Rm 115,000 for a Satria neo ???

Recently, Proton launched a special version of Satria Neo called Satria Neo R3 Lotus Racing.Priced at Rm 115,000, Proton is going to produce about 25 unit of this car. My first thought is that this is a marketing gimmick. But when I heard that they're going to produce a limited run of 25 units, I know that proton is now interested in producing high performance marques.

This car has a lot of equipment over the standard car. The normally aspirated Cps engine is now producing a healthy 145 bhp and 168 nm of torque, up from the standard cps 125bhp and 150nm torque.That explains of a 0-100km/h time of 9.2 seconds and a top speed of 200km/h.The standard car is slower from 0-100 by 1.3 seconds and 10km/h slower top speed. The power is par with a 2.0 litre car. So now that is one serious attempt.


The engine is tuned by R3 the AMG of proton. known for producing cars like the putra R3, Savvy R3, Gen2 R3, and Satria Neo Rs2000 rally car. The head of the R3 department is Malaysia's drift king, Tengku Djan Ley. The engine now max out at 7500rpm, 1000rpm more than the standard cps. The 5 speed 'box' is now has a revised ratios.


Buyers out there no need to worry about the handling as proton throws the fame tuner Lotus to work the R3 Neo's handling.The suspension is Ohlins Dual Flow valve fully adjustable coil over suspension with damper and spring rates tuned specifically for this car. To anyone who don't know, Ohlins suspension system is more popular to bikes rather than car. One of the reasons of the Neo R3's hefty price tag is this Ohlins suspension is worth Rm 30,000.

After all the tweaks, the car is now 62kg lighter than the standard cars at 1150 kg. They also fit in Advanti alloys wrapped with Bridgestone adrenaline rubber. The highlight is the disc brake's. First timer who look at it might regard it as a normal disc brakes. But did you know that this 4-pot AP Racing calipers is the same used in the famous Lotus Elise sportscar. So braking is a piece of cake.

Proton also give a hint that they might also produce the second batch of this cars if the demand is high. Hope fully that Proton will achieve their dream. If this project is a success, than we might have our own national high performance marques on the roads.