EXORA

Here abaout EXORA

For 2012, the Exora has been given a full styling makeover. The front end has been spiced up with the new front bumper, featuring a very prominent vertically placed air intakes on each outer edge, flanking the slight-smiley lower radiator grille. The headlamps, while continue to be housed in the same casing, has been given a smoked treatment. The previously floating aerofoil upper radiator grille has been ditched, and making an appearance is  the new signature grille for Proton, a formal-looking unit with hard-edge surrounding panel and a chrome garnish mounted close to the leading edge to the hood. The same grille outline was spied in the leaked P3-21A photo, so this is what we can expect in the future after all.

While some manufacturer (local rivaling brand included) sometimes goes crazy with creating "air-intake" with blanked, non-see through, plugged-off panel, the air intakes in the Proton cars has always been functional. Check-out the meshed grille in Proton Satria Neo rear bumper if you don't believe me. In the Exora Bold, the vents fed the radiator behind it. Both sides are not blanked off.

Interior Design

The Exora Bold Premium is the highest line in the 7 seater Exora model ( the top line is the 6 seater Prime, but that's another story), and it gets a whole bucket of bell and whistle Proton currently has in its parts bin. For the Bold line-up, the tempest grey interior color scheme is retained. While the Executive version of the Exora Bold make do with Liquid Silver finished centre console (and fabric seat which I've yet to see), the Premium version gets the cubic motif instead, with silvered aircond vent, as well as fully leather-upholstered seats and door trims. While I am yet to see the lower-priced Exora Bold, the Premium range feels very premium indeed with its two-toned leather. The steering wheel is wrapped in similar material too.

The rest of the interior is what we know and love unchanged from Exora since 2009. The driving position is car-like, unlike my current driving, a sub-MPV which now feels van-like in comparison. The thick spoked steering wheel falls natural to the hand, with perforated leather offering gripper central region.

Engine 

The Exora Bold Premium is powered by the newly introduced CFE engine. The light-pressure turbocharger is one of the innovation added to the new engine derived from the Campro family. Many people mistaken CFE as a Campro turbo, while it is much more than just simply that. 

The project started a while back under Project Pheonix tag. It aimed to develop a high-torque engine suitable for MPV application. Truth to the current trend in engine downsizing, the CFE was aimed to have a 1.8l to 2.0l level of performance without incurring the high fuel consumption penalty of higher engine capacity. However, Proton started off with the base 1.6l anyway. Adding a turbocharger is not simply a bolted on job. Due to the higher combustion pressure derived from larger volume of air fed in, the loading on the cranktrain and engine structure are increased. The conrod, crankshaft, strength of cylinder block+head+bedplate as well heavier duty for coolant and lubricant flow are all need to be re-look and re-sized accordingly. 

Proton has long been criticized for sticking to 4 speed automatic transmission, while the rest of the world (except maybe the low-end Toyota) has moved on the 6 speed tranny. While the chase to the number of forward ratio could be endless, it is better to be one up on the rival. No? There's no higher number of gear than what CVT can offer. CVT basically offer infinite number of gearing due to its nature of operation. In this case, Punch gearbox was chosen, and it a global brand name as far as CVT is concern.

The Exora Bold packed 138bhp@5000 rpm and 205Nm@2000-4000 rpm of power and torque respectively. The CFE is slightly smaller in cubic centimeters compared to CPS engine, 1,561cc against 1,597cc. While the lower price Exora Bold soldiers on with CPS + 4AT drivetrain, the turbocharged Premium version can reached 100km/h in less pedestrian 13.3 seconds (against 15.7 second of CPS + 4AT combo) and reached 185 km/h of top speed ( up from 165 km/h of aforementioned drivetrain combo).  Fuel consumption suffers a little with quoted 7.8 l/100km compared to 7.4l/100km of the CPS engine.