Booked midnight blue SE just now. Mainly to replace my wifu Kenari.

Test drive impression (SE):
1. Interior seems OK, at least in SE version have some fabric on the door rest. Colour tone OK, almost all black except some silver lining on the console.
2. Such cheap car got push start button, nice to have.
3. Adjustable driver seat height, a plus. But i found the front FOV is quite small, which is quite surprise for its tall size.
4. Upon engine started, can feel engine vibration from the steering wheel despite only 2500km on the test car. I guess this is normal for 3 cylinders engine.
5. Suspension wise, since my 3 years old child onboard, so can't test at high speed. Purposely go through some pothole, feel quite solid.
6. Steering feel quite firm at low speed and little wobbly when speed reach 80-90km/h, i hold with 1 hand and can feel the steering try to move away from my hand in straight, maybe due to some crosswind. (highest i can go is 90km/h only due to traffic)
7. Engine is the major let down. 3 adults + 1 kid (mine 68kg, with my wife and sale girl total around 100kg, my daughter just 13kg), the car is so hesitate to move from stand still. Feel sluggish for anything <40km/h and slightly deeper input of right leg the gear just down shift with loud engine noise transmit into the cabin with not much pickup improvement. I don't understand why i can saw some ppl drive Axia can have rocket start at traffic light, maybe they floored the pedal. I guess this is the outcome of aggressive tuning towards EEV. Nevermind, i'm not buy this car for racing so is acceptable, l can control the auto stick if i want more power.
8. Sound insulation wise quite poor especially the road noise on coarse tarmac. Consider the car only 2500km, the noise will definitely go up when tyre aging.
9. Aircond wise, so so only, with temperature coldness knob turn to max feel comfortable only, not freezing cold, could be due to small size aircond evaporator. Might suffer in traffic jam situation.
10. Backseat upright, will suffer in long journey, but is OK since this is town car only.

Other than this, the car is packed with alot of accessories, projector lamp, LED rear combi lamp, fog lamp, adjustable and fold-able side mirror, push start engine, minimum safety feature....so we decided to go for it even there are some downside on drivability, afterall come with 5 years warranty, at least no need to fork out alot within 1st 5 years with current Kenari start to give up in every parts.

As i said the car is for wife, well women mostly like hatch back because of easy parking.

Bezza? no thanks to the ugly outlook. If i were to go for sedan Perodua is definitely not in my list.

Ya. Initially planned for G spec only which is 3000 less with additional tinted, door visor and rear spoiler, which add up around 500. But after test drive the advance version, u got fabric in door rest area, chrome handle, fog lamp, better looking rim, rear spoiler, side skirt, security film ajd tinted, push start, keyless entry, bluetooth player...this is all can't be add up with 3000 later...i don't want to make the same mistake when i purchase my Saga BLM 8 years ago where i choose the basic spec just for saving few thousand and regret later.

Haha, i go against advance becos i hate leather seat. I prefer fabric. Unfortunately the car industry seems link with high spec = leather....not everyone love leather.

Normally i will add a carpet on top the fabric for protection.

Talking about the seats, still curious how suffer to sit at the straight uprght back seat for 2~3 hours...really don't know who design the rear seat, wonder the designer got back pain issue.

For me, car manufacturer should have let consumer to choose what they want. The Malaysia car industry is boring. Manual = low end variant, high end variant only have auto, high end variant must be leather, i don't know which manufacturer started this stupid trend in Malaysia...this give a general perception that leather is more premium than fabric. In fact, i'm not only dislike leather in car seat, i also dislike leather for home sofa, my wife dislike leather handbag.

I don't mind to go for advance if they offer fabric seat for that, even the perodua sales girl had a same opinion.

For me leather is hot especially the car is under the hot sun for long time, furthermore when aging it become sticky and the leather peel off, crack and become much more ugly.

Got the Axia SE this morning just after 1 week booking.

Come back from 65km 'test drive' just now, this is what i can concluded after that.

1. The test road was mostly highway drive (which i missed in test drive last week) and some city road, very less traffic at 11:30pm.
2. Used to drive hydraulic power steering car before, the Axia EPS just feel very weird especially in cornering. Very minor self centering force only. I don't know whether all EPS act as that or it just Axia. I don't feel any confident in the corner at all, and i can feel the steering wobbly around the corner.
3. Ride at highway feel 'floating', the travel of the suspension just too much and will definitely feel fatigue in long run.
4. Wind noise and engine noise at highway speed is acceptable, is the road noise that dominant the noise level, radio volume at 11-12 will easily masked by the road noise.
5. Despite the conventional 4AT gearbox used, surprisingly the Axia gearbox is very smooth during gear hunting. Yes, it did often downshifted due to lack of power, however the shift shock is minimal, only know it downshifted when i heard the engine roaring.
6. Fuel consumption wise is good. 65km 80% highway 20% city at 80-120km/h got AVL 18.5km/L.
7. The low beam projector headlamp is good, the beam is even on the road and projection distance is far enough. Just that the stock bulb colour temperature is too warm (Or because i used to the white LED of my Saga). The fog lamp more or less just for decoration in my opinion, the distance just too short and can't aid the low beam distance at all.
8. Radio sound quality is not my cup of tea, at least the Kenari stock speaker is better due to the rear is two way system rather than full range in Axia, the sound just feel muddy if you turn up the bass.

Overall i think Axia is more suitable for city drive. Long journey highway cruising experience will killed by the ride and road noise. It seems Perodua still got alot to do in ride and handling aspect (or actually no tuning done by Perodua at all and it just carry over?), which i feel far more better in my 8 years old Saga BLM.

This post has been edited by coolkwc: Aug 28 2017, 01:23 AM