Tag: proton

Goodbye Proton, Hello Mazda 6!

After driving a Proton car for 15 years, I finally said goodbye to this brand. My 5 years old Proton Saga was traded in for Mazda 6 2.0. It certainly cost a lot more but as a businessman now, I would need to drive a nicer car. Furthermore, my Proton Saga was falling apart thus it was the right time to change it.

It was also a business decision. As the car is purchased for the use of my law firm, I am entitled to claim capital allowance. This would mean less tax!

No doubt the car was a good buy. It comes with fuel saving Skyactive technology and various electronic features. Very spacious, the drive is smooth and fuel consumption is great. I think all I have for this car is praises. I guess any car seems better after driving a Proton for 15 years!

My father had always discouraged me to buy an expensive car. That is why I have been driving a Proton all these years.

My Proton Saga was purchased by my car salesman for his sister’s use. It was difficult to get a good price. I bought it for RM45,000. 5 years later, I could only sell it for RM16,000. The offers I got were around RM12, 000 to RM14, 000. I am told that the low price is due to Proton offering discounted prices for their new Saga cars.

The only complaint I have of my Mazda 6 is that it doesn’t have some very basic features.

There is no spare tyre and no auto lock (when the car is moving). There’s no button at the driver’s seat to open to boot!

Since the car quite long, I also can’t park my car in my porch as the road infront of my house is very narrow. If someone parks infront of my gate, I won’t be able to drive my car out. When I had my Proton Saga, I usually bump into such car to get out. Now I have to park my car outside the house. Hope it doesn’t get stolen!

I showed my new car to my client and he said, “Finally, you look like a lawyer!”

A Streak of Bad Luck

April has been a pretty bad month for me. It all started with a RM100 parking violation summon after parking in front of Yut Kee.


Note: Traffic Summons chaps come around 10:30am to 11:30am to Yut Kee.

Subsequently, my Mum was involved in an accident where a pizza delivery guy crashed into my Mum’s car. My Mum sent the pizza boy flying out from his motorcycle. He landed on the road and didn’t move for a while. My mum thought he died!

Anyway, long story short, I sent the pizza guy to the clinic and even paid for his medical expense totaling RM100 – even though it was his fault. I even offered to pay for his stupid bike.


At the clinic with pizza boy.

Nia ma sei pizza boy.

On the next day, the transponder of my car key broke. The circuit board came out. I patched them together. However, next day, it fell off again while taking out my files from the backseat of my car while at the Palace of Justice.

After finishing my matter, I couldn’t start my car (my Proton Saga SE is less than 6 months old BTW!). A colleague of mine was there and I tried using her car to jump start my car. It didn’t work. Then an elderly Malay man dropped by with his young daughter to help. It was very nice of them especially they spent more than half an hour helping me to start the car.


My Proton Sage SE

Then a police officer got me a mechanic to fix the car. However, the mechanic couldn’t determine the source of the problem even after checking for half and hour. He was plugging and unplugging all sorts of things on my bonnet.

He recommended that I send my car to a workshop for further inspection.I immediately called my friend Adrian to help out. He helped me the last time when my car couldn’t start after my battery died 2 days after I bought my car.

So Adrian was a real big help again especially when he drove all the way to Putrajaya with a battery booster.


Battery Booster

Typically, if a car battery is dead or low, a battery booster can be used to start the car. It worked the last time when my car died 2 days after I bought my car.

Unfortunately, the battery booster couldn’t work. We even exchange car battery to see whether it was the battery problem. It still couldn’t start even though we exchanged car battery.

Adrian then arrange for a tow truck to tow my car to a EON workshop at Jalan Chan Sow Lin. There I was, in a run down tow truck – No seat beat, no air con, no radio. It was me and the tow truck guy. What an experience!

Then it started raining. The tow truck was leaking. AAAAAAAA

Anyway, the trip costs me only RM130 which I think is quite cheap. The EON workshop mechanics fixed my car in a jiffy. They found the source of the problem within minutes. It was my car keys! Apparently, a chip in my transponder fell off. The chip is supposed to deactivate the immobilizer of my car.

Fortunately, I found the chip in the back seat of my car. Phew. I thanked the EON guys profusely. They were a great help.

2 days later, my tyre punctured while driving along MRR2 -__-

I parked my car along a MRR2 bus stop. It was quite dangerous as the punctured tyre was facing the highway. I could have been knocked down while changing my tyre.

While changing my tyre, a Indian/Bangladeshi man on a motorbike approached me.

Man: Where is this?
Me: Kepong
Man: You talk to the guy on the phone and tell him where we are and ask him how to go to Kota Damansara (hands me his handphone).

