The new Perodua ViVA - Driving Possibilities

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Finally after a long wait full of anticipation speculation, the “mini Myvi” Kancil/Kelisa Replacement Model that used to be known as the Perodua D18D has been finally unveiled, and it’s name is Perodua Viva. This won’t come as much of a surprise to many people as the name had been leaked out for quite some time already, but now we get to know the Perodua Viva’s full specifications, details, features, clear non-spyshot photos as well as most importantly, how much it costs! More details after the jump.

The Perodua Viva is an A-segment car. What will make it a killer is it’s perceived Toyota DNA and the lack of any other viable choices in the A-segment. It seems most typical A-buyers have moved up to the B-segment, especially to the Perodua Myvi. Perodua’s A-segment offering is already more than a decade old and the standards of how big an A-segment car should be has pretty much changed. The Kancil has become too small for anyone other than the very poor.

Sales of the Kancil and Kelisa have dropped from the year 2003 onwards, declining steadily from about 100,000 a year in 2003 to only about 60,000 a year in 2006. With the introduction of the Perodua Viva, Perodua intends to change the market perception of it’s A-segment models from SMALL to COMPACT, from CHEAP to AFFORDABLE, and from INFERIOR QUALITY to HIGH QUALITY.

Perodua ViVA Interior

Based on the previous generation Daihatsu Mira which has only just been replaced last year, it’s really no secret how the Viva looks like. It was shown at the KLIMS as the Perodua XX06 Concept fully undisguised for everyone to see, albeit having no doors. Inheriting Daihatsu’s K-car expertise, the Perodua Viva shares the Myvi’s space-efficient interior engineering. In terms of interior length, the Perodua Viva is actually longer than the Perodua Myvi, at 1845mm compared to the Perodua Myvi’s 1835mm. This interior length is class leading, with all competitors including it’s own Kancil and Kelisa models having interiors shorter than 1790mm.

As for interior width, it is 1300mm wide, compared to the Myvi’s 1400mm. It’s definitely wider than the Kelisa’s 1220mm and 1185mm. The Perodua Viva has a 149 liter boot capacity with the rear seats up, and this increases to 449 liters with the rear seats down.

It’s four doors open 90 degrees, an improvement over even the Perodua Myvi which has an 80 degree door opening angle, and a big improvement over the Kelisa’s 60 degree door opening angle. There are many storage compartments in the car, other than the usual glovebox, there is a tray located under the passenger seat.

Perodua ViVa Different Trim Levels & Engines

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The Perodua Viva comes in four trim levels – 660cc, 850cc, 1000cc, and 1000cc premium. The Perodua Viva 660cc has trim level that is obviously for cost-saving reasons. Bumpers, door handles, and wing mirrors are material coloured – that usual grayish stuff that’s unpainted. Even the door trim has no fabric. The audio system is a radio and cassette player only, without an option for CD, and there are only front speakers. Wheels are 12 inch steel wheels. Seat covers are specified as “standard grade”, whatever that means. The side and front turn signals are amber lense units. There are no power windows.

The Perodua Viva 850cc takes it up one notch with the door handles and bumpers painted to the body colour, though the door is still without fabric. Wheels are still 12 inch steel wheels, but a full wheel cap is supplied. Power windows are available. Seat cover material is specified as “medium grade”. The audio system is equipped with a CD player and also 4-speakers. It also has powered windows, which means you can adjust it’s angle from within the car through button control, but it does not have a retracting feature. Both the 660cc and 850cc have no power steering!

The Perodua Viva 1000cc adds some nifty features like the under-seat tray, headlamp buzzer warning (in case you leave your car with your headlamp on), seat height adjuster, and most importantly the power steering. The wheels are still steel wheels with full wheel cap covers, but are 13 inch in size. Side and front turn signals are of the clear lens type. The premium version has the usual creature comforts such as electrically retractable side mirrors, a first for a Perodua car. Even the premium Myvi does not have this feature. Other premium feature are the height-adjustable driver’s seat and the vanity mirror on the sun visor.

Of course, the features that are a must for any premium line version of a local car are ABS and dual SRS airbags, available only on the 1000cc Premium trim of the Perodua Viva. The 1000cc Premium has what Perodua calls “High Grade” seats, while the 1000cc standard uses the same medium grade seats as the 850cc.

