Surveying for a new MPV

My Alza is around 9 years of usage and has clocked 128,000km. I still like the feel but it is showing its age like the vibration and noise. There is also engine and ATF leak which will cost about RM800 to repair. No urgency to repair at the moment but I believe as the car ages, more and more repair will be needed. Although this is a 5+2 seater, the third row seat is seldom used compared to before when I had a maid. There was one time we went to Kuala Selangor for seafood with my parents, the car was fully loaded but there wasn't any space left to bring back some seafood. Besides, I have not really went for an outstation trip with my parents since I started working 19 years and felt bad about this.

This prompted me to consider getting a full size MPV or at least a 7 seater SUV, something that can carry 7 person with space to carry luggage too. As this car will also be driven by me daily to work, it also must not be too big and difficult to drive in the city. Hence, I will exclude Alphard or Grand Starex from my list and what I thought so far is as follow:

1. Perodua Aruz
2. Honda BRV
3. Proton Exora
4. Toyota Innova
5. Nissan Serena
6. Nissan X-trail
7. Mitsubishi Outlander

Just checked out the Aruz. The one thing that attracted me is its ability to store 2 small luggage at the back even with 7 person onboard. Of course, this Aruz is highly equipped but most of the gadgets are something I can live without except for the 6 airbags.

But when I sat into the Aruz, and I will compare it to my Alza, you need to lift your heel a bit to sit on it. As my wife is shorter than me, she is not going to like this. Other things I noted are lesser head room, lesser room between my thigh and the steering and the seats are also smaller, it doesn't extend to the rear of my knee.

Without even driving it, I have spotted a few inherent weaknesses. Firstly, this Aruz is longer and taller overall but that additional dimension is not felt in the interior. The reason is because being a rear wheel drive, the engine has to be mounted longitudinally and this require a longer engine bay. In short, a big part of the car length has been dedicated to the engine. Then, what about the headroom? Well, the car chassis is actually sitting on ladder frame and this has raised the overall height but this height will not contribute to interior space.

The salesman was honest when he said that the Aruz will feel less responsive compared to Alza and I am not surprised with that as the Aruz is heavier than Alza due to the ladder frame and longer chassis. It's going to be a struggle for that 1.5 liter engine to move the car, coupled with a bigger overall diameter tyre. In short, I won't feel there is a dimensional upgrade compared to my Alza if I opt for this Aruz although it is RM20k more expensive.

Just checked out the BRV. It's more expensive than Aruz and my Alza, price about RM80k for the lowest spec. The ingress height is just right, boot space is comparable to Aruz and much bigger than my Alza. Other features better than my Alza are bigger tyre, rear a/c blower, digital a/c (not really necessary to me), VSA and HSA. But there is one thing about my Alza that is hard to beat, the wheelbase. It is at 2700mm which is longer than some bigger cars such as Exora, Outlander, X-trail and its class rivals such as Ertiga, Aruz and BRV. Due to that, it has very large 2nd row interior including the seat depth and legroom. Somehow, the BRV 2nd row seat is slightly smaller than Alza, which is not an issue if it is not sat by adults and my kids are not that tall anyway.

Another BRV's major weakness is it has 2 airbags only and that's something hard to accept in 2019 when a cheaper Aruz can provide 6 airbags across all variants. The sales girl said that the BRV will not come out with a facelift but I don't believe that as the facelift model has already been launched in several countries.

I have the budget to get bigger MPVs like Serena but I don't mind settling for a smaller MPV if it can meet my requirement and at the same time, easier to maneuver in the city. The Serena is big, packed with many nice-to-have features, air-cond vents on all the three row with separate zone control for the rear and a much bigger loading capacity with all the seats up. I tested it over the weekend and noted the following:

• The mpv looks big on the side but not too difficult to maneuver actually
• It comes with 360 view but the monitor is too small
• There is no center console like in the previous model
• Everyone in the mpv will slant or lean when taking corner, reminds me of the feeling in the Kenari, seems that this mpv height is greater than the width, an attribute of a van
• The mpv felt sluggish but when I looked at the speedo, it was at 60km/h, somehow the mpv can pick up speed without you feeling it too obvious but a 2.0 engine pulling 1660kg weight can be quite challenging

Further research in the internet tells me that the Japanese version has an auto brake hold function and the larger monitor can also serve as the reverse camera.