The Proton X50 was recently launched in Malaysia, where it is offered in four variants – Standard, Executive, Premium and Flagship – with pricing from RM79,200 to RM103,300. If you’re curious about the new B-segment SUV, do check out our comprehensive launch report and spec-by-spec variant breakdown posts, which are part of our X50 info hub.
UPDATE: The costs of the X50’s timing and drive belts that are changed at the 110,000-km/66-month mark have been added.
In this post, we’re discussing service maintenance, an aspect that is sometimes overlooked as compared to the car’s initial purchase price. Here, we’re listing the X50’s maintenance schedule over five years or 100,000 km, and comparing it to the X70 as well as the Honda HR-V – a lot of customers are choosing between the two Proton SUVs, and the HR-V is a direct rival to the X50 and a highly popular model in the compact SUV segment.
Based on the overall figures, the X50 (service costs are the same between the 1.5T and 1.5TDGi models) is cheaper than X70 to maintain over five years or 100,000 km, although the difference is only by a few hundred ringgits. However, it is the HR-V that is the cheapest to maintain, with a grand total of RM3,874.45 compared to the X50’s RM4,326.95. Mind you, that’s a difference of RM452.50, paid over five years, so don’t be alarmed. See the tables below for the specifics.
Going into detail, we can see that the cost of engine oil for the X50 (RM162.50/service) falls in between what goes into the X70 (RM190) and HR-V (RM88.49), making up the majority of the difference in the grand totals. Engine oil changes, along with the drain plug gasket, are mandatory changes every 10,000 km for all three – the Protons also requires an oil change at the 1,000 km/1 month-mark, but this comes free. Do note that the X50 and X70 are powered by turbocharged engines, while the HR-V uses a naturally-aspirated mill.
UPDATE: It has come to our attention that Honda quotes the use of semi-synthetic engine oil in its standard service schedule below. Fully-synthetic oil is available as an upgrade (at RM145 per service, in place of RM88.49), and is highly recommended for 10,000 km service intervals. If a user opts for the upgrade at each service, the HR-V’s grand total goes up to RM4,598.79, which is marginally more than the X50. Proton uses fully-synthetic oil as standard.
In the case of transmission oil, the Proton SUVs feature a seven-speed wet dual-clutch that needs new fluids at the 90,000-km mark for RM237.36. The HR-V uses a CVT, and it sees oil changes every 40,000 km at RM127.17, which over five years, costs similar to the X50 and X70.
Engine air filter changes on the Proton SUVs are done every 10,000 km, while the HR-V only requires this service every 30,000 km. Despite the frequency difference, the cost of changing engine air filters is still higher with the Honda model over five years. The cabin filter is also more expensive for the HR-V (RM103) compared to the N95 units in the X50 (RM69) and X70 (RM64.17), with five changes required over five years for all three.
As for the fuel filter, the X50 requires a change every 20,000 km at RM57.07 a pop, or RM285.35 over five years. This is considerably more than the X70 (RM140.85) and just above the HR-V that requires just one replacement at the 80,000-km mark for RM243.24.
When it comes to spark plugs, the X50 and X70 use normal ones that are less expensive, with the former requiring a set of three for its 1.5 litre turbo three-cylinder engine (every 40,000 km, RM96.84 each time), while the X70’s 1.8 litre turbo-four motor uses four spark plugs (every 20,000 km, RM112.32 each time). Over five years, the cost of X50 spark plugs is cheapest (RM193.68) compared to the X70 (RM561.60), with the HR-V requiring a new set of four iridium spark plugs at the 100,000-km mark (RM438.43).
Proton also includes a radiator coolant change at the 60,000-km mark for its SUVs (around RM135), but Honda’s maintenance schedule states this is only needed at 200,000 km (RM111.54). The HR-V also requires one less brake fluid change than the Proton SUVs, bringing down maintenance costs.
