2020 Proton X70 7-speed DCT Full Review

“This car. This car will build our brand,” went the immortal words of Dr Li Chunrong when asked by Bobby why did Proton not work on building up its brand image before pushing out such a sophisticated product to market, Geely-developed or not.

Years of unfulfilled promises have made most of us in the automotive media wary about reporting Proton news in a bullish tone, but just over a year from that fateful day at the Shah Alam factory, Dr Li’s words have indeed proven prophetic.

A Home Run!

Updated 2020 Proton X70 is not only home-built, it’s better than before too.

Story Kon • Illustrations Kevin • Pictures Proton

300

280

170

Engine Speed/RPM

1000

1500

4000

Torque/Nm

2020 Proton X70

2019 Proton X70

The X70 became an instant success, with nearly 30,000 units finding Malaysian homes to date. Beyond just numbers, the X70 catalyzed a remarkable turnaround for Proton’s image.

For once, people were buying Proton vehicles not simply because of cheap pricing, but because they have confidence in brand and believe in the product. The road to recovery is still long, but be in no doubt that the brand is moving firmly in the right direction.

Barely a year from its launch comes the new and improved 2020 X70, built locally at Proton’s Tanjung Malim plant and receiving a few improvements along the way.

WHAT'S NEW

Exterior & Design: The 2020 Proton X70 looks barely distinguishable from the 2019 vintage, even though Geely currently sells a more extensively-redesigned version of the donor car in China dubbed the Boyue Pro. This has left some netizens dissatisfied, but Proton did point out that such a drastic change to the model so soon after its launch will cripple resale values of early adopters.

NEW COLOUR - SPACE GREY

FIRST APPEARANCE OF NEW ROUNDED PROTON THUNDERCAT LOGO

POWERED TAILGATE

*Executive & above only

HANDSFREE OPERATION

*Premium & Premium X only

Interior: As with its exterior, the 2020 X70’s cabin carries the same familiar layout as before with only minor enhancements to show.

Engine & Drivetrain: The 2020 X70 continues with its proven 1.8-litre TGDI powerplant, but the 6-speed automatic transmission has been traded off for a new 7- speed dual clutch transmission engineered and built in-house by Geely.

Increment

POWER

181hp / 5500 RPM

FUEL CONSUMPTION

7.6l / 100km

TORQUE

300Nm / 1750 RPM

ACCELERATION

0 - 100km/h

10.5 sec

9.5 sec

2019

2020

1.8L TGDi ENGINE

Improvements that you don’t see: The 2020 Proton X70 is more than just a local assembly job of the Geely Boyue. Actual effort was spent to further improve the vehicle and fine tune it to better suit local operating conditions.

The Proton ride & handling team sprinkled their magic in an effort to reduce body roll and improve suspension compliance over poor surfaces, and the local powertrain engineers also gave their inputs to improve the transmission’s low-speed calibration for smoother operation in stop-go traffic.

THE LINE-UP

Premium 2WD RM119,800

Premium X 2WD RM122,800

OUR VERDICT

If you’re wondering whether there’s a night and day difference between this year’s locally-built Proton X70 versus its fully-imported sibling previously, there isn’t. Changes and improvements have been made on this car, but they are, even by Proton’s own admission, subtle and incremental.

This being the joint venture’s first Malaysian-made product, focus has sensibly been put on the basics, whereby emphasis is put on achieving consistent quality with the Chinese-made examples before more ambitious undertakings are pursued. Baby step improvements.

Unfortunately, the test examples we sampled during a pre-launch media drive to Kuantan were pre-production units, so we are only able to give you a definitive verdict on Proton’s efforts later on. Based on what we saw, the overall build is decent, but alignment of some panels were off by the odd millimetre and certain switchgear could use a tenth more tightening.

The revised engine-transmission combo seems adequately polished for seamless day- to-day use. At low speeds, the typical DCT judder was notable for its absence, which is more than what I could say about the Geely Boyue Pro demo car I drove in China recently with the same setup. On creeping and on take off, the DCT moved the X70 along in satisfactory smoothness.

The extra 15Nm liberated by the engine’s pairing to the new transmission has not transformed the X70 to a barnstormer, but there seems to be a greater willingness to rev, as if as a large burden has been lifted off the engine’s shoulder.

Handling is tidy, competent, and noticeably improved by additional tuning from our local boys. Not quite as sporty as Proton vehicles from the 2000s, but sufficiently assuring at high speeds. Do be mindful of the car’s tall proportions though, the laws of physics will always win if you charge too hard into a bend and suddenly dial in unfeasible steering angles.

Those of us coming from the heyday of Lotus-tuned Protons such as the Waja, Gen.2, and Satria Neo may miss the tenacious handling of the old guard, but the X70’s tidy dynamics are more than good enough for daily town and highway use by most. Bigger picture, the X70’s other merits more than make up for its dynamic shortfall and seem to resonate far better with the masses than sporty handling ever did.

In its original form, the X70 was already an extremely compelling product. The new 2020 iteration adds incremental improvements to the package. That, together with a further reduction in pricing makes it ever more difficult a choice to argue against.