It seems that PROTON’s all ready to reveal its newest baby, a heavily-updated version of the current-generation Saga that’ll go a long way in righting a few wrongs. The PROTON Saga is a favourite among the MalaysianMotoring team (both videographers own one, albeit different generations) and with the newest model, PROTON aims to address bugbears that have bothered current-gen Saga owners for a while.
These spyshots, courtesy of our friends at Funtasticko reveal much about the new model. For starters, the exterior has been given a light going-over in the same vein as the updated PROTON Iriz & Persona, with a new colour palette (this one is called Rosewood Maroon and we like it), updated bumpers front and rear (with the fronts now gaining LED daytime running lights for the Premium variant), and new alloys (14″ for entry-level variants and 15″ for the Premium).
Inside the changes are pretty major though, with a floating central touchscreen infotainment system, with the full ‘Hi PROTON!’ GKUI system in the Premium, and the usual non-touchscreen system for the lower tiers. There’s also an updated instrument cluster ahead of the driver that now features a more modern speedometer & tachometer, as well as a dot-matrix driver’s information display nestled between the dials. Looks rather snazzy, doesn’t it?
While there’s been no official confirmation from PROTON, we’re made to understand that under the skin, the ’19 PROTON Saga will continue to use the same 1.3-litre VVT engine as the outgoing car with no major changes to the engine, but the Punch-sourced CVT-automatic gearbox has been swapped out with a 4-speed auto unit from Hyundai. This should improve NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) levels in the car dramatically, as well as address the Saga’s current issues of lacklustre transmission response, particularly in town and when driving spiritedly.
It may also hamper fuel consumption over long-distance drives, but that remains to be seen.
PROTON has yet to release official pricing for the ’19 PROTON Saga, but with the launch slated for later today, the wait shouldn’t be all too long now.
https://www.malaysianmotoring.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/2019-PROTON-Saga-Update-01-08.19.jpg10801920Aiman I. Abdullahhttps://www.malaysianmotoring.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/MM-Logo-B-e1436852522773.pngAiman I. Abdullah2019-08-06 12:13:472019-08-06 12:13:58SPIED: '19 PROTON Saga In Showrooms Ahead Of Launch
It wasn’t that long ago that Swedish marque Volvo was considered a sideliner in the Malaysian automotive landscape. While its German opposition sold in vast numbers, the little Swede was just that – little. It sold enough cars to keep the showrooms & service centres going with no compromise in quality, and profits were most certainly there, just meagre. If Malaysia didn’t have the advantage of having a fully-fledged Volvo factory in Shah Alam, we’d probably have to deal with 2-3 year delays on new models too.
But things have changed for Volvo. Since its takeover by Chinese automotive giant Geely, who quickly realised it was best to let the Swedes do their thing rather than PRC the crap out of it, the company has been going from strength-to-strength in recent years globally, and even locally.
It was just the other day that we reported on our social media channels the upcoming opening of a new dealership on the outskirts of Johor Bharu, the 13th such dealership in Malaysia with many more set to come throughout 2019. This is all part of Volvo’s local office’s strategy to focus on the customer experience & dealer network, and already, “internal polls are showing positive results thanks to improvements made in these two key areas.”
We experienced this for ourselves at the opening of the AJ Premium Motors dealership in Batu Pahat, where we saw Volvo’s new showroom design language and brand ethos in full swing. From the intimately-professional conduct of its staff to its Scandinavian-chic design, you could tell that Volvo was serious about its transformation into a brand that could well and truly rival the German stalwarts. And the proof was in the pudding, with an increase in local sales for Volvo rising in excess of 60%.
But there is something else to it, too.
The other day I had the opportunity to sample the 2019 Mercedes-Benz C300 AMG-Line in its facelifted form, with its air suspension & Multibeam LED headlights and the like. It was a nice car no doubt, with its sculpted seats and fancy twin-screen COMAND system, but what really caught my eye was the wood trim. A black, open-pore Ash, it looked stunning on the centre console ‘slide’ and the door panels. But when I looked closer, I noticed something a little odd.
While the centre console and driver’s door panels featured black ash wood with ‘striped’ graining, the front passenger’s door had a more ‘circular’ grain. Of course, anyone will tell you that no tree grows in a mirror grain and that to achieve such a pattern would cost so much in time and effort, but it was the sort of thing that wrankled the experience a bit. It left me thinking if the 64-colour configurable ambient lighting system was made to distract me from what I would consider an oversight.
