2007 Perodua Myvi 1.3 SXi from UK and Ireland - Comments

We have recently taken delivery of our new Myvi, and the helpful dealers took our order and part-ex details over the phone and delivered the car to our house and drove away the part-ex without us ever having to visit the dealers.

A condition of the deal was that the key-in alarm warning was disconnected, and any beeps or alarms turned off, except the lights-left-on warning. This was done perfectly-well done Perodua. (See my 2006 Swift DDiS report for why this was vital-Suzuki "could not" disable the same so I sold my three month old Swift in a rage.

We bought this car on the strength of road test reports, our knowledge of the similar Daihatsu Sirion, and the fact that our other car is an excellent 2002 Perodua Kelisa, which replaced our vandalised, but excellent Perodua Nippa.

We used the main dealer in Leighton Buzzard as they would deliver and offered us a very good deal. They are a long way from where we live, but our nearest dealer is 30 miles away as the network is sparse.

On delivery, the car was presented well, but had a slightly cracked offside rear light lens, and the nearside rear light fitting was cracked around the mounting bolt. It appears that the factory tightened them both too tightly. The dealer has apologised and offered to courier both fittings to us under warranty, to save us driving back to the dealer.

For a budget car, the fit and finish really is good, but I rectified the following which the pre-delivery inspection should have spotted.

1/ Foam strip inside bonnet lip needed more glue.

2/ Screenwash tube fitting/pipe catches in door hinge when opening/closing bonnet. I have modified this by removing some of the plastic guide.

3/ Boot lid is very slow to rise-will improve with use?

I have noticed another fault-when the air-con is switched on, the radiator fan comes on for eight seconds, off for six, on for eight etc etc. The dealers say this is the same on all of their stock and is not a fault. I do not agree, I believe that the temperature switch is faulty or has not been set to come on and off at the right temperature-it comes on at one temperature and immediately goes off as soon as the fan brings it down by one degree or so. It is minor fault, but noisy and annoying.

There is a very slight paint fault on the bonnet which appears as a very slightly darker patch on a small area above the nearside headlight.

I must say that my early impressions are good. The car looks great, and after having 67 cars (6 brand new in three years), I do expect a few items of snagging, and will see how the dealer rectifies these. I have a very sharp eye for faults, and inspect every vehicle in great detail, finding more faults than most!

I will update this report or add another as the miles go by, but at 800 miles at an average of 46mpg, here are my thoughts:

The car is so refined and quiet, with a very smooth drivetrain, low wind noise and very quiet suspension, and the overall ambience of the fittings and interior is superb.

The car is set up to ride softly and be very refined (for the price), and escapes the daft hard suspension and huge low profile tyres or run-flats which are the fashion now. It is delightfully comfortable, but the rear end suspension is soft and makes the car lean if you push it too hard. It is well composed on the road, very quiet and is a much better handling/ride compromise than most of the current hatchback offerings which are just too hard for mixed surface roads.

I particularly rate the excellent stereo which has four bassy speakers and a marvellous integrated head unit with simple controls, pause, mute and an ingenious "sound" button which offer a variety of pre-set equaliser settings. This is fantastic if you regularly swap from music (bass required) to news/spoken (bass is not required). It is honestly the best unit I have ever used. At this price, I would expect a naff and fiddly face-off unit with two tinny speakers, and not a high power intergated top-end four speaker set up. Superb.

All of the controls are intuitive, well damped and feel of good quality, and are well sited to always be where you expect them to be-your fingers fall to the exact spot that they are located-no hunting for window switches etc. The indicator stalk is well weighted, with a lane change option, and the wipers have a one touch/one wipe setting which is helpful. The auto wiper operation on using screenwash is good, the four electic windows and intelligent interior lighting etc all bely the price. With the daft alarms switched off, the electrics on this car are cleverly designed and good to use.

The air-con is ICE cold, and the face level vents are very high set, giving you cold air without freezing your hands on the steering wheel like in most cars.

The controls are all very light, and with good visiblity (except wide C pillars) and soft, supportive seating, it is an easy car to spend time with-apart from the fact that there is NO CLOCK!!! This is most annoying.

