Proton S70 Flagship X Sedan Review: Still 70/100%

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Just the B+ grade for this B+ segment Proton sedan because of its sub-par driving dynamics and refinement.

When the Proton S70 first launched a little over a year ago, Automacha was fortunate to be given the opportunity to have a quick taste of it during its initial media preview. And while it wasn’t exactly the most thorough test drives, this writer had back then given this self-touted B+ segment sedan a B+ score of 70/100.

Fast forward over a year later to today meanwhile, Proton had kindly arranged for Automacha to spend a bit more time with the S70. But in cutting a long story short right at the start here, the 7 days spent with this sedan still pretty much returned the same general result as the 7-minute test track taster session from before.

That said, what is nevertheless different here with this review though from the prior first impressions is that now with more hours in the saddle, this writer has the opportunity to better elaborate on how that the Proton S70 still scores a B+ grade in his books.

Exterior Aesthetic: 17/20

Now beauty is of course in eye of the beholder, but to this writer’s eyes at least, the S70 is actually a decently handsome car.

Despite it being a somewhat anonymous and aged design (the Geely on which this Proton is based was out since 2021), its comparatively larger size does nevertheless give the S70 a bit more room to work out its proportions better for a sleeker look than the typical B-segmenters. Having since seen more than a couple out on the road at night too, its distinctive full-width LED light signature does certainly add a bit of style and sophistication to its rump after dark.

In this writer’s opinion though, the factory bodykit is to frankly be a bit OTT and tacky, but to each their own there…

Features & Tech: 16/20

Now it should go without saying that given its Chinese roots, the Proton S70 is undoubtably the best-equipped car in its class. And while the quantity of kit is impressive, what is to be all the more so with this sedan is actually for the quality of its features to also be rather good too.

The 10.3-inch fully digital instrument cluster and 12.3-inch central infotainment touchscreen in the S70 are crisp to look at and fairly responsive to the touch. Its surround view camera meanwhile is also of a decently high resolution.

Its intelligent cruise control is deserved of a shout out as well, for being fantastically smooth in its operation during stop-start traffic, while the auto steer feature works also reasonably well to keep it in lane on the highway.

Without wanting to sound like a party pooper here however, it has to be said that quite a lot of the features found in the S70 could pretty much be classified as gimmicks. And this writer at least would gladly go without the cool LED light show that comes on when the car is locked, if he could have a physical volume knob instead.

Like many other Chinese cars out there too, the exterior keyless lock/unlock button frustratingly only exists on the driver’s door handle. While this is certainly low hanging fruit here as well, it bears repeating again that there is unfortunately also no native Android Auto and Apple CarPlay integration (just yet) with the S70.

Driving Dynamics: 13/20

Now starting with the good bits first regarding how the S70 drives, there is no denying that this Proton has certainly pulls like a train when the turbo comes alive. Off-boost however, the three cylinder under the hood is unfortunately all but dead to the world when it comes to the business of hauling this rather heavy sedan.

So while it may have the Vios and City beat when in a three-wide drag race to 100 km/h, both the lighter Japanese B-segmenters are to be better suited to the everyday task of squirting out of junctions.

The bigger black mark here though to how the Proton pulls too is just how all of its power just comes in one big lump. And while this rather old-school turbo-lag sensation is admittedly quite fun on occasion, it unfortunately does also make the S70 somewhat hard to drive smoothly on the daily (something to be touched upon in the segment later).

As for how the Proton handles in the meantime, despite the S70 having the power to pull to one’s had laju kebangaan on the open road, the confidence to do so though was not exactly present in this Proton. Now this might just be an issue with this particular car tested here (because other reviewers don’t seem to report this problem), but this writer felt like the wheels of this test car were just floating side-to-side on its own tyres when the speedo read above double digits.

While steering modes can be adjusted independently from drive modes too, a weighty steering in sport sadly in this case does not mean for it to have much more feel. And while this writer did not exactly push it so hard as to experience full-blown understeer, it does nevertheless feel like the front pushes out that bit more than expected when tackling a corner at speeds faster than advised.

Comfort & Refinement: 12/20

While taking a tape measure to its exterior does confirm Proton’s own claim for the S70 to indeed be a size up from its comparatively priced B-segment rivals, this extra largeness on the outside however is not really translated to any additional space within.

