We don’t get many surprises with new cars these days. Product updates are frequent and improvements are incremental. And when we do get the odd surprise, it’s usually from the content of a vehicle, like a new feature or the amount of features. The drive? Usually, it’s within expectations.
Not so for the 2023 Perodua Axia. With no prior leaks, we went to yesterday’s media preview event not knowing what to expect from the D74A. Turns out, the second-generation Axia looks worlds apart from the outgoing model – it’s significantly larger and it appears so too, with a more square cut look and well-defined edges, as well as more obvious lines and surfacing all over the body.
The new Axia’s front end carries a Perodua family face, while the rear is a completely new idea – with small and square light clusters at the edges, it’s a fairly uncommon look today. Like it or not, everyone will get used to the new Axia design in no time, as these will be everywhere. Pore over the gallery below and check out our walk-around video for more on the design.
You’re here to know how the new Axia drives, and we’re also eager to share this surprise with you. First up – where the heck is the vibration? Now, if you’ve driven an Axia before, you’d know that vibration is part and parcel of the experience. It’s not worn out mountings, but part of the car’s characteristics – the judder is present at idle and you don’t have to go look for it like you’ll have to in the Ativa.
Like magic, that’s completely gone despite the 1.0 litre three-cylinder engine being a carryover. We looked for it, and it wasn’t there. This means that the new Axia’s drive improvements can be felt (technically, it should be ‘cannot be felt’, but never mind) even before you start driving.
Our drive was only 7km long, but the route from Movenpick Hotel in Sepang to back of KLIA gave the new Axia a fair opportunity to flaunt its newfound skill set. Missing vibration aside, the 1KR-VE three-cylinder naturally-aspirated unit with 67 hp/91 Nm exhibited much improved acceleration thanks to the D-CVT gearbox, which replaces the long-serving four-speed auto.
We’re always thinking of power and engine when it comes to “pick-up”, but the Myvi facelift (engines were also carried over, 4AT swapped for CVT) and now the Axia illustrates the major role a transmission plays in acceleration. Response is much improved, and with that comes confidence in overtaking and daily driving. That’s another Axia weak point addressed.
The stepless gearbox is a true game-changer, and that’s before we consider the gains in fuel economy. With the CVT, fuel consumption is now 25.3 km/l, or up to 27.4 km/l with the Eco Idle auto start-stop system. These claimed figures are in what P2 calls the Malaysian Driving Cycle (MDC), which supposedly follows local road conditions and driving patterns. We’re told that MDC is in the WLTP’s ballpark.
The engine is still pretty loud when extended though, and the sound of the mill grinding away isn’t a sweet one, but that’s only during hard acceleration – let’s not forget that we’re in an entry-level car that starts from below RM40k. It’s calm at a cruise; we clocked around 2,800 rpm at 110 km/h.
The 2023 Axia has a more sophisticated platform and larger footprint, and this is reflected in the way it flows down a road. P2’s starter model feels more stable and composed on the move, and this improved ride comfort will benefit many of us, not just owners – the Axia and Bezza are the most popular ride-hailing cars after all. Photographer Sherman, a tall guy with lots of Axia rear seat time under his belt, felt the changes at the back.
All these improvements, and the introduction of tilt steering adjustment for the first time, make the Axia feel like a “normal car” to drive now, not a cheap, pared-down car with compromises. Much like a Myvi actually.
Speaking of the “King”, when I was choosing an affordable tool to tide me through Covid and MCO (remember that?), I plumped for a Myvi G3. The Axia was cheaper, but I just couldn’t do it, not with all those compromises in the drive and the fixed steering driving position. Driving the new Axia yesterday got me thinking – if I had to make the same decision today, what would it be?
I’m gravitating towards the Axia. The drive is much improved, but the interior is the clincher – we couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw the horizontal-style dashboard with its “floating” screen and elevated gear area. I appreciate P2’s choice to angle the centre stack and screen towards the driver – this is something that Honda and Proton don’t do. Overall, the dash gives a good impression of width and looks very contemporary, a bit sporty even.
