Proton Exora
by David Finlay (19 September 2011)
On our Twitter account - it's @CarkeysCoUk if you want to join in the fun - I recently wrote, "I have driven a Proton Exora today and you haven't. So there." It would be fair to say that no significant level of envy was generated by this remark, and the arrival of the Exora on the UK market early in 2012 probably won't bring the industry to a standstill either, but that's not to say that there isn't a place for cars like this.
The Exora is Malaysia's first MPV, and while it's not a bad early effort it's also not something that European, American or other Far Eastern manufacturers are going to lose much sleep over. If it had been launched in, say, 1995, it would have been considered quite good, and it's not altogether unappealing now, for two reasons.
A Proton spokesman encapsulated them both in the single phrase, "value-for-money seven-seat MPV". This is exactly what the Exora is. It does indeed have seven seats, though only four of those are suitably for full-sized adults passengers (the two in the back row and centre one in the middle row being more suited to smaller folk). At six foot three I don't have quite enough legroom to drive the car in full comfort, but of headroom there is an ample abundance.
Reasonably good-looking at the front, the Exora deterioriates towards the rear. The tail is very inelegant, but although it's probably the main reason Proton won't be winning any style awards with this car it does serve the practical purpose of allowing for a huge amount of luggage space when the third-row seats are folded down.
Unfortunately, there was no luggage cover in the car I drove, so whatever you put back there would be exposed to view unless you took steps to cover it up. I can't absolutely say, however, that this will be the case in the Exoras you'll be able to buy from next year - though I suspect it will be- because this was a Malaysian-spec car, and the reason I was driving one of those is that there are no UK-spec ones in the country yet. (That, incidentally, is why we're publishing this article as a feature rather than a road test or launch report.)
Similarly, there's no point in discussing this car's engine or gearbox, because they will be different - a CVT rather than a conventional automatic in the latter case - in the versions sold here. I would hope that the suspension settings will be fairly similar, though, since the test car, while not being particularly exciting or even interesting to drive, at least didn't do anything offensive on a short run over a wide variety of roads.
UK pricing for an Exora in the same specification as the test car has been confirmed at £14,500, while a cheaper version, without leather upholstery or a DVD player, will cost £13,500. This, of course, is the second reason why it makes more sense than its ungainly appearance might seem to deserve, for how many seven-seaters can you name that cost about as much as a mid-range Ford Fiesta?
Proton reckons that 40% of UK sales will be to Motability customers, who I suggest, having known several, are quicker than the average motorist to appreciate the combination of low cost and high practicality. For the rest of us, particularly those who rack up high mileages, the Exora will make more sense when a diesel version is launched in late 2013.
