Nissan cars are well known for their NVH. Very quiet cars but they do badly in stability due to the soft-comfort tuned suspension. The suspension soaks up the bumps and irregularities of the roads well, but at higher speeds, the suspension goes up and down with the undulations and imperfections of the road, thus giving a floaty feeling. Some say it rocks like a boat, and this term fits the Nissan Sylphy well.

There is a car for every purpose. If you want quietness then Nissan (or Toyota) Sylphy and Altis upwards would give you that. They are family cars. But for sporty driving they are not too suitable. The Proton Preve Turbo is not so quiet when compared to these cars but performance in handling and high speed cruising is more stable than these Japanese cars. Comfort-wise the Preve Turbo lost to the Japanese but performace and handling is either on par or better, except the Mazda maybe.

Similarly I have driven my colleague's previous generation Honda Accord 2.4 and test-drove the latest version Honda Accord 2.4 last year. Honda Accord's suspension also felt like the Nissan Sylphy. Ride was bumpy even when driven at speeds below 100km/h around the test-drive route. I presume handling and stability are not the priority for Japanese cars as they are meant for families. They are designed more towards comfort, especially D-segment.

Ford Focus is something in between. It is a family car also but it blends well between comfort and performance(though back seat space is small, lost to Preve in this aspect). The handling of the Focus is on another level from all Japanese cars from the handling in steering sharpness and suspension. The steering feel between the Focus and the Preve is like heaven and earth. Totally different feel in the weight and tuning.

OK thanks. I'll try revisiting the S-mode tomorrow on the Preve Turbo. Have been driving the Focus for the whole of this week but will be on the Preve Turbo for next week.

I presume the S mode will only be practical for city drive but not on highway cruising speed. I am not aware that the S mode is practical to be driven at >120km/h.

Yes, there are tradeoffs between cars of different pricing. As I have mentioned earlier, the Preve Turbo is a pretty value for money car at its price point of RM65k-69k.

Though, the Ford Focus' real value is actually only RM35k. The excise duty (RM29,500) imposed on imported cars, coupled by shipping from Thailadn and insurance (RM1837) that bumped up the price to >RM100k. *balance is dealer/SA's profit margin.

The Proton Preve has a "heavy throttle" response, hence the feeling of sluggishness. You need to step on the pedal more so as the car will accelerate, unlike cars with "light throttle" response such as Perodua Myvi, Honda City or any other Japanese or imported cars whereby a light tap on the pedal the car will move forward. If you can live with this throttle characteristic then the Preve Turbo can be considered as the most value for money C-segment sedan from Proton.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: May 12 2015, 08:31 AM

Tried S mode on the Preve Turbo and alternating it with D and paddle shifter mode. No doubt the S mode is more responsive than D but at the expense of higher RPM, roughly 200 to 300 RPM higher than D, and louder sound from the engine. It would be useful if one wants more responsiveness in acceleration especially in city driving. Cruising at 110km/h in S mode registers 3000RPM.

D will be more economical FC-wise as RPMs at low speed city drive as RPMs are in the region of 1500-1800. unlike in S whereby it hovers around 1900-2000.

Maybe this.


Apart from that nothing major. Throttle response and slight unrefinement in the engine and/or CVT are given other than stiff steering wheel when compared to non-Proton cars. IF you can look past these minor niggles the Preve Turbo is a solid car, value for money.

Service cost is high, almost similar to continental vehicles. May I ask the breakdown of the RM1200 servicing cost, where does the bulk of the money go to. And also whether your car is still within the 3 years/60,000km warranty. Thanks.

Okay thanks for the information. Much appreciated. Hefty service charge at 60,000km.

Not too sure about the last two charges whether they are additional (extra) services which may be omitted.

The mileage on my Preve Turbo is about 31,000km now and the sound from the gearbox, more like low-frequency humming is getting louder. Also the acceleration is not as smooth. Although it is not exactly serious or worrying, it is an observation which shows that the gearbox may be changing in character. I don't know if I should wait until the next scheduled service about 5 more months to get the guys at the service centre to look at the problem.

A caveat is I frequently do hard acceleration with the car. But that should not contribute to the slightly unsmooth and louder operation of the gearbox of the car unless the quality of the CVT is not very good. I did not encounter any problem with my previous Nissan Sylphy of 5 years which I also frequently do hard acceleration. THe gearbox is smooth as silk and silent (I still recall the nice-sounding sound from the engine when the car was accelerating hard in Sports mode).

Did you encounter the gearbox changing character at around 30,000km to 60,00km when compared the car in new condition ie. less than 20,000km mileage?

Okay thanks for the information. Will monitor further on the condition of the car before I send it over to the SC for a diagnose and rectification.

Hopefully you can get the problem of your car sorted out soon. Looks like you have done some heavy traveling with 60,000km mileage clocked on the car.

