PETALING JAYA, Oct. 2 -- Even before the car was officially named, the Proton X50 was the talk of the nation.

Since Proton announced its brand-new SUV on Malaysia Day, the vehicle, its features and most notably, the price has been the talk of the town.

While Proton has remained tight-lipped about the details of the highly-anticipated car up to this point, with the price still to be confirmed, we found out what it was like to sit inside and drive the three-cylinder X50 during a media preview at the Sepang International Circuit yesterday.

During the preview, Proton gave members of the media and special guests a chance to test out the performance of the vehicle through multiple tests including an all-out drag race to test its speed, drivi...