I just back from Bukit Tinggi, Pahang trip with my new Exora last Saturday. I consider this is a light trip because only in the car I have only 2 adults (My wife & I) and my baby on board.
It was in the afternoon when we start our journey and the day was dark. I got my tank filled up with RM50 petrol (Ron95) at the Caltrex station and got my donuts inflated at 35psi (this is preset psi when I first got my car) to offer better handling.
Initially I thought Bukit Tinggi is a alpine but it proofs me wrong when it returned with just some hilly twists and bumps. In fact Bukit Tinggi is not really a sloppy hill because I can proof it with my Exora because those sloppy bends be tackled in just 3rd gear, although some occasional overtaking might need a more powerful 2nd gear but most of the time I don't need it.
There are some point need to stress here though on the 2nd gear is that there's a noticeable loss of power if the speed is less than 10km/h especially when tailing a slow moving car or go over bumps, so is good to shift to 1st gear for speed within this range to avoid the engine dead.
Overall my Exora gave a very responsive drive when given the correct gears. During the uphill en-route I managed to overtake several cars including a van and slow-moving Toyota Estima (Given not many cars going to Bukit Tinggi).
This trip offered a perfect time to test the Exora's power and cornering ability. Overall, it performs really well for being a 1.6er, the only problem is to maintain its momentum due to the overloaded road bumps in the hill especially near every travel spots. The road bumps are abundance compared to smooth Genting roads, as it forced me to kick down to precious 1st gear to glide over them. I think this beast will do better job overpowering Genting Highlands.
We stopped at the Animal Farm for 2 hours giving my son to breath and play with the bunnies for a while. He was feeling dizzy already probably because of the twisty roads. Nevertheless he enjoyed watching those hoping rabbits and managed to give some massages to them in his little feet LOL!
We end our trip after a brief stop at Berjaya Hills Golf & Country Club. We head straight to KL again through those twisty paths. Here driving a manual gives more confidence because I down-shifted the right low gears I want, hence more safety and control. I love the Exora's brakes because it works extremely well stopping the car, no sudden choking stop like the Vios, simply a linear stopping power to keep everyone comfy. Thumbs up for Proton here for giving the right tune on the brake force distribution.
At night I was called for a family dinner at Soon Li Restaurant, Serdang Perdana. I was invited to fetch my sister-in-law and her 6 feet husband because she eagerly wanted to try my car out. So we went there 5 in a car + 1 baby, the husband(sat in the middle) and wife, my father in-law, my wife and I with my little Louis. The Exora once again shines when it moves without problem. The shoulder space is big (according to my father-in-law) and the headroom is aplenty for the 6-feet-er. As for the driver, there's NO under-power feeling as claimed by the Internet users.
After the dinner, my nieces also want to try my car out so we threw them into the last row seats and gave them the DVD remote control to make themselves happy. They watch Barney and went dancing and refused to sit properly. The Exora enveloped everyone comfortably in its huge body and tough chassis.
We end our family getaway trip with blissful smiles and enriched ourselves with invaluable joyful moments.
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