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Car review
- Proton Persona GX sedan
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| Model release date: May 2008
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Overview
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CAN Proton actually do the seemingly impossible by zooming up small-car buyer’s wish lists? Stop smirking, because on the evidence of the new Persona sedan, those people out there who seek value, size, style and economy will be hard-pressed to find a better new four-door sedan for $16,990. There are some minor irritations, a couple of disappointing omissions, and a name that is not synonymous with pleasure or excitement, but the latest, Lotus-engineered Proton small-car is fun, characterful, practical and extremely well priced. And did we mention it was stylish?
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Proton Persona
May 1995-October 2004
Based on the 1992 Mitsubishi CC Lancer sedan, the Proton Wira (renamed Persona from November 1996) had some bespoke body panels (such as the five-door liftback silhouette that was exclusive to the Malaysians) as well as the four-door sedan shape common with the Japanese car. The commonality extended to four-cylinder petrol engines - we saw a 55kW/108Nm 1.3 with five-speed manual from 1999 to 2001 in the GLi – replacing the 66kW/126Nm 1.5 with five-speed manual or three-speed automatic, only to see the latter return from 2002 in 64kW/120Nm guise. A 83kW/137Nm 1.6 with five-speed manual or four-speed auto was also marketed in the XLi until late 2000. Unexciting, but economical and dependable, the Persona competed with light-cars like the Hyundai Excel/Accent, until the in-house Proton-designed Gen.2 usurped it in late 2004. The Persona badge returned on the sedan version of that car in 2008 (tested here), before replacing the Gen.2 badge itself.
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