Now sure, with it being a good chunk wider than a typical B-segment sedan, those up front in the S70 would likely feel like they are seated in a comparatively bigger car. The same could however not be said for those seated behind, as the Proton barely feels any bigger in the back (and in the boot) than the packaging marvel that is the Honda City.

With regards to how the cabin quality is like on the other hand, there is the typical perception of premium-ness within the S70, that one already has come to expect from a Geely-based Proton. Its dashboard for instance was made of a nice soft touch plastic, and all the switchgear had decent weight to its operation too.

And while it may not be the most confidence-inspiring car to drive at speed too, the S70 does nevertheless have a decently comfortable suspension setup, which does an admirable job in isolating one’s arse from the many lumps and bumps that pepper our local roads.

The overall comfort in the S70 was however spoilt slightly by the rather pronounced tyre roar from the Goodyears fitted on this test car. It has to be said too that the three-cylinder under the hood still on occasion has a very noticeable diesel-like clattering characteristic, with this being most apparent when starting from cold.

Though while on the topic of critiques regarding comfort with the S70 and as alluded to above, the biggest complaint here really is the way its turbo-triple is tuned, with it having the tendency to deliver all its power in one big lump actually making this Proton a somewhat stressful car to drive in certain everyday situations.

Thanks to the turbo triple’s power tending to come in one big torquey package when the eventually turbo spools, trying to creep smoothly in stop-start traffic with the Proton therefore requires a deft right foot to keep the metallic snail from suddenly waking up. In fact, there were many an occasion where the sudden surge of power had caused the car to lurch forward, in spite of the throttle application being constant, as the engine revs have finally climbed high enough to awaken the turbo.

What more is that while this is typically a fear reserved for inexperienced stick-shift drivers, hill starts have also somehow become a scenario for supplementary stress when behind the wheel of the S70. Setting off on an incline, especially with auto-hold activated, is almost guaranteed to spin the front wheels of this Proton.

Now this problem here is largely to be blamed on the insensitivity of the Auto Hold system, which requires a liberal amount of throttle input to deactivate. So in the action of stomping on the gas to deactivate it, this thus sees for the lump of turbo torque to then comes into play, which in turn causes the front wheels to chirp as the S70 promptly shoots up the hill.

This difficulty in driving the Proton everyday is also further not helped along by the somewhat dim-witted dual-clutch gearbox that has a tendency to hunt for gears, which does actually further exacerbates the potential of the turbo coming on boost when one doesn’t really desire it to…

And just before anyone critiques this writer for not knowing how to drive a turbo DCT car, let it be noted that he in fact has been daily-ing one of the most temperamental examples of such car (an over-decade old Polo 1.2 TSI with the infamous dry-clutch 7-speed DSG) for nearly a decade now. So he does know a thing or two about how to manage this type of powertrain package.

Value For Money: 16/20

Now for less than RM 100,000, one could easily make the argument that the Proton S70 certainly offers great value for money. It is after all filled to the rafters with features, and it certainly punches above its price point when it comes to premium-ness.

Though having incidentally jumped straight from a Honda City into the S70 for this review, it was also rather clear, to this writer at least, on how the Honda could command the extra dough over the Proton. To put it simply, while the City may not have all the bells and whistles that the S70 has, it just felt like the much more solid car of the two, and was the one that was better to drive too.

Something to also bear in mind when it comes to the matter of money with the Proton here is that despite the supposedly frugal three-pot that lies under its hood, the S70 is rather keen on guzzling down the ol’ jungle juice. The 750 km its fuel gauge claims to manage when the tank is brimmed is to be all but a blatant lie, especially when the car’s own trip computer is (generously) saying it is averaging about 11.0 km/l, and that it only has a 50-litre tank…

And while this is perhaps unsporting given that this review is supposedly to be all about the S70, but for those who are looking for a cheap yet rather competent B-segment sedan that is good on fuel and has all the kit you’ll ever need (including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), have you considered the Nissan Almera Turbo?

Odds & Ends

Funnily enough, the S70 doesn’t show hiragana for the track name on its digital instrument display, but it does so on the central screen.
Thanks to how the lower dash protrudes outwards, it is rather nigh-on impossible to attach any air-vent phone mount onto the dash of the S70.