It’s been two weeks my auntie and I scouting around for good deal and quick delivery of base-line Satria Neo (A). Been to two branches and not quite satisfied, so we went to their platinum showroom in Mutiara Damansara last saturday to see if quicker delivery is possible.
Upon reaching the showroom, spotted a test unit of Satria Neo CPS and happily the sales advisor is more than willing to allow me to have a crack on it. Only the test car is an auto.
Heard some whisperings from some folks of Protons, Satria Neo CPS is the ‘successor’ to my personal favourite Satria GTi. Well, they’ve been late, that’s for sure because me and my buddies have been tired of waiting!
Visually, you can see Satria Neo CPS is reincarnation of Satria GTi with flared wheel arches and sportier front/rear bumper. The rear spoiler, narrower front track and wheel design is up to individual taste. I don’t like it. I’d prefer slightly wider track than standard Neo front and rear so that wheels wouldn’t sunk in too much especially the fronts, Oz Crono Evo would do far better job than ‘inspired’ Advanti Medusa, and the rear spoiler is too ‘Beng’. Exhaust muffler integrated bumper would be nice as well.
Going inside, they didn’t put in Recaro Njoy, instead, the same designed seats carried over from standard but wrapped it in leather and apply two-tone colour. Same dashboard design with darker themed.
How does it drive? Crank it up and engine sounds the same as normal Neo. We took the same test route as the Exora. I sense the throttle is slightly less snappy than Exora equipped CPS. As torquey as they may be, the top end punch is not much difference as normal Campro. Not here and not there delivery. I just hope the manual version can do justice to the car. But it can’t hide engine harsh character, heck it would be making it more obvious.
I couldn’t test much on the ride & handling aspects because sales advisor been saying “Tolong! Saya tak mau mati!” the moment I started the left-right-left sequence going uphill towards Penchala Link. That surely put off to my intention but initial finding shows slightly meatier steering feel but just too safe. And Conti ContactSport-1 didn’t help either. Good for first time performance car users. You won’t want them to panic when the tail slide going too hot gunning the corners.
Ride is very very comfortable for a hot hatch, no even better than standard Neo. The Proton engineers really nailed this aspect very good.
In this short brief moment, I’d say thank you for not putting GTi badge on it because it’s NOT in the first place. Think of it as premium Satria Neo who happens to have punchier power and sportier package. I’m sorry because I can’t praise it any higher.
Back to my auntie, she agrees with my advice and put down the booking for standard Satria Neo and it seems it can be delivered within 2-3 weeks and the fact their approach and promises to this moment looks good in our books.
Upon reaching the showroom, spotted a test unit of Satria Neo CPS and happily the sales advisor is more than willing to allow me to have a crack on it. Only the test car is an auto.
Heard some whisperings from some folks of Protons, Satria Neo CPS is the ‘successor’ to my personal favourite Satria GTi. Well, they’ve been late, that’s for sure because me and my buddies have been tired of waiting!
Visually, you can see Satria Neo CPS is reincarnation of Satria GTi with flared wheel arches and sportier front/rear bumper. The rear spoiler, narrower front track and wheel design is up to individual taste. I don’t like it. I’d prefer slightly wider track than standard Neo front and rear so that wheels wouldn’t sunk in too much especially the fronts, Oz Crono Evo would do far better job than ‘inspired’ Advanti Medusa, and the rear spoiler is too ‘Beng’. Exhaust muffler integrated bumper would be nice as well.
Going inside, they didn’t put in Recaro Njoy, instead, the same designed seats carried over from standard but wrapped it in leather and apply two-tone colour. Same dashboard design with darker themed.
How does it drive? Crank it up and engine sounds the same as normal Neo. We took the same test route as the Exora. I sense the throttle is slightly less snappy than Exora equipped CPS. As torquey as they may be, the top end punch is not much difference as normal Campro. Not here and not there delivery. I just hope the manual version can do justice to the car. But it can’t hide engine harsh character, heck it would be making it more obvious.
I couldn’t test much on the ride & handling aspects because sales advisor been saying “Tolong! Saya tak mau mati!” the moment I started the left-right-left sequence going uphill towards Penchala Link. That surely put off to my intention but initial finding shows slightly meatier steering feel but just too safe. And Conti ContactSport-1 didn’t help either. Good for first time performance car users. You won’t want them to panic when the tail slide going too hot gunning the corners.
Ride is very very comfortable for a hot hatch, no even better than standard Neo. The Proton engineers really nailed this aspect very good.
In this short brief moment, I’d say thank you for not putting GTi badge on it because it’s NOT in the first place. Think of it as premium Satria Neo who happens to have punchier power and sportier package. I’m sorry because I can’t praise it any higher.
Back to my auntie, she agrees with my advice and put down the booking for standard Satria Neo and it seems it can be delivered within 2-3 weeks and the fact their approach and promises to this moment looks good in our books.
Pictures taken from Proton
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