Owner Review: I got a left-over brand-new Proton Preve MT - A forgotten unit

About my car

I am driving a Proton Preve mated with a 5-speed manual transmission. I bought this car in 2019 at the price of RM42,000, it is manufactured in 2017 and according to the dealer, this is the last batch of Proton Preve MT produced by Proton.

The reason I bought this car

Previously I was driving my father’s Proton Iswara (bought in 1997), but as the car gets older, problem arises, and I begin to look for a new car. One of the main reasons is because Proton Iswara begins to leak water and it will flood the interior during heavy rain, because the rubbers are oxidized.

Car selection process

I am a manual enthusiast, and I am looking for a sedan car, so manual and sedan are number one priority to me.

However, as manual cars are getting rarer and rarer, I find that what is left on the market is Proton and Perodua standard variant cars.

My budget was only RM50K at the time, so I could not afford the high-end manual car like Subaru WRX or Civic Type R basically Proton and Perodua is my way to go.

At first, I was looking for used cars like Proton Inspira MT, Iriz 1.6 MT and even Hyundai Elantra 6MT. However, my father was very against it because he was afraid that the past owners did not take good care of the cars, or it had some major accident and fixed, or I would spend more at the workshop, and with those money, I could have got a new car instead. I agreed with his view, and my used car scouting stopped.

When I look for new cars, I could only find Persona MT that matches my need. Bezza and Saga are no go to me because I find them not suitable for my driving style. (I drive fast) By that time, I was very sure I am going to buy the new Persona MT already, but out of a sudden, I saw on a website that there is new Preve MT that is on sales. You could say it is luck, or it might be my prayers are answered, but regardless just before I locked onto Persona MT, a Preve MT has come to my sight.

Checked the price, it is selling for RM42K, which is well inside my budget, since the new Persona MT also cost almost the same (RM41,200 if I recall correctly); it is a new car instead of a used car, so I have made up my mind, why not go for the C-segment car instead if both were new and cost almost the same?

So, Preve it is!

Buying Process

The buying process was quick. I know what I want already. So, quickly I contacted the dealer, and I booked a test drive session with the dealer. I was satisfied by the Preve handling, and immediately I booked the Preve MT on the day by paying the booking fee.

Since the Preve MT is a leftover car, as soon as my loan is approved, I immediately registered my car, then after I got the car plate, I almost immediately pick it up from the dealer, and drove it home. It was a fun and unforgettable experience driving a C-segment car for the first time. Coming from Proton Iswara, I feel that the Preve is very stable and safe compared to the Iswara. It was so stable that on my way home, I also did not notice I was driving at 120km/h already! That’s how stable it is!

User Experience

As of writing this review, I have driven almost 40000km. I have been to Melaka, Ipoh, Penang, and Genting, and let me be honest, I just cannot love my Preve MT more. It is so stable at high speed, and my family members still could play their phones without nauseating. I have been past the speed limit for quite a bit, and no one feel that car is shaking or anything. Sometimes I didn’t even know I was speeding without checking the speedometer!

The steering on Preve is also heavy enough to provide me with enough feedback on the road and give me the feeling of safe. I have driven Perodua Myvi and Honda City previously, and to be honest I am not a fan of light steering. It just feels unsafe to me, Preve’s heavy steering just feel safer, especially at high speed.

While it is stable at high speed and the handling is great, I must complain about CamPro’s pick up. I have a hard time climbing Genting Highland, and I am sure it is either CamPro engine to blame, or maybe it is the awkward gearbox ratio.

Going up to Genting Highland with Preve is no fun. I basically just going up slowly and steadily like the cable car. There is no “attacking the corner” like in YS Khong’s video, or heel-and-toe stuff for me to do. As soon as I went past Gotong Jaya, I could only use the 2nd gear to climb the rest of the road to Genting Highland, and never ever have the change to change to the 3rd gear at all because even the 2nd gear is struggling to climb, especially at the turn outside Chin Swee Temple’s entrance, and the final turn to Genting Highland. Sometimes if I did not keep the momentum, I even must resort to 1st gear.  

If there is one thing that made me have the thought of “why did I bought this car”, it is Preve’s bad fuel economy. The fuel economy is bad, like really bad, especially at city drive. Preve fuel tank is 50L (according to brochure), and a full tank in city drive can only go for about 350KM and I am left with one bar at the fuel indicator. The 6.2L/100km on the brochure is a bluff, even on highway it is impossible to achieve that fuel economy.

Which is why, merely after a month of buying the Preve, I took it to modify and it is currently running NGV + petrol bi-fuel system. In city drive, I usually run my car on NGV, but when I go to Genting or traveling a long trip, I would switch to petrol for better pick up and acceleration.

For those who do not know much about NGV, here is something you should know. When you install NGV system, you will need to install a huge NGV tank at the car boot, which usually took about half of the available space of the car’s boot. Most of the time, that means the boot cannot put much stuff already. However, that is not a problem for Preve. Preve’s boot is huge enough that even with the tank installed and occupied half of the boot, I still manage to put in my whole family’s (4 adults) luggage into the remaining space, imagine that!

Since my car is the executive variant of Preve, it does not have a push start button, but instead it has a card holder. In my opinion, the card holder is much more useful than the push start button on the Premium variant, since that push start button would require the key to be put into the slot beside the push start button, which defeats the entire point of having a push start button.

A lot of people would have complained about having to step on the clutch during traffic jam. But in my opinion, the clutch is fine once you get used to it. Preve’s clutch is slightly heavier than the Iswara clutch from my experience, but I get used to it after a week. But the clutch’s bite point is small compared to Iswara, and I took two months to get used to the bite point, before I can comfortably hold on a hill without handbrakes.

So far, my beloved Preve has not disappointed me once. I do not want to jinx myself, but it is indeed a very reliable car. It has every safety features you could get like ABS, ESC, six-airbags and HPF, I would love to see it stands the test of time!

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Stable at high speed (160km/h+)
• Good at cornering
• QA is fine for my car
• Huge boot space
• Rear seat space is gear
• Have all the safety features: six airbags, ABS, ESC
• Car feels solid and safe
• Being manual transmission
• Air-Cond is cold on a hot day

Cons

• Bad fuel economy
• Bad pick up and acceleration (wished it had a turbo)
• Front and rear seats is a bit hard
• Rear seat is a bit short, which left the passengers’ tight hanging
• Air-Cond is too cold on a rainy day

Ratings

Performance: 3/5

Quality and Features: 4.5/5

Space: 5/5

Ride Comfort (as a driver & front passenger): 5/5

Ride Comfort (as a rear passenger): 3.5/5

Fuel Economy: 2.5/5

Price & Cost: 5/5

Average score: 4/5

Conclusion

As a conclusion, I think Preve MT is the best car Proton has ever built in terms of quality, safety, and ride comfort, and it definitely worth every buck I have paid to purchase it!