With the AV’s configurable digital meter panel, touchscreen audio and digital AC panel (with memory) – as seen in the Ativa/Alza – there’s even tech to match the looks. The best bits of P2’s parts bin (steering is also from the Ativa), fitted on the brand’s most stylish cabin to date, in an Axia. As an Ativa owner, I’m not happy about this!
To sum it up, we’re looking at day-and-night improvement in refinement (both powertrain and ride), better acceleration, a matured and stylish cabin, and features that early Axia owners wouldn’t dare dream of. If the D74A manages close to 25 km/l real-world FC, I may even end up with a new tool. As stated in the intro, we don’t get stunned like this very often, but Perodua has pulled out a stunner with the new Axia.
Hafriz Shah says
The test drive was short, but thoroughly eye-opening. Getting into the car, the characteristic vibrations of a three-pot engine was distinctly absent, so naturally I looked for the start button. Turned out, the engine was already on. Ok, second-gen Axia, you’re off to a good start here.
Pulling off into open roads, the level of refinement was such a shocker. I had just recently driven an original Axia – a late facelift one at that – and the one thing above all else that I just couldn’t see myself living with was the vibrations. The new one, however, barely had any. Not through the seats, nor the steering wheel or pedals either. The difference is, simply put, like night and day.
Another big takeaway was the new D-CVT gearbox. Now, I’m not one to completely dismiss four-speed autos just because they’re old tech – I’d take a smooth-shifting, well-tuned 4AT over a rough and noisy CVT any day of the week, but here, the change is most definitely a positive one. Certainly helps that the D-CVT is easily one of the better CVTs in the market.
Throughout the test route, the new Axia felt smooth, more than powerful enough and fairly quiet. This is all thanks to the new transmission, because we all know the 1.0 litre engine is exactly the same as in the old car. Now, perhaps the engine mountings have been greatly improved as well, but whatever the case, the end result is a car that just feels so much more refined and upmarket than before.
The ride felt impressive too, being so planted and stable, smooth and controlled over those horrible yellow road lines. So much so that I’m pretty sure it’s more comfortable over these roads than a Myvi, let alone the old Axia. Now, I know it sounds like I’m exaggerating the improvements that have been made here, but really, I’m not.
The jump between each generation of Perodua’s entry-level car – from the Kancil to the Viva, and then to the Axia – has always been transformational. And yet, this latest one is without a shadow of a doubt the most significant leap yet, especially once you take into account the massively enhanced interior as well.
Essentially, after the short drive, I’m now struggling to find a good enough reason to choose a Myvi over the new Axia. Maybe its new looks will sway you towards the perennial King (you’ll understand this once you see the Axia in full), but that aside, the 2023 Axia should be your new default Perodua hatchback of choice. Myvi, you’re in trouble.
The 2023 Perodua Axia will be officially launched on February 14. All the specs and details that allowed to be published are here. Full gallery/details embargoed till launch
GALLERY: Perodua Axia D74A, media preview
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Trying so hard with the improvement narrative to justify their price increase. They knew they screwed up but what to do?
I don’t understand why people are expecting an all new model to maintain prices? I think it’s fair to have a slight increase in pricing for a better and improved product. So many factors to consider other that just the product improve.. cost of raw materials, cost of running a factory (labour, utilities, etc etc).
Short answer, is, YES
Myvi as premium hatch
Taking up position of Jazz
Myvi has bigger and more powerful engines
“I don’t understand why people are expecting an all new model to maintain prices?”
The problem for Perodua is that in the past, they have reduced prices with new, improved model introductions
2011 Myvi Extreme RM61k
2015 Myvi Advance RM58k
2018 Myvi Advance (Gen3) RM55k
They have the option to have a basic variant without so many fancy gadget to let the people choose. The low booking number of 3500+ after cancelling all the embargo speaks for itself.
Economy is not doing very good. food prices gone up. what do you expect? welcome to economy 101.
With this kind of thinking soon P2 will charge you Mercedes prices for their CKD rebadged cars. Go enjoy paying over the top prices.