Other than the different engines, other technical specs you should take note of is the suspension system. All Perodua Viva cars use McPherson struts are the front and a torsion beam setup at the rear, but the 1000cc models have an additional stabilizer bar in front.

Perodua ViVA Engines

Powering the Perodua Viva is a range of three engines, which all come with DVVT Variable Valve Timing. Yes, DVVT even for the 660cc and 850cc models. The 660cc EF-VE engine is a high revver, with peak power of 47 horsepower coming in at a high 7,200rpm. The engine readline is an astronomical 8,000rpm (look at the photo of the meter panel below), numbers usually associated with performance cars, but is actually quite typical of small displacement K-car engines. Peak torque of 58Nm arrives at 4,400rpm.

The 850cc engine option is the ED-VE, making slightly higher horsepower than the 660cc at 52 horsepower, however it is achieved at a lower 6,000rpm. Peak torque is also higher and arrives earlier in the rev range – 76Nm at 4,000rpm. The biggest displacement engine is the EJ-VE which we are all familiar with since the Myvi 1.0 liter – 60 horsepower at 6,000rpm and 90Nm of torque achieved at a low 3,600rpm. All cars come with a 5-speed manual gearbox, but the 1000cc models have 4-speed automatic gearboxes.

Here is a table with the claimed fuel consumption figures of the Perodua Viva compared to it’s competitors:

Open your eyes for Perodua ViVA Colours

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Perodua Viva Prices

Perodua Viva 660cc MT Solid: RM28,400
Perodua Viva 660cc MT Metallic: RM28,800
Perodua Viva 850cc MT Solid: RM32,500
Perodua Viva 850cc MT Metallic: RM32,900
Perodua Viva 1000cc MT Solid: RM36,800
Perodua Viva 1000cc MT Metallic: RM37,200
Perodua Viva 1000cc AT Solid: RM39,800
Perodua Viva 1000cc AT Metallic: RM40,200
Perodua Viva 1000cc Premium MT Solid: RM40,800
Perodua Viva 1000cc Premium MT Metallic: RM41,200
Perodua Viva 1000cc Premium AT Solid: RM43,800
Perodua Viva 1000cc Premium AT Metallic: RM44,200

The baseline Viva is about 6k more expensive than the cheapest Perodua Kancil 660EX Manual with solid colour. However perhaps this price is justified considering you get alot more interior space as well as a much more modern engine – the Kancil only has a carburetted engine making 31 horsepower. Besides, Perodua has decided to keep the Kancil in production, which means the Viva is technically a Kelisa Replacement Model. If you’re on an ultra-low budget, the Kancil is still the car for you I suppose. The Perodua Viva comes with a 3 year manufacturer warranty.

2 new Colours for the Perodua ViVA

The Perodua Viva was originally – Pearl Jade, Tropical Green, Ivory White, Passion Red and Glittering Silver. From what I’ve seen on the roads lately, Pearl Jade seems to be the most popular one, though maybe it’s just by chance that I seem to see only Pearl Jade Perodua Vivas running around wherever I am.

There are two new colours now. One of them is a nice blue that we’ve seen before during the spyshots called Sapphire Blue, and the other is Ebony Black. Pictured above is the Sapphire Blue Perodua Viva, and after the jump you will be able to see the Ebony Black version as well as all the original colours available from the launch date.

Launch New Model Upgrade - Perodua ViVA Elite

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Perodua launched the new Perodua ViVA Elite today, aimed at offering the market a variant with a more stylish image compared to the original ViVA. It is an aesthetic modification in the style of the Myvi SE, and at the same time they’ve revamped the model line-up a little.

The ViVA was first introduced with 660cc, 850cc, 1,000cc and 1,000cc premium variants. Now it has restructured the model lineup, offering the 660 BX MT, 660 EX MT, 850 MT, 1.0 AT, 1.0 ELITE MT, 1.0 ELITE AT, and the 1.0 ELITE EZi. That’s three different variants for the new ViVA ELITE.

