I worked for a dealership. They were always cheap but reliable. I think they would still have a place in the UK market now.

I’ve worked on a few of these at work and - really bad plastics inside - are a very cool looking car. The actual design and layout of the interior is actually really nice. If they had used different materials it would have been a seriously nice place to be. Great review Matt!

Sister had this car, she loved it. The best thing I could remember about it is that its aircon was super cold even on its lowest setting.

I had a brand new gen2 in 2007 same as your test car in silver, Great car peppy, great handling, good looking( great design), 52 mpg on a run, cost me £55 a month, pay as much on a phone now! Had kias, v/Hall, toyotas, renault, but really liked the gen 2! Subaru owners took the mick out of me with the team dynamics alloys I put on, but hey Jo I got a new car for £8995 ! Plastic materials aside a great car, With mone of the tech of today's stuff, People may mock but did they own one ? I did!

I love the dash and the two-tone colour scheme. The stereo, info display and the ventilation controls clearly show that someone has actually sat down and thought hard about creating something a bit different, which hugely appeals to me. Coolest of all though, is that clock. It's amazing, and I'd love to have a replica of it on my smart watch! Great review Matt, many thanks!

I came to Malaysia in 2016, and I was drawn to its charm, so I decided to purchase one. Since then, I have been driving this car extensively and still hold a deep affection for it. Many cherished memories are associated with this car.

I had an Audi A3 which was written off when someone crashed into it. I needed a cheap replacement and found a Gen-2 at the back of a used car lot, one elderly owner with 55k on the clock. I have to say, it was the maddest car I have ever owned. Not only could you not open the boot, if the central locking failed you couldn't open the doors manually. I had to get the RAC out to take it back to the garage. I was advised never to put the key in the same pocket as my mobile, as this could damage the remote locking. When I took it to the MOT it needed a brake cable for the handbrake. It took the mechanic three days to find one. He said in twenty years he never found a car so difficult to find parts for. Haynes Manual refused to recognise it's existence. The 1.3 engine was a joke on the motorways. You could never get replacement keys and all the trim felt plastic and cheap. It got written off in the snow when it slid and came off the road a couple of years later. I went out and got a Ford Focus, which in comparison was a lot easier to live with, but really did feel a lot more boring. The Gen-2 really had it's faults, but I really do miss that car. I always kept the spare key as keep sake.

Me and a colleague used to xar share to work, he had a white Daewoo Lanos which was awful. Then he changed to a Gen2 which was a very nice commute to work and that is the only one I've ever seen.

Proton is really a good car. The body is very sturdy and does not rust, and I have driven 800,000 kilometers without any problems. Even the car has not been repaired until today.

i would buy one just for that centre console / HVAC lay out .. that is cool

7:00 National food of Malaysia: Nasi Lemak. Extremely delicious. Highly recommended! It's rice cooked in coconut milk served with curry, boiled egg, fried anchovies, roasted peanuts and sambal (chilli) sauce. Other popular Malaysian dishes include Laksa (curry noodle soup), Mee Goreng (curry stir-fry noodles), Nasi Goreng (curry fried rice) and Curry Puffs (curry pastries)... Are you spotting a theme? 😄

There's the Proton Impian too which should be looked out for. Lotus handling too.

My partners mum had one until 2 years ago. Had the most firm ride I've ever known in an ordinary car and very cheap plastic on the interior, like a car from the early 1980's. But a very reliable car

I loved my Gen2, it was an inexpensive hatchback and felt like such a size upgrade from the Corsa I traded in. The 1.3 happily went, especially when you put your foot right down. But I agree, it felt cheap inside, especially on the lower specs with the blanking plates etc. Also trade in prices were shocking. I'm glad it's still a car I can look back on with fondness.

What loverly little car, Sounds like a good a addition for the furious fleet. I think it’s right up your alley. Very quirky & unusual.

I owned a Savvy and a Satria Neo and both were fantastic cars to drive, very underrated in my opinion. Both cars were very solid and stuck to the road like glue. However I had a few niggjy faults with the Neo and decided to say goodbye. For old times sake I would love to drive one again, but I wouldn’t recommend getting a Proton now as parts are a nightmare to get hold of and garages don’t really want to work on them.

Saw loads of protons gen 2 and other models years ago when proton sponsored Norwich city FC they even had a small show room in the new stand.

