Proton S70 full review - better buy vs Honda City, Toyota Vios?

Here's Hafriz Shah's full, in-depth review of the Proton S70 sedan, covering all the good and bad points. Is it a better buy vs the Honda City and Toyota Vios? Find out here.

00:00 Introduction
01:07 B/C-segment?
03:20 Pricing & variants
07:05 Exterior design
12:40 Interior design
23:05 Rear seats
25:04 Boot space
26:23 Powertrain
36:13 Fuel consumption
38:29 Ownership costs
39:48 Ride & handling
46:17 Refinement
48:37 ADAS tech
51:47 Closing thoughts

[anand]

I bought a S70. Been driving it for two weeks. I have not noticed or felt any intrusive vibrations. On the contrary, I find the drive smooth and comfortable. Granted, the throttle response needs a bit of getting used to but nothing too dramatic. Another thing I fail to understand is this obsession with soft and hard plastic. Plastic is plastic. I did not buy the car with the intention of groping it. The cabin is comfortable and that works just fine for me. I have not noticed the rattling seatbelt either. Perhaps I just have a higher tolerance for annoying things and less attractive key fobs. My decision to buy a Proton was somewhat a leap of faith. Perhaps it stems from an inherent bias or perhaps it is their fault for producing inferior cars - be it real or perceived - compared to other manufacturers. My first car was a Wira and it did not give me sleepless nights. I also owned a Ford Ranger for several years but never once took it off road or ferried heavy loads which it was designed for. I paid for parts and tech which I never utilised. Though it was "built tough", I avoided potholes and puddles let alone flooded roads because I was concerned that it would damage the truck or paint. I have to admit that I purchased it simply because it looked big and intimidating . Nothing more than an expensive testosterone booster. So I wised up and downgraded to a more practical Honda City (which incidentally had paddle shifters that I never used either). Both served me well but not without their fair share of problems, squeaks and rattles. I am practical enough to expect some hiccups with the S70 as I would with any other car that is just one of tens of thousands rolling out of an assembly line but I am keeping my fingers crossed that there will be no major problems. But Google any car brand together with the word "problems" and none are spared. For example, Google tells me that "common problems" for Rolls Royce are "water leaks, suspension issues and engine mounts" among others.

[azharhamzah]

Bought the s70 few weeks ago. Initially was opting for x70, but after test driving, s70 feels a lot sporty and less bouyancy feeling. And the wife really like the s70 handsomeness like her husband. We routinely do long distance travel every month and with 2 kids my trusty Persona lipas already feel cramped. Furthermore after 200, 000km mileage i start to worry it might break down (though it hasnt, such realiable).

The s70 driving position sits lower than all B segment car. The power is all time ready for you to use, and it doesnt feel any lack of power. Sure its not as fast as civic, but it definitely accelerate quicker than corolla and mazda 3. You can reach 180km/h in around 30-40 sec if you keep climbing. Handling is good but a bit on soft side, but if you turn to sports it made them better (though i dont think everyone will notice the different). S70 is good at handling corner sometimes its addicting. The combination of handling and power makes overtaking at high speed a very easy task.

I think the seat are probably the most underated here. They are soft, supportive, doesnt feel hot after long distance, easy to clean and durable. Totally different feeling than x70 and x50. My kids always fall asleep in the back after coming home from school even though its short distance (5km). Driving on the road the car feel smooth and minimum body roll. It has similar feeling like driving honda accord 2017 and older. Suspension feels comfort if you drive leisurely and sporty if you feel like driving fast.

While most Malaysian drive on the well maintained highway, my commute mostly involve Federal roads. S70 have no problem driving on the snakey long distance bumpy federal roads. I feel a lot safer to overtake in s70 compare to Persona. And fuel consumption is not bad too. I usually get around 7L/100km if i maintain my speed at 100kmh.

That said, there are a few i wish can be change. Firstly the opening for rear bonet is a bit small. Its kind a hastle bcoz i usually brought few large bags and had to insert them in weird manner (sideway first). Secondly i can never get used to the gear changing routine. Sure it feels premium but as a car used for work, i sometimes park and mistakenly turn it off bcoz i mistakenly thought the ignition is the P button (they have similar feeling and almost similar size). And third, the tires that comes from the factory are the cheap ones. Sure its to cut cost, but not all people know everything about tires, and when the time comes to change tire, most owner opted to similar brand and size of tires, bcoz they think its the standard and necessary for the car. I think Proton should do referrence chart for owner to opt the best type and size of tires for the car owner to choose. It just feels the car has a lot more potential with wider tires.

