Review of Perodua Viva

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-segment 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.

Different Trim Levels
L-R: 660 and 850cc, 1000cc, 1000cc Premium
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:
Finally, what everyone’s been waiting for. How much does the Perodua Viva cost?
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.