Before you know it, it’s been 4 months since I got my hands on the new Myvi. After using it for that long, I can give a more detailed review of the car. When the new face-lifted Myvi (or rebadged Daihatsu Siron) came out, I thought that is a pretty good-looking car. I mean I love the headlight’s shape and the overall design in general. It’s a sporty and zippy, city-worthy compact car. If I had to get a new car in the future, that would definitely be on my list. And so it was, a few years later.
Of course I had gone in great length about [why I bought this car]. Suffice to say, it has done remarkably well as a daily driver to work, run errands between short distances and also the long drive to Rembau where we regularly visit our kid. It has great fuel-efficiency, it’s big enough to accommodate four adults and a child plus you can ramp up the RPM to overtake on the highway if you need to. Let me give you a detailed overview for every major part of the car.
The Myvi that I bought is a 1.3 liter version without the Advanced Safety Assist features. For RM46k, it’s the cheapest Myvi model on the market for obvious economic reasons. To be honest, I think that I’m a fairly cautious and safe driver so I don’t think I’m going to need those extra safety features. But, if somebody else - my kid for example, is going to drive the car, I will have some concerns. Let’s hope I have taught them well enough not to drive recklessly on the road.
Wanna know the interesting story how I got my car’s number? It began when I told the runner to book the current running number for the Selangor state. That was how I got the number BSF nnnn. Interesting, right? Truth is, our favourite number - 1573 had passed for federal territories and also most other states plus, I don’t really want to waste 310 ringgit to book a custom number.
A 1.3 Myi will have the Myvi logo and nothing else at the back. The 1.5 version will have their variant displayed below the logo which are X, H or AV for Advanced. Only the Advanced model has leatherette seats and all the best features including built in Smart TAG unit. It is also the most expensive for 65K on the road. You can get a base Proton S70 for 3K more.
I double-checked with my buddy and he can confirm that there’s this strange hole on the front bumper of the car. I believe it is by design but it is indeed a strange glaring one.
We have a standard cigarette lighter socket plus one 5V/2A USB A port for charging. The utility/drink holder is pretty small here. Apart from that, there’s two more drink holder hole in the middle plus one on each door.
As the cheapest model in the series, it has unsurprisingly, fabric seats. Having raised three children previously, I am aware that these seats are susceptible to stains and am almost certain that some day, they will be covered with some. But for now, I laid out the rules and try my best to enforce them. Absolutely no eating or drinking in the car. I would tolerate plain water but strictly nothing else. So far, my kids and wife had been cooperative although not for lack of trying (I’m looking at you wifey).
Two adults can comfortably seat at the back. Three grownups would instantly make it a bit tight in there. Fully-loaded, I have to drive very slowly over road bumps or otherwise the undercarriage will scratch the road. One thing I noticed is the soundproofing or insulation for this car is pretty poor. I can hear the engine’s sound revving clearly every time I press the pedal. I can hear every pebble, water and debris hitting the rear wheel arch while driving.
As a fully grown, overweight, 174 centimeters man, I have to say the space between the driver’s seat and the steering wheel is not optimal. I usually drive with my legs close to the steering but doing so in this car leaves little room for my legs. It doesn’t affect my driving but when I try to get out of the car, it always brushes on the steering, making it rather uncomfortable. I had no such issues on my wife’s X50 or my old Alza so it’s definitely a size thing.
This car has the signal stalk on the right and the wiper stalk on the left like most standard Japanese car. Switching between this car and the X50 regularly make me confuse which is which.
There is no aircond vents at the back but the primary aircond up front is pretty cool and strong and I have not yet heard any complaints from my passengers. (They wouldn’t dare). This 1.3 Myvi only comes with a radio console and USB port for music playback but no Bluetooth. I suppose they would save a few ringgits without the Bluetooth module but even my 11 years old Alza has Bluetooth.
I thought I can live without playing music on Bluetooth in the car but I was wrong. Initially, I brought along my portable Sony Bluetooth speaker which had awesome song. After a while, I felt it was rather cumbersome to turn the speaker on and off before and after, not to mention needing to charge after a few weeks. In the end, I bought a secondhand stereo unit with Bluetooth from a mate. Yes he also bought a Myvi like me.
The Myvi provides a few built-in hooks. Two behind the front seat and one on the side of the passenger seat. I don’t trust those hook enough to withstand my heavy groceries so I bought more to be hung under the head rest. Apart from the usual big pocket behind the front seats, there’s two more smaller side pockets, conveniently located on each side of the seats. I bought two of those side pockets to fill in the gap between the seat and the central console. It’s handy to put my phone, wallet and keys.
The odometer panel is pretty basic but it does its job. The time there is not synced to the stereo system so you may have two different times in the car. Filling up 40 ringgit (pre-Budi Madani) moves the car 300 kilometers. After Budi Madani RON95, filling up 40 ringgit lasts up to 400 kilometers. The fuel efficiency for this 1.3L version is 22.2 km/l. Pretty sweet.
This is the side panel where I can adjust the side mirrors, turn off ABS and Eco Idle and adjust the headlamp angle. I thought Eco Idle aka start-stop feature was useful in the beginning. I mean it was supposed to save petrol by turning off the engine when the car is idle but after a while, it started to be rather annoying. It starts when the car is idle but only when my foot is on the brake. Once I remove my foot, the engine starts. I usually move the gear to neutral anyway when the car is idle for more than a few seconds so this Eco Idle thing does not benefit me much.
I must say the speaker quality is pretty average, especially while playing FM radio. It sounded slightly better on Bluetooth but the factory-installed audio system lacks depth and bass punch.
I can set the indoor lamps to door so it can turn on automatically when I open the door. These lamps plus the headlamp automatically turn off when I turn off the car so there’s no scenario where I drain the battery if I forgot to turn off any of them.
The 1.3 Myvi comes with 14 inch alloy wheels and standard steel rims. The more expensive 1.5 version offers two tone rims which sets them apart on a glance.
The 1.3 engine is decent. It is not as powerful as our turbo-charged 1.5 Proton X50 and it struggles to keep the pace uphill but on flat surfaces, it is not too shabby. I can easily get 140 KM/H top speed on the highway.
The rear boot offers 277 liters of space. I tried and fit one large luggage and one small one at the back but I had to move the middle cover first.
As my brand new car after a long time, I’m still getting used to driving the car in the first few months. I have knots in my stomach if I ever slightly go fast on the road and completely mortified if the vehicle behind me drives too close or did not seem to slow down fast enough at traffic lights. I’m still having PTSD after my kid rear-ended my wife’s car while I’m sitting on the passenger side.
That said, it took me only one week to have my first dent. I was coming out of parking where there’s a divider on the passenger’s side. Since the car is low and I didn’t notice the divider even by looking at the side mirror, I got a nice visible dent on the bottom panel jack, just below the doors. I can pretend not to notice me but it kills me inside to look at it every day. In the end, I spent 450 ringgit to knock the dent, cement and some spray works at a workshop. Getting knocks and dents on your car is expensive business I tell you.
Final thoughts, I’m really happy with my pick for a new car. There’s a reason why this Myvi is the top selling car in the country. It’s relatively affordable, very fuel-efficient and offers low maintenance and spare parts cost. It is definitely up there if you’re looking for your first car from your first job. It’s doppelgänger, the Daihatsu Sirion costs a pretty penny in Indonesia. The rebadged version for Malaysian market is so much cheaper while retaining most of the best features of the original car.