A service item that isn’t listed for the X70 and HR-V is the timing belt, but that’s because both models use a timing chain instead. This isn’t the case for the X50 that uses a timing belt, which requires an inspection at 100,000 km and a replacement at 110,000 km/66 months. The timing belt for the X50 costs RM195.16, while the drive (or serpentine) belt that is also changed together is RM112.89 – the labour for both is RM150. All in, the total cost of this service, including the regular 10,000-km engine oil change and engine air filter, is RM825.27.
On a year-to-year basis, the HR-V is cheaper to maintain from year one to three, although it gets costlier in year four and five as “big” ticket items like fuel filter and iridium spark plug changes are required. Keep in mind that beyond scheduled services, the actual cost of ownership also includes fuel, which is highly dependent on how frequent and far you drive.
Additionally, wear and tear items like brakes and tyres are not part of this service menu, and they can differ greatly in price. Depending on variant, the X50 and HR-V have wheel sizes ranging from 17 to 18 inches, while the X70’s options go up to 19 inches on the top variants, which are going to be far more expensive to replace.
All in all, based on official numbers the HR-V is the cheapest to maintain over five years compared to Proton’s SUVs (with standard semi-synthetic engine oil, at least – see update above), continuing the trend that we first saw when comparing the service costs of the X70 and CR-V previously. On the same topic, cheaper Proton models are still generally slightly less expensive to run compared to equivalent Perodua models (Saga vs Bezza, Persona vs Bezza, Exora RC vs Alza).
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As expected, Honda HR-V is the cheapest to maintain yet the ultimate King of RV. Syabas!!
P1 stupidity mark up the already overpriced caina car.
C’mon, guys. Logically, you’re comparing a naturally aspirated engine on the HRV compared to the X50 Turbocharged (MPI for 1.5T and GDI for 1.5TD on the flagship). If you account for the boost in power and overall driveability, you can’t even compare. Unless of course you are the typical HRV driver who drives at 60-70kph on the fast lane of the highway
Need to remind u as fellow Malaysian cannot drive over 110km/h? Even u hv all the turbo bell & whistle, u won’t be paddle full throttle all the time~ Its the same as HRV or any car duhhh
Ohoo you seem so confident, maybe you haven’t yet been tailgated by a Mybi while flooring a GT-R
In Malaysia, average ppl deemed mampu milik cars priced below RM80k… right in the range of Perodua Rocky turbo SUV btw 55k to 75k only
@Jeremy Oh that would make X50 as mampu milik too since it is priced below Rm80k. You forgot to revised your own mampu milik to below Rm50k.
Buy full spec x50 rm103k.
5 yrs later sell value rm25k, nobody wanna buy 2nd hand caina car.
Only low value mind thinks like you bro. 20,000 disagrees with you.
We get it, you’re a cheapskate. Everyone else can afford it except you so you came here to vent your fruss.
Anytime go for HRV, it is at least a reliable Japanese suv.
Reliable to have quality problems. Don’t forget to replace the fuel pump bro.
My X70 also have bad quality minor problem such as Problem power window,lock window and sunroof is problem and Proton after sales servis is bad.
Kunta still coming with his lies again.
Meh! Rm500 more on a 5 year basis amortised is just Rm 100 per year, breakdown to monthly is just Rm8.30 per month extra. Peanuts when you see how kosong HR-V comes with. PT comparison showed more N/A in their boxes than X50 or X70. Japanese are the ultimate King of Ripoff Value. Syabas!
You are very right. Jimat RM8.30 sebulan, 28 sen sehari pn dh bangga walhal kreta kosong… kosong… kosong.
Wait til you add timing belt.
Timing belt is not required to change within 5 years bro. So what is the problem?
Once it reached the 5 year warranty expiry of the HR-V, get ready for big ticket items that goes kaput. We already spent a lot just after the 5 year mark. While within the warranty period, countless parts also died. Quality is the opposite word of Honda Malaysia. Just stay away from this brand. Those willing to become their lab mice, please get the new Honda City. On Proton’s car rebadged from Geely, only time will tell how good or bad the quality will be.
Well said brader… you’ve got it spot on! To sum it all up, Japan failed big time in quality. If u failed to quality, then u totally fail. These Japan managers who caused tens of thousands owners of Honda, Toyota, Perodua, Mazda nervous their cars will breakdown soon without warning…. these Japan managers still heppi enjoying teh tarik & sembang gossip there.
