2010 Perodua Myvi SXi 1.3 petrol from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Excellent, a quality car, at an absolute bargain price

Faults:

No faults. Only problem encountered has been vandalism - passenger side wing mirror kicked off.

General Comments:

This car replaces our ten year old Perodua Kenari. Some motoring journalists are very negative about Peroduas, and we would have found their comments off putting, when choosing our Myvis, if it were not for the fact that their reviews of the Kenari are not realistic - we like our new car so much we have started a blog http://www.myvi-magic.blogspot.com

We have to be able to get elderly in-laws with limited mobility in and out, often we carry large and awkward objects, and access has to be good for a large dog:

The in-laws are able to get into the car easily, the doors open wide, with a good clearance between the rear seat and door pillar to allow feet to be pulled in.

The rear seat folds flat to the boot floor, there is no virtually no lip (lip is protected by plastic, and not just scratchable paint), and the tailgate opens with an easily accessible rectangular shape, allowing objects almost as wide as the car to be carried easily.

The rear 60:40 split seat allows 2 adults and a large dog to reside comfortably in the back.

The car is comfortable, easy to drive, but I do find the engine too quiet, and sometimes think it's stalled! Fuel consumption is about 50 MPG.

Overall (after 2,600 miles), there is nothing that I would fault this car on (other than not having a clock), and I will add comments over time to say how we are getting on.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 23rd May, 2010

5th Mar 2012, 14:35

Top tip to anybody with one of these, you can use Daihatsu Sirion discs, which cost 1/5 of the Perodua ones, despite not being listed as compatible.

14th Jul 2012, 04:45

From Steve Barker, author of the above review.

Our Myvi is now two and a half years old, and has covered 33,000 miles and is still fault free!

Servicing has been done by our local garage (no local dealer), and they have had no problems with the supply of part/service sheets.

Could not fault this car, we are very happy with it. It must be the best value in UK motoring going.

There are plenty of pictures of our Myvi on our blog.

2010 Perodua Myvi SXi 1.3 petrol from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Toyota Passo/Daihatsu Sirion design and technology, but still the cheapest car in UK. Outstanding

Faults:

Absolutely faultless.

The dealer held it back from delivery for an extra week while they changed a rattling strut top mount on OSF shock absorber. This is evidence of a properly carried out pre-delivery inspection by the supplying dealer, as they caught this minor fault before delivery, and the car was handed over in perfect condition.

Note: this car replaces our identical 2007 Myvi, which was so excellent after 56,000 miles we have kept it in the family; see: 2007 report "so far, so good..."

On delivery, I inspected the car with a magnifying glass throughout as there were some quality control issues on our 2007 Myvi on delivery, which had to go back for some improvements. The 2010 car has obviously overcome the initial QC issues of the first UK cars, and is impressively finished throughout, with perfect paint, no rough edges and notable improvement in presentation, apart from two minor under-bonnet issues, namely the foam seal strip under the leading edge of the bonnet needs properly securing, and the piping for the screenwash jets remains clumsy and snags the OS bonnet hinge. My home-done modifications to our 2007 car need doing; should not need doing on a new car, but cost nothing and take 15 minutes.

As with the 2007 car, the boot struts are lazy - we will wait to see if this eases or will have the struts replaced on warranty like on the 2007 car.

The cheap Sime tyres standard on early cars have now been superseded by Goodyear Eagle NCTs, which are far superior.

Overall, better QC than early cars, better tyres, and considering we paid just £6380 for a metallic car, it was even cheaper than the £6700 we paid for the last one, plus the back up is now better - the three year warranty is now 60,000 miles, not 36,000.

General Comments:

If you take into account the price of other cars in the UK has risen sharply, and that even the most basic 3 door Citroen C1 is over £6500, the Myvi is an absolute bargain at less than £6500.

Factor in the fact that the car is essentially a Toyota Passo (not sold in UK) or Daihatsu Sirion/Boon, and uses the Yaris 1.3 VVTi engine and box, plus mostly Daihatsu components which have proved themselves reliable in our 2007 car over 56,000 miles, then add the 60,000 mile warranty, then it is a giveaway.