But what really bothered me throughout my week with the C300 was the recollection of every Volvo Inscription I’d driven in recent years. From the XC60 to the S90 & V90, all the way up to the gargantuan XC90 – they’d all had matching, mirror-aligned wood finishes. On the centre console beneath the 9-inch Sensus touchscreen, it would meet in a beautiful V-formation on the inward-curved panel, and it created an effect of sheer quality and attention to detail.
Volvo doesn’t scream and shout about this sort of thing. They just do it and let you be amazed.
Motoring journo veteran Chris Wee is also a former Volvo staffer, and he’s recalled multiple times the tagline they used to tout: “Bums in seats sell cars.” I’ve often heard relatives of mine, devoted to the Volvo brand, repeat something similar. ‘Volvo for Life’ was the tagline for many years, and for them, it meant that once you buy into a Volvo you’ll never buy anything else.
A granduncle of mine bought his first Volvo in 2003, an S80. He proceeded to then buy the facelifted S80, and then the final-generation S80, and I believe that not long from now he’ll take the plunge and buy an S90. Volvo for life, indeed.
But there are greater ramifications to Volvo’s continued rise in Malaysia. For starters, the Malaysians who toil day-in and day-out to build Iron Mark-ed cars in Shah Alam will continue to be trained and re-trained to build better and better cars every day, keeping up with their peers the world over. Soon there will likely be more of them – with the locally-assembled Volvo XC40 compact SUV (which we will be reviewing soon) the first model in the brand’s history to attract a waiting list in Malaysia, we can only imagine that Volvo Car Malaysia is on the hunt for innovations and improvements that’ll improve their production speed & capacity.
But it also means that they will soon be the standard-bearers not only for active safety in modern luxury cars, but also in quality of execution. With more Volvos taking to the roads, visibility of the brand is increasing. With improved visibility comes improved interest, which turns into more walk-in customers in showrooms, who will then put their bums in Swedish seats and experience what it’s like to have a Volvo in the family.
It doesn’t help the competition either that Volvo’s leasing programs are so attractive.
Soon, it’ll be within reason that people will stop visiting the German showrooms by default, and place Volvo as a brand alongside them as they consider their next luxury car. Plug-in hybrid buyers will be the first to make that change I reckon, with Volvos still the only brand available locally that integrates its hybrid systems so seamlessly that it leaves no practical impact on the packaging of the car. And when they start doing that, I guarantee I will not be the only one going ‘Hey, wasn’t the wood in the Volvo nicer?’
It’s worth keeping this in mind, particularly if you’re from a rival manufacturer, that you also don’t have knurled aluminium finishes for the starter switch, volume dials, and drive-mode selectors. You also don’t have gorgeous yellow Kevlar cones hiding behind laser-cut speaker grilles (like Volvo does with their Bowers & Wilkins systems), or a cacophony of almost-orchestratic beeps & bongs to warn you that you left your lights on, a door ajar, or that you might not have shut the boot properly.
And at the time of writing, the mainstream rivals also don’t offer half of the advanced driver assistance systems that come on every new Volvo as standard. If Malaysians opened their eyes a bit further and stopped worrying about resale value, the Germans would be slaughtered by now.
But mercifully, us Malaysians are a brand-conscious bunch, and so this will buy a few more years for the competition to buck up and rightfully claim that they’re ‘as good as.’
https://www.malaysianmotoring.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/2019-Volvo-S60-T6-Inscription-01-07.19.jpeg10791920Aiman I. Abdullahhttps://www.malaysianmotoring.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/MM-Logo-B-e1436852522773.pngAiman I. Abdullah2019-08-06 11:45:052019-08-06 11:57:28Volvo vs The World – What That Means In Malaysia
Coupés have not traditionally been given alot of thought in this country. Perhaps due to our Asian obsession with practicality and value, two-door vehicles have always been seen as one of the penultimate flights of fancy, superseded only by the cabriolet. And at RM416,888 for the 2019 Mercedes-Benz C300 AMG-Line Coupé most would ask, why not just get the saloon and save what, RM100k?
It’s a fair question. The saloon has better equipment (read: AIRMATIC suspension), it has a more supple ride (read: AIRMATIC suspension), and a greater breadth of ability (read: AIRMATIC suspension). It also has more space in the rear, and a slightly larger boot.
But if you think that way, then you’re not the intended buyer of a C300 AMG-Line. No, if you think in terms of how luscious the blue hue is on our test car, and how gorgeous the brown leather is, and just how poyo I look behind the wheel in my Mercedes-Benz sunglasses… then you’re the kind of person interested in the C300 AMG-Line Coupé.
