PROTON is stretching things a little - well, a lot, really - when it describes the Waja medium-sized sedan as a car equal to rivals from Europe and Japan. True, it has smart outer skin and lots of features contained within. Lotus-tuned handling also impresses. But these do not give the car an automatic ticket into the big league, considering the underpowered 1.6-litre engine, lack of interior comfort and quality glitches found throughout the car. At launch, the car was also overpriced, although this has since been addressed with a $4500 price drop.