RIDZWAN A. RAHIM looks at how Malaysia’s first car has evolved since it rolled out in 1985.

Saga 1985, a piece of Malaysian history.

IF you were around in the 1980s, you probably have fond memories of the original Proton Saga. I do. My father bought one when it first came out in September 1985.He had owned other cars prior to that, but the Saga was special because it was Malaysia’s first very own car. We did not just get a car, we got ourselves a piece of Malaysian history. We were proud as heck.

I was nine then. My father had just sold off his cream-coloured Ford Escort, and was anticipating a new Langkawi Blue Proton Saga.

The Saga came in five colours — Langkawi Blue, red, white, metallic green and metallic blue. I remember it cost as little as RM18,000 for the 1.3 litre variant.

That night, my siblings and I waited patiently in the living room for dad to come home. When we finally heard a honk in front of the house, we jumped and shrieked in unison, “Proton!”
The car we got had the registration number WBF 3304. We were not the first family in the neighbourhood to own a Proton; that honour belonged to a Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia lecturer behind the house who got one bearing a registration number beginning with BCH.

I remember standing behind the car thinking Proton had made the trunk too tall, when really it was me who was short.

The Saga was a reliable car. We took it on our 500km trip back to Kota Baru, Kelantan every year. Even if it ever broke down, I can’t remember it.

When I got my driving licence at age 17, my father let me drive the car. I used it to court girls and soon had my first date with a Universiti Islam Antarabangsa girl at McDonald’s Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.

Finally, after 14 years with the Saga, my father sold it for RM9,000 to a young man from Kelantan, who paid in cash. We never saw the car (or the man) again.

Early this year, Proton released a second-generation Proton Saga. Like the original Saga, it was one of the most anticipated Malaysian cars for a long time.

Known among local motoring enthusiasts as Saga BLM, the new Saga looks small compared to its predecessor. True, the Saga is now shorter with a higher roof line, and is based on Proton’s compact Proton Savvy platform. But it also offers more headroom and luggage capacity than the old Saga.

So it appears that Proton has figured out what the people actually want: a cheap and economical family car with sedan body style. Some people say it’s a Savvy with a trunk.

With the price beginning at RM31,000, the new Saga looks set to once again become “the People’s Car”.

The lighted logo on the front of the 1985 Saga has also given way to a more youthful, Thundercats-inspired interpretation of the logo.

Maybe the guy who designed the current Proton logo also grew up in the 1980s.