The rear seats are very clever, having the seat base able to pull forward and down to floor level to make a large totally flat low-lip area to load from the side doors without folding the seats is up their with the Honda Jazz magic seat design-I think the Myvi design is better. Again, a 60/40 split rear folding seat which folds flat, with a two postion rear seatback is not what you would expect at the price.

The proper boot handle (no key required) is excellent too, and the boot always shuts first time, even though it is slow to rise.

My early conclusion is that the Myvi is an excellent budget buy, using proven Daihatsu technology and made under the supervision of Toyota. It feels very well sorted indeed for a new £6700 car, but the minor points as listed need addressing. I have never managed to buy a newly launched model of any brand before without a few minor things-manufacturers tend to eradicate the early faults as the years go on-my experience is that the final edition of a model sold for five years or so is ALWAYS more sorted than the newly released replacement model.

In brief, it is much better than my previous 2006 Suzuki Swift DDiS (see report-sold in a rage to buy a lovely, but impractical Daihatsu Copen which was traded for this).

The deal of £6700 included tax, standard metallic paint (inc body colour mirrors and door handles), five floormats and front mudflaps.

I am currently very happy with the car, and await the dealers fix on the minor items. If these are done, and it then turns out to be 100% reliable, then it will have been a fantastic buy- apart from the lack of a clock. Still, with the money saved, I could buy a Rolex!!

Sound good! I shall be interested to read what happens re the aircon / fan 'problem', although from the dealer's reaction so far - I would say nothing will happen!

Thanks for a good review - anyone got an auto, as that's what I'd be buying?

The dealers have offered to collect the car from my house next week and give me another car while it is being done.

The car has just returned from the dealers, who undertook a 250 mile round trip to deliver an identical Myvi courtesy car and take mine away.

Perodua immediately repainted the bonnet under warranty to perfect condition-it is now impossible to tell it is not the original factory paint. Excellent service considering the blemish really was minute.

The rear bumper was re-aligned and both rear lights replaced under warranty-this was probably UK delivery damage.

The lazy boot gas-struts were replaced under warranty.

The temperamental driver's door lightswitch was replaced under warranty.

The master technician has contacted Perodua and has compared the air-con fan issue with Toyota and Daihatsu units- apparently the Perodua system has a basic switching system, directly linked to the operation of the compressor-when that cuts in, the radiator fan comes on at full speed- not like other systems which run constantly at half speed. It is still a minor irritation, but everything else is great.

To conclude-the service I have received could be compared to a Lexus operation, and after some fettling, I now have a superb, spacious, comfortable, refined and practical car which is easy to live with every day-with some lovely features- fab stereo, LED lights, magic rear seats, quality seat trims and simple, unobtrusive electronics.

To make it perfect, though, Perodua should include a clock (my tomtom has clock though), some parcel shelf strings (you can't buy Sirion ones without the shelf-£85+vat) and they should make the front seats able to be set slightly more upright.

I honestly do think that this really is the best car available in the UK for the money- £6750 buys it with metallic paint (I resent paying extra for paint), mudflaps, mats, 3 yr warranty, 1 year AA and tax.

My debadged silver car looks as expensive as a Toyota- simply because in other countries it is sold as a Toyota Passo!

I test drove the 2007 Yaris before the Myvi and actually preferred the interior and simplicity of the Myvi-and the £5000 saving!

Happy days...I hope it stays this way.

***Update***

After 5500 miles the Myvi is now in fine form and is an excellent drive now it has run in fully.

The most appealing feature of the car is the superb powertrain-economical, very quick, nice sounding and rewarding to use.

After much deliberation, I have passed the Myvi over to my retired Parents who really took a shine to it.

Faults: slight rattle developing in driver's door, front brake pads got very hot on a hilly fast drive and have glazed, boot struts still slow to rise.

Best features: superb engine and gearbox-very quick and torquey, nice sound, very responsive and by far the best in price class-exactly what you would expect from a Toyota sourced powertrain. First class four speaker stereo with excellent sound quality and simple, user friendly controls. Lovely seat fabrics and clever rear seat base/flat platform. Nicely weighted stalks and controls. Huge useful mirrors. LED lights. Overall very easy to live with every day and amazing at this low price. Excellent "old school" friendly dealers. The feeling you have bought a car identical to a Daihatsu Sirion for £2500 less.