Just recently restored 2005 Manual Gen 2 after 3 years of abandoned. This car still great and now my lil brother used for college. Peace from Malaysia

3:19 This side profile instantly reminded me of the renault laguna 2, especially the rear section. Something about the door handle and side door strips screams renault at me.

There was also a dual fuel model that ran on petrol / LPG called the Proton Gen-2 Ecologic 1.6 which could help you keep your fuel costs down, giving you the choice of low cost LPG as well as regular priced petrol.

I don't know why this popped up when I opened KZfaq, however I've watched all through and must say I remember these little rockets. Your video links up with new Proton cars X30 and X50 showing a modern SUV and I would very much like to see these in the UK.

The interior gives me the feel of an early 2000s General Motors product!

Export spec Protons at this time are a lot better than what they offer in malaysia. Generous compared to the local ones here. E.g. airbags & abs are only on top spec variants here. The Gen 2 suffered from too many shortcomings, production only lasted till 2011/12. The sedan version is more successful, produced till 2015.

My brother had a proton gen 2 on lpg. He absolutely ragged the hell out of it and it took it, the car handled so well and the engine was fantastic. With a turbo that car would've been seriously powerful

Loved it during the time I lived in Malaysia. Reliable car. Then I moved to Thailand and bought again a new one (a lovely Prevé) at a dealership in Bangkok. Then got a letter from the importer that they stop selling Proton in Thailand incl. all the dealerships. Pity, otherwise would bought it again, so went to Toyota. By the way, talk a bit slower, have the idea you got sometimes short in breath...

Hi...i have to agree on everything you said about the Gen2..I own a saloon version of this called the Persona since 2012..with the persona we do get a slightly different interior design and the engine came with the updated intake system or something like that..give a better throttle response compared to the early model but still nothing to shout about much like the interior quality.. Here the Gen2 is derided for its appalling built quality..like you said great ride and handling..fuel consumption in town is not great.open roads however is better.. If anyone can overlook the lack of interior quality,this car is quite fun to drive actually. Honestly being a Proton,the mechanicals can take a beating.. enjoyed your video

I think there's a definite place in the market right now for a sub £10000 option given the prices have gone nuts and no-one has any money. Proton or Perodua could be well placed to fill it - cheap and reliable. There's a small town near here which was a bit down-at-heel and had a Proton dealership - quite a lot of Protons still trundling around there even today.

I also saw this at FOTU this year. I'll be honest, it was the curtains really did it for me.

I owned one here in Malaysia 1.6cc..easy maintenance and great handling 👍

Was thinking about buying one of these a few years ago. They had a factory LPG model I've looked more recently and there's been none around on auto trader for a couple of years

Some really interesting, creative and aesthetically pleasing styling features on this Proton. Shame about the material choices overall but I like this car. 👍

I too worked at a Proton dealership from 2005 to 2007 and had 2 as company demos. This was a truly frustrating car. The styling was brilliant, the handling was pretty good and the stereo and heater were brilliant. The Prodigy on full volume with the bass up was a delight (although you couldn't see anything out the back as the rear view mirror vibrated so much. However The build quality was horrific. The plastics fell off, the gearknobs scratched badly if you were a wedding ring, windows had a habit of falling into doors. The alarm/ immobiliser/ central locking had a mind of its own too. The Campro engine performed very oddly. So slow to pull away unless you revved the nuts off it and it loved to overrev when you took your foot off the throttle. Keep it on the boil and wait before changing gear though and it worked fine. Sadly it didn't have enough street cred to attract young buyers and the awful build quality put off the Proton faithful, hence it didn't sell. There's still something oddly likeable about it.

I've always had a soft spot for those, l even visited my local Proton dealership at the time to sit in one out of curiosity.

Didn’t the idea get floated that this would have been badged as the new Rover 45 at one point?

I saw one of these the other day and though it was a nice looking car. Love the interior styling clearly not the best quality plastics but the charm makes up for that imo

I came damned close to buying a second-hand one of these years ago when it would've been maybe four years old. It did look really stylish at the time, and the interior was pretty striking. (Yes, yes, I know the quality of the plastics used could've been better. Much better, to be honest...) It was a really nice drive and it could shift itself down the road pretty well! Can't remember what I bought in the end, possibly another Proton model as I had a couple of them. Edit: it was the smaller Proton Savvy I bought - that pistol-grip handbrake reminded me of what I'd bought. As I recall, that had a Renault-sourced engine under the bonnet - a 1.2 maybe?

