I am likely getting a new car this year and have the new Toyota Corolla at the top of the list. Yesterday, just for fun I searched for "New car Malaysia 2023" on the internet and one of the models caught my attention. Chery Omoda 5.

To cut a story short, why can't Japanese manufacturers come up with something as appealing as this. I'm not referring to the engine, reliability or performance but the overall exterior looks which look premium and classy, and the interior design beats all Corolla Cross and hrv to me. If the Omoda 5 has a Toyota badge on it, I'll buy it without hesitation.

The last I heard was the Omoda 5 will be priced around RM130k to 140k, launching next week or next month.

Here's my 2 cents worth. Established car makers generally follow a set design language and this is something that is honed and refined over the years. Unless of course there is a sudden new design direction as what BMW had during the Bangle era. It will be a risk, the public will either love it or loathe it. The Bangle 5 and 7 series were hated at launch but those designs were refined over time. For China cars, their design language is still rather new. They went from making shameful copies of established makes to now, designing cars for the new IT age. Since they have a very short history and heritage in car designs, they are able to explore all sorts of new angles based on their market research without fear of detracting from the past (their past design language is actually what they prefer to leave behind). For the Japanese, they have been usually conservative, depending on evolution rather than revolution so, they will continue to be like this till someone at the very top wakes up and charts a new design direction for the company. They usually cannot change immediately as they need to adhere to their heritage and history.

japanese have been to conservative. the people who helm these companies are too old to inject exciting things into the company. they keep sticking to tried and true, which is not always bad but it's easy for their customers to get stolen by other new upcoming brands

Yes, agreed. I've worked with Japanese before and they are surely conversative and don't adapt to changes too quickly, in other words evolution rather than revolution.

It will be interesting to look at the reception of this completely new model from Chery and also the comeback of the brand in Malaysia. People usually stick with established brands with long history in the country, so the new comers especially Chinese manufacturers will have a tough time to prove their worth since all their vehicles are new and untested thus without history of reliability, performance and after sales service and support which are the prerequisites to maintaining a healthy client base.

Japanese made in Japan are differ from CKD made here. As above, they are just too conservative, cut cost mode for materials especially the sound insulation materials (ckd, cbu japan ok), and straight away lazy mode by put it under CVT gb.

If TS follow China car reviews, all their car cw 1.5T, 1.8T with wet clutch DCT. Their premium model, 2.0T with 8 gear torque converter auto. Not to mention the luxury looking and feeling interior

So powderful that badge?

I have sold a Toyota after driving it for a year...Really don't share the same sentiment. I Really thibk Toyota is overrated and being sold at inflated price

So are you going for the Chery? What other cars are you weighing at aside from Toyota and Chery?

It is highly unlikely I'm going with the Chery. Right now it's only the new Toyota Corolla model that is due to launch anytime now. There are no other cars that interest me at the moment other than Toyota Corolla. My main priority first and foremost is reliability and problem-free. Other considerations such as comfort and quietness as well as looks both exterior and interior design come in next. Power, handling and performance used to be the top priorities for me 10 years ago but they are now at the bottom and are of least importance to me.

I don't think there are other brands that can do better than Toyota in the aspects that I value and if there is one, I would appreciate if you can offer some insight. May I know which Toyota model have you owned?

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Jun 25 2023, 07:51 PM

Car reviewer mentioned omada 5 will be below 120k

If they want to stand an edge its smart to price their top spec below 120k

that interior

toyota looks like 30 years old car compared to this

Oh I see. You are not considering Chery at all. It was a Corolla Cross 1.8V that I have sold off.

The reason I have bought it was like yours: reliability and problem free as I was driving a Peugeot before.

But at days becomes weeks and weeks become months, I regretted it immensely, Toyota cars are really super boring, it gets the job done but none the excitement.

Mazda 3 can be an alternative if you can forgive its shortcomings...

I am aware Toyota vehicles are boring to drive but the Corolla sedan with tnga platform was said to have good handling while maintaining a comfortable drive, combining these 2 aspects that usually don't go well together. I watched the YouTube video by YS Khong and he was quite impressed. Did you test drive the Corolla before? Most SUVs are usually boring to drive even the Mazda CX5 due to higher centre of gravity but people who buy these vehicles have different priorities. I have colleagues and friends who own the Corolla cross hybrid model and one of them complained it lacks power.