With the Preve, no issues with road bumps, but on 2 occasions when exiting the basement parking garage at The Intermark along Jln Tun Razak, the car's front lower bumper never fails to hit the inclined ramp, and it always ends with a loud bang as I always drive a bit faster. I am guessing the car may not hit the inclined ramp if the traveling speed is slow. Having said that I didn't have the chance to try driving slow for the 3rd time, yet.

Thanks. I'll look at the down the car sometime and check on any scratches or rust. I'm sure something down there would have been scratched or dented as the car crashed onto the bottom of the inclined ramp which ended with a (really) loud bang.

On a separate matter, the sound and whine from the CVT is acting really strange these days apart from getting louder. Getting unrefined. Will get the car to the service centre to complain soon. May sell the car in less than 5 years looking at the performance of it.

Re. Synthium 800 vs 1000. I don't know about others but in my case, for the Preve Turbo I feel the car actually performs better with Synthium 800 than in Synthium 1000.

I have used Synthium 800 for the 1,000km, 10,000km and 20,000km services. For the 30,000km service, some of you might have known - the Proton service advisor had taken me for a ride, giving me the Synthium 1000. (He mentioned the Synthium 800 cannot be used on the Preve which after clarification with the customer service I was informed this is not true as Synthium 800 can still be used on the Preve Turbo). I don't know if it's due to the engine oil or something else, but with the Synthium 1000, now the noise from the CVT/engine during acceleration is louder. Acceleration appears to be a slightly draggy. The differences are not exactly huge but the noise from the CVT and/or engine certainly is louder than before.

I will definitely switch to Synthium 800 during the 40,000km service not only because it is cheaper, but it works equally well if not better.

I am not sure about the experience from others though but in my view the Synthium 800 is better than the 1000 for the Preve Turbo.

Yes, don't need to waste money. In my case, by accidentally taking the Synthium 1000 due to the service adviser's unscrupulous action(I asked the branch manager to warn this fellow) my car's performance did not improve with the costlier engine oil but deteriorated instead. Anyway it is good that I have tried the Synthium 1000 at least once, otherwise I would not have known. After this experience, there is no way I am going to opt for the 1000 anymore.

There is still about 5500km before the next service and I can't wait to get back to the cheaper Synthium 800 for better performance.

Okay thanks for the information on the Tufoil engine treatment. Will keep this in mind and look it up later.

Heavier to rev which results in a louder sound from the engine or transmission + a dragging feel during acceleration. The Synthium 800 feels lighter, softer sound from engine/transmission during acceleration ie. less draggy feel and smoother acceleration.

Currently I'm experiencing a loud "woo wooo" sound from the CVT occasionally during low speed bumper to bumper crawl after an abrupt change in speed. For example, when cruising at 120km/h and there is heavy traffic in front, the speed goes down to 10 or 20km/h. During this time this "wooo wooo" sound will come up when I step on the pedal. It will last for 5 to 10 seconds before going back to normal. The sound is loud and unpleasant.

Has anyone experienced this? I don't think this is due to the engine oil (Synthium 800 vs 1000) but something else.

Difficult to replicate this in the service centre to get the guys to rectify the problem but will bring it up to them soon when I get the car to the SC.

The last time I inquired, the service adviser mentioned the battery can be changed outside. Little to no tuning of ECU is required. Then again, a caveat. This was the service who also cheated me by saying the Synthium 800 cannot be used on the Preve Turbo.The battery in my car is now almost 3 years old. 2 years 10 months to be exact. Still going strong.

You surely travel a lot clocking 79,000km in less than 3 years. When I sold off my previous car after using it for 5 years 1 month, the mileage is only around 51,000km.

Sorry to hear about the engine problem in your Preve Turbo. No such problem with the engine yet (touch wood) but the transmission in my car, also a Preve Turbo is acting erratically weird these days with an occasional loud "woo woo" sound coupled by rough jerky acceleration which I think is due to the Synthium 1000 engine oil. Other than the CVT performing under expectations, no major issues.

Since your car is still under warranty, just let the service centre fixed it. You don't need to worry about the "solution" since the SC will fix it for you, though you can ask what might have caused the engine problem or the leakage. Whether it is due to wear and tear or something else.

I don't know what is the offer for those who just bought the Preve earlier this year but when I bought mine more than 2 years ago, there are free service vouchers. If you use the vouchers, for your 1st service you only pay about RM20-30. 2nd service, you pay RM100+/- depending on how you use the vouchers. I have forgotten how much do the vouchers cost. If my memory serves me right, there are 3 vouchers costing RM300 in total. I may be wrong.

You can check with your service advisor. Only when you have fully used the service vouchers you are expected to pay full price. It's around RM250 for the 30,000km service.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Jun 16 2015, 08:37 PM