Owner Review: What am I gonna do driving a car without ABS? My story of my Perodua Myvi 1.3 Manual

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Basic information about my car

Perodua Myvi 1.3 Manual

Reasons why I bought this car

A decent car that chosen by my dad for me as daily usage for 1st job to travel from KL to PG back & forth. I had no knowledge at that time when I was only driving Little kancil during College time.

Car Selection Process

• I had a budget of RM 45,000

• Model(s) that I have considered include: Any car will do as long as it moves

Reasons why I chose this car:

Heard of the reliability from family & friends.

User Experience

• I have already done 390,000 km

Since the purchase, my thoughts about the car are:

When talk about reliability of Perodua cars, the answer is YES & NO. My Perodua Myvi was the 1st batch production, considered my family had 3 different variances & year of MYVIs bought, I can say alot about it.

1st batch 1st GEN of MYVI built quality & material usage is so much superior than facelifted my found in year 2009 low or mid spec. My father had a facelifted 1st GEN myvi with Auto Gear box. We can see alot of cost cutting here & there, which contributes more rapid reliability issues than my 1st batch 1st GEN myvi.

The car's reliability is in the ENGINE itself & gearbox, eventhough mine had broke down in the year of 10th. replaced with RM2k & done in same day. Imagine i drove this car for city & highway use for past 14years. 390,000km is not a small number & only replaced engine gasket 1year ago.

What not so reliable are the suspension & air-cond. You can expect it frequent breakdown from 3months - 1.5year for suspension related. Lower arm & driveshafts always fail. Cheap replacement parts can get you 3months usage, good one may up to 1year+. Air-cond may not the strong point of Perodua's car. It isn't the cold compare to any PROTON car, during my ownership i had 3 major replacements on air-cond. It costed maximum RM2.2k. 

The drive of myvi is ok-ish, quite jumpy as you go thru humps and bumps. The original absorber was like having you on a boat. At least better than old Almera that i tried. I always say Myvi is a decent car despite of Bad handling, bad brake & bad acceleration. Sounds all bad right, but good thing about it is spacious with 4 adults onboard in outstation travel, decent amount space in boots and good fuel consumption for that era. I got 11.5km/l city, 13.5km/l.

Best part of it, my Myvi does not comes with AIRBAG.

Can you believe that?? Therefore i upgraded disc brake & pad, RIM to 15inch & use the best in class tyre choice, POTENZA RE003 for 6years.

As most reviewers say about you need AIRBAGS when it happens. I only can rely on PREVENTION by giving the best maneuverability onto my car.

Air-cond replacement - RM500-RM2000+

Lower Arm -  RM260+

Gearbox - RM2k

Brake pad - RM30

Oil change - change myself RM50

Pros & Cons

Pros

1. Reliability on the engine & gearbox

2. Spacious enough to carry 4 adults

3. Cargo space is just ok without kids.(eventhough my  brother's one can carry 3kids & a stroller)

4. Replacement parts are cheap but not durable

5. Good fuel consumption 11.5 - 13.5km/l for car year 2006

Cons

1. Bad brake

2. Bad handling

3. No airbag

4. No ABS

Ratings

• Total Score: 3

• Performance: 2

• Quality & Features: 3

• Space: 4

• Ride Comfort: 2

• Fuel Economy: 4

• Price & Cost: 3

Summary

1. Myvi is cheap to own & good for A to B vehicle.

2. Worry free as all workshops able to fix your car

3. Perodua had come so far to 3rd GEN now. It comes with all safety you need. Good choice for your child as 1st car.

Interesting events that happened to my car

1. My car gearbox is spoiled, basically, 2nd gear could not use & whole gearbox came out with noisy sounding. Speed could not reach 60km/h. I could still travel from PJ to KL with 40km distance to specialist to fix the car.

2. I decided to refurbish it to use for couple of years before upgrading to something big & fast like recent X50 or used Peugeut 308 THP. Now it looks completely fresh & can be used for another half decade.

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