2012 Perodua Alza 1.5 MT Review - No, I Don't Work For Security

I'm just gonna say this once - I don't work for security.

Taken inside my campus, right after that "interrogation"

Now, it has happened to me before. I drove the Alza to campus a while ago and when I was trying to enter the gates, the guard stopped me - which is normal for me - and were like "YOU HERE FOR SECURITY?" to which I replied "NO NO NO I'M ONLY STUDENT." I then showed him my student ID card and then I was let in.

The story was simple - the owner of the security company decided to sell my dad the Alza, and so my dad bought it for his "personal use," only for him to revert to using his usual cars, hence the Alza fallen into my hands. Simple, right? 

Anyway, the Alza is a 2012 model year, and has 300,000++ kilometers on the clock. Very high-mileage, but hardly surprising given that it's a security company car. It wasn't perfect when we got it (duh). The clutch was on its way out, and the electric power steering felt kinda weird. If I'm not mistaken, even the brakes were shot - all of which has since been rectified. The only issues the car has now is that the driver's side window wouldn't raise all the way up, and the power window button for the front passenger window only works when going down, and the steering wheel material was disintegrating and it feels disgusting on my hands so I went to Mr D.I.Y and scored myself a steering wheel cover. That's pretty much it. Right then! Onto the review....

What is it like to drive and live with?

Like a car. It starts, stops and goes. There, Alza reviewed.

Okay, fine. I'm going to properly review it like that motoring journalist I am NOT but I'll review it the best I can anyway.

Driving the Alza 1.5 Manual the first time, one thing immediately stood out - just how light the damn thing is. Spending a few minutes behind the wheel is more than enough for me to understand why almost all Perodua cars I've seen on the roads are so bloody fast.

You have to understand this: the Alza weighs around 1,100 kilograms, which is very light for what is essentially a seven-seater MPV. Paired to the same 1.5-litre engine and five-speed manual you get from the Myvi, you'd be amazed at just how quickly the Alza can reach triple-digit speeds. It isn't quite the supercar, but it is more than fast enough for everyday use. The other byproduct of being so light is that it's fuel economical and very nimble around town - making it the ideal getaway town car.

It's so good to beat on it

Being a Perodua, the manual is fairly easy to use. The clutch is easy to modulate and the gears slot into place... sort of. The action is best described as rubbish, and sometimes first and third gear can be a bit hard to engage - although that could be down to me trying to shift gears as quickly as I would in my Wira. With that said, though, it's okay enough for people who don't give a shit about driving and only do so for the sake of getting from A to B - which is what the Alza is for.

As I mentioned earlier, the Alza is a seven-seater. I'm around 173 cm tall and even in the third row, so long as the second-row seats are not pushed all the way back, there's adequate amount of knee room for me. It's not that I have a lot of friends that I need seven seats in my car, but it's good to know that I can carry seven, average-height Asians in my car if I need to.

I don't have a lot of friends so I had to "improvise"

I'm not sure what specification my Alza is, though. It has two airbags, but no ABS. It doesn't have Bluetooth or AUX cable, which is a shame because sometimes listening to radio annoys me as it's rubbish. Not the poor reception, I'm talking about the shit that gets broadcast on the radio most of the time. But that's something the aftermarket can fix. Is my Alza the base-spec? I don't know. Maybe a Perodua expert can help clarify for me?

Conclusion

Compared to my Wira, the Alza falls short when it comes to delivering driving thrills, despite the fact that it is fast, light and agile. The gear shift action is vague, and really while the handling is impressive, there's not much in the way in steering feel. Then again, that isn't the point of the Alza. Sure, I could throw in some handling upgrades such as adjustable coilovers, anti-roll bar, bigger brakes, you name it because there's plenty of aftermarket support for the Alza - which is the beauty of pretty much every Perodua here in Malaysia. But I digress.

Truth is, there's only one reason why we have an Alza in our fleet - to be our beater car. It's the car my dad bought for the sake of thrashing it to its absolute limits and not give a shit about it. Of course, my dad and I love cars and we try our best to ensure that they're mechanically tip-top. But, we also love driving the hell out of our cars, and for once it's nice to have a car that you can properly beat on and not give a shit if we scratched a wall or a curb with it. The Alza is pretty damn good at going from point A to point B, and that's all that matters.