Japan managers enjoy matcha green tea, not teh tarik wei. Oden family mart pon lazat
When you tarik match tea becomes teh tarik lor.
Proton should invest in fully elec driven car..Honda and Toyota will soon active this goal…although service not good enough compare honda….people still going for proton cos national car…Hope improve
Can brand it as Electron. Lol
Can brand it Cybertron.
Go for chinese car that is over price. Must think think think
Think think still think X50 is the best value. Tak payah pikir, tak payah pening, beli X50.
Whatever the case, please do not opt for “extended warranty” becoz cekik-darah is prolonged and owners die-die have to go back to SC to get “slaughtered”.
Paultan..we appreciate the comparison charts.
Coming back to X50,one wonders how is the delivery of booked n loan approved units going to be like,since Proton might have 25000 units bookings by now.(less say 500-1000 for loan rejection).
Will it be like those days ,where the salesman calls” sir/mdm..we only have premium and top of the range X50s,and dont be choosy on colors if u want it fast”
Some buyers may have to up their budget from 80K to 100K,just to be an early bird.Will proton be transparent in delivering the cars?Or will some dudes get a fast car due to some “magic” by SA.
According to Toyota Just In time manufacturing process as well as Kanban Storage process (which almost all car manufacturing doing now including BMW and VW) DO NOT assemble cars that you cannot sell. Which brings to the factor of keep spare parts that you only need, and make parts orders/purchase when you need it.
Proton already has the database @ 25,000 orders. It should now know which variant is the top selling, which colour is favourite (example vios 07 has blue and gold, but when demand was super low Toyota removed those out) so that Proton will know which one to make more.
Example instead of making 300 units silver standard, 300 silver premium, 300 units red flagship – proton plant should look at the booking orders ratio and make just that.
Doing so can bring production capacity to.it’s most optimum level without having waste or cars that will get stuck at stockyard for 1 year.
Let me share you an info.
When Toyota Malaysia finds out that sales.demand was slowing down, it also slowed production to.something like 4 days a week (normal is 5 days a week, with option to OT on weekend to maximise production).
UMW had even closed the factory down for 2 weeks straight (workers salary ON, but no OT or incentives) to prevent having to keep unsold cars for months and waste on inventories.
So back to Proton – learn from your mistakes in 2006 ( ppl.anxious waiting for Afta) and decided to buy city, vios, myvi and elantra and proton stuck with thousands of unsold Savvy and Gen2.
Then in 2014 proton launched Suprima thinking it was going to be a hit. It had ready made 12 thousand units but after 8.months there were still 6k not sold. Proton had to slash up to 14k in discounts to move those cars.
Need advice? Find me. Thnx.
Don’t know how to fix your CSI scores also can look for me.. I do your wonders even though many dealers won’t be happy.
Well said brader… you’ve got it spot on! To sum it all up, Proton failed big time in planning. If u failed to plan, then u planning to fail. These proton managers who caused tens of thousands stuck unsold inventories Savvy, Gen2, Suprima & Preve…. still heppi enjoying teh tarik & sembang gossip there.
Plenty of these Savvy, Gen2, Suprima & Preve found oberseas buyers. Proton was smart to produce more and sell oberseas bringing foreign currency to help the economy. Deswai Proton managers heppi enjoying teh tarik & sembang gossip. Keje sudah dilaksanakan.
Thank u,Your Excellency ex VGM..the point is.”Is P1 going to be transparent and fair,cos each of the 25000 hard core X50 fans are asking,when is my delivery..next week,next month or after CNY 2021?
Now it seems,they possibly cant cope with the sudden tsunami of orders.Remember those early hot Proton days when SA can “arrange for faster deliveries”when japanese cars became super unaffordable due to higher taxes?
You buy any car right now will facing the same problem lah, try getting Civic 1.8S at the colour you want, it is a 3 months waiting list. even Proton is trying their best still cannot cope because nobody could predict a 20,000 booking list even before launch. Even Myvi 3rd gen never was this popular ever despite riding on prior Myvi popularity.