Worst features: Space-saver spare wheel (why oh why?), no clock, some poor paint finish and quality control on delivery-dealers had to sort on revisit, poor quality Sime brand tyres, brakes easy to overheat (engine is quick!), no rear headrests, no passenger airbag switch, no parcel shelf strings. The feeling that the missing kit is actually on the Sirion!

This is a lovely car that is cheap to buy and run, easy to use, and feels and looks more expensive than it is. Excellent performance and economy.

After some UK quality control and fettling by the helpful dealers, I can highly recommended it.

I might just have to buy another one!

Further to the original report above:

Car now owned by my Parents. I have bought a Fiat Doblo as baby due soon. The Myvi was such a good car, it seemed a shame to trade it in, so my Parents took it over, and I sold their 2006 Suzuki Wagon R for them.

The Myvi is now run in and running beautifully, having just had the first service at 10,000 miles at the very helpful and accommodating local dealer in Bridgnorth. It cost a staggering £74 inclusive...! Excellent.

Two items of concern were:

Brakes: had developed slight judder under 70-50mph braking, now disappeared.

Interior light: driver's door light switch not working properly and has been dealt with before, now needs replacing under warranty-part on order.

NB: the interior light switch not working makes the car control unit think the door has not been opened, so it relocks the car automatically after 20 seconds.

The Myvi is a revelation; a superb car and a real find. The interior space is excellent, the car is easy to live with once fettled (see original report) and has some great features, notably the stereo.

On-road performance is perky, in-gear acceleration very good, and it does everything well; even getting 40mpg+ day in, day out. It is a nice relaxing car to drive with lovely seat fabric, light accurate controls and good visibility.

The only downsides are no clock (it's got LED lights, air-con, 4 electric windows etc, but NO CLOCK!), no rear parcel shelf lifting strings, and the drivers seat could do with going slightly more upright.

It is also the only car at this price which is fully competent over very long distances with four large adults on board; the rear seat space is huge with comfortable two position reclining reat seats and plenty of foot/knee/shoulder/head room.

I can highly recommend the car, the dealers and the brand.

I now run a 2007 Fiat Doblo (see "Dated...") and my wife runs a 2007 Fiat Panda (see "Astonishingly...") which are both good, but I still drive the Myvi and appreciate its qualities and smoothness.

It is so much better than my previous 2006 Suzuki Swift DDiS (see "Stylish....") which nearly sent me over the edge!

Further to the above comment, the car has been back into the lovely dealers in Bridgnorth and had the faulty light switch replaced. The problem with the light and door locking has been cured finally-it had previosuly been looked at by the supplying dealer and not permanently fixed.

My Parents are 100% satisfied with the car and it is running perfectly, returning 40-45mpg and also admired by all passengers for its smoothness and pleasant cabin.

Again, I would recommend the car and both dealers have been very helpful and pleasant.

Obviously the final resale value will be lower than prestige brands, but even if it was given away after 4 years and 80,000 miles, if you take into account the £6799 new price, the cheap servicing and road tax plus good fuel economy it would still have proved to be extremely cheap to own.

However, I privately sold our two previous Peroduas very easily indeed and for a good price: buyers can see the Daihatsu resemblance and feel confident with the quality and love the newness and extensive equipment for a reasonable price.

The answer is to sell it privately and not trade it in to a non-Perodua dealer who will be nervous of it and offer little money.

We have owned our myvi sxi now for 14mths and have covered 14,000 trouble free miles!

I agree with other owners comments regarding the absence of any clock and rear parcel shelf straps, but these appear minor when compared to the overall quality and excellent value for money the car offers. The myvi is easy to drive and offers bags of room for passengers and has a flexible seating and luggage system allowing you to fit almost anyone and anything in easily. The local Dealer was pleasant and service costs were no more than expected.

**Update**

Now at 12,000 miles and we are genuinely very impressed with the Myvi and the ownership experience; it's a really nice car to own with good kit levels, nice interior, great stereo, very light controls and a good ride and handling balance making it comfortable over long distances.

This is a very easy to live with car, with doors and boot that thud shut first time every time, responsive steering, superlight handbrake and clutch and responsive light pedals, plus well weighted controls throughout.

