Proton Savvy Back to Life "Attractive" Parts Package..Yeah Rightttttt!

My friend recently brought the Proton Savvy Merdeka (Independence) Day Promotion to my attention. At first I thought that my friend was playing an April Fool's joke on me. But It is September and April is no where in sight. Then I thought Proton must be playing a huge April Fool's joke in September. But Proton is a large corporation and would not have a sense of humour. So It must be true.

So I looked up Proton Edar and lo and behold, such a promotion exists. But the question is whether this is actually a promotion or something else.

It's something else. Really something else.


The Proton Savvy was introduced in 2005 as a replacement for the ill-fated Proton Tiara. The Savvy is a supermini and was equipped with a 1.1liter Renault engine that was marketed as a 1.2liter engine by Proton. This was baffling in my opinion.

The Savvy came with a 5 speed manual as well as a 5 speed Automated Manual Transmission (AMT). The AMT is basically one of those manual gearboxes that was somewhat like the Alfa Romeo Selespeed transmission. This also meant that is shares a lot of rubbish that is connected with most AMTs out there. Reliability was horrid and the gear shifts were rubbish and jerky most of the time. It would make a professional driver look like an amateur. Most would opt for the AMT here in Malaysia as no one likes shifting gears themselves. So there were some issues as regards warranty claims.

So the above gearbox issues as well as the fact that it came with a French engine like the hopeless Tiara made people stay away thinking that it would be expensive to maintain. Actually with the above transmission unit it WAS expensive to maintain unless you bought the manual.

The final nail in the coffin was the fact that the Perodua Myvi was launched in the same year. It was a more spacious car, a more reliable car and was based on a Japanese supermini. People bought them in droves. No one cared whether the car had 'Handling By Lotus'. They wanted space and reliability. The Savvy had neither and it had 'Styling by Lotus Curry House' as it had a bonnet that closed like a toilet seat and a rear end that had a funny V-shaped metalwork with the Proton logo situated in the middle of the V. It looked awkward. And by 2010, Proton had discontinued the sad little car. It is a sad little car. I'm sorry if you are a Savvy owner but it is. No buts about it.

And now Proton has decided to come up with a 'Back to Life' package for owners to spruce up the car. Prices are scary. If this was a way to clear out the Proton Savvy spare parts inventory which must have been stockpiled then I doubt it would work. I mean do check it out people - AMT gearbox JH1 costs RM9,215.00. Electric Clutch Modulator for the AMT costs RM4,769.00.

At first you may say that yes, a gearbox and its mechatronic controller are expensive things as they are high tech parts and main dealer prices are usually a little pricey too. But you then note that these prices are after a 27% and 20% discount respectively. This isn't a large discount and when you factor in the current market value of the Proton Savvy it becomes a helluva of a joke. In fact it becomes the automotive joke of the year as after scouting Malaysia's premier website for selling stuff - Mudah.my you will find that a whole Proton Savvy can be bought for RM7,800.00. The ad was posted today, 29th September 2013.

PROTON SAVVY 1.2 AMT 2006

1 OWNER
ACCIDENT FREE
ORIGINAL PAINT
TIP TOP CONDITION
NICE INTERIOR
SMOOTH ENGINE
NO NEED REPAIR
WELL MAINTAIN
VIEW TO BELIEVE IT

******** HIGH TRADE IN ********
*** NOW OFFER ONLY RM7,800 ***

*LOCATION: JALAN CAHAYA 3A,TAMAN CAHAYA 68000 AMPANG,SELANGOR.(NEAR BY AMPANG POINT)

********FOR MORE INFORMATION,KINDLY CALL...

012-6688633 ERIC

010-8838330 LEONG

Why bother buying a gearbox when you can buy a whole car or two. Gee....why do Proton even bother. Who the heck in Proton thought up this brilliant idea. No one is going to spend their hard earned money on a lemon. I hope no one does. Seriously.