Overall i think the s70 is a very good car. If youre in the market to get a new car i definitely recomend you the s70. Reliability for Proton's (Geely's) car is very much guaranteed. I hardly see x70 or x50 broke down on the road. And in their cars group, they dont seem to be struggling on any issues. On that note, im sure s70 will be similar.

[jswong]

I took my friend's S70 Premium for a long drive through NKVE, DUKE, Janda Baik, Ulu Gombak and MRR2 recently for a good mix of slow backroads and highway runs with 4 of us in the car having a combined bodyweight total of around 370kgs. My opinions of this car:

- you're right, there's hardly any steering feel from the EPS. Steering is extremely vague but steering response is adequately good. Flick the steering wheel and the nose follows, despite the lack of steering feel. Unlike the cars with hydraulic power steering e.g. Preve and Suprima, it's a bit harder to judge how much to load up the steering around tight bends when going at moderate speeds.

- there's no low-speed juddering or jerkiness as you mentioned, but the throttle response is quite weird. It feels like there's a half-second delay between throttle input and the engine response, and it's not the turbo lag sort of lag. For instance, you start applying the throttle, there's a noticeable lag before the throttle body starts to open up, and feeling the engine spooling up. When going at a high speed, when you ease off the throttle, you can feel that slight half-second lag before the engine power is reduced. The Preve and Suprima, despite using a CVT, will translate pedal to engine rpm immediately.

- gear shifts while on the go are smooth and when going through hilly and winding roads, the gearbox is fortunately quite willing to downshift without the need for planting the throttle down too much. Downshifts are accompanied with slightly more noticeable engine noise (e.g. there were some hilly winding stretches where it will downshift rapidly from 7th gear to 4th gear, to my surprise, with a quick spike in engine rpm making it carry speed and momentum through the corners quite well).

- the brakes are horrible. At low speeds, it's very VERY hard to modulate the brake effectively. In stop-and-go traffic, the brake bite is very sudden and jarring. Almost like every jab on the brake is an emergency stop. Fortunately this excessive brake force application doesn't happen while on the go

- fuel consumption wise, it's no different from the Preve and Suprima with the older and inferior CFE engines paired to Punch CVT gearboxes, which is a shame considering that this is supposed to be a superior powertrain. But, the fuel consumption is pretty good when you're doing steady driving between 70-90 km/h on trunk roads. The engine will gladly chug along at around 1700-1800 rpm in 7th gear at those speeds, and getting 15-16km/liter isn't impossible. But in stop-and-go traffic and while doing highway speeds of 110-120km/h, the fuel economy is merely comparable to its aforementioned predecessors.

- Comfort-wise, it's seriously way more comfortable than the Preve and Suprima that came before it. There's not much road noise as what you spoke of though, perhaps because the Premium version runs on 205/55 R16 tyres with fatter sidewalls. But when it comes to moderate-speed runs through winding roads, it doesn't inspire as much confidence as the Preve and Suprima although it is pretty good. Certainly way better than any Perodua car, and better than the City and Vios.

- when idling, you can feel a bit of the 3-pot imbalance seeping into the cabin. But it's when you're outside the car that it feels pretty off. The engine clatters like a diesel lump despite being MPI and not direct-injected (usually it's the DI engines that have a more pronounced clatter). Even Perodua's 3-cylinder engines don't clatter like that although you can hear the weird tempo of the exhaust pulses. I think overall, the S70 certainly needs more sound deadening and probably even more vibration-reduction measures for the engine bay.

- The electronic gear shifter is an annoyance. 3-point turns and parallel parking become unnecessarily time-wasting chores. It doesn't shift unless you step on the brake while actuating the gear lever. And going from reverse to drive is an absolute hassle, what more when you have to do it at least twice when doing parallel parking and 3-point turns. If they want something fancy, a rotary knob or button-based shifter would be way better than this dumb electronic shifter.

[bobochan]

Why do many people stay away from this car in its first year of introduction to the market? To let others become its first guinea pig. Let Geely/Proton sort out most of the problems first. My hats to u, the pioneers, for taking the beating, u are our heroes. But they don't do that for Toyota n Honda. They complaint, the price was too high, mumbling furiously to the bank n signing the HP agreement.

