Proton Persona 1.6 Review: imPERSONAtion; It is not.

Handling aside, the other, more impressive bit would have to be the car’s ability to cruise at hooligan-ish right lane speeds on the north-south highways in Malaysia. Not once will you find the engine intrusive, and it is in fact much more hushed up than a Vios could ever hope to be.

Wind noise is the least of your worries, especially for a car of it’s class, and holding a conversation at a decent volume remains entirely possible. The age of Protons not being able to trace a straight line above 100km/h are long gone, and when we say this, we do mean it will do the job as well as any other Korean, or Japanese 1.6 litre sedan when it comes to comfortable, high speed cruising.

The Persona retails for $52,988, and for that price you get everything you see in the pictures, and 15 inch alloy wheels, AND leather seats. Should the automatic not be your cup of tea, a similarly specified manual retails for $49,988.

Consider that the competing Chevrolet Optra goes for $55,788, a Honda City from $60,000 onwards, a Hyundai Avante from $58,698 and the much smaller Mazda 2 from $51,988. The only car worthy of comparing and consideration would be the Kia Cerato Variant that has had it’s price lowered to just under 51 grand in an effort to compete.

Even then, it would be a hard fight, which really goes to show where this Proton stands. While the interior fit and finishing standards aren’t up to par with either the Koreans or the Japanese, it isn’t reason enough to put the innocent buyer off just because the steering wheel feels harder than it should.

In fact, we reckon that a simple leather wrap should more than solve things, and from then on, anyone who buys this car will discover that there is much, much more to it than meets the eye.

“Malaysia boleh?” We definitely think so.

Credits: Text and Photos by Amery Reuben