Perodua Aruz, the second national carmaker’s sport utility vehicle (SUV) officially made its debut on Tuesday, 15 January 2019. The seven-seater has been available for booking since 3 January. The Aruz is available in two variants – the 1.5 X priced at MYR72,900 and the range-topping 1.5 Advance (AV) going for MYR77,900 (OTR w/o insurance).
Unlike Proton with its X70, this isn’t Perodua’s first foray into the SUV market. It previously had the Nautica, and who can forget the evergreen Kembara?
Based on the Toyota Rush, the Aruz offers only one engine option – the 2NR-VE 1.5-litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder petrol engine that also powers the new MyVI. The energy efficient lump pushes 103bhp and 136Nm of torque at 4,200rpm. It features Dual VVT-I and Eco Idle (auto start-stop) and the certified Energy Efficient Vehicle (EEV) returns 15.6km/l.
The power plant is mated to a four-speed slushbox that drives the rear wheels.
Toyota tends to go overboard with its car designs, and the Toyota Rush (and the Avanza) are “good” bad examples of what happens when you’re bored and have too much freedom to design a car. Thankfully, the Aruz has a lighter, more subdued treatment in the styling department and doesn’t suffer from the same fate as its cousin. That said, it isn’t the prettiest of cars, although that probably doesn’t matter to the average consumer.
Nonetheless, the front grille is noticeably different and what separates the 1.5 X from the 1.5 AV is the black front diffuser as opposed to a coloured one on the premium variant.
Inside, Perodua has completely redesigned the dashboard and overall looks congruent and functional. There’s Perodua’s seven-inch infotainment unit and single-zone manual airconditioning system, which by the way is standard across variants.
Both variants comes with a generous amount of kit including 17-inch two-tone alloy wheels, keyless entry and start,rear air-con vents, USB charging ports in all rows, integrated SmartTAG, six airbags, ABS with EBD and brake assist, VSC, Hill Start Assist (HSA), Hill Descent Control (HDC) and ISOFIX child seat anchors on outer second-row seats.
The range-topping 1.5 AV gets added gear including automatic on-off headlamps, front fog lamps, roof rails, leather upholstery, leather-wrapped steering wheel with “receive call” control, leather knob, HDMI port, piano black dashboard and door trim (with chrome highlights), SmartLink functionality for head unit and an integrated driving video recorder (DVR).
It also gets Perodua’s famed Advanced Safety Assist (ASA) 2.0 suite which comprises Pre-collision Warning, Pre-collision Braking, Front Departure Alert, and Pedal Misoperation Control.
As you may know the ASA made a debut with the 2018 MyVi, but the second generation on the Aruz adds pedestrian detection (up to 50km/h), Pre-collision Warning (bumped up to 100km/h) and Pre-collision Braking (from 30km/h to 80km/h).
As mentioned previously, the Aruz is certified five-star by ASEAN NCAP.
Perodua is offering a brand new colour – Amazon Green (metallic), to complement Granite Grey, Electric Blue, Glittering Silver and Ivory White colourways.
Pricing and availability
The Perodua Aruz is open for booking nationwide and it is priced at MYR72,200 for the 1.5 X, while the 1.5 AV retails at MYR77,200. Prices are for Peninsular Malaysia and OTR without insurance. Expect to pay MYR2,000 more in East Malaysia. The price of the Aruz is a good MYR20,000 cheaper than the entry-level spec Toyota Rush 1.5G which retails for MYR93,000.
Perodua offers a warranty of five years or 150,000km mileage.
Perodua also offers a range of Gear Up accessories – the Utility package includes door visors, a luggage tray and coil mats for MYR450, which is MYR50 cheaper than if the items are purchase separately.
What do you think of the Perodua Aruz?