Read the write up carefully overall if you factor in everything x50 is still way cheaper. hr-v only uses semi-synthetic engine oil right (4liters) + fuel filter change & radiator coolant @80k & 200k respectively knowing our petrol quality & adverse weather thats a big gamble. My relative hrv fuel filter was faulty and was replace twice in less than 4 years.
Extra RM500 for 5 years? This is actually negligible and worth paying for the extra torque feel, assuming that both have the same reliability.
Wait to see. Sushi is still sushi
pls include cx5…
CX-5 gets free maintenance for 5 years.
So instead of HR-V, CX-5 is the cheapest to maintain over 5 years.
i think mazda extend to 6 years
Harga berapa cik afiz ooooiii? Free maintainance sbb dh up dlm sales price. Noob btul lah mu ni.
Cx-5 cost RM0. 00 for 5year
The servicing changes for X50 is quite conservative and playing way too safe. The port-injected 1.5T don’t really need stringent frequently fuel filter changes that would be a necessity for the direct-injected TGDI brother. And no way Honda engine oil is that cheap unless it isn’t fully synthetic which is necessity for 10,000km servicing intervals.
What about the timing belt? If included into your calculations above, you have to stretch maintenance period to 120,000km for both X70 and HR-V too but wouldn’t that take it past the 5 year limit? This feels like splitting hair here perhaps for the sake to appease certain fanboy readers baying “RAWR! What about timing belts replacement?!” eh.
No, we will just mention the timing belt change price in the article, not the table. It’s something potential owners should be aware of.
The table is for the first 100,000 km/5 years only.
A very good comparison. May be can work out after 5 years how much is the RV. No doubt of japanese RV so far
Are these figures for fully synthetic engine oil? Pretty sure official Honda figures are for mineral oil, which to me seems impractical. I believe most consumers would go for fully synthetic oil.
True dat. That Honda pricing feels like a cop out. No way mineral oil can practical to last 10k service intervals unlike you want engine to kong fast fast.
no mentioning that proton’s so called warranty is only for a few things, its actually just a 3 year warranty for most of the parts
It is the same for all not just Proton.
whatever it is, China or Japan technology cars, you are still going to do twice mandatory visits to the to service centre where you get slaughtered….hahahaha..
oh…the comparison should also include insurance cost, road tax and fuel consumption (assume 20k km travel per year). This should be the ultimate ownership cost for those bean-counters (read: cheapskate)
Good comparison. As one reader pointed out, on service cost over 5 year, per year month only slightly higher, just add that into the budget. What concerns me, is that if the standard parts prices are that higher, what about major repairs after 5 years, and those parts not covered under warranty ? I understand gearbox only 3 years warranty ?
Those in the know please correct any misconceptions that I may have, I have friends who own X70, so warranty condition i’m aware of.
For a difference in 500, if you factor in the price of purchase (and don’t forget the bank interest as the pricier a car, the more interest), X50 is way more worthy. Furthermore, I have sat in HRV and it is such a lame car. Feel so cheap inside.
How about cost of replacement the dual clutches?
And how long is the expected of the clutches will last?
How about cost of replacement of CVT?
And how long is the expected lifetime of CVT?
Earlier of 5 years or 100,000km
Why no comparison with BMW X1? Since Proton compare the drag race with X1.