But the real question is: At that price, would you have this beautiful German mistress, or add a little more and bring home the brutish AMG C43?
https://www.malaysianmotoring.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_4489-EDITED.jpg20002000Aiman I. Abdullahhttps://www.malaysianmotoring.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/MM-Logo-B-e1436852522773.pngAiman I. Abdullah2019-07-24 10:43:572019-07-24 10:46:102019 Mercedes-Benz C300 Coupé – Reviewed
While PROTON runs on a high with a whopping 61% increase in sales in the first half of this year, Malaysians are keeping their eye on the horizon. The ‘X50’ is set to be the next SUV model from the marque, offering all of the appeal of the larger X70 with a more approachable pricetag. The X50 will be based on the Geely Bin Yue, a car that has been spotted testing on local roads several times already by eagle-eyed spotters.
An article on The Malaysian Reserve, citing an insider source, says that the company is indeed in the process of getting the X50 out to market, but it’ll take a little bit more time than for the X70. For the larger car, the first phase (which is still ongoing) saw the full importation of the car from China, where it’s built in right-hand drive alongside its left-hook brethren. This made the most sense at the time of the investiture agreement between Zhejiang Geely and PROTON Holdings as one of the clauses was that PROTON had to produce a Geely-based model, on sale, within one calendar year.
Also considering the sheer volume the base Geely Boyue enjoys in its home market, it wouldn’t have come at considerable cost to them to tool it for RHD. Furthermore, the Malaysian government had agreed to give PROTON a special tax allowance for the CBU X70, as to permit a faster turnaround time and competitive pricing.
However, the X50 will employ a different route. With the upgrading works at PROTON’s Tanjung Malim plant on schedule, the X50 will be a fully-CKD model, assembled here in Malaysia. That move will purportedly save PROTON & Geely some RM200-million in required changes to the plant in China to produce the X50 in RHD, and by tooling Tanjung Malim to produce the car in such a configuration, would also allow PROTON to engage in export activities to the right-hand drive markets that they compete in.
It is speculated that the X50 will carry a pricetag between RM70k-RM85k, which would make it a very attractive proposition indeed, particularly considering that the (larger & more utilitarian) Perodua Aruz tops out at RM78k.
It’s clear that the gentlemen’s agreement between Malaysia’s two local automakers, who now sit as the 1st and 2nd best-selling marques on local shores, is turning out well. There will always be a Perodua for those looking for no-nonsense zero-hassle motoring, and a PROTON for those keen on more sophistication, dynamics, and luxury.
2019 GEELY BIN YUE SPORT – GALLERY
https://www.malaysianmotoring.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/MM-–-2019-Geely-Bo-Rui-Sport-01-07.19.jpeg11242000Aiman I. Abdullahhttps://www.malaysianmotoring.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/MM-Logo-B-e1436852522773.pngAiman I. Abdullah2019-07-09 11:19:262019-07-14 19:13:38PROTON X50 Coming August 2020? – Report
It was a Tuesday morning when I got a phone call from a communications executive at Mercedes-Benz. Hey, she said, we have a C300 AMG-Line this weekend, would you like to have a go? My mind immediately leapt to thoughts of the panoramic sunroof, the AMG-Line steering wheel, and being an audiophile that recently discovered Sting’s new album, the Burmester audio system.
I’d have been stupid to say no.
Keys handed over, I noticed it was about to rain. I hate dirty cars and, having just been washed before it was given to me, I didn’t want the white C-Class to get any dirtier. So I quickly settled in, found a comfortable driving position (not a hard task given the electrically-adjustable steering column, lower-thigh bolster, and headrest), and set off.
Immediately, I took note of the power at hand. 255hp and 370Nm is what Mercedes reports the 2.0-litre 4-banger makes in the C300 AMG-Line, but in less geeky terms, it felt like a huge dollop. You don’t have to mash your foot into the floor to get a huge torque surge, which is harnessed best thanks to the 9G-Tronic automatic transmission. This, to my mind, is exactly what you want out of a luxury car. A sense of effortlessness, as it were.
Once I was outrunning the raincloud, I took stock of the cabin. Open-pore black-ash wood surrounded me, with door-tops covered in stitched Artico leather, peppered with laser-cut Burmester speaker grilles and silver controls. There was a widescreen infotainment display atop the centre stack, beneath which sat a gorgeous long slide of more wood. I noted the new digital instrument cluster, as well as the ‘old-school’ knob-and-touchpad arrangement of the infotainment controls. While Mercedes-Benz is enjoying praise for its MBUX infotainment system, the W205 C-Class remains paired with an older COMAND system. And yes, it’s COMAND, with one M.
