The Persona ‘Elegance’ is actually a face lifted Persona. The front end gets a new look; gone are the headlights and older grille and is replaced with a sleeker new face. Added to the body now is a complete body kit, plus a rear deck spoiler and a 15-inch multi spoke alloy wheels with a low profile tire combo, which looks good. A welcomed change is the new side view mirrors which is now large (previous side mirrors were inspired by superbikes but had reduced vision and little use) and with turn signals included. The car looks sportier and very handsome and offers more features than some mild facelifts provided by bigger car manufacturers in recent months which left us quite disappointed with them as we feel that they should have offered at least the same amount of changes that Proton has offered with their Elegance.
The interior shows a few new improvements and as usual, leather dominates the whole affair. Light gray panels are used to give the perception of space, which works effectively. The Persona is big anyway, offering interior and boot space as big as the competitors costing much more. The Campro 1.6L engine lives under the hood. This Proton sourced power unit gives sufficient power and you get a fair amount of torque where during our test drive; the car had no problems running up Genting or Bukit Tinggi, even with a full load. Transmission is a 4-speed box and it is acceptable. The gap between 3rd and 4th is quite wide, proving that the 4th is certainly a long overdrive ratio meant for good fuel consumption.
One thing we noticed with the Elegance is its quiet interior and this comes from better rubber insulation along the windows and also between the doors where you will notice the strip of rubber when you open both doors together. Japanese AFTA made cars costing more than this Elegance can’t even match its cabin quietness. Proton interior managers have gone an extra mile by covering the interior of the door skin with animal skin material. Knock on those doors and you can hear how muted the metal skin is. Next comes the suspension.
Proton’s suspension tuning is actually a product of ‘Lotus’ engineering. We checked on the car’s suspension with some rather active driving by ourselves along some quiet roads and the result is a very supple ride on the highway and even better on the back kampong roads of Kuala Selangor. Steering does feel direct and the car tracks nicely and does not wobble along under pressure like a Japanese AFTA made car. Compare it with the Vios or the City, the Elegance gives a more assuring ride on the highway, and of course, around the corners. On the bad roads of Klang Valley, the Elegance truly feels different from the Japanese or the Koreans. It absorbs the bumps quietly, and the car glides firmly without wallowing. The trade of is the cars paltry engine performance, most probably due to its weight. Acceleration is so-so and top speed is nothing to shout about but then this is not a hot hatch performance car like the Lotus derived and tuned Satria NEO. Then again, a family car is its main focus and comfort level and cabin safety is certainly higher than the
other cars in its genre.
Like other Protons, the Elegance comes with a 2-year/50,000 km factory warranty plus a 3-year/125,000 km extended warranty.
Selling price starts from (manual/automatic) Base Line : RM46,499/49,999, Medium Line : RM52,999/RM55/999 and the High Line we are testing here : RM59,499 (automatic only). This makes it some RM20,000 cheaper than the competition and allows owners to save on their monthly installments.
