QUOTE(kcng @ Jan 11 2010, 12:48 PM)
proton R&H is able to be on par with mazda, honda and mitsu bread and butter car...
if viewed objectively, the savvy handles better then the previous gen jazz if both car are driven by the same driver... albeit slightly better...
so that itself give u a bench mark on how well is the R&H of proton cars in general...
but features wise and build quality wise... open to question la

proton car in general handles better then toyota bread and butter car... that is a fact whether toyota vios/altis/camry owners want to accept it or not because they find it hard to swallow...
to a certain extend (like "sports car category" like the celica 1.8 u see on the road), the satria neo cps handles better due to its more rigid body structure... not to mention the smaller wheelbase and also the footprint of the neo cps is push out right to the corners of the car with minimal front and rear overhang helps...
toyota somehow dont make cars like the SEG anymore....
for civic class, the comparison would be direct on waja, gen2, persona.... civic will handle slightly better (stock to stock) due to a newer body that is more rigid compared to the chassis found on the waja, gen2, persona.. not to mention having a double wishbone as the rear suspension helps....
as for the city, if compared to BLM.. city will ride better as we know the BLM is tuned with a strong bias to comfort... where as the city stock from factory is already quite good in itself...
proton R&H or rather most eastern country car manufacturer R&H will never reach the level of those european marquee... that used to be the standard and it still is... but honda, mazda and nissan is coming ever closer to the level set by those european brand with each of their newer models...
proton will never be able to compare to BMW anytime soon or the near future... maybe 50 years time?
why?
BMW cars has perfect 50-50 weight distribution.... that is itself hard to follow...

sorry too long...
I didn't have the opportunity to drive cars from many marquees to give comparison. However, I have a friend who work in one engineering facilities indirectly belong to Proton and I have had few interesting discussion with the person.
1. Comparatively, Proton ride and handling technology is better than most non luxury/sports oriental manufactured cars. The technology that Proton owned is among the best in the world. However due to market segment, type of cars, pricing structure, it is impossible to put every latest technology in a production car. It wouldn't be right to have saga with active suspension technology...unless Proton manufactured 1million car in year. But then again, even Nissan doesn't put the best technology in the their Latio lines...
2. Primarily what Proton is lacking now is markets where they can increase the production and economic of scale. If they venture into market where quality control is stringent then obviously they have to increase the standard of quality. By doing so, we as malaysian buyer can benefit from a higher quality in Proton cars.
3. One major obstacle that Proton have is pricing. The original Gen2 with proper interior design, engine cover and fitted certain technology cost about RM90k per car. It looked super cool and sure to beat the Japs... but market study by the genius in "marketing department" said the selling price must be below RM60k. Therefore the product end-up as what you saw in 1st generation of Gen2.