[truckman]

Hafiz is one of d few reviewers pointed out the transmission miscalibration! Honest review!

[GrandeNJR]

S70 Flagship X owner here. One odd thing I noticed is that most of the vibrations that are experienced when the car is idle is eliminated when the A/C is switched off. As soon as the A/C is switched on again, the vibrations come back.

[Found-Interesting]

Finally the much waited review from hafriz

[muhdnabilmustafar]

price tag below 100k with DCT transmission is value for money "seriously".. but hopefully s70 will get the TGDi engine like x50 Fs in future.. confirm berdezup weh.. hehe for those yang still sceptical on proton geely quality.. korang kena try & feel dulu.. baru demo kenal bare 😅 alhamdulillah da own x50 Fs for 3years & mileage da 80k km... tiada apa² major isu yg berlaku..

lastly, jangan dok PK sgt pasal RV sbb kita bukan beli keta hari ni esk nak jual.. layan akan aje.. 😅 jgn dgr other people thought.. live is to short man bila lg nk merasa keta ala² conti.. 😂

apa pun ukur baju dibadan sendiri..

[dennislys]

S70 flagship owner here. I do like to add some more context to the smart boot operation.

I believe is the additional weight of the spoiler that cause the boot to not open fully. For my car (without spoiler). The smart boot function will open fully, not halfway like what was shown in the video.

I think this is an oversight from Proton and also a reminder to those who are considering to add on aftermarket spoiler.

[mrcriticsable]

S70 user here with 2.5k km clocked in both long distance highway drive and city driving.

Heres some thing i want to point out, not exactly as an agreement or disagreement towards the vid but more of a different point of view.


1) in this video there's a lengthy explanation about the lack of transmission refinement especially under 10km/h speed. It was interesting for me to watch it as I've always thought of it as a feature instead of flaw. There's definitely a learning curve on how to 'start moving' the car and honestly its pretty easy and seamless process. I've pretty much got used to it within 1-2 days of owning it. I've always thought the 'jerkiness' came from the sudden handover from parking autohold feature onto the 1st gear, and by gently pressing the pedal(which I've always assumed to notify the autohold to disengage) and wait a second or so before pressing the pedal again, the car will start rolling smoothly. By doing it this way the car felt very compliant and predictable hence I never thought of it as an issue. Ultimately I think this is more of a 'use me like this' type of issue rather than 'I'm faulty' kind.


2) The lack of Android Auto/Apple Carplay is not as huge as you think. you need to use it long enough to discover the real synergy between map and the car as a whole. After gotten used to the S70 ecosystem, I would say that if in the future I upgraded to a car with AAAC, it will be a side grade at most and definitely not a clear cut upgrade. There's 3 aspect the baked in map did better than AAAC, first, you can send the map to the driver screen and greatly reduce the eye strain from going back and forth between IHU and road. Once I got used to it it felt so natural and going back to using mirrored screen for waze felt like a step back technologically. Second it has a very accurate lane diagram which is very helpful when ure at the heart of KL or in a completely foreign city with confusing and branching road. Third is the fact that you basically can manipulate the map without disturbing the navigation on driver screen which is a big thing in reality since your partner can do adjustment like adding stop, zooming out to check traffic and double checking the destination without messing with navigation especially when you're not on a standstill and you do not want to miss any exits.

And dont get me started on Spotify. The 'dual device one account' approach makes so much sense actually. My partner can now manipulate spotify both from her phone AND from the IHU. We both have equal control of Spotify playlist, songs to play next etc. and best of all the phone is completely free. Not connected by cable or even Bluetooth. It just...works. after all, it is a fully baked Spotify app inside the IHU, just like how it is in the phone.

[faizpakoh]

just a tip for s70 owner who didnt like the throttle response..please just change to eco mode the throttle response will be much more smoother even though the power is reduced quite a bit.

[fkmyoutube]

A 53 minutes car review??

That's a first!!

[mohdsoufi]

Baru test drive s70 utk kali ke 2. Kali ini test di bukit sprt hafriz buat dlm video. Alhamdulillah smooth shj kereta tu bergerak ke depan. Tayar x spin mcm dlm video tu... Senang je kawal..

[xiAobudian]

I am a honda city owner for 8 years, and my family own a almera too. I think i am wuite qualified to give comment when you compare s70 with city and almera.