I was sweating under the hot sun and worrying about my car and this guy rudely gives me a phone to talk to some stranger. Anyway, I decided to be kind and help him out anyway.

I couldn’t decipher anything the guy on the other line was saying. I told the Indian/Bangladeshi man that I don’t know what the guy was saying. The man replied, “Bodoh”. -_-

I don’t know whether someone had been feeding me drugs cause I didn’t beat the man up. Instead, I gave him vague directions to go to Kota Damansara.

After replacing my tyre with a spare tyre, I drove to a workshop in Batu Caves to patch my tyre. It costs me RM5.

It was not the end of it..few days later. I found a dead insect inside my brake light. -_-


The insect is the brown little thing on the left..

And that was not the end of it too…

While driving home, I smelled petrol throughout my journey. I thought some petrol tank overturned somewhere. Then I realise my petrol gauge was getting lesser and lesser! My car was leaking petrol!!!!

I rushed to Kuchai Lama to find a workshop. The car died a few times but I could restart it. However, it eventually died completely. Fortunately, I was right in front of a workshop. Pheew.

A mechanic helped me to push my car into his workshop. Apparently, the cause was due to a loose tube which feeds petrol into my engine. I think the loose tube was due to the mechanic who tried to fix my in Palace of Justice. He didn’t plug it in properly. Within no time, my car was fixed. It only costs me RM20. I was very lucky that the car didn’t catch fire while on the way back.

I thought bad luck strikes in 3 but this was way overboard. Bad karma was hitting me with combo hits. Fortunately, the bad luck was nothing major. The damage was minimal but it surely wasted a lot of my time. The damage so far has nothing to do with the quality of my car. It was purely bad luck.

NIAMAH!!

Proton Saga SE

If you remember my blog entry on whether to get a Myvi, Proton Saga SE or a Suzuki Swift, I have made up my mind.

Thanks to my 7K payment from Nuffnang, I finally could afford a new car. I traded my 10 years old Proton Satria for a Proton Saga SE (special edition) recently. It was recently launched and the newest batch has just rolled onto the streets. It only comes in 2 colours, red + black or white + black. I chose the former.

I was quite sad to let go of my Proton Satria. It had served me for 10 years. Now I understand that why some people don’t want to sell their old cars.


I bade Mr. Satria goodbye at Seapark’s Proton showroom.

Proton Saga SE is so far so good. The interior is nice – with leather seats. The exterior is also not bad. My dad mistaken my car for his Honda City.

However, I have few complains:

1. The windows at the back seat doesn’t come with powered windows.
2. It doesn’t have automatic lock i.e. The car doesn’t lock until I manually lock it.
3. There is no option to get the air conditioner to blow my feet.
4. The location of the control of the lights and wiper are continental style i.e the control for the lights is on the left while the control for the wiper is on the right
5. There is no buzzer to warn if I forget to turn off my lights.

Because of 4 and 5, I left my car lights on for 4 hours and the battery died thereafter. I couldn’t jump start my car because the battery was absolutely flat and the jump start cable wasn’t thick enough. Kevin was nice enough to help and even sent me home.

On the next day, I got Adrian to help the next day. He came with a battery booster to charge my battery and got the car started in no time!

This little thing called battery booster is a life saver. However, this little thing is not cheap. It can cost up to RM600 per piece!

Note to self: Install a buzzer + automatic lock soon!

Myvi, Proton Saga SE or Suzuki Swift?

My Proton Satria turned 10 years old lately. Its best for me to change my car before it dies on me. I am thinking of 3 cars namely Myvi, the new Proton Sage SE and Suzuki Swift. My down payment = RM16000

Perodua Myvi EZi Premium -1300cc Automatic – RM49,700 (metallic) (Interest rate: @3.6% for 7 years) = ~RM500 installment per month – Total Interest Paid: RM8000

Why Myvi?
Lower price
Dad advised to get local cars as they are cheaper
Higher trade in value

Proton Sage SE – RM45,500 (Interest rate: Not known but presumably 3.6% for 7 years) = ~RM440 installment per month
Total Interest Paid: RM7500

Why Proton Saga SE?
Low price – cheaper than Myvi
Dad advised to get local cars as they are cheaper
Higher trade in value

Suzuki Swift – RM73,788.00 (OTR with insurance) (@ 2.88% for 7 years) = ~RM830 installment per month
Total Interest Paid: RM11650

Why Suzuki Swift?
CAUSE I LIKE!!

ARGHHH I CANT DECIDE!!!!!!!!

[Edit: I’ve decided what car to get! read here!]