Perodua Kelisa (2002 - To Date)
BY ANDY ENRIGHT
Perodua certainly think theyve hit on a winning formula. Offering the LIDL attitude to car selling, the Malaysian company have been piling them high and selling them cheap for some time now and with no little success. If you expect modern manners and refinement from a Perodua Kelisa, youre liable to be slightly disappointed but there is a school of thought that reckons that the latest crop of modern superminis are just that little bit po-faced. The Kelisa might be cut from old school cloth, but its certainly a lot of fun and the value proposition is interesting, to say the least.
The entry-level Kelisa EX gets Olympus upholstery with an option of metallic paint - although at £200, this represented nearly five per cent of the cars entire cost! Move up to the Kelisa GXi and youll find improved upholstery plus protective side mouldings, while the range-topping Ezi automatic model came with all this and colour-keyed mirrors and exterior door handles. Theres also a far wider range of colours available. The Kelisa is virtually as affordable as the car it originally replaced, the Nippa. This best-forgotten little runabout was notable only for the fact that at less than £5,000, it was the cheapest car you could buy in the UK.
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Instead of being fundamentally based on a design (the Daihatsu Mira) which hailed back to the Eighties, its Cuore fundamentals mean it feels far more up to date. Or as up to date as a car based on something introduced in 1998 ever can be. All models came with the same 1.0-litre petrol engine and (unlike the Cuore) featured the same five-door bodyshape (no three-door option was offered).
All also came fitted with twin front airbags, an engine immobiliser, power steering (crucial for a car like this) and a rear wash/wipe. Buyers who stretched to the GXi also got electric windows, central locking, metallic paint and cupholders. The automatic-only Ezi provided the full works in terms of equipment. Buying used as with buying new, the best advice, as with many cheap little cars, is to save your money and go for the entry-level model.
To be frank, the quality of fit and finish, though adequate, is hardly of the best and plushing it up defeats the point to a certain extent. Careful design ensures that four adults can travel in reasonable comfort with adequate legroom and headroom, making even longer journeys viable. Wide-opening doors allow for easy access. You can even swallow a deceptively large amount of baggage should the need arise.
Load volumes range from 155 litres VDA with the rear seats in place to 428 litres VDA with the bench folded. Unfortunately, a 50/50 split rear seat is not available.
Next to nothing, in short. Youll need a mere £2,300 to get a 2002 51-plated Kelisa EX or, if youre feeling really ostentatious, £2,600 for the GX. Go on, live a little. The Group 3 insurance might also means you could splash out on a newer model year car.
A 2004 GX is still only going to run you around £3,200.
The Kelisa is not known to have developed any significant faults during its existence, the teething faults and recalls that afflicted its Daihatsu Cuore donor model having been thoroughly ironed out by the time the Perodua version made it to production. This car will in all likelihood have spent some time transporting children, so check the cabin for rips, stains and other damage wreaked by small hands. The backs of the seats should be checked for evidence of wear and tear, as the trim is not the most hard wearing. The Kelisa was designed for city driving, so check the exterior for knocks and scrapes, and check under the bonnet for accident damage or paint overspray.
With 6000-mile service intervals, they also need a little more TLC than many more modern designs. Otherwise, the usual reminder to obtain a service history applies.
(Estimated prices, based on a Kelisa EX) You wouldnt want to buy a bargain basement city car and discover parts prices that will require you to take up an evening job to make ends meet. The Kelisa responds with some very cheap consumables. An air filter is around £16 and a fuel filter retails at round £11. An oil filter is £7 and spark plugs are about £7.
A timing belt is around £38, whilst front brake pads are around £45 a pair. A distributor cap retails at around £45.
The Kelisa is a car that is huge fun to punt around town. Under the bonnet lies a three cylinder twin-cam 12-valve 989cc powerplant, the very same not only as used by the Cuore but also Daihatsus larger Sirion supermini. It develops a decent 54bhp, good enough to push the Kelisa to sixty in 14.8s on the way to a less impressive maximum of 88mph.
More importantly however, its reasonably frugal: expect to manage a combined figure of over 55mpg. On the road, you should find the whole package quite brisk enough to keep up with the traffic flow, and the strident engine note encourages foot to the floor progress. The gearchange on the manual cars is none too slick and theres a huge amount of body roll around corners but this only adds to the cars charm. With an overall length and width of 3480mm and 1490mm respectively, the Kelisa is more compact and narrower than the three door-only Ford Ka, a plus which makes it an ideal city car.
Even better news comes in the form of a turning circle of just 8.6 metres, which means that parking spaces can be accessed with ease. Moreover, that high Toytown-style roofline means that headroom is great and visibility impressive.
The Perodua Kelisa is a car that is possibly a better new buy than used. If you want the peace of mind of buying a new car, then its hard to beat the Kelisas knockdown price. For £2,500 - £3,500 on the used market there are suddenly a whole lot of talented claims for your money and the Kelisa comes up short in many regards. On the other hand, it is enormous fun to drive and if you want a car that hasnt had too many miles on the clock and features a reasonably contemporary date on the plate, the Kelisa could be just the ticket.