Externally, the ViVA Elite has its own front bumper with integrated foglamps, front grille and its own engine hood design. On the side you’ll see chrome door handles, side skirts, and 14 inch 12-spoke alloy wheels. On the back you’ll see a new rear bumper with a honeycomb grille design, and the 1.0 ELITE EZi model (note, this is different from the ELITE AT) gets an additional rear spoiler. The windows of the ViVA Elite also feature a UV protection coating that is said to reject 91% of UV rays.

On the inside you get a new 1-DIN head unit with MP3 and WMA support, an underside tray under the passenger seat, seat backpockets, a new seat fabric design, and fabric trim on the door panels. All ViVA ELITE models will get seat height adjusters for the driver’s seat, and electrically adjustable side mirrors. On the ELITE EZi, these side mirrors are also electrically retractable and have integrated turn signals.

Only the ViVA 1.0 ELITE EZi gets a full load of safety features including dual SRS airbags for the front, ABS brakes, EBD and Brake Assist. Power steering is also only available on the ELITE models. The other non-Elite models are left with just basic features such as reverse sensors on the 850 and 1.0 model, and a CD player on the 660 EX, 850 and 1.0 model. The following are the prices for the new Perodua ViVA range including the non-Elite models:

• Perodua ViVA Elite M/T – RM37,900
• Perodua ViVA Elite A/T – RM40,900
• Perodua ViVA Elite EZi – RM44,900
• Perodua ViVA 1.0 AT – RM36,900
• Perodua ViVA 850 MT – RM32,900
• Perodua ViVA 660 EX MT – RM28,900
• Perodua ViVA 660 BX MT – RM25,300

Perodua ViVA Bodykit Artist's Impression

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We first saw an artist’s impression of a Perodua Viva bodykit back in May this year when graphics artist There are whipped up a kitted version of the Perodua Viva. Well, now there’s an official kit from Perodua for the Viva. I don’t have any nice clear images of the kitted up Perodua Viva, but above is a scan from a newspaper ad showing off the new Perodua Viva bodykit.

Perodua calls the Perodua Viva bodykit a sportskit, and it includes a chrome rear garnish above the number plate, a rear spoiler, full skiring for the front, sides and rear, mocha-painted headlamps, and a radiator grille garnish. The kitted up Perodua Viva rides on 14 inch alloy wheels with a new design. The long antenna has also been replaced with a short beesting-style antenna. This highest spec kit also includes fog lamps with dark inserts – all the 3 trim levels do not include fog lamps as standard.

How much? I don’t know, but I will update this as soon as I check out the showrooms for pricing details as well as which trim levels it is available on.

There are works his magic with Photoshop again to tease our imagination with his concept of how a special edition kitted up Perodua Viva might look like. His Perodua Viva Special Edition was created by adding the original Daihatsu Charade’s front bumper, widening its corner vents, adding fog lights from Peugeot 207 GTi, widening the front and rear wheel fenders, adding bigger wheels and rims from the Peugeot 207 GTi, deeper side skirt, black B and C-pillars, darkened headlights surrounds, a new grille from Mazda 3, and finally doing the body up in a metallic red-ish tone.

Perodua Viva & Perodua Myvi Loan Comparison

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We can assume if you buy a Perodua, you’re most likely going to be a very price-sensitive person. If you haven’t read my previous comparison of the Perodua Myvi and Perodua Viva, please click here to read it first. This blog entry focuses on the financial details if you buy a Perodua Viva or a Perodua Myvi.

First, we look at how much the car would cost in monthly repayments over a period of 3, 5 or 7 years assuming a 10% downpayment and 3.88% interest rate. The two variants of the Viva and Myvi I am using here are the Perodua Viva 1000cc Premium with Airbags and ABS, and the Perodua Myvi 1.3 liter Premium with Airbags and ABS. Both are of the automatic transmission variant with metallic paint.

First, let’s look at how much the two cars cost monthly. Over a 5-year loan which is what most people would take, the difference in monthly repayment between the Viva and the Myvi is about RM91.62 a month, or RM1099.44 a year. Over a 7-year loan, it is RM69.70 a month – or RM836.40 a year. If you think of it in monthly terms, an extra RM91.62 a month gets you an upgrade from A-segment to B-segment, more interior width so the rear bench is more comfortable with 3 people seated, and a smoother 4-cylinder engine that makes more power, together with a better power to weight ratio.