I've never really given the Gen 2 a lot of thought (the Saga, on the other hand...) until now, but commercial vehicle-grade interior plastics aside, it's rather agreeable and rather stylish :)

Proton sales really collapsed here in Australia ever since they changed from being modified older Mitsubishi designs to their own designs. It seems that cars like the Waja, Gen2 and second generation Satria were the beginning of the end of Proton in terms of being able to export cars successfully around the world. 🙁 The Proton Jumbuck was at one time a very popular small utility (pickup/bakkie), it took over from the Subaru Brumby/Brat somewhat, but with no replacement you don't see any of the type of vehicle around any more (apart from the odd Jumbuck or Brumby survivor). The small utilities offered in South Africa, Brazil and elsewise like the Renault (Dacia) Oroch or Volkswagen Saveiro are otherwise not offered in Australia anymore. I take it they are not offered in the UK either?

Great Review Matt! It’s cool seeing rare normal cars. I‘d imagine parts for a Proton would be a nightmare to gain as it’s not been sold in Britain since 2016.

It’s a shame they are not still selling in the U.K. they would give Dacia and MG a run for their money I never had one but I had another Malaysian car a perodua kelisa they probably came to the U.K. on the same ship greetings from Scotland 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

Womder what a Roverised version would have been like if the 2004 deal had gone through.

Proton bought Lotus, yes but is now in the Geely group of Chinese ownership. Volvo is in the same group

Funny how when new the interior let this car down whereas now as a used purchase its selling it for me. Very unique

You don’t sit on the hard plastic and look at how well it has lasted. My 2019 Suzuki swift sport has lots of black plastic but the car is utterly reliable and is very rapid when required and also bimbles around town happily. I don’t think interior finish is that important so long as it serves its purpose. I have never understood this obsession with material you rarely touch.

Then GEN-2 did handle well I remember bought one new here in Australia in 2011 only had it for 5 years as it was starting to wear out by the time I sold it when I got a safety’s certificate or road worthy equivalent to a MoT I suppose for sale the guy said it was the only proton that passed a road worthy first time,

for the teashelf, as a malaysian they'll use teh tarik (ikat tepi for more genuine experience) on it lol

Brilliant video. I used to own a Proton Impian very good reliable car. It's a shame Proton cars have left the UK Market.

Differences between proton gen2 1.3 and 1.6 is Gen2 1.6 got rear and back power window but Gen2 1.3 only came with rear power window. Gen2 1.6 Got two modal which is Gen2 1.6 and Gen2 1.6 CPS Gen2 1.6 cps is more powerful than 1.3 In malaysia only Gen2 1.6 cps version having airbags. Gen2 1.6 came with sport rim and Gen2 1.3 didn't came with it. Current market price in malaysia is between RM6k to RM14k base on condition. Alot of modification parts available right now.

actually had one of these at my old college i think it was a 08 1.6 they were pretty cool but I have to say this we had the whole thing apart in the workshop and the engine wiring loom felt horrific they looked like house flex in places in my opinion they spent the whole budget on the drive train and steering the cam pro engines i love i just think the quality of the intirior and the wiring on the engine let's it down the engine wiring almost looked like a fire waiting to happen

Very nice.🙂 Very similar in style to the original Renault Megane hatchback. I could have considered one of these when car hunting in 2010. Not a big football fan but I like the Norwich City colour scheme on the thumbnail of this video. 😁 Proton having once owned Lotus who sponsored the club in the 2000s. There used to be a small showroom at the ground - I remember seeing Jumbucks in there. I think Lotus still sponsor my local NCFC but they are now owned by Geely. I was sad when Proton sold Lotus.

I still have my proton gen2 I had since 2009

I think it is a wonderful car. Especially the Impin model that meets all the needs of a driver. In its time, it had a higher level than many cars, and even after all these years, it is still beautiful and mysterious

Funny thing about those center buttons: some of them were completely functionless as the PCB behind them had no cutouts or traces for a button. I found that out when I had to replace mine

The last time I seen a Gen 2 was in the Lakeland Motor Museum in the lake District at the Lloyd Vehicle Consulting Social and i was rather exicted to see one. A excellent review as always Matt, its a great looking car and with the Lotus Tweeks it looks like its a great drive i can forgive the cheap plastics if it drives good.

The only reason I don't think these sold particularly well was a lack of dealer network. I mean they're obviously not the top end luxury quality market, but they're probably better than a Dacia and were a very reliable car with low running costs.