Considering that the price of ‘everything’ is rising sharply (inflation, OPR etc), I think it is also equally unreasonable to ask P2 to maintain the price their All-New Axia to the same price as old model Axia.
Most people dont understand basic economy. They keep asking for better pay, better benefit, increment, bonus, increasing minimum wage. They thought all these extra money appear from thin air? like magic? Little do they know, whenever 1 person receive a money, someone else is losing money. So you want higher salary? sure, let me increase the price of things to balance things. So why car price increase? Because the workers (YOU) asked for higher pay, increase minimum wage.
When you not afford, you will think everything expensive
Think inward, your life is a complete failure
be realistic. RINGGIT every year devalues around 2-3% (on a good year!). This means your RM1000 salary has lost 2-3% value EVERY SINGLE YEAR. On bad years like the last 2 years, the RINGGIT has devalued even more. So how can you expect the car price to remain the same/lower? Well technically you CAN but at the expense of cost reduction, which nobody likes.
so jika majikan tidak naik gaji aku tiap tahun, aku sebenarnya macam kena tolak gaji iye? aduh
P2 penipu scalper like Nvidia charging 80 series prices for 70 series GU, now P2 learned that fanbois will gladly pay Myvi prices and get a puny Axia.
Fellow Malaysians! You are being conned by this socalled national car brand!
If you don’t like, you can just leave malaysia.
If you don’t like to hear dissents, you can just leave paultan comment space
Vibration is one thing
But what about the road noise?
Current AXIA sound deadening is so sparse that you couldn’t hear the radio when you drive at 100KPH. The roar of the road + tyre is very loud.
The problem with Bolehland buyers is they must syiok new car smell.
At close to 50 grand for such a compact car,there r many alternatives.A basic 1.3 auto Myvi with higher hp.,torque,wider,bigger interior..how about that?Or a preowned Vios or yaris.
Lets explore alternatives n not rush to buy blindfolded.
Hahaha the problem is even my Myvi has worse sound insulation than my saga vvt
If given choice, I would rather get a NEW car.
Used cars no warranty. Unless we buy refurbished cars that comes with manufacturer warranty. Too many used car are kereta banjir, or have hidden problems. The moment you drive that used car, suddenly need replace belts la, pumps la, brakes lah, fan motor lah. All sorts of repairs. And you think its cheaper to “own” a used car? you must be kidding. Give me a cheap but NEW car, any day!
Thankfully that is no different from stock old axia, old alza, myvi 2nd gen. So it is not any worse than it already was.
Unfortunately “better soundproofing” means nothing in the marketing department. Customers won’t even blink at that. Minimal sound proofing, lower the prices… Those who wants can choose their level of soundproofing at the many accessories shops out there
TNGA Yaris HB JDM
DNGA AXN Axia with DCVT JDM TYT Raize Gearbox
Sama² but 1 more spacious with TNGA Vios Thailand dashboard
Karamjit Singh can modi whole car to Race..
No need Myvi Passo based.
Any update version for bezza? dnga 1.5 dcvt?
High chances that P2 won’t go for a refreshed Bezza with CVT. They’re gonna ground up develop the next Bezza with the new Axia platform which some people touted to launch as early as next year.
Next coming year la boss
Abeslah Proton. DNGA truly means Don’t Need Geely Anymore.
Dr Mamak, is that you again?
Can you please stop doing this since losing proton share? we know you have a lot of anger, but please stop flooding the forums with anti-Geely stuff.
Yes the Myvi is still needed because they are both in different class. The biggest problem here is the Axia’s top spec price that almost breached RM50k. What’s next? Next-generation Myvi AV will cost RM65k?
Myvi 1.5L can cost up to RM 70k back to back with ELSA,
Since 1st Gen.
Hahaha howy myvi can price to rm70k when the ride quality & NVH is more worse than saga vvt..
myvi vs axia is different class? all cars at this sub 80k price bracket is the same class lah. All entry level stuff. City, Vios, myvi, saga, axia all same “class”
Great looking car. Reminds me of polo at the back.
