New Saga FLX SE – What I Always Wanted in a Saga, Almost.
The new Proton Saga FLX SE, launched just a couple of weeks ago, has almost everything I always wanted – it has a 1.6 litre engine, which boosts power up to 108 horsepower, with a maximum torque of 150 Nm. This represents a 14 horsepower increase and 30Nm over the 1.3 Saga. Translated to the road, this means better acceleration, very useful when wanting to overtake cars on trunk roads. Acceleration from zero to 100 kph is mooted at 12 .0 seconds. Top speed is claimed at 165 kph. The engine is coupled to a CVT which, according to Proton’s development engineers, gives the best fuel consumption, claimed at 6.7 litres per 100 kilometres. Therein lies the reason for me using ‘almost’ in my opening line – I think a five or six speed manual mated to the engine would make the Saga FLX SE the boy racer that the exterior makes it look like. Anyway, here’s hoping that the good people at Proton are listening.
From an exterior point of view, the Saga FLX SE comes standard with a body kit comprising front, side and rear skirts, plus a mini spoiler on the boot lid. Wheels are 15 inch alloys with 195/50 R 15 tyres. We had five test cars driving in convoy with the Exora Bold on a trip to the east coast, and they were all red in colour. There was some worry that the Saga might not have been able to keep up with the Exoras which were turbocharged, but as it turned out, the Sagas, being lighter in weight, were just as fast.
The brakes are ventilated discs in front, while drums are fitted at the rear. Although they do stop the Saga well, I would have preferred a set of discs at the rear, and perhaps slightly larger discs in front. ABS comes as standard equipment. Under an instance of panic braking, the brakes responded within the first half inch of brake pedal movement – and stayed there – a longer throw for the brake pedal would have been preferred, as this gives the driver more feel.
The suspension remains Macpherson struts at the front, as does the torsion beam for the rear. To cater for the additional weight of the engine, it seems to me they have stiffened up the front – it feels good enough to go for a rally without any modifications. Under braking, the front hardly dips at all.
Inside, the upholstery is in black leather, with red stitching, and the gear lever and steering are similarly leather bound – really neat looking.
Sharing the Saga FLX SE with two of my fellow motoring media, our driving stint lasted two hours, and each of us had a go at it. Sitting first as a passenger at the front while Yap Kam Foo drove, I felt the Saga FLX SE to be very good in acceleration. Yap drove fast, despite the fact that it had been raining heavily, and although it was just drizzling, the road surface was quite wet. Still, the Saga stuck to the road very well. Over a crest, with a long line of traffic led by two trucks approaching us, Yap encountered a textbook case of another truck on our lane, trying to take both slow trucks at one go – it was brake pedal to the metal – we skittered a little on the wet road, but the car held, and we slowed down to almost a complete stop to allow the truck to make it through – after that, I insisted we lower the pace. The next leg was Shamsul’s , and he drove it fast, but sanely, singing praises about the Saga all the time.
I took the last leg, and this included twenty eight kilometres of fast flowing curves on a wider than usual new road linking Bukit Besi to Kuala Dungun, and by this time the road was dry – I had great fun with the car, even with the CVT. It was an enjoyable drive, but I kept on imagining what it would be like with a manual transmission, and how every young man would like to have one. The CVT is fine for Joe Average who has a family and wants to keep fuel consumption down. The CVT would be ideal for that purpose, but a manual box would make the Saga more appealing to the sporty types. I can almost imagine a race, rally or autocross series with the new Saga.
Overall, the Saga FLX SE is a huge improvement over the standard FLX – it definitely looks better, handles better on account of the bigger wheels, and is certainly more powerful – what the Saga FLX lacks, this car has it. Some people say the top speed of 165 kph is a little short, but with the larger capacity engine, it’s the speed of getting there that counts.