Proton has been struggling to sell cars in Malaysia and in other countries over the past several years. They are rare, even here in Singapore! Hopefully they will sell more cars domestically and worldwide later on, and get back on top of their game like they did back in the late 90s!

Always liked them, still look great 👍

Matt it would be a Teh Tarik shelf , frothy tea 😁 that’ll make all 9 of your Malaysian subscribers happy 😂. Nice car by the looks but honestly don’t remember them.

This generation of Proton are very good cars, its a shame the importer kept pushing the price up as the now dacia buyer was really the target market but the importer priced them far too high The proton Savvy is a great little car aswell as its based on the mk2 clio I do wonder the "what if" about the MG/ROVER deal to make the gen-2 models the new 25/45 in the Rover range

i have one still since 2005, still do. 99% city driving. translates to about 4 million KM highway driving. The secret sauce of the handling is the multilink suspension but if you ask me is not that great until i slapped on an anti roll bar; then it was a totally different story. The engine is based on a 1.8 Mitsubishi GSR, not some bull about Proton developing their own engine, I know this because some tech from the factory revealed it and also some parts are interchangeable like the clutch pump. I am from Malaysia, home of Proton.

Iv'e always liked the gen -2....maybe now is the time to look at one

The custom fit rear curtains are intriguing

I have the same proton gen 2, same one with the same blue color. But the parts are so hard to get. It has taken me 3 months now to get the rear wiper arm which I have still not gotten one

I always thought the side profile of these looked very like a MK1 Renault Mègane hatch even the rear door is very familiar to a MK1 Renault Mèganes in style anyway.

Thats one clean Gen 2. Haven't seen a clean one in its home country .

I've bumped into them on ebay occasionally and pondered when they came about.

Nobody does door card descriptions like furiousdriving!

5:54 yes

I hand a early proton nice car had it a few years few cars later had a test drive in one of them didn't like the way it would rev slow changing gear the dealer said it was to burn off unburned fuel so I bought a brand new Citroen C4 and had nothing but trouble with it ....

It reminds me in some ways to rover 45 Hatch MK2

the maybach curtains are great lol

Looks like they copied the Renault Magane of it's time and just put a cheap interior in it. A neighbour had all the Proton cars and they never let him down. Great video Matt, covering a car most young people would probably laugh at nowadays.

I think they also took some inspiration from the Mazda 323F/Lantis/Astina.

keep up the great videos

Really like the interior, such a shame the plastics are so cheap. Great review Matt!

Omg I still can’t believe you guys in the UK ohhh & ahh about a car with air conditioning. In Australia A/C was standard fit on most cars form the late 1980s early 1990s. In the 2000s to present we would be seen dead in car with out A/C. Probably because it is a necessity down under but still can’t get over it.

hello mate can you also do a review on proton impian ?!

u should TRY Gen2 limited EDITION 2008-2010 Campro CPS 125hp stock engine. it was tremendous completely amazing n fantastic

I’m certain my late father in law had on of these it had a few electrical gremlins including locking them in the car it even did it at the dealer when he took it back Locked the mother in law inside probably had to fix it to get her out 😂😂😂

Dunno about a "posh sofa" - that shiny fabric on the doors reminded me of those shiny stretchy leggings Rod Stewart used to wear.

not a bad car at all, quite like it 😎

From the back if you squint it sort of looks like a Mondeo Mark 1 (sort of)

Could have been a Rover! Quite like these - but the interior always looked low rent!

Spot those funky boot hinges?

Never seen this or any other Proton in mainland Europe 😁

If you're into weird handbrakes you should try and Alfa 75 or and Alfa 90!

What’s with the chrome strips around the wheel arches was that original?

I have that one

Im still running this car since 2004.

Did u use the tea shelf?

Didn't Rover sniff around this as a possible collaboration during its dieing days to replace the R25?

Never seen one in the flesh quite fancy a savvy mind

12:38 honk!

mind to share the color code?

That car still looks mordern. I think the design has aged rather well.

A133 Colchester?

Must say the interior looks tight for the car it is

Looks like a Vauxhall Astra

Another good video Matt🚘🚙🚗👍👍👍👍⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👏👏👏👏

Gen2. Drove well. Everything inside terribly cheap but fine. I’ve had 5/8 of them In the motor trade. Saloon out looks the hatch. They’ve been so cheap over last 5 to 10 odd years as a used buy zero reason not to have one for a year.