But let’s not forget what upgrading to a bigger 1.3 liter 4-cylinder engine will do – increase your fuel consumption. For this one, it’s a little bit tricky. We’ve got two different km per liter figures to play with – Perodua’s optimum situation claims as well as estimated real life scenarios for the Viva, as well as the average reported fuel consumption for the Myvi from the Myvi owners I’ve asked. We also assume a traveling distance of 1500km a month (50km to and fro work daily, times 30 to factor for other misc traveling during weekdays and weekends), and the current RON97 petrol price of RM1.92 per liter.

Using the optimum fuel consumption calculation – you’ll save RM22.60 a month driving the Viva compared to driving a Perodua Myvi. Using the estimated real life scenario fuel consumption calculation, you’ll save RM31.42 a month. This brings the the amount you have to fork out every month for a Viva to RM1,022.02 a month inclusive of 5-year loan monthly installment and fuel expenditure, and for the Myvi – RM1,145.06. Damn, even though these are supposed to be affordable, these cars are looking pretty expensive to run now. The difference between the Myvi and Viva for a 5-year loan in this case is RM123.04, or RM1476.48 a year.

This is of course, a calculation for the first year where your road tax and insurance premium has already been covered in the purchase price. But let’s just keep things simple for the moment. The Myvi has a higher insured value and a larger engine, thus the two items will be more expensive, further widening that RM123.04 gap but it won’t be too big a difference. In terms of percentage, it’s about a 12 percent difference.

What’s RM123.04, or a savings of 12 percent worth to you? Is it worth the upgrade from the Viva to a Myvi? I’m not here to decide for you, just presenting to you the figures so you can decide for yourself.

Perodua Viva Digest

I know some of you who are thinking of buying the Perodua Myvi are now considering buying the top of the range Perodua Viva 1000cc Premium instead. So I’m going to do a little comparison here. If you have anything to add, please feel free to comment and contribute to the discussion.

Power

Interestingly, it seems that the same 1.0 liter DVVT EJ-VE engine in the Perodua Viva makes more torque than the Perodua Myvi’s 1.0 liter DVVT EJ-VE engine. The Viva claims to make 90Nm of torque at 3,600rpm, while the Myvi 1.0 liter only makes 88Nm at 3,600rpm – that’s a minor difference of only 2Nm though.

Since the Perodua Viva 1.0 liter would clearly beat the Myvi 1.0 in terms of power to weight ratio, so let’s compare the Myvi 1.3 to the Viva 1.0 Premium instead. The Myvi 1.3 weighs 955kg and puts out 86 horsepower. That’s a power to weight ratio of 0.09 horsepower per kg. As for the Perodua Viva 1000cc Premium, it weighs 800kg and puts out 60 horsepower – that gives it a power to weight ratio of 0.075 horsepower per kg.

So we can conclude that in a drag race, the Viva won’t be able to smoke it’s larger sibling in stock form. That doesn’t mean the Viva is terribly slow – in a previous supermini shootout done together with folks at NST Life & Times, I found that the Myvi effortlessly smoked other superminis with larger 1.5 liter engines.

Another thing to point out is the Perodua Myvi 1.3 liter uses a 4-cylinder engine, and 4-cylinder engines are alot smoother than 3-cylinder engines like the one found in the Perodua Viva. 3-cylinders have more vibration, which might end up being felt by you in the steering wheel and other points in the chassis.

Fuel Economy

According to Perodua’s own charts, the Perodua Viva 1000cc Premium can travel 17.5km per liter of petrol on a combined cycle which I suspect involves alot of light footed driving and highway cruising. This is for the manual transmission. The Myvi 1.3 manual is rated at 17.1km per liter of petrol. Very similar fuel consumption, however the people on the streets who actually own the Myvi 1.3 manual reports actual mileage of about 13 to 14 km per liter if driven frugally.

As for the auto transmission, Perodua says the Myvi 1.3 Auto can get 13.5 km per liter, however the average man on the street usually gets about 10 to 11 km per liter. Comparing it to the Viva 1.0 liter automatic, Perodua says it can get 15.1km per liter, so expect about 12km per liter in reality.

