Perodua Kelisa

In my last blog, I blogged about my Toyota Land Cruiser Prado or a.k.a Big Boy, this one I will be blogging about my another car which is Perodua Kelisa. So, what kind of car is this?

Perodua Kelisa looks like this. Mine is white.

 

Daihatsu Mira L700



Perodua Kelisa is a compact car produced by Perodua (Malaysia’s Second National Car Manufacturer, the first one being Proton) back in 2001 to 2007. For those car enthusiasts, looking at the picture attached above, you might find the resemblance of the car to the Japanese Daihatsu Mira L700. The reason being Daihatsu Motors holds 20% shares in Perodua and the Kelisa was entered into production in Malaysia based on the Mira L700. For those who don’t know, the name Kelisa means Arowana fish in Malay and personally, I find the name disgusting. (* I mean throughout the world, car manufacturers name their car after fierce and powerful animals like Jaguar and Mustang but here we have a little fish) Throughout its production years from 2001 to 2007, only two versions of engines offered in the Malaysia market, the 3 cylinders 847cc n.a. engine and the 3 cylinders 989cc n.a. engine.

My version of Kelisa was the 2005 year model, 3 cylinders 989cc n.a. engine model with manual transmission. People who know my personality will not believe that I would own this kind of car. The reason being I’m an adventurous kind of guy who prefers my transport to look big, mean and looking “adventurous” too. I like big cars/motors with powerful engines and Kelisa just didn’t suite my taste at all. The only reason I bought this back in 2005 was because I had no money to buy a car since I was just graduated and was entering the work force. I needed a car to bring me from point A to point B. This car was among the cheapest car I could get at that time, on-the-road costing RM38,000 (more or less USD13,000 or GBP8,000) brand new. I’m kind of tall too, at 180cm, fitting myself in will definitely render the back seat unusable and for long journey wise, it pains my back.

Despite above dissatisfaction about my Kelisa, I do acknowledge the contributions of this little car in my life for the past 8 years though. Even though the car is small, it has pretty nice weight to power ratio. I actually enjoy very much driving this car around city as this car is fast in acceleration and also, because of its smaller size, it is a lot easier to find parking space compared to Big Boy. Fuel consumption is also extremely good at an average 6.4 liters per 100km.

Jeremy Clarkson featured this car in one of his video clip circulating on YouTube, basically, about his frustration on the Kelisa.

My personal opinion on this video is, he’s sick! By destroying the car like that is like flipping over a bowl of rice from a starving femine victim, telling him the rice is uneatable, not realising, that is the bowl of rice that he will rely to live another day. I may be exaggerating but he got to understand not everyone in this world can afford a Ferrari, a Lamborghini or a Bugatti. Kelisa is made for a reason and that is for people like us in the developing country, as a mean of transportation, not luxury. Grow up, old man!