I operate 5 Picantos as part of a company fleet.
2014 Manual
2015 Auto
3 2018 which just joined our fleet.
Some of the other cheap cars on the fleet are a Bezza, Myvi, Persona and Vios. Also have a Dmax and a Triton. We had an Axia too but it left us 2 weeks ago.
All were bought 2nd hand.
All these cars run at least 70km each day on a mixture of federal and highway roads.
The feedback from those that drive those cars? The good car of the bunch is actually the Persona and it would be best if it had a better automatic gearbox but it does not and the one on the fleet is a 2017 manual.
On topic of the Picantos? The older ones are good for their ride and handling as well as their build quality. The only thing that rattles in it? The SmartTag and phone holder. Not bad for a car that the manual cost rm12k while the auto was Rm18k to buy last year.
Fuel consumption?? Same road same driver and same load, it is fairly equal if not better than the Axia.
Parts? Yes it is expensive if you buy them from a service Centre but not too bad if you buy it from an independent parts shop.
Safety? It has 6 airbags and ESP, doubt any cars below rm60k had that in 2015 as standard. I believe these models were tested by EUroncap and has good safety rating for an A segment car.
Comfort? Good for a small car for 2 persons but unlike the Axia, Bezza or Saga it is tight on space for 4 persons and it is not that suited for family usage as it has a very small boot and rear leg room space is at a premium if there is a tall driver.
I was looking for more of those but sadly the ones on the market were tired or thrashed examples.
The newer ones? I bought them off a company that was using it for advertising but did not work out due to MCO.
It is an improvement over the old and you are paying for the engineering in it rather than size or power. Better stability, better fuel consumption, better performance from the gearbox and overall better user experience. It will do 130km/h on the Highway without any issues and you would not feel tired when you to your destination.
Good car?? Rm49k no. Rm33k absolutely.