When the Proton Perdana first came out at the end of 1994, I think many Malaysians were impressed with the designs, size and status as the first Malaysian made luxury car. It is actually a restyled version of the Mitsubishi Galant in Japan and uses almost the same parts as it's Japan sibling.My first drive of a Perdana was my friend's mom's car back in Malacca.
Over the years, I have also driven the newer Pedana V6.
Lately, the hottest news around is about the Terengganu state goverment that replaced it's Perdana V6 Executive fleet with 14 Mercedes Benz E200 Kompressor. The state government claims that the cost of running this Malaysian breed vehicles is alarming and some costing more than RM 100k.
From talks with friends and family, the most notable problem is the automatic gearbox. The reason for this is the dramatic accumulation of heat within the gearbox. Over-time, the gearbox loses it's efficiency to change gears accordingly.
Apparently in Japan, the gearbox is fitted with it's own mini-radiator that maintains the temperature of the gearbox from becoming too hot. However, this radiator has been removed from the Perdanas in Malaysia and not forgetting my ex-car, the Wira 1.6. Hence, this would be one of the reasons for the damage in gearboxes in the Perdanas.
A brand new gearbox cost RM 25 k. Reconditioned ones cost RM 2k.
The radiator for the gearbox can be obtained from chop-shops or half-cut shops at around
RM 500 but are rare and you have to modify it to suit your Proton.
One of the reasons, why I sold my old Wira was because of the cost of maintaining it was too high and I guess this is the reason why the Terengganu state government feel the same.
I had to spent lots of money to replace parts which either resolve the problem, temporary resolve the problem or entirely do not resolve the problem. I was so sick of this as I felt it was such a bother that I changed to my current super-economical Myvi 1.3 EZi(I claim that it is economical lah... :P).
From my personal experience that I have shared previously on this blog about the high cost if maintaining my old car:
1. Roof lines accumulate buldges as a result of a certain coat of gum used after few years of use.
2. The bonnet has the same buldge.
3. The automatic gearbox gets cranky and tends to be stubborn at changing at times.
4. High engine-oil consumption. I spent almost RM 1k to fix leaks but the oil loss still persisted.
5. Vibration from engine bay.
6. Water leak on driver side tail end of car due to rust.
7. Rear automatic sunshade spoilt.
8. Master power window spoilt.
9. Boot spring breaks often so need to replace at around RM 80.
With so much talk about replacing the Perdana fleet to Mercedes fleet, some exco members from other states had suggested using the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry as another alternative to saving cost especially during the current high fuel prices.
My suggestion is why don't the Federal government really consider this and change the Perdana fleet to high-brid cars if indeed that the main reason here is due to the high running cost. We don't have to sell high-brid cars first then only use them as government cars. A small batch can be imported in for our leaders. The Toyota Camry High-brid would be the best option! It would be a good example for other nations to follow suit especially during this time with the global fuel hike and the concern for global warming.
