​Owner Review: Good value for money - My 2021 Proton Saga R3 Limited Edition 1.3 AT

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Basic information about my car:

2021 Proton Saga R3 Limited Edition 1.3 AT

Reasons why I bought this car(purpose):

I have come to a point where a car is a necessity. Although I was fine with my trusted Honda Wave motorcycle for the past 2 years as my daily driver riding back and forth to work, considering the fact that I was getting married, plus to leverage on the SST tax exemption. Yeah,  it was actually a good time for me to step up my game to a four-wheeler. I was targeting a sedan rather than hatchbacks. One funny thing about my purchase is that Saga R3 was never in the picture, I was surveying the market for more than 6 months (I purchased this car at the end of February) and Saga R3 was just launched 3 days before I went to a Proton showroom (my initial plan to go to the showroom was to purchase the regular Saga Premium Jet Grey). Hence, on that very fateful day. I laid my eyes on the R3 and change my decision after almost 2 hours of contemplation.

Car selection process

When it comes to budget, it was more of monthly installment rather than the full price of the car. I was in the market for a car that can be offered from RM 400 – RM 600 in monthly installment.

With that kind of monthly budget I had in mind, hence quite variety of options made available. Ranging from your usual suspects of A/B-segment Protons and Peroduas to Yaris and Vios via EZ Beli installment plans and not to mention plethora of second-hand alternatives. However, the real exact contender models and specs that I have shortlisted prior to purchase my very first car were:
Perodua Bezza G AT 1.0
Perodua Bezza X AT 1.3
Proton Persona Executive CVT 1.6
Proton Saga Premium AT 1.3 (like I mentioned, Saga R3 was never in the picture initially)

Reasons why I chose this car:

When discussing about the reasons of purchasing a car, for me I was more of looking at several perspectives which in turn complement each other (creature comfort, overall expense, and driving experience).
There was a solid appetite for me to have these few creature comforts in a car which are infotainment system, reverse camera and keyless entry. Proton Saga tick two out of the three boxes just right. Although infotainment system is not by any means can be considered as advanced, but it definitely serves the basic purpose right by being capable of mirroring your Android screens and the ability to read USB drives. For the reverse camera, yes it is a “potato” kind of camera but hey, it is actually perfectly serviceable and very useful with helpful lines that assisted you in knowing how close you are to the rear obstacles. Although It’s 2021 already where you always thought that flying cars will be the norms, Proton with its glory, pride and joy somehow still not able to include keyless entry to this “Premium”- based Saga. However, exclusion of this feature is “ok lah” for me and I can definitely live without it. I was satisfied with the overall creature comforts offered supplemented by R3 exclusives extras like leatherette seats, upgraded steering wheel material, nicer carpets as well as a racier interior with yellow accents. 

For overall expense, like as you might have guessed it, fuel consumption is by far the main culprit here which I’m going to elaborate in the next article sections. However, it was actually much more than that. You see, when I was targeting for a car purchase, it came to my mind that I will somehow perform minor modifications to my car for it to be look more aggressive. This Saga R3 have actually saves me a lot considering that the only major modification that I might want to add is a nice rear spoiler to help with the overall looks. 

Driving wise, I had my test drive sessions with almost all of the shortlisted cars and Proton Saga may not be the best in all of the scenarios but for what it’s worth, I couldn’t complain much. This was assisted by the fact that Proton has removed the CVT gearbox in which from my experience of driving my friend’s Proton Iriz, can be quite loud and annoying.  

User Experience

• I have done: 3555 km
• My average fuel consumption is about 8.4 km/L or 11.90 L/100KM

Calculation for fuel consumption based on: 3226 KM mileage covered with 384 Liter of fuel consumed. 384 Liter of fuel is derived from a total of RM 787 spent divide by RM 2.05 which is the latest price for RON 95. (I monitored my expenditure of fuel throughout my ownership). The 3226 mileage covered has exclude the mileage done when I received the car and the mileage covered since the last time I refuel till the day of writing this review.

