Proton Perdana, the first executive sedan to be rebadged by Proton
The Proton Perdana is a car that is no stranger to most Malaysians although it wasn’t sold as many as the Proton Saga and Proton Wira. When the name Perdana (which means PRIME) was brought up, Malaysians know that this an upper level Malaysian national car and they are right about that.
The Proton Perdana was launched in 26th January 1995 as Proton’s first step into mid size sedan car segment. It was priced just below RM90k, which is almost two times the price of a Proton Wira, which was a smaller compact sedan.
Non Malaysian readers who are not familiar with this Proton Perdana might find it similar to Japanese cars from 1990s. They are not wrong for assuming so because the Perdana is another rebadged Mitsubishi car like the previous Proton Saga and Proton Wira.
Instead of picking the common and globally sold 7th generation E50 chassis Mitsubishi Galant, Proton picked a variant of this Galant, known as the Mitsubishi Eterna.
So, the Perdana is a badge engineered seventh generation Mitsubishi Eterna (just like the Proton Inspira that was borrowed from the Mitsubishi Lancer), developed as the result of a collaboration between Proton and Mitsubishi Motors.
The E50 Eterna shared the same engineering and platform with the Galant but had different exterior design and was only available for the Japanese market.
While the E50 Mitsubishi Eterna had a variety of engine options and variants, Proton did not offer such variety for the Perdana. Only a single engine was offered with a choice of a 5 speed manual or 4 speed automatic transmission, powering the front wheels only.
The Perdana was equipped with a 2 litre 4G63 SOHC 16 valve engine sourced from Mitsubishi with an output of 135hp at 6,000rpm and 176Nm of torque at 4,750rpm.
It was initially offered with 4-speed automatic and 5-speed manual transmissions, but the manual variant was discontinued in 1996 (lucky for us we found this well preserved unit).
Interestingly, the Perdana had an extremely low drag coefficient of just 0.29 Cd, allowing for a top speed in excess of 200 km/h and good fuel efficiency even for todays standards.
Incidentally, the suspension system is the same as the Eterna and Galant with independent multi link suspension on all four sides.
It is interesting to note that the multi link suspension design for the Eterna and Galant is very similar with the design of a double wishbone suspension but was named as multi link by Mitsubishi. Disc brakes were equipped on all four sides.
The 1995 Perdana was well equipped with features like powered retractable side mirrors, ABS, cruise control, automatic leveling radio antenna, rear parking sensor and four power windows. The earlier batches only came with fabric seats with similar material for a part of the door trim.
The Perdana was priced at RM85,000 at launch, but there were reports of relatively new second-hand Perdana units appreciating up to 12 percent which is RM95,000. Nonetheless, Proton still captured 47 percent of the 2,000cc and above segment in its domestic market, with 9,000 units sold over 14 months. It main rival at the time was the Nissan Cefiro and Toyota Camry which were larger and similarly equipped.
With the first generation E50 chassis Proton Perdana being over 28 years old since its launch in 1995, it had become another Malaysian car that entered the age of classic car so we can only get 3rd party insurance coverage today.
Perhaps due to its low demand and low market value, the Perdana wasn’t really appreciated by many unlike the older Proton Saga.
We found and negotiated to buy this 1995 one owner unit for RM8,500.00 which for many of you might seem higher than what the used car market is asking (Perdana V6 can be bought from RM3,000 to RM6,000 but have endless maintenance issues as it was localized). New road tax and insurance was just RM1,240.00
But here is why we paid this price. The car is still on its original paint job is almost 90 percent perfect. Which means it is 100% accident free. Cabin fit and finish is 90 percent perfect and only the climate control vents needs to be changed. Roof lining, seats, carpet and the rest of the trim is almost perfect. Plus, its still using the original factory Blaupunkt tape deck stereo and auto aerial set.
The 100 percent Japanese made Mitsubishi engine is running fine with no issues. Suspension is still tight, steering rack all good, tires have plenty of thread on them and the 5-speed manual gearbox is working light and fine.
What repairs we need to do after purchase? The front seat-belt needs to be fixed as it is ‘sticky’. The central locking and power window module needs to be changed. Engine needs to be serviced as we want to start a new servicing record for this Perdana.
We need to find a better set of climate control vents and a new entertainment set. Estimated budget for all the above repairs and upgrades will be RM2,000. So, total spend is RM11,740.00 for a ‘Japanese’ sedan with a manual gearbox that will probably provide 4 to 5 years of trouble free motoring.