Fuel consumption honda and almera win. Second hand value, Japan car win. When i said jaoan car second hand value is higher, its means its durability is higher. My honda city millage 160k, 8 years car, today still can sell at 32k. Which means its durability is high even after 8 years, otherwise market wont buy it
And the last is after sales service, Japan car win.

Other than these 3 factor, i personally think s70 still win. That's why i am seeling my city and taking in s70. Expext next month delivery.

Add on comments:
I have try test drive quite many time. Don't feel any 3 cylinder vibration as the internet said. May be it's still new. Besides, my wife is owing an axia, which is 3 cylinder engine too. 7 years already, no problems at all. My friends own a proton x50, 3 cylinder engine as well. Tak ada masalah juga. I guess it's all depend on how you handling, how you take care. Last, technology now is improving. 3 cylinders engine today is different with those engine at kancil era.

[jesselogan]

I don't think S70 using MPI engine is a downgrade, in fact it is much affordable in term of maintenance compare to TGDi engine..

[ktwei]

The issue is cars keep getting bigger making the segmentation less relevant but coming down more to specs & marketing.

[TapTheTab]

Hafriz grill Proton so aggressively in this video, but I guess it's a win to consumers, we need someone to bring pressure to Proton 😂

[dimasfrans]

I have test drive a car like Vios, Almera, for sedan, also couple of others SUV (B segment) like Omoda 5, HRV, WRV, Veloz in the pass few months. My opinion when comparing all the cars that I have test drive is with my current car, which is Myvi 2018. I'm looking more into comfort driving, an upgrade feature, better interior, electric brake and auto-hold is a must (you can agree or disagree with this, but this now become a trend), ADAS safety feature, better suspension, good resale value in future. With all that come into mind and also budget 100K, proton S70 give you a complete package with an affordable price, Almera engine is just 1.0L even it's a turbocharge engine, to me 1.0 is not an option, furthermore the interior design in Almera I feel not much different with my current Myvi. City I don't even bother to look as Honda always have minimum feature across their car range, while China car nowadays will give you abundant features and good looking design interior.
Just my honest opinion, tho

[adrianvinod]

Well I have to somewhat agree to disagree with Hafriz.. Clocked in 1.5km with my S70 Flagship.. I’m coming from a City GM6.. 1st time with a 3 cyc engine.. Still need to get used to it.. And yes hafriz, you can actually feel a slight vibration if you really pay attention to notice it.. Especially when it’s idle, with aircon on.. But it’s not an irritating or a major vibration, where at most times, you won’t actually notice it.. I guess it’s because of the 3 cyc engine character and also the price point of this car.. Maybe in terms of costing, they can’t really soundproof it to the level of an Altis.. S70 maybe positioned as a C-segment, but we all know Malaysians purchase a car based on their price point and not the segment.. And in terms of the gearbox calibration with the engine, yes the turbo lag is quite obvious and the pickup, when the car moves from a standstill, you may feel that it is abit off, with a sudden jolt.. For me it’s my first time using a turbocharged vehicle, since I’m coming from a NA.. so I need some time getting used to the way this gearbox is tuned.. I chose S70 rather than upgrading to the new City is because I had a bad experience with Honda’s CVT.. Stopped being a fan of CVT’s.. That’s why I decided to go with S70.. For me it’s the price point.. It’s really a good bargain with a price tag below 100k, for a turbocharged 1.5 and a DCT gearbox.. If we keep a high expectation in our mind and start comparing, or finding fault, then yes we will be let down.. Proton is still in its recovery, but yet they managed to bring in and add their own touch to these cars, with a competitive price point in the market.. It’s a value for money car.. For me, it’s simple, if I can afford a 200k car, of course I wouldn’t be considering a S70.. But I am only able to afford a car below the 100k price point, and I chose S70, which has a great price point to go along with its features.. No regrets here, as I’m a person who can’t afford to change car every 5 years.. Kudos to you for being transparent and honest in this review.. For the vibration issue, an additional soundproofing and the matter can be resolved, for the gearbox calibration, a little tuning might improve it abit, but only after the warranty period is over..

[abdullahfikry]

wow.. a daring presentation by Hafriz this time.. This is what I like with Hafriz review. he will tell you the truth and unbiased when review a car. Even I am a proton fans and feel Hafriz review quite harsh this time around, I still can accept it. Yes, this proton S70 not that perfect but if you compare to the same price competitor like vios and city, this S70 much better equip (flagship and flagship x variant of course). thanks for the review again Hafriz. keep it up the good work.