It wasn’t for a couple more days until I had proper time to spend with the C300. I’d been rushing from appointment to appointment the two days prior, taking me through alot of the Klang Valley and its notorious traffic. I’d been warned that the C300’s 2.0-litre mill would consume quite a bit of fuel in such conditions – and yet without really trying, I never managed to nudge it past 10L/100km, despite other local motoring journos claiming figures between 11L-13L/100km. Maybe they have lead feet, but I can report that a full tank on a C300 AMG-Line would easily cover 600km between fillups. Not bad.
But it was a Sunday, and with filming done for the video review and more than half a tank of fuel yet, I told my girlfriend that we were going for a drive. We packed some things and headed out at 4pm, aimed for the old Gombak road that would take us up to Genting Sempah.
The roads themselves were beautiful, albeit badly paved, though the C300 soaked up the worst of the imperfections. We snaked along the narrow road with steep drops on the left and cliffside on the right, enjoying the scenery with the sunroof wide open and the windows half down. We passed quite a number of Mercedes-Benzes going the other way, no doubt returning from either an exciting squiz up Genting or a relaxing holiday on the East Cost and avoiding the queue on the Karak Highway – I surmised that that must be the life of the average Mercedes-Benz owner. While I nodded and smiled as we passed, I felt briefly like a bit of a pretender, no doubt the only person sat behind a three-pointed star with one eye on the fuel gauge.
The old Gombak road is not one that you tackle with gusto, I feel. You ought to stick the car in ‘Comfort’ mode and enjoy the drive, given that the rutted road surface would undoubtedly see the car shimmy from one edge of the tarmac to the other in ‘Sport+’ mode where there’s little give in the suspension. The ambiance was only improved by the audio system, which I had employed to play my favourite album by the late songwriter Nujabes.
At Genting Sempah we ploughed onwards to Janda Baik, a place that holds great meaning to me. I spent many formative years up that hill, with family on every corner. We’re not from Pahang but quite a number of us made Janda Baik our home, and as a result, I feel like the little kampung is an extension of me. Up we went, on slightly better roads this time, improved steadily as the population in the hilltop village expanded. We stopped by a couple of choice spots for photos, and a little roadside stall for some durian kampung.
I warned my girlfriend, who promptly selected a 3kg durian, that we’d have to eat it all. If even the slightest bit of durian got in the car, I’d wager I’d end up very quickly on Mercedes-Benz Malaysia’s list of blacklisted publications.
So we finished it.
And it was over dinner at Chef Zamri’s Nero Bianco Deli that I felt I’d finally been able to truly understand the C300 AMG-Line. Though it bears the famous Affalterbach abbreviation, it isn’t to be mistaken for a sporty compact saloon. Rather, it is very much the embodiment of the luxury compact saloon. Effortless to drive, comfortable to sit in, and ridiculously well appointed, the C300 is a gathering of Mercedes-Benz’s strengths. The only fly in the ointment is the lack of insulation, with road & tyre noise creeping in steadily once you move into triple-digit speeds.
While many would take fault with that, particularly if having recently sampled BMW’s new 3-Series or the Audi A4, the C300 sits right between the two. The 3er is no doubt the driver’s car of the lot, while the A4 is so amazingly plush you really think that they might’ve shrunk an A6.
But the C300 is the jack of all trades, or at least that was the opinion I held when I departed our dinner stop with home set firmly in our sights.
2019 MERCEDES-BENZ C300 AMG-LINE – RM304,888 AS TESTED
https://www.malaysianmotoring.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/MM-Review-2019-Mercedes-Benz-C-Class-C300-AMG-Line-01-07.19.jpg11252000Aiman I. Abdullahhttps://www.malaysianmotoring.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/MM-Logo-B-e1436852522773.pngAiman I. Abdullah2019-07-02 15:28:592019-07-02 20:15:27DRIVEN: Mercedes-Benz C300 AMG-Line – Desire, Uncomplicated
These are the sort of words that you will find peppered throughout any sort of editorial about the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. The Sonderklasse was for a long time truly in a class of its own, a thoroughly modern luxury limousine that always paved the way for others to follow. And even when it stumbled (cough W220 cough cough) it still comfortably surpassed its rivals in sales, and when they weren’t busting an Airmatic bag or leaking water through the bulkhead, they were wonderful things.
But while the S-Class always maintained a lead over the competition, the rivals have been gaining, and fast. The S-Class now has to justify itself against more premium marques like Bentley with their Flying Spur, as well as traditional competition like the BMW 7-Series and Audi A8. With those cars getting smarter, sharper, and more innovative with every iteration, it raises the question of just how long the S-Class will be able to maintain its lead. After all, even an ending has a beginning.
