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Saturday, March 16, 2013

Used Car Review: Proton Wira

Most value for money modification platform, or just a daily ride. The Proton Wira offers unlimited potential.

Me and my brother's project car. About 200whp from a Mitsubishi 1.6-Litre 4G92 Bolt on Turbo engine.


Looking for a used sedan that is affordable and easy to maintain? The Proton Wira has decent leg room and a generous boot space. And for an aged car, the outlook is still acceptable.

Manufactured from 1993 to 2007 and Priced between RM10,000 to RM20,000 (As of February 2013), the Proton Wira comes in various configurations, from a sedan to an aeroback variant, and numerous facelifts. There are also different engines featured in the Wira, from the range topper 1.8-Litre Mitsubishi 4G93 engine to the standard 1.5-Litre Mitsubishi 4G15 and 1.3-Litre Mitsubishi 4G13. In between, there were also 1.6-Litre Mitsubishi 4G92 and 2.0-Litre diesel versions available as well.


Original condition Proton Wira Aeroback
With so many different versions of the Proton Wira, buyers may be confused as to which is the “better” buy. Coming from a consumer standpoint, the needs of the buyer will determine which version to buy; a frugal point A to point B car? Need a more powerful engine?
Proton Wira with 4G15 / 4G13 engine. Some Proton Wira come with the more powerful 1.6-Litre 4G92 and 1.8-Litre 4G93 engines.

Proton Wira is also a good platform to transplant a 4G63T EVO 1-3 engine!

A safe bet for most consumers would be the newer Proton Wira Special Edition, manufactured from 2004 to 2007. It has a slightly sportier outlook, and updated interior trim, albeit at a higher cost. For those craving for performance, the 1.6-Litre 4G92  or 1.8-Litre 4G93 offers pretty good stock performance, and has room for even more aftermarket tuning. In addition  the 1.6/1.8 models are equipped with rear disc brakes, electric mirrors, electric windows for the rear, and slightly different interior panels.
Standard Proton Wira interior. The interior is shared with the Proton Satria, Satria GTi, Putra, Arena etc. New interior parts are abundant and cheap!

As the car remains basically unchanged throughout the years, all the spare parts and body parts can be interchanged. New spare parts are still being produced, contributing to an affordable ownership cost. Some downside though: some of the older models has a roof rust and engine technical problem. Apart from that, the car is a good and affordable workhorse.

How about a nice set of CCFL Angel Eye lights? Plenty of modification choices on the Wira/Satria, and they come cheap too! This set cost about RM250-350 only. 

Still can’t decide which variant of the Wira to buy? Narrow down your budget and contact the buyer to have a look and test drive for yourself!
http://www.carlist.my/used-cars/make/proton/model/wira
Summary:
The hits
+Cheap spare parts
+Affordable Sedan
+Good handling for it’s price
+Plenty of aftermarket support
+Easy to fix
And the misses:
-Fuel effeciency could be better
-Hit and miss build quality
-Rust problem on older variants

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I own a 2004 Wira 1.5 SE. Great car!

Anonymous said...

Honestly, the review given here is very interesting. There is a lot of articles that tackled the used car engines but your blog is very different. I learn a lot and I admire the information given here. Thank you for sharing this review.

Engine For Sale

Jackson Oh said...

The parts are abundant and cheap! Very frugal car if serviced correctly. Treat the Proton Wira well and you can use it for many more years to come! Cheers

Anonymous said...

I bought my 1994 Wira used and have had it for close to 10 years and it still runs fine even though it has close to 200,000KM on it. All I can say that this is a cheap reliable mid range car to use. It is spacious and simple car. Had the piston rings replaced a few years back because it was smoking badly, other that that, just a few minor repairs here and there, with spare parts so cheap and abundant, it was no problem. The only gripe is that the fuel consumption is bad and mine is a manual.

Unknown said...

Does affordable used cars have any major Flaw in the engine?

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing! This page was very informative and I enjoyed it. Pre owned cars Carver MA

Ikkie said...

I think people should think before to buy parts or any used car. I would recommend to sell your old car and add some more money and buy a good condition car instead.

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