Some facts on Proton Waja

Here are my thoughts on some of the facts related to Proton Waja...

Proton Waja is a sedan designed in-house by the automotive company in Malaysia, Proton, first launched in August 2000. The Waja is the first car designed in Malaysia, with a chassis inspired from a Volvo S40 & Mitsubishi Carisma . The name, Waja, which carries the meaning "strong" (like steel), reflects the strength of the steel used for the Waja compared to previous models. The name was chosen in part to counter the perception in the market that Proton cars were less strong.

Some history on Waja...

Proton Waja is the first model designed internally by Proton. The development of the Waja began in the late 1990's with the engine, but the Campro engine development was still at the "development stage" during Waja's launch and therefore Proton had to source the product release with the 4G18 Mitsubishi engine in replacement for the Waja Campro engine before the year 2006. It was in August 2000 with the introduction of the new logo Proton, Waja was launched. The early batches of Waja had serious quality problems due to some vendor's ignorance in ensuring thorough quality control. The reason for this is to meet the TTM (time to market) whereby the demand for Waja was already at its peak. However, the quality of the components were strictly improved years later in 2005.

Waja got its facelift twice ever since it was launched; the first in mid-2006 which involved rear lights changes followed by a more substantial facelift in early 2007, where Waja was given a new grille, included ABS and air bags. The next platform for Waja has been said to be based on Mitsubishi Lancer. As of now, the news is that the Lancer-based Waja is still under testing.

In terms of Performance...

In the early batches, Waja was powered by Mitsubishi's 4G18 SOHC 1.6L engine with multi-point fuel injection and brake configuration (front: ventilated disc / rear: disc). Waja was available in both manual, 5 speed and Auto (4 speed).

The 1.8 litre was introduced in 2002, but this time powered by Renault;s Laguna II. The 1.8L encompossaed VVT technology. However, the 1.8L didnt make much debut as the Malaysia folks were more comfortable with Japanese enginers.

The 1.6 Campro engine was finally introduced on Waja in January 2006. The DOHC Campro engine had higher torque and power compared to the previous engine prototypes as there were tremendous remapping done on the ECU and also the different air intake system that was introduced.

And today, the all time Malaysian favourite Waja is powered by a Campro CPS (Cam Profile Switching) engine with VVT which definitely provides greater power to the vehicle in general.