Great value good job p2.
New Axia rear fascia was resembles the VW Polo
“We’re always thinking of power and engine when it comes to “pick-up” … illustrates the major role a transmission plays in acceleration”
It’s like we forgotten that once upon a time… gear ratios was listed in specification sheets and manual transmission always beat automatic transmission for there was no loss in power with torque converters.
those terms will slowly be forgotten as technological progresses further. In fact, at the rate the motoring market is headed, we’d be mostly done with petrol-based engines in private vehicles. All those noisy turbo dinosaurs would be replaced by powerful quiet DC motors.
P2 really upping their game here. Price increase is a given considering everything else has went up in price. Who would have imagined a Camry costing over 200k but here we are.
We are in trouble. Next gen Myvi’s price will surely sky rocket.
why you need myvi instead of axia ? axia is for peoples looking for affordable car , not car with super adas system
RM48k no 1.0 turbo, plus all the gimmicks memang tak boleh ler….
tak habis habis nak turbo. turbo tu tak hebat mana pun. All hybrid or electric cars easily beat all your turbo. EASILY.
U never own hybrid/electric car don’t talk too much la. Turbo boleh service & upgrade. Kereta Electric/hybrid lepas 5 tahun camtu kw igt range km sama mcm keta mula2 kluar kilang? Dia mcm battery iphone la, sampai 1 masa battery health akan menurun kahkahkah. Maintenance tinggi, kalau replace kos mmg nokharom la. Jgn ingat lithium battery tu tak akan berubah characteristic dia nnti.
habis tuh engine petrol u ingat lepas 5 tahun sama macam baru keluar kilang ke? aduh. pening cakap sama orang b40
if according to your logic, we should stop buying anything with a battery inside, like laptops, handphones…. simple coz “battery ubah characteristic”. Apa logik bodoh ni.
ativa hatchback
B40 ativa
Rahman Premimum Compact
Maybe the rumours are true after all .. Perodua want to make entire Myvi lineup as hybrid & EV in near future.
So they’ve prepared Axia to take it place as new king.
This make sense. It’s now slightly bigger mean less chance for people to outgrow the need of size, and then they can just make the Myvi more up market and EV and what not.
nah, myvi cant become upmarket because that car is noisy, uncomfortable. upmarket require that 2 item to be of certain level.
With a new platform, P2 can address that too just like this new Axia.
Hahahaha they compare the ride quality to Myvi. Did they even realize that saga vvt rm3+k is even more quieter than Myvi RM5+k in the cabin
Although the price almost rm49k, I don’t want to put high expectation on this car since their other newer cars also have same driving quality (aruz, alza, ativa, myvi & bezza) which are also can be compare to an old Kancil driving experience.
What I don’t like cars from these brand:
Feels like an old car because
1) Low interior quality. Vibration from dashboard & loud rattle noise from other interior parts when go to harsh road/yellow line (same like an old Kancil)
2) Bad NVH. My Myvi felt like a 10 years old car. Loud wind noise, loud tyre noise especially during rain, lousy wiper motor & power window motor, lousy lock/unlock sound). My rm36k saga vvt far more quite in all these aspects.
3) Stock suspension almost macam kayu, no function at all especially when dealing with bonggol & jalan jauh.
4) Low quality sound system (equivalent to old kancil speaker sound only)
5) Real world fuel consumption is far from what they advertised. But still can be considered as fuel efficient also (achieve 10-13km/L only)
6) Say hello to CVT Whining sound for this car. Same as current myvi CVT
How dare you said Perodua cars especially Myvi has low sound system? Do you know the quality of Betamek outclassed brands like JBL, Harman Kardon, Pioneer? Thank you Perodua for giving us a very good sound system.
Looks nice sure and a lot of features.