Our new Myvi has a few things that will sort over time, as is expected on a new car; the door hinges are very stiff, the brakes soft, the engine strangled and the gearchange stiff. On our 2007 car, these all sorted themselves once run in, and the car has just got better and smoother with age and miles.

The car has a nice interior ambiance, and is light and easy to drive, with excellent visibility and mirrors. Being a softly sprung, light car, the handling is not dynamic, but is tidy enough to attack B-roads with anger when needed. It is a very quiet running car and relaxing to drive, but sidewinds are noticeable due to the slab sides and light kerbweight - especially when overtaking lorries in windy conditions.

The car misses some kit standard on the Sirion; clock, parcel shelf strings, boot light, intermittent rear wiper setting, passenger air-bag switch, Isofix and side airbags, but Daihatsu are no longer importing cars due to the Yen rate, and the last 1.3 Sirions were £9500!!!

In Malaysia, the facelift version has been available for some time; this is due in the UK this year and adds Bluetooth, a clock, MP3/iPod interface, seat height adjuster and a more modern style. See www.perodua.com.my/ for the excellent website and lots of pics. Perodua UK say it will be here later this year, but will be more expensive.

Once run-in and either a Parrot handsfree or Tomtom have been added (with CLOCK!), plus upgrade H4 headlight bulbs and LED sidelights, the current Myvi is a lovable and enjoyable car to own, with old-fashioned helpful dealers, low running costs, 49mpg, £110pa tax, low insurance and in our experience approx £1100 per year depreciation, which is remarkable.

Highly recommended. I do hope this 2010 car is as good as our retained 2007 one still is, and will update this thread as the mileage piles on.

Our family covers huge mileages, and we have had outstanding service from various Peroduas amongst other brands; this 2010 car is run by my Parents, the 2007 car was mine new, I sold it to my Parents and then bought it back when they went to trade it for this new one. I do not care about image or branding, just need a decent car. I rate the pre-facelift 2002-2004 Kelisa GXi as being a truly outstanding little car, and have run three of these, as well as a Nippa.

If you unfamiliar with Perodua, bear in mind they are part of the Toyota group, and use proven technology on an efficient production line in Malaysia - the bargain is down to the exchange rate compared to the Euro or Yen. In their home country they are revered, and the .my website gives an idea of the type of company they are. We have had excellent warranty back up, and our only concerns have been slow parts supply and some electrical issues down to climate differences between Malaysia and UK - window and door light switches have been changed for modified parts.

Currently in the UK, nothing will touch it at the price, whatever the size. The Myvi is also a class bigger than the C1, Matiz, Ka etc as it is a full five seater and extremely spacious for four, with five doors and also has split fold/magic rear seats, air-con, remote locking, all electrics etc - plus LED rear light and LED indicators in the mirrors.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 7th April, 2010

23rd Apr 2010, 04:43

Update.

The car had a minor shunt with a Suzuki Wagon R and was sent in for repair. My email to Nationwide Crash Repair politely pointing out this is a rare car and to make sure all parts are available before having it in fell on deaf ears, and they have had the car in over a month ago, after giving my Parents a hideous Chevrolet Matiz as the hire car.

They managed to get the parts, but are now faffing with the paintcode as it is not stocked by their standard supplier. Anyone with ANY sense would have rung the Perodua main dealer number on the tax disc holder, keyring and number plates, but no. We rang the dealer and they rolled their eyes (we felt this down the phone) and said simply that it is a Toyota group car and has a Toyota paint colour.

Hopefully it will be finished soon - my Parents are counting the minutes to having their lovely Myvi back, and have resorted to dumping the Matiz on our drive and borrowing my Myvi (it was theirs before the new one).

I suppose this is good evidence of the Myvi being a Toyota Passo in other markets - it has Toyota paint codes (but none of the over-complex drive-by-wire systems that have caused the Toyota recalls, just a simple cable).