Wednesday July 23, 2008

Club defends the Perdana

By TEH ENG HOCK and ROYCE CHEAH

PETALING JAYA: The Perdana V6 Club (V-Sixers) has come to the defence of the Proton Perdana, saying that it is a good car.

V-Sixers secretary Mohd Yazmeen Md Yusof said he was disappointed with what Terengganu Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said had said about the car.

On Sunday, Ahmad said the state government had decided to buy 14 Mercedes E200 Kompressor instead of Proton Perdana cars for its state executive councillors as the Perdana cars frequently broke down.

“If they think it is difficult to maintain, then how can private Perdana owners survive? How could clubs for the car be formed if it really was that bad?”

Mohd Yazmeen said the frequency in which the car had to be sent to the workshop for major repairs depended on the way it was driven.

“My eight-year-old car still has the original gearbox and engine with a mileage of 200,000km. There is no need to change anything if it is maintained well.”

Mohd Yazmeen added that the overheating gearbox problem for Proton Perdanas made after 2006 has since been rectified by the national carmaker.

V-Sixers president Alex Yue said the Perdana was a decent car, which should not pose any problems if driven properly.

“We conducted a survey, and about 70% of our members had no problems with their gearboxes although they have owned their cars for five to seven years,” he said.

Yue, who admitted he had changed his gearbox and drive shaft of his four-year-old car, said his “aggressive” driving style was the cause of his car’s problems.

“I have also driven a BMW 325 and a Honda Accord, and both had gearbox problems.”

A Proton Service Centre staff said a new gear box for the Perdana V6 costs RM24,000, while a re-conditioned gearbox costs RM10,000.

Automotive blogger Paul Tan said maintenance cost should not be a problem as the cars were under warranty for the first four years.

Proton Perdana’s warranty period is four years, while the Mercedes E200’s warranty is only two years but can be extended for another two years by paying an extra RM16,000.

“But I don’t understand why Terengganu picked the E200. There are other cars, which are better than the Perdana and cheaper than the E200, such as the Toyota Camry or Honda Accord,” he said.

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