10th Sep 2007, 07:49
***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!
6th Dec 2007, 09:57
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!
18th Dec 2007, 03:30
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.
30th Jul 2007, 11:45
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.