Juara a secondhand winner

Sherman Dez
New Straits Times
07-04-2004
Juara a secondhand winner
Byline: Sherman Dez
Edition: 2*
Column: Car-o-scope

BUYING a new cellphone or laptop seems like a waste of money to me unless what I am using is damaged beyond repair.

As long as I can make and receive calls on my three-year-old cellphone, type my articles and surf the Internet on my Pentium 3 laptop, I see no reason to look at a new model unless it is at least 35 per cent cheaper than the original price.
That is probably why I have never bought a brand new car. Sure, there is the `new car' smell, unwrapping the plastic, and your name first on the registration card.

But the moment you drive your new car out of the showroom, you will have lost anywhere from 10 to 25 per cent of its selling price. The same probably goes for laptops and cellphones.

Families looking for a people carrier need to look at vehicles with prices starting from RM$50k upwards for a new unit. What if there is a hardly used two-year-old unit that sells for less than RM$30k? Would you be interested?

Especially those of you with limited disposable income and the knowledge that this vehicle will not depreciate that badly after you buy it as it has already lost almost 40-50 per of its value in the first two years?

I got to test a two-year-old Juara for six days and I must say that it opened up a whole new area of possibilities for me and my family.

It's nippy, reasonably economical and amazingly roomy. It can turn in little more than its own length, and park in gaps you'd be hard put to get a new Mini in and out of. And the visibility from the higher-than-normal seating is excellent.

The Juara is Proton's first attempt into the lucrative MPV market and it is adapted from the Mitsubishi Town Box. The cosmetic work on the Town Box to make it into a Juara has given it an even more aggressive look than the Mitsubishi version.

True, you have to remember during corners (especially if unloaded) that you're not driving a sports car, and I probably wouldn't care to drive from Bangkok to Singapore in it. But as neither of those is a priority, the Juara will do just fine for city commute for a family of five and some.

The raised suspension of the Juara-MacPherson struts in front and trailing arms at the rear have been tuned with the expertise that the engineers have gained from Lotus. While it is not exactly `Lotus- tuned,' it does have some of the ride and handling characteristics of a car.

With the rear seats down, the load space is amazing, considering the size of the vehicle. I managed to carry both myself, my family of four and some luggage in comfort - not bad considering we were also transporting a child's bicycle and a stroller.

Access to the 2.13 cubic metre cabin is through two sliding doors, besides the front doors. The double sliding door configuration is extremely convenient.

The Juara is a compact van, measuring 3660mm long and 1535mm wide, making it slightly larger than the Perodua Kenari but smaller than the ERV. The Juara has a good turning circle where it easily turns within a 9.6-metre width.

For just RM$29,000 or so, you get a 1100cc fuel-injected engine, automatic gearbox, power steering, electric front windows and a decent CD radio system.

The long-stroke 1094cc 4-cylinder EFI petrol engine (Mitsubishi 4A31 S4) produces 53 kW/72 ps of power at 6000 rpm and 94 Nm of torque at 4500 rpm. The cylinder head has a single camshaft and four valves per cylinder. Only a 4-speed automatic transmission is available and this has a pretty low 5.111 final drive ratio.

The fuel tank capacity is a small 40 litres, which, according to Proton's spec sheet, should be good for about 870km at a constant 60 km/h (about 22 km/litre).

Just a couple of minor grumbles about the Juara. One is the slightly high rear sill and door in a car of this kind, given its obvious market.

I'd have thought the designers might have regarded a flower loading sill as a must, and a hanging grab handle for the door for the average Asian housewife.

The rear seats are too hard and uncomfortable under uneven roads. On heavier loads, it settles better. Arm rests for the rear seats would be welcomed and the rear passengers need to sweat it out for the hard working front only air conditioning vents to cool them on a hot day!

Power windows are only on the front doors and those on the sliding doors are winding types. Rear power windows would have been a bonus.

Safety is a core value in any family hauler and Proton has devoted no less attention to ensuring that the Juara is a safe vehicle. In fact, given its compactness, it would require a lot more effort to engineer the body structure. However, in Mitsubishi form, it already meets Japanese safety regulations for this class of vehicles.

The front doors have anti-intrusion bars and there are additional reinforcements, which run across the front width as well as a sturdy floor structure.

Overall, though, it is one of the most practical used people movers (for the price) for sale today. Some of its critics do win on points - but those points vanish quickly when you see the price difference.

(Copyright 2004)