Try to bring all family members on walkaround shopping for SUV (beloved wife, 2 kids, 1 in Uni and 1 still at SMK). Dad had initial preference, for HRV. but Family cooperative decision still above everything else. Since now CMCO season two, 2 cars to fetch with 2 person each.Then Funny things happened at the Honda showroom.Their unexpected reactions on HRV “eeww, design so so” ‘why the screen so small and out proportion, infoscreen low quality, slow to response & below average audio quality ‘ ‘cheapskate hard plastic’ ‘no ‘hi Honda’ voice assistant’. ‘again old, cheap, cut cost, not cool not worthy in 2020’ Dad perplexed!, They really against it, maybe they had done their research beforehand the SUV’s specifications and features online and from videos in youtube, comparing this and that, Kid getting smarter with smartphones nowadays, so Family have decided, dad’s vetoed down 3-1, Skip the ‘test drive’.Time spend 40min. Then goes to Proton showroom for the X50, the citrus orange on the grandstand there. Then this happened, totally the opposite reactions! All 3 of them keep rapping on and on these technical stuffs and jargons..’top safety, Volvo level, ADAS, floating roof, jet turbine acc, remote start, connectivity, hi proton i want to see the sky, self parking, booking by celebrities & youtubers, 20,000 booking, 2020 hype now, EEV, cheap interest and roadtax …….by the way too damn long to write here……..Dad’s speechless’, all then said ‘Dad this is it, the one, we should go for It!’ Time spend 3 hours. Finally booked the snowy white. Happy wife and happier kids = happy life! Special mention “the satin chrome finished horizontol Bow, splitted into 2 to hold the headlamps” really Bold and unique
And the family went home happily, comfortably cosseted in their cosy Nissan Serena MPV, happy wife n 2 kids…Or else their 5year old Proton X50 trade-in value in 2025 only left rm25k. And they found out their neighbour 5year old Honda HRV RS still worth RM65k, menang beli menang pakai.
Kunta still nonstop spouting his stupidity with fake names.
Nice story, can write story book already. Just go for HRV.
For same money, better go for 2016 Toyota Harrier 2.0 Premium Modellista SUV too. Only best ride for balik kampung
The cost is abang adik la. Just chose something u like.. Where’s the fun in life if need to calculate down to this level to own a car u like dude
Still costly for China made car but rebadged as local car. Reliability of parts to be known soon.
It’s already soon. How long X70 been in the market? Heard any negative feedback so far? Expecting shrink size version will have a huge differences on reliability?
I recently did a 100k service on my HRV and the bill came up to approx RM 1,300. This is nearly double the number on the table. One of the main items left out was a set of engine compartment rubber belt which has the same interval as the spark plugs. Get real bills to do analysis, and not make assumptions on how the template should be.
The table is based on official service schedules from the brands themselves. No assumptions here.
It may not include wear and tear items or any other optional or items your dealers may recommend.
The table doesn’t tell the real story as many hidden “extras” are deemed “necessary” by the dealers. By right you do have rights not to choose but if all dealers does the same, that leaves you no option. Perhaps asking a current Honda user in your office that are still servicing under warranty will give the writer a better picture.
Hi, Hafriz, Understand that gearbox is only warranted for 3 years, while the first schedule gearbox oil change is on the 54th month.
Gearbox problem/failure after 3 years whom to be blamed?
Honda gearbox only warranty 3 years?! I never knew that. Shocking!
Hrv cheapest spec is rm104k(correct?) vs rm79. 2k. Rm20k difference in selling price alone. With the price difference, why bother with few RM difference in service ?
Find it amusing to discuss about the service prices difference.
In 5 years, I definitely save much more when I buy x50. Rm20k x yearly bank loan interest rate…
Come on la, proton pay you to write this? You also forgot direct injection engine will need frequent decarbonization of intake too. put that cost in too.
Proton paid them? Did you even read the article in full? The writer is pointing out HR-V has the cheapest servicing cost amongst the 3, it would be more logical to say Honda paid Paul Tan to write this but in truth they aren’t being paid by either side so drop your baseless accusations.
I think comparison maintenance cost is not correct. Because i am using HRV and major service cost is more than RM1,200 per visit. For normal service price average is RM500 per visit
Japanese cars nowdays becomes low quality
Japanese cars becomes this quality
https://paultan.org/2020/10/30/toyota-fuel-pump-recall-grows-to-5-84-million-vehicles/
yeah.. Good luck in getting your honda serviced around the official scheduled priced.
As a HRV owner since 2017, I have wonder why Honda do not implement 12 monthly servicing instead of the compulsory 6 monthly routine servicing for the convenience of low milage retiree owner who uses the car mainly to visit friends or go to the local supermarkets.
