They say you get what you pay for and that's certainly the case with the latest offering from the Malaysian manufacturer, Proton. But with the GEN-2, it's almost a case of what you don't get - like ABS for example. In spite of almost every other car company in the world recognising that ABS is a basic element of road safety, in the GEN-2 it's standard only on the top-of-the-range GSX model. Yet airbags, including side ones, are a standard feature.For the life of me I can't fathom the thinking here. Surely the ability to stop in a straight line is far more important than reducing the impact of not being able to? It sounds like a clear case of dealing with the symptoms rather than tackling the cause of the complaint.The lack of ABS sums up the almost cynical approach Proton has taken to the international car market. It has gone for window dressing rather than unseen yet what the rest of us would consider essentials for, not least, our safety.Let me explain. Compared to what Proton have offered us before, the car looks quite good, but then that's not really saying much. It has style, something which the Far Eastern companies have always found difficult to get to grips with.It looks quite good, even if the £9595 GLS test car I had was an all-too-vivid bright Angel Blue. The back end particularly works well, conjuring up images of BMW's Chris Bangle's latest creations in, for example, the new 1-Series - and the front end also does the job on the superficial looks.But examine the car closely and it all feels a bit cheap and not really thought through. I got really annoyed for example with the lack of a boot release button either on the lid itself or on the key fob. If you want to open the boot, you have to pull the lever which is on the floor on the right hand side of the driver’s seat. On almost every occasion I wanted to get into the rear loadspace, I had to go back into the car to find the release button, usually when I already had my hands full.Once you step inside, things get even worse. The whole feel of the interior is decidedly cheap and thrown together . . . and will probably fall apart just as quickly.I had the test car for only a week, but in that time several small clips and retaining screws fell off, so it's only a matter of time, I suppose, before more substantial pieces follow. Again it's superficial, so much so that everything could be made of cardboard and is probably just as robust. I felt the interior was a bit like a Wild West set. Everything looked alright but it had no substance and like the absent ABS, there was little or nothing behind the façade.Even after a week, I still couldn't really fathom the radio controls, which seemed to be the opposite of everything every other manufacturer is doing. There seemed to be only five presets - why? - and the volume controls were mixed with the channel changer which meant that every time you wanted to drop the sound a touch, you inadvertently moved to another station.Other controls were decidedly suspect. I had the car during a particularly cold spell when the rear demister/deicer was vital but on one occasion it took a full half hour to clear the window of condensation. The following day it seemed to clear it in minutes. Even then it was almost impossible to tell if the rear demister was on, because the light on the button was so dim.On the road, the car handles quite well, no doubt thanks to the development work done in partnership with Lotus, but the 1.6 engine feels unsophisticated and basic. It had an annoying habit of increasing revs between gearchanges and I couldn't establish if this was by default or design. Either way, I didn't like it.If I wasn't happy driving the car in the time I had it and was glad to hand it back, I would have real difficulty recommending it to anyone else, even if it is cheap. I checked on residual value forecasts and even with a three-year warranty, the car is unlikely to be worth much more than £3500 when the warranty expires. Engine 1597cc, 4 cylinders Power 110bhp Fuel/CO2 39.2mpg / 169g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 12.6 seconds Top speed 118mph Price £9595 Details correct at publication date
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