IDRIVEACLASSIC reviews: 80s Proton Saga LE (limited edition Proton) ENGLISH Proton

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For those hard of hearing like me, this is what we talk about on the walk around:
Last week we saw the Proton Saga Black Knight special edition and this week we are back with the Proton Saga 1.5 LE - which was the top of the range for Sagas in the UK and sadly, this is the only example left, so we are very lucky to be testing this out today.

If you haven’t watched last week’s video, you really should, because it’ll make today’s video a lot easier to understand!

Last week we gave a history of Proton, so this week I thought I’d share a few facts on Proton before I tell you a bit about this car.

So first off, Proton cars are known for reliability and this is no happy accident, Proton test their cars in all extremes to ensure their customers cars will work no matter which climate the car ends up in and the cars are tested in both the Oman desert and the North and South poles - making this an ideal first time starter for the cold northern winters here in the UK!

My next interesting fact is, is that although Proton are a Malaysian car, one of the biggest Proton fan clubs is actually based in Egypt.

Now coming back to the Proton Saga, these were produced between 1985 and 1992, making it the first mass produced car to come out of Malaysia.

The car wasn’t immediately available in the UK and was debuted at the international Motor Show in 1988 and over the course of the lifetime of the Saga, over 1.2 million were made, which means that whilst this might be a unicorn on the roads of the UK today, they were once a far more common sight and are still enjoyed far more frequently abroad.

This particular car was purchased in Redhill, Surrey from Shield Motor Group by Mr Maurice Bright, who owned the car until his death in 2018 - so the history for this is pretty intact! For viewer reference, this car at purchase cost £9,294.

Now as I said previously, this is the last LE Saga believed to exist in the UK and LE simply stands for limited edition, which got you the following:
Spoiler
Electric sunroof
Special wheel trims
Decals
Embroidered headrests
Carpet mats

Plus the power steering afforded to the Saga once you got off base spec.

So really - not much more than our Black Knight we took out last week!

Another interesting fact to note is the paint which is Majorca Black - the rarest of the Proton colour shades.

Now we covered engine specs and technicals last week, so without delay, I will re-introduce you to Jon, the owner of the two lovely Protons we’ve got in our two part special.