Dad sold of the old Volvo and got himself a Perodua Viva recently. The car arrived middle of the week and I have to say that it looks good. I believe the one he got was the 850cc version.

Since we were relatively ‘free’ over the weekend and dad has not been to Setia Alam (my future home) in a long time, we decided to try out his car and drive there.

Can’t say I know a lot about cars. So don’t expect an expert kind of review. The three of us (my dad, Mrs Tai @ my wife and myself) sat comfortably in the car. I am kinda impressed that at its price (I think around rm33k, all inclusive), it comes with power windows for all the windows. Cabin space was quite big. As I said, we felt quite comfortable inside. Dashboard was very minimal and basic. There is the single CD player. Side-view mirrors is not manual (meaning you push some buttons to adjust the side-view mirrors). I think it even comes with air-bag (I might be wrong about this — sorry la, like I said, I’m not a car freak).

Inside the Perodua Viva

So far, the things I noticed and found to be slightly ‘off’ is the lack of a meter to show the temperature. Viva only has two light indicator - one for COLD and one for HOT. They will only turn on when the engine is too cold or too hot. I think that’s kinda bad. I would like to know if the engine is starting to get too hot. Besides that, I also noticed there’s no way to turn off the air-cond vent. You can turn it left or right or up or down… But you just can’t shut it.

I think Mrs Tai has fallen in love with this car. She said that if not for our need to have extra space (meaning the car boot), she would love to get this. We have been told by friends who have kids to get a car with lots of space - for baby seats, strollers, etc…

The drive to Setia Alam was smooth. We didn’t expect much changes for the house since its like 95-99% completed already. I managed to speak to the sales person and she said that the house progress is still on schedule and we’re expected to receive the house keys next month (April). The Certificate of Fitness/ Occupation (CF) is expected to be ready in April or May. Once we get the CF, it means we can move in.

But for us, we are planning to only move in by the end of the year. Partly due to other more important matters - our baby is due in May. Plus, we would like to take our time to decorate and improve the house (plant flowers, add cabinets, etc) before we move it. Like Derrell, we will slowly move our things to our new home.

One more month and we should be getting the keys. That’s my dad’s new Perodua Viva