We honestly believe it is better than a Toyota Yaris; interestingly, the Myvi/Sirion is also sold as a Toyota Passo in certain markets-hence the quality.

After 12,000 miles it is simply just improving rather than wearing out, and we are delighted with the car.

The interior lightswitches are however proving an ongoing issue; after sorting the driver's door switch under warranty, the passenger door switch started to play up. I unbolted it, pulled off the rubber cover, cleaned it and refitted it tightly and it worked again fine for two days, then both it and one of the rear door switches failed. It is not hugely important, but will need to go in for warranty work again sometime, frustratingly.

We have also had a stone fly up and crack the nearside mirror mounted indicator lens, but as the crack is only 10mm long, we have sealed it with clear silicon to save the cost of replacing it.

The rest of the car is absolutely faultless and exudes a quality which is remarkable for the price.

Our only gripes are the lack of a clock (we have sat-nav clock) and parcel shelf string and the light switch issue, but at the price nothing will do the same job-let alone with this quality and kit.

P.S. We made our own parcel shelf string out of a light pullcord with a hook screwed into boot lid and hole drilled through parcel shelf with string knotted behind. It works well. If you are nervous about doing this yourself and want a professional looking job doing, a Suzuki Ignis string and clip (pushes in around the metal lip surrounding the rear window by the strut-there is a space on the Myvi for it) should fit, and costs about £8 from a Suzuki main dealer-just check the cord is long enough first. I fitted one to my 2006 Suzuki Swift DDiS in seconds (see report).

If you read that report, you will see how much I prefer the cheaper Myvi over the more expensive Swift.

** Update **

My Parents are still running the Myvi and are delighted with it. I now run two identical 2008 Daihatsu Sirion 1.0Ss (one for me, one for my wife!) so have written extensively comparing the Sirion and Myvi on this site on the 2008 Sirion page.

The Sirions have been absolutely without any fault, which is an improvement on the Myvi, which did arrive with a few issues which needed sorting.

The Myvi really has run in nicely, and is improving with age, with a super smooth transmission and very easy controls.  Everything works easily and well, and the doors thud satisfyingly and the controls work effortlessly.

20,000 miles service carried out by the lovely Bridgnorth dealers, and they only charged £115 including coffee and courtesy car!!  This is MUCH cheaper than Daihatsu who not only demand servicing at 9k not 10k intervals, but screw you in the process, being typically nearly TWICE as expensive as Perodua.  I suppose this covers the cost of the better warranty package with the Daihatsu.

Issues:

Rear hatchback struts have failed again (glacially slow and lid sags down in cold weather) and so has the driver's door four way electric window control, so the dealer is waiting for parts, which have been approved by Perodua as a warranty claim.

I feel that the interior light and window switch issues are due to me demanding the seatbelt alarm module was doctored before delivery - they did warn me that it could cause problems, so we will see if switch sorts the issues.

I believe that the hatchback gas struts are not suitable for the UK climate, as they just do not work in the cold.  The Daihatsu ones are different and very effective - an outward and obvious sign that the Daihatsu is better sorted through thorough testing for the UK market.  I don't think the identical replacement struts will be any better, but we will have to see.

In all, the Myvi still impresses after 20,000 miles and can be recommended.

The Sirion is an overall better buy though, with a better warranty and backup - (five years warranty and breakdown), but does cost a bit more for the equivalent spec.

In hindsight, we are pleased we now have the Sirions for the spec and economy, but our similarly priced 1.0S base models we have miss out on some of the Myvi's kit, such as electric mirrors and rear audio speakers, plus the smoother and torquey 1.3 unit.  I can live with this for the cheaper tax bracket (only £35pa, not £120pa) rortier sounding 1.0 engine, better economy and better safety kit and warranty.

I would seriously recommend the Myvi as a cheap used buy, as they depreciate heavily, and a 56 plate 2006 car can now be had with 5,000 miles for about £4,000, which is superb, and should be reliable for many years. 

Geoff.

Still waiting for the boot struts and electric window switch warranty parts to arrive at the dealers-it has been weeks now. I wonder what would have happened if the parts needed were vital running parts and the car would not drive without them?