The suv not suitable for practical daily working high milleage long run. Especially x50 with too many fancy specs, u buy then expected to have enough budget for repairing.
Nowadays car with new technology will make mandatory to go back expensive service center even after 3 years because the outside shop may did a wrong parts/repair to the car.
What are you talking about repairing bro? That isn’t part of the service equation, with full complement of ADAS your chances of getting into an accident is far lower than most cars in Msia unless you count in bad luck. Cars will continue to get smarter and filled with more technology, you can’t stop progress. If you are fearful of technology in the car, you can stick to your old ride or get a 2nd hand simple car for your daily use.
This is the kind of article that I like to read. Factual, research based, and very informative. Not ones where it is a repetition of specs which are already in the public domain.
No wonder our local X70 did not use the 3 cylinder 1.5L engine. Its running on timing belts. Obviously the timing chain is better. Steel chains are always more durable than rubber belts. Yea even timing chains can fail, but at least you get an obvious warning from loud chain clatter , rather than timing belt that can just snap out of sudden without warning. And the 1.5L 3 cylinder unit is definitely interference engine. Once timing belt snap , piston hit valve. Kaboom!! Goodbye engine!!
The X70, like its Boyue Pro cousin, could fit in the 1.5TGDI but Proton management made a decision to clearly define their product segmentation plus the TGDI engine wasn’t ready at that time. It has nothing to do with reliability of timing belt vs chain.
Timing belts won’t snap suddenly if they get replaced on schedule. Meanwhile timing chain doesn’t get replaced, so you won’t know when it suffers sudden breakages. Those who rides bicycles will know this problem well.
Wow needs constant replacement of air filter when you can opt to replace it with K&N with better quality and last a lifetime. Just need to DIY cleaning every 100k KM.
Timing belt is the big turn off for me..unless they can replace timing belt in 1 hour i would not consider it..in this modern,fast moving world, timing chain is better.
It only takes 40 minutes to replace timing belt on Campro engine. So does this make you feel better about timing belt?
Timing chain affect NVH, not good.
Just checked out X50 at showroom but didn’t test drive though.
First impression
Pro
1. Interior design is great.
2. Leatherette is soft, covers all the common touchpoints.
3. Additional 3k+ to addon accessories powerboot, built-in smarttag and it’s lumped into the overall car price that eligible for car loan calculation
4. Higher dashboard giving a good sporty seating position
5. Headunit graphics is really good
6. Door closing feels and sounds solid
Cons – not really much but if I have to mention
1. door handle feels plasticky
2. door panel is hard plastic
3. center console feels plasticky
4. boot is relatively small
All in all, it’s damn good value for money.
those who are economically and mathematically smart will go for the Honda HRV. it’s cheaper to maintain, has better badge and better resale value. what else can you ask for more?
How about better performance, better cabin space, far lower prices that eats your cheaper maintenance, far far better safety? Who cares about resale value when your value is already saved upfront with the lower price?
3 cylinder engines run a lot faster especially at highway speeds.
This means higher wear and tear, noisier engines and higher fuel consumption.
While this is not an issue for the first owner, it may affect the second and subsequent owners. Therefore, the resale value may be affected.
What do you mean by run a lot faster? A 3 cylinder running 3000rpm @110km/h and a 4 cylinder running 3000rpm @110km/h runs exactly the same speed. There are no issues for 2nd or 3rd users unless the 1st user poorly maintains it but the same issues will apply to a poorly maintained 4 cylinder engined car.
For my Dec 2016 Honda HRV, my routine maintenance costing up to 70000 Km total rm3271.65 with details as follows: 10000 (milage 2501km)rm 343.07, 20000km(4889km) rm438.72, 30000km (8599km) rm454.84, 40000km (9955km) rm425.45, 50000km (12068km) rm 399.53, 60000km (14383km) rm 571.22, 70000km (16690km) rm 638.82.
So real life experiences are different.
I own a HRV year 2019. I agree with TBR. Actual maintenance cost is much much higher than your tabulation.
Oh my god, X50 now has 50k booking