It has been 18 months since Proton’s first MPV project was conceived, and now after many spyshots and teaser images, as well as an embargo break, Malaysia’s national auto maker Proton has finally revealed the Proton Exora MPV, which carries a huge potential in reshaping Proton’s image. The launch event took place in Kuala Lumpur and was officiated by the newly appointed front man of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as well as Tun Dr. Mahathir, the former prime minister who helped introduce Proton about two decades ago.
Exterior, Body Structure & Powertrain.
The Proton Exora is currently offered in two forms; the base Exora 1.6L A/T M-Line priced at RM69,998.00 and the top-of-the-line Exora 1.6L A/T H-Line which can be fetched for RM75,998.00. Compared to the Nissan Grand Livina which is pitted as the Exora’s top competitor, Proton’s MPV is heavier at 1,422 kg compared to 1,245 kg. The Exora is also longer by 172 mm at 4,592 mm, wider by 119 mm at 1,809 mm and stands taller by 101 mm at 1,691 mm. It also has a longer wheelbase of 2,730 mm instead of 2,600 mm with the Nissan.
The front wheel drive 7-seater Proton Exora is pinned on a platform that was co-developed with LG CNS and on the outside it features a pretty good looking, matured design that is finished with LED brake lights, bee-sting antenna mounted at the front, chrome on the rear strip (for H-Line), chrome trim on the front grille (for H-Line), electric wing mirrors as well as 15 inch wheels wrapped with either Goodyear Assurance or Silverstone Kruizer tires in 195/65R15 sizes. The H-Line also gets black-out stickers on the B-pillar and C-pillar.
Suspension wise, the Exora features MacPherson struts up front with a torsion beam setup at the rear. The interesting part is that Proton has also made ready a multi-link rear suspension for the Exora, in case Proton sees a potential for it in the future, for the domestic or international market. The Exora is powered by a 1.6 liter Campro CPS that is able to produce 125HP at 6,500 revs and 150Nm of torque at 4,500 revs. Although on paper the Exora has an extra 21HP compared to the Livina with the same torque figures, the Exora is heavier, by 177 kg, which is a pretty huge margin actually and which also means that the 1.6 Campro CPS has more work to do. With the 4 speed automatic, the Exora cruises at 110 km/h with the engine working at 3,000 revs. Fuel consumption is rated at 9.2 liters per 100 kilometers based on the combined cycle, while consuming 7.2 liters at a constant speed of 90 km/h. Key safety features are made up by dual airbags and an ABS system. Continue reading for the rest of the report and to view an image gallery.
According to Proton, the Exora was designed to achieve a 4-star rating in the Euro NCAP system and has thus far passed an equivalent test in a testing facility in Spain. The Exora also features a single front end module that is made of a combination of composite resin/high grade plastic and metal in certain areas to reinforce it. It serves as the front end structure while integrating the heat and fluid system mounts, bumper mounts and lighting system mounts. This results in a slight decrease in weight, higher control of quality in terms of production, lower cost, ease of assembly as well as provides a better fine-tuning ability for the crumple zone, since it uses 5 parts instead of 12 major parts of a conventional module.
Exora’s Body Control Module (BCM).
As reported earlier, the Proton Exora MPV is also fitted with a Body Control Module (BCM) that helps control a number of functions in the Exora. Supplied by Continental AG (Siemens VDO unit), the BCM offers the following:
* A battery saver for room lamps, luggage and key ring illumination. These turn off after 30 seconds to ensure they do not make your battery flat if for some reason they are left in a situation where they are on all the time.
* Follow-me-home headlamps stay on for a certain period of time to help light up your walkway when you park and want to enter your house.
* The battery level for the remote key is indicated on the car’s instrument panel briefly when you turn the ignition on. The remote key has a range of 20 meters.
* The remote control will not work if your front door is not closed. The vehicle will also remind you if you activate a remote command if the rear door is not closed.
* There is a door open indicator on the instrument panel that indicates exactly which door, engine bay hood or rear hatch is not closed.
* There is a door opening warning when you reach a speed of 7km/h if any doors are open.
* Tap feature for the signal indicator stalk. This is similar to alot of modern cars – you just have to tap the indicator stalk (not press fully) for the signal to flash 3 times to indicate a lane change and stop automatically, no need to press fully to turn on and reach for it again to deactivate it.
* Dim-in and dim-out feature for the interior room lamps – Proton says this is better for the eyes at night and it also adds a certain touch of class. The interior room lamps turn off automatically after you lock the car, or they also stay on for 30 seconds and then fade out in 2.8 seconds. When you unlock the car, the room light fade-in in 3.4 seconds.
* Front and rear wiper washer drip wiping – automatically wipe to remove excess water. What happens is when you operate the front washer, it will wipe 4 times and then pause for 5 seconds and then wipe one more time, to remove all the excess water effectively. This is because some of the washer liquid from the top of the windscreen will slowly drip down after the initial wiping, so the last wipe completely removes the washer water.
* Programmable front wiper interval. This can be anything from 1 seconds to 25 seconds. The default is 4 seconds. This is how you program it – you put it into INT and then back to off. Then you wait for the duration you want and turn switch it to INT again. The time duration you waited will become the new interval, up to a max of 25 seconds.
* The rear wiper turns on automatically when you engage reverse gear if your front wipers are on.
* If in SLOW mode, the front wiper changes mode to INT mode when you bring the MPV to a complete stop, let’s say in a traffic jam in the rain.
* The remote unlocks the drivers door only if pushed once – probably push twice to unlock all doors. Apparently you are able to configure this to unlock all doors at once by default.
* There is an alarm activation history kept but I am not sure how to access it, perhaps only at the service center.
* The doors will lock automatically once you reach a speed of 20 km/h.
* The doors will unlock automatically once you remove the key from the key barrel.
* All doors unlock automatically upon a crash via a signal coming from the airbag control unit.
* If you perform any sudden braking at speeds of at least 96 km/h, the hazard lights will flash automatically.
Interior.
The H-Line Exora comes with cruise control, an LCD screen with DVD player, leather seats as well as a touch screen portable GPS device while both models retain the Bluetooth hands-free system, audio streaming functionality of the 2-DIN head unit and air conditioning with two blowers and air vents for all three rows. There are also ample cup holders as well as a “teh tarik” hook. The leather seats on the H-Line also have a suede-like material at the sides that would be allowed to expand and contract in a certain way under the hot Malaysian climate which then reduces the chances of them cracking, something common for full leather seats. The third row seats can be folded down flat while the second row can be folded front wards. There is also a compartment on the floor behind the third row.
The DVD entertainment in the H-Line variant is mounted at the roof of the 2nd row. Othar than being able to take in DVDs, it can also read files from an SD Card. It also allows you to stream the audio from the DVD to the head unit installed up front via FM transmission. There are also two headphone jacks.
Current OTR Pricing with Insurance:
Proton Exora 1.6L A/T M-Line Metallic – RM69,998.00
Proton Exora 1.6L A/T M-Line Solid – RM69,548.00
Proton Exora 1.6L A/T H-Line Metallic – RM75,998.00
Proton Exora 1.6L A/T H-Line Solid – RM75,548.00
