Proton Inspira : Inspired by Malaysian... government

The old saying goes ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’, which essentially means that one shouldn’t judge something by it’s looks alone. This proverb is especially true when talking about the newly launched Proton Inspira 1.8E in manual specification. Proton has with the launch of Inspira successfully taken this classic proverb to a whole new level.

Right at the outset, you’d be perplexed when contemplating how in god’s world did a car which started out as a Mitsubishi Lancer ended looking up like a swelled up version of the Proton Saga BLM… foul. Than you take four steps left and notice the rather masculine line pulled back all the way from the bonnet hood through the shoulder lines of the doors right up to the boot lid which to some extend suggests quality, rigidity and sturdiness of build. You’d than say- “hey this Proton is not too bad, please direct me to the booking form?” By this time of course you’d have forgiven the somewhat foul look of the front end and probably be enticed and interested to view the interior of the car all the while prepared to be awed and inspired. You pull up the door handle and the ‘click’ sounds fine. Than you raise your eyes to the interior and… pause… complete silence. All the awe and inspiration dropped and shattered like the tooth of a bloke whacked off by a thai boxer. Nothing but miles and miles of cheap mix of grey and black plastic coupled with black seats. A clear feeling of nothingness.   

At this point, I felt like slamming the door and leaving the dreaded sight of the interior. But to be fair I jumped in. No, I didn’t jump in actually- fearing that the interior would just shatter to bids, I slowly and carefully slide my bum on the driver seat and held the steering. And… the steering actually feels decent being clad in leather-ish material (I’m not sure whether it’s leather). And then the gear knob, not bad I thought. Finally, I braved myself to touch the rest of the dashboard and it was rubbish. Literally rubbish. It is as rubbish to look at as it is to touch. Don’t bother going to the dealers to touch it, just touch your garbage bin outside and you’ll get the idea. At this point your far from fond memories of the Proton Saga BLM would creep in again. After ten seconds I forgot whether I was in a RM30,000 Saga or RM80,000 Inspira. Only after a reconnection with the steering wheel did I remember that I was in something marginally better. And the seats… firm at all the wrong places. As comfortable as a foot stool basically.

Next, I slide myself to the back row- again slowly and carefully, only to be welcomed by the feeling of ridiculous squishiness and softness of the rear seat. I felt as if I was sinking in and being swallowed alive by the seat. I was slowly but surely going to drown. Now, if the driver seat is a foot stool than the back seat is an old couch. The sort of old couch I would gladly give-away to the security guard at the junction to my house for his pleasure seating at night. I tried to pull the door and I could have sworn that the door handle felt like it was giving way- the plastic flexed and stretched. Yes, the plastic is that bad! To be fair, the leg room at the rear is generous. 

‘Don’t judge a book by it’s cover’; unless you found the exterior foul at first look and didn’t think much of the car, you’d be greatly flabbergasted of how horrendous the interior is.     

The Inspira than is a car meant to make you look good (from the side at least) but you yes you the guy inside would be forced to dwell in grey plastic whilst your mother-in-law at the back would probably need to be yanked out of the back seat by a tow truck after an hours drive. As if that wasn’t bad enough, you would than soon probably die of suffocation due to the nauseous plastic whilst stuck in KL traffic right after thinking that you’ve actually paid RM80,000 for the car. But if suffocation doesn’t kill you than brain tumor would eventually.

So make no mistake people, the Inspira though having its roots at Mitsubishi is truly a Malaysian, or rather a Malaysian Government. It is liken to SPR, to the world they look all impartial in carrying out supposedly fair election but in fact infested with the accusations of phantom voters and the more phantom-esque votes by post. It is liken to SPRM, to the world looking all dignified but in fact faulted with the blood of one Teoh Beng Hock. It is even liken to Malaysia, looks good, developed and glamorous with KLCC, Putrajaya and soon to come 100 Storey Warisan Merdeka but the Malaysians are in fact scrapping away to make ends meat and constantly anguished with the thought of inflation and ever degrading pay. It is liken to the Malaysian Police; emm… no it’s not actually. The Inspira at least looks good from the outside, the police on the other hand…