In a move that’ll most certainly cement its appeal on the local market, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia recently launched the new S560e plug-in hybrid limousine, the first plug-in hybrid S-Class ever to be launched in Malaysia. With an asking price of RM668,888 the S560e is the most affordable S-Class in the range today, both in terms of purchase and expenses, given that the PHEV can do some 50km on a single full charge. It’s no slouch either, with a combined output of 475hp, courtesy of the marriage between 3.0-litre V6 and electric motor.
I am certain that at this point there are some of you already asking about how much practicality has been compromised in turning the S560 into a proper EQ model. The answer of which is… not much more than the preceding S400h, actually. The batteries themselves take up no more room, but are now denser and more energy-efficient than before. The result is a boot that, over the non-hybrid S560, might not be able to squeeze in quite so many golf-bags but honestly, you’ll be more than happy with what it’s got.
What will also leave you happy is the generous spec-list. So the S560e comes loaded with everything from intelligent-beam LED headlights, autonomous-emergency braking, PRE-SAFE pre-collision preparation system, 360-degree cameras, soft-close doors, privacy blinds… you name it, it probably has it. It’s an S-Class after all, and you never forget it. What we appreciate with this facelift is the replacement of the steering wheel – the new unit now has a three-spoke design that looks far more natural, and less comical from the ‘clown-smile’ look of the outgoing car.
What has also changed as part of the facelift is the driving experience. The S400h that was the talk of the town when it came out was a bog-standard hybrid, with a small battery and electric motor assisting an otherwise-relaxed engine to take the edge off. With the S560e things are very different – this is a car that’s been designed to run fully-electric when possible, and it shows. The car takes off silently, gliding along with no emissions, and will continue to do so until the battery is exhausted, or when you’re at high cruising speeds where the petrol engine is more efficient.
The handover between the two is seamless, with the V6 engine just gently humming into life (yes I said ‘hum,’ because it would be uncouth for an S-Class to ‘roar’). And thanks to the intelligent EQ system, the S560e will identify portions of your journey where combustion power might not be needed (like when you’re northbound after the Menora Tunnel, for example) and allow the big V6 to take a break, pushing you along silently in all-electric mode while also recuperating power when coasting.
You get the sensation inside that you’re piloting something far smarter than you are but, unlike in some other cars, it’s not a sensation that feels alien. No, the S-Class offers a degree of confidence that the car really has it all handled, and all you have to do is soak up the miles from the driver’s seat and let the car do all the heavy lifting. Never has PHEV driving been so serene.
In my short run with the car at the Sg. Besi airport I didn’t have a chance to sit in the back of the big S-Class, so I will report back once I have. But I have little doubt in my mind that you’ll lose nothing by sitting back there – if anything, the removal of the act of driving may make the S-Class experience that much more enjoyable, given that you’ll be able to explore the big limo’s technology with greater depth via the two seat-mounted screens, which you can take in while reclining on the two electrically-operated rear seats.
After spending a good 20-minutes behind the wheel and pressed for an opinion, I can confidently say this – there’s a reason why Mercedes still thinks this car is in a class of its own. Yes the Audi A8 is very smart now and yes, the BMW 7-Series is now more comfortable than before. But honest to goodness, both of those cars are still reaching for the S-Class’ level of sophistication and elegance of execution. The gap may be smaller now than ever before, but it still exists.
The S-Class. What more can I say?
https://www.malaysianmotoring.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019-Mercedes-Benz-S560e-Preview-Drive-01-06.19.jpg10801920Aiman I. Abdullahhttps://www.malaysianmotoring.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/MM-Logo-B-e1436852522773.pngAiman I. Abdullah2019-06-24 11:08:332019-07-02 23:30:33PREVIEWED: '19 Mercedes-Benz S560e - Limo Reloaded
https://www.malaysianmotoring.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Hero.jpg20002000Aiman I. Abdullahhttps://www.malaysianmotoring.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/MM-Logo-B-e1436852522773.pngAiman I. Abdullah2018-11-26 11:59:472018-11-26 12:14:352018 Subaru XV Review – Your Budget Porsche
https://www.malaysianmotoring.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/2017-Volkswagen-Jetta-1.4TSI-Highline-34.jpeg12501250Aiman I. Abdullahhttps://www.malaysianmotoring.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/MM-Logo-B-e1436852522773.pngAiman I. Abdullah2017-11-09 11:25:072017-11-09 11:33:422017 Volkswagen Jetta: A Sharper, Stronger Second Take