Thus we can assume the Viva automatic should be a little more frugal than the Perodua Myvi automatic, but for the manual transmission models actual fuel economy should prove to be about the same.

Space

The Perodua Viva is actually longer in the interior than the Perodua Myvi at 1845mm compared to the Perodua Myvis 1835mm, but a great margin narrower. Having a long interior is important, it ensures the rear passenger legroom is at comfortable levels, just like the Perodua Myvi’s. However, being narrower the downside is you can’t really fit 3 people in the rear bench comfortably, making the Perodua Viva more of a 4-seater than a 5-seater. The Viva’s boot is only 149 liters with the rear bench upright compared to the Myvi’s 255 liters, significantly smaller, however you can extend this size by dropping the rear passenger bench to create a 449 liter space.

Ride and Handling

Nothing much can be said about the Perodua Myvi’s handling abilities other than the fact that it’ll probably get you to work and back safely. From what I’ve heard from some journalists who’ve driven the car, I think I shouldn’t expect much of the Viva’s either. Which is a shame as the Kelisa was a somewhat fun drive. Many will miss the Kelisa’s zippy DNA which is reportedly missing in the new Viva. If you want a driver’s small car, go get the Proton Savvy.

Equipment levels

One thing I am concerned about is the lack of an integrated CD player head unit in the Perodua Viva, which means Viva owners will have to be careful about where they park their cars lest their mirrors get smashed and their head units stolen. However, this means the CD player can be easily swapped.

The equipment level of the Perodua Viva 1.0 liter standard is disappointing to be honest, not even proper alloy wheels are supplied, instead you are given steel wheels. This means a difference of roughly RM4k on average gets you airbags, ABS, proper alloy wheels, wing mirrors with signal lamps, roof spoiler, and etc. I’m really not sure if it’s worth it or not – I’ll leave it up to you.

The Perodua Myvi on the other hand has just about everything you need in the baseline 1.3 liter model. It also feels more premium because of an interior design that looks abit more higher grade, as well as Optitron-style meters which are self illuminating, unlike the backlit meter clusters of the Perodua Viva.

Safety

Both the Viva Premium and Myvi Premium have dual airbags, antilock brakes – the usual stuff. The Perodua Myvi’s Japanese cousin the 2005 Daihatsu Sirion scored a 4 star score in the Euro NCAP crash test for adult protection, while crash test results of the previous gen Daihatsu Mira that the Perodua Viva is based managed a 3 star rating.

Price

Perodua Viva 1000cc MT Solid: RM36,800
Perodua Viva 1000cc MT Metallic: RM37,200
Perodua Viva 1000cc AT Solid: RM39,800
Perodua Viva 1000cc AT Metallic: RM40,200
Perodua Viva 1000cc Premium MT Solid: RM40,800
Perodua Viva 1000cc Premium MT Metallic: RM41,200
Perodua Viva 1000cc Premium AT Solid: RM43,800
Perodua Viva 1000cc Premium AT Metallic: RM44,200

Perodua Myvi 1300cc MT Solid: RM43,007.60
Perodua Myvi 1300cc MT Metallic: RM43,530.80
Perodua Myvi 1300cc AT Solid: RM45,912.60
Perodua Myvi 1300cc AT Metallic: RM46,435.80
Perodua Myvi 1300cc Premium MT Solid: RM45,912.60
Perodua Myvi 1300cc Premium MT Metallic: RM46,435.80
Perodua Myvi 1300cc Premium AT Solid: RM48,792.60
Perodua Myvi 1300cc Premium AT Metallic: RM49,315.80

The differences between the non-Premium and Premium versions of the Perodua Viva is roughly about RM4,000, while in the Myvi it is only about RM2,900 or so.

So yeah, Perodua Viva 1000cc Premium Auto Metallic at RM44,200 or the Perodua Myvi 1300cc Premium AT Metallic at RM49,315.80? That’s a difference of about RM5,000 there for a bigger engine, slightly more performance, a minor decrease in fuel consumption frugalness, a wider interior space, and a bigger boot.

The boot space doesn’t matter to me – both boots are too small for serious usage unless you put the rear bench seats down.

Is that extra RM5,000 to go from A-segment to B-segment worth it, or would you rather save the money?