As I said, the Myvi makes more sense at a cheap price used and when out of warranty, and I would strongly recommend any two year old 10,000 mile Myvi with standard air-con, as these can be had for about £4000 and makes great sense.

Some early 2006 cars came with alloys and front foglights too, which are now a cost option, so if you find an early one at the right price, buy it!

The vital Toyota/Daihatsu engine/gearbox/main pards should prove very reliable in the long term, and all other bits (except trim and some exterior parts) are shared with the Sirion which has been produced since 2005 so there is a readily available new and used parts supply.

The dealers are nice and cheap for servicing too, and with 40-45mpg and £120pa road tax, this is a spacious, new car with great economy and low running costs.

Our 2007 Myvi still impresses us highly and is improving with age. We plan to run it for four years/80,000 miles. The warranty expires at 36,000 miles so we will make sure it stays 100% before then!! We expect to sell it privately at the end and get about £1500-1700, so £4,000 depreciation for 80,000 miles will be very cheap if it does not need repairs out of warranty.

I will update the site regularly so if you have any comments or questions, please post them and I will respond as soon as I notice them.

**Update**

I drove my old (now my Parents') Myvi 1.3 for 30 miles straight after driving my Sirion 1.0 and noted the following:

Myvi mirrors are exceptionally good - better than smaller mirrors fitted to the Sirion.

The instruments are set further back into the dash binnacle, and are harder to read than the Sirion's new dash pod.

The four speaker stereo is superb and has amazing sound quality - much more impressive than the two speaker set up on the similarly priced 1.0S base model Sirion, which also does without the electric mirrors. All other Sirions have the four speakers and electric mirrors, though.

Plush light grey seat trim and fabric door inserts look and feel nicer than Sirion, but front seats are set too low and the seat backs cannot be adjusted as upright as the Sirion's and this is annoying. Twin standard seatback pockets are useful though.

The Myvi looks smart with the LED rear light and the LED indicators in the mirrors, plus the rear end is better with the number plate on the bootlid, rather than on the bumper as on the Sirion.

The bootlid on the Myvi makes the car look less tall and gawky than the Sirion and works much better stylistically.

At the front, the lower front bumper with the integrated chin spoiler looks much more up to date-shame about the number plate aperture being too small and making the front registration plate look odd.

The Myvi looks very smart, but is let down by awful cheap looking wheel trims. The Sirion trims look much more stylish.

You can feel the quality difference between the Daihatsu and Perodua frequently, noticing where corners were cut to save costs with the Myvi-no ISOFIX, no rear headrests, no parcel shelf strings, no bootlight, no maplights, no side 'bags, no airbag cut-off switch, rough and loose trim-especially under the bonnet, cheap carpets and mats, no fuel economy display, NO CLOCK!!! The Sirion also has a galvanised bodyshell which is most impressive.

For two such similar looking cars, there are endless detail differences, and although the Myvi is highly impressive and looks better, the difference in equipment, build quality, warranty cover and safety equipment makes me glad to now have the Sirion.

I would strongly recommend a Myvi as an excellent budget secondhand buy between £4-5,000, but if buying new and spending £6800, the money is better spent on a base model Sirion; add £500 to get 1.0SE trim or £500 to get a 1.3S with the same engine as the Myvi.

After driving the both cars back-to-back, I would always choose the 1.0 engine over the 1.3, as it suits the car better, with rapid pick-up and cheaper taxation, insurance and fuel economy. There is very little power difference from tickover between the cars; the 1.3 (86BHP) is smoother and quieter, but the 1.0 (69BHP) pulls very well indeed (after being run-in for 2,000 miles+) with a much more vocal but snarling sounding engine with is satisfying to thrash.

I would not recommend the 1.3 over the 1.0 unless the car is mainly used for motorway work, as the 1.0 copes admirably at motorway speeds and is livelier, more urgent and peppier around town, A and B roads. The 1.0 power band cuts in directly over tickover, unlike the 1.3 which picks up at higher revs and can be a little more hesitant than the 1.0.  Put best - the 1.0 is always on the boil, the 1.3 needs revs to bring in the power.

The gearboxes on both cars are fairly obstructive and hesitant though, and feel 20 years behind the technology of the Honda Jazz and Fiat Panda 'boxes, for example.

I think I have completed my lengthy essay now - hope it is useful!!