BUT DONT FORGET IF YOU ACCIDENT IN THIS CAR WILL DIE, GET REAR ENDED = DIE. SO I SUGGEST ONLY USE IN CITY IF GOING TO BUY HIGHWAY VERY DANGEROUS
Yea ke?but i ll tell u this car one day will keep cucuk your merc on the fastlane
you think those in toyota hailak wont die when hit?
Bro, which one are safer, gettin rear end hit in axia or hilux? Everyone already know the answer. I’m personally trust iriz more than axia/myvi as iriz got stronger HPF structure
bukan hilux. kat malaysia semua panggil hailak
thanks your comment made me laugh. My construction site uncle also call his car “hailak”, so accurate!
Shouldn’t it be Kelisa to Viva to Axia? Anyways, thanks for the reporting. Keen to go check it out myself.
Kancil to Kenari/Kelisa to Viva to Axia
At the end the best selling Axia model is the cheapest version one. Still safer than riding a bike.
maybe lah, but then considering the Saga is even cheaper, and actually drives better (even when compared to myvi!) i see the axia only feasible for p2 fans.
Myvi is still needed. Maybe the replacement model finally get the right size. All this while myvi has been a ‘small’ car despite a B segment hatch which is the same as City Hatch and Yaris to name a few.
A better buy than the myvi av.
+ No lousy dashcam that u want to cabut and replace
+ No ugly red color leather seat
+ No useless acc
+ dnga
If put in 1.3NA 4 cylinder engine certainly better.
When I read the “Hafriz Shah says” part, I can’t help but hear his voice in my head.
Charge high price keep the masses in bondage for 9 years win win for banks and manufacturer
Looks like a good candidate for my college-going kids! But on the other hand, the new Saga is cheaper and many people are saying the Saga drives even better than the latest myvi. In which case, it means that P2’s cheapest car is now too expensive for it’s own good?
Bought new latest myvi and add accessory to reduce noise it will improve driving experience especially while driving in the rain. If this axia has lower noise while driving in the rain it will kill myvi..he he.
but thats the problem. If a 500 ringgit fix can easily make a myvi nicer to drive, why dont Perodua do it. At their large scale, that cost would be reduced too.
Depends on how easy the fix is to install. When you install it at a workshop you can wait over an hour to install sound deadening things, no problem. In an assembly line however you only have minutes. It costs 1 hour and RM500 in labour and materials in a workshop, but a factory that rolls out 200 cars a day could lose 8 cars in that hour. That is easily RM400,000, a day. To make up for it you have to expand the factory to be much larger which is what larger car brands do (at a significant initial cost to establish).
Hadrian Shah I’m looking forward to hear about vibration from the three cylinders Axia gen-1engine. Is it the carry over power plant has no issue of vibration from three pots?
The real question is, is proton still needed?
where else can we get cheap and good SUV if proton is gone? My x50 kena tunggu 5 bulan boss.
that is unrelated to the article. It is like saying because Honda as a nice car, suddenly Toyota is not needed? Stop being fan-boy to any car maker. We are consumers. We should always have more choices. Good for us.
hope its infotaintment system is not as problematic with the present myvi
same supplier
that infotainment HU unit on recent perodua models is their crux. So cheap, china mari style. The interface/GUI also very unsuitable for car use. I think it was designed for normal tablet, not for car use. Imagine need to scroll here scroll there, while driving! So dangerous. Why not have all of them as huge icons instead? Memang sampah.
Fyi, the hu provided in recent p2 models are worldclass hu. IOW, much more premium compared to players that fitted in german made cars. The audio quality exceptionally the best. I am just sad german manufacturers never acknowledge the existence of Betamek.
Please write email/feedback together to Perodua. Ask for software update. Remove those dangerous scrolling menu. Who decided its a good idea to use a scrolling menu for a CAR?????
Untuk sesiapa beli kenderaan baru.. 1.0Av can opt for option bezza 1.3 AV or myvi 1.5X.. Even yang low spec axia G pun saudara saudari still boleh consider saga 1.3 lite spec untuk Praktikaliti and keselesaan. Terpulang kepada para pembeli, youtubers tak berani nak komen semua ni sebab nak jaga reputasi mereka.