I guess this section is best to discuss from various angles with Driving Experience being the first. One thing that many will notice when driving this car around is the exclusion of CVT provides a smoother gear shift compared to previous Saga. Despite being an R3, the engine still the same as the regular Saga with no tuning made. It was a disappointment and such a waste as far as an R3 car considered but without much increase of price, I guess Proton want this to be a commercial success rather than to prove any point especially from performance department. The throttle response left a lot to be desired. More often than I would like that the acceleration needs almost 1 to 2 seconds to fully kick after you put the pedal to the metal hard in which is most noticeable when you want to overtake.

But then again, you are reading a review written by someone who even considered to purchase 998 cc Bezza back then, so by no means this would create a big problem for my next trip to the grocery stores. Handling wise, I don’t really have a say on this since I got no other vehicle to set as a benchmark. To date, I was satisfied with the handling and it gets the job done with good turning radius and overall decent steering feedback. Tackling fast corners made me felt nervous almost every time, maybe it was that the suspension is more on the softer side. Not all is lost though, the ride quality is pretty much respectable and you can easily fall asleep in the passenger seats due to pretty much comfortable ride experience, thanks to the suspension I guess. Fuel consumption wise, it’s on the high side but still good enough for me and up to my expectation considering my Initial D-inspired driving behavior (I like to push the throttle hard and rev up the engine quite often).

Focusing on the exterior appearance… yes I know… look at all the yellow trims! Yes it look jarring at first but sooner than you expect, the looks will eventually starting to grow on you. I do love the side “82” sticker and  yellow lid on the front bumper as well as on the side skirts. I wish the windshield and rear window decals to be more subtle and don’t get me started on the side mirrors (which I quickly wrapped it in carbon-fibre colour not even two weeks after I received this car). With cool Quartz Black base colour, Merc-inspired rims and overall cosmetic enhancements, I do think Proton managed to highlight an all-around aggressive styling.

Moving on to the inside, one of the gripes compared to the Bezza is the absence of push start button. The overall centre console look is also quite dated and you can actually feel the legacy of previous Saga in here and I’m not just talking about 2016 Saga VVT but to the extent of Saga BLM days of 13 years ago. However, Proton did counter it with other features such as nicer and informative instrument cluster. The 7-inch floating screen is also a great feature worth to mention, giving me a functional system that I can view my medias as well as connecting to my phone for screen mirroring although it is not a full-fledge android system and does not have Android Auto connectivity. I’m also in love with the comfortable leatherette seats which is nicely positioned with spacious legroom and nicely designed with an exclusive R3 emblem. I do also appreciate the little things like useful storage compartments (some even rubber padded) and card holder fitted on the driver’s sunshade for my Touch n Go card. Sound system is also impressive.

Pros and Cons

Pros of my car

1. Good value for money.
2. Decent overall quality.
3. Well-equipped creature comforts for its price.
4. Comfortable driving experience.

Cons

1. Slow throttle response.
2. Small bottle holder at the doors.
3. Rattling sound during high revs.
4. Absence of the signal blinking for a few seconds function when you tap the turn signals once (even my wife’s Perodua Axia have this). Very useful when overtaking. 
    

Total Score: 4

Performance: 2

Quality & Features: 3

Space: 4

Ride comfort: 4

Fuel Economy: 3

Price & cost: 5

Summary:

With the performance it comes with, the car definitely does not experience any special R3 performance treatment. However, taking the overall price as one huge factor of consideration, this car serves my purpose well enough. A good looking and great overall package for an entry-level A segment car. Driving this car make you feels like Itsuki Takeuchi rather than Takumi Fujiwara but with a peace of mind and without burning a hole in your pocket.
 

Interesting Events:

This car is such a head turner that I have many times being praised by strangers about it. There were even two awkward moments where I went to carwash and unexpectedly run into Saga Anniversary Edition. Had a good talk with the owners and we share our experience together.

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