entry level SX or GXS and their prices start at a respectable £7,995. Or there is the option of 1.6 litre petrol on the GSX trim with the choice of five speed manual gearbox or automatic transmission. These prices start at £9,595 so quite a lot of money compared to other manufactures out there. My test car was the 1.6 manual on the GSX trim that stands in at £9,595 so lets hope the cost warrants the benefits the Satria Neo boasts of.
They say ‘never judge a book by its cover’ but I fell into the trap as the picture on the brochures makes the Satria Neo look simply stunning. The car is on a bridge, in liquid orange with the headlights on and it really looks so different, but when my test model turned up in the rather boring steel grey, I felt rather cheated so definitely have a look at the bright orange, chill red or the twilight blue.
Upon closer inspection I did find some neat touches such as the colour coded integrated bumper with a honeycomb grille flanked by quite attractive light clusters, alloy wheels, colour coded door handles and electrically operated heated split colour coded door mirrors with a contrasting aluminium fuel cap. Being a three ..door always makes any car look more sportier and this is emphasised further to the rear with a centrally mounted exhaust pipe and the lovely way the rear light clusters wrap around to the side.
Proton = plastic, plastic = Proton. Oh I do hope this has changed. Ouch, sadly not, the plastic is in abundance with even the protruding air vents being trimmed with the stuff. You know, just replace that with bright shiny chrome and the car could be transformed. Never mind. The driver’s seat is height adjustable while the passenger has a memory function so the seat returns to its nominated place when moved to allow access to the rear.
But because there is so little space between the seat and the doors, adjusting the seats could leave you with a few bruises on your hands and girls, take off any rings or bracelets. The CD radio player is MP3 compatible and ready for Bluetooth with remote controls on the height adjustable steering wheel while keeping us cool is air conditioning with pollen filter
Storage space is limited in the Satria Neo however; the boot area is quite accommodating but has the annoying feature of only being able to open via the internal boot release. Try opening that whist struggling to hold onto the trolley.
Switching on the Satria Neo and here is where the Lotus influence comes out with the 1.6 litre 16v Lotus developed CamPro engine mated to a five speed manual gearbox that has a new lower final drive ratio giving it better low to medium speed acceleration plus smooth torque and power delivery. The engine has been built to impress with a top speed of 118 mph and built to last having spent 27,000 hours on the dyno. Savings can be found for the cost conscious motorist in excellent fuel consumption of 42.8 mpg on a combined cycle, low CO2 emissions at 157 and falling into insurance group 7. Drive wise, the Satria Neo did grow on me after a while and certainly gave a re-assuring ride especially at high speeds. But the steering could have been lighter as lower speeds and the gearbox was very tight especially between third down to second.
Keeping occupants safe, all Satria Neo’s have twin airbags across their range and to further protect passengers are built ..in crumple zones, a strong cabin rigidity and additional energy absorbance technology that basically prevents the doors from moving into the cabin in the event of a side impact. The seatbelts all have pre-tensioners while the antisubmarine seats further protect the front occupants by making sure they do not slide underneath the seatbelt. ABS with EBD is standard in case it does go pear shaped and to help with reversing is rear-parking sensors but not really needed on a car of this size.
Securing the Satria Neo is an integrated alarm and immobiliser with a unique encoded transponder thus deterring theft by hot wire or duplication of keys, remote central locking, an integrated audio system and rear window etching with inclusion of the International Security Register.
I will admit being a little disappointed with the new super mini from Proton. But looks are not everything and in fairness, there are some other pleasing colours to chose from for a more distinctive look. The interior lifted the sprits slightly as did the ride and handling. Regarding value for money, this is a difficult area as there are many other smaller cars at a snip of the price the Satria Neo wears, but then you are paying here for Lotus technology, which must be worth something.
FemaleFirst Jackie Violet