By the way, when I went to a Toyota showroom last month, I viewed the Corolla Cross inside out. The interior does not appeal to me especially the handles of the door panel at the rear which looked too chunky.

Mazda 3 is appealing to me yes. It's the price that puts me away. The CKD old model used to sell around RM125k or slightly less but this new model now is priced much higher around 160k or higher if I'm not mistaken. Perhaps the quality of the CBU Japan is a factor. Ultimately it's above my budget as I'm looking at about 140k tops.

I drive a Ford Focus mk3 and in the first 3 years when it's still new, it drives like a dream. Approaching the 8th year I've fallen out of love with the car for reasons you may well know since you owned a Peugeot.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Jun 25 2023, 10:38 PM

Below RM120k? That's quite attractive. Yes I agree the interior of Toyota Corolla Cross does not look good to me especially the door panels and chunky handles. I haven't seen the interior of the new Corolla and hopefully it will look a bit better than the Cross.

The interior of the Omoda 5 surely looks good, the exterior of the car looks like a RM250k model.

Altis facelift in Thailand recently with hardly any identifiable change, Just Google and see.

omoda 5 seems to lose on the ride and handling

can check out other reviews who test the driving

its too soft

cornering also like a boat

but good if u drive politely dont whack the corner

Thanks for the information. I have expected Chinese vehicles to be lacking in areas of ride and handling but if tuned to a comfortable ride then it should be fine. For SUVs it's not too critical but the suspension should not be too soft. I test drove the Honda CRV several years ago and the suspension is too soft or bouncy for my preferences as well. If reviews of the Chery Omoda 5 are accurate, it's unfortunate the handling does not match the sporty elegant looks of the vehicle.

driving style can be adjusted

car's looks however is hard to makeover

Yes. One thing that surprises me is there is hardly any information or leaks on the upcoming Corolla since it's about to be launched in 1 or 2 months time. Rumours on the Corolla thread are the vehicle may be CKD locally instead of CBU Thailand so Toyota might just plonk the existing hybrid engine in the Corolla Cross into the Corolla sedan.

It wouldn't make any sense if the upcoming new Corolla model only has changes such as some USB ports added here and there and then they market it as an all-new model.

Chery (also Changan, GWM etc) as a whole is a company that do only car assembly, lack of car R&D. They buy off the shelves components, hire some art designer and put things together.
The one area they are ahead of market, is ambient lights and infotainment screen size.

Imagine P2 without platform/engines design from Daihatsu, what would it be? Yes, reverse engineering and copy cat.

Ride and Handling, take thousands, hundred thousands of hours of road testing. See how Hyundai test their car these days, and it is reflected in the current products.

They also buy off the shelves electronics, ABC, TC, ESP and implement the vanilla algorithm from the suppliers. Again missing the tuning and road testing. If you can read mandarin, checkout reviews from inside China great firewall, all kind of funny stories.

Down to the basic like brake bias, how to size the front vs rear brake.

Basically due to 2 reasons. First they've been focus on 3rd world low cost market. It doesn't transition overnight. Second, China mostly city driving, they rarely drive past 80km/h, if you've been there, speed trap every 100-200m on some roads.

Overall, I would avoid these companies until they started to invest in motorsport like Geely (via Lynk & Co, Cyan Racing), and Hyundai (N).
If they do determined to change and improves to be a proper car makers with real R&D, it would take 10-15 years, that's how long Geely/Hyundai taken to transform themselves. But in current stage, I didn't see the effort yet.

This post has been edited by constant_weight: Jun 26 2023, 10:35 AM

What you say may very well be true, but the biggest question or perhaps nightmare is how long will the company or dealership last in Malaysia after a 2nd entry to the market with this all-new model? The survival of the company will largely depend on the reception of the people, ultimately the sales. If the sales are poor, imagine buying the vehicle but going into next year the company closes down and cease to exist with no more support to owners who have already bought the car...

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Jun 26 2023, 01:25 PM

Yes, absolutely right. This is another concern.

This is because everything has a costs to it and the average consumers are too cheap to pay for it therefore you can choose to either:-

1) buy car, free engine; OR
2) buy engine, free car

and then applying the universal truth theory of "cheap things not good, good things not cheap", you will have the answer that you are looking for.

if you can afford to pay then pay to buy a Lexus then you'll get the best of both worlds.