Articles
CHEAP & CHEERFUL! ‘THE PERODUA NIPPA’ Britain’s cheapest car.
Recently over Sunday lunch, I was berated by my father in law! ‘Why is it you’ motoring journalists only write about cars that are flashy and expensive - cars no-one in the real world can afford?’
I stopped chewing for a moment, for he had a point. You see - although perhaps I shouldn’t tell you this - it’s part of the ‘snobbery’ that goes with the job. If seen testing Jaguars and Aston Martins then you are deemed to have made it somewhere near the top.
However if you are still in the realm of Fords and Fiats then you have yet to make it as a motoring correspondent - perhaps just cutting your teeth - still putting your boots on. It’s all a myth of course!
But in reality I’m not a snob! No - really I’m not. When my friends or colleagues see me in a Bentley or an Audi TT with the roof down, do I feel any different - NO! You see I have discovered my wife has been right all along - every car is the same, their only function - to get you and your passengers safely from A to B. Therefore all I need now do is change the title of each piece I write. WOW! - that makes life so much easier!
Well - that’s where my thinking ‘appeared to be going’ until I met ‘GOD’ on Monday morning at a press launch. Jeremy - yes ‘Jeremy Clarkeson’ said to me ------ oh hang on ------ sorry! ------- I’ve just remembered something my old mum told me - ‘name dropping’ is a form of ‘snobbery’ and ‘self gratification’!
‘So anyway’ - that big bloke off the telly said, ‘have you tested the Perodua Nippa GX 850?’. ‘Errrrr no’, I said sheepishly.
After I got up from the kneeling position he told me that to silence my critic - ‘my father in law’ - then perhaps I should test drive one. He scribbled the details on a cigarette packet which I have framed and hung over the fire place in my lounge - and now I am ‘compelled and delighted’ to tell you about the Perodua Nippa GX 850, the cheapest car available in Britain.
The Perodua Nippa is another of a new breed of tiny city cars designed to unclog our streets, and parallel current government thinking that through reduced road fund licence on smaller engined cars we will all hurriedly sell our big gas guzzlers in preference for a cheeky little earth friendly one.
From outside this Perodua you sense an almost anorexic stance, it is also quite tall which excentuates this further. Inside you feel similarly - and if your fellow front seat passenger is not a close friend - they soon will be, as you joggle along rubbing shoulders over the minutest undulations in the road. The suspension has a hard time keeping up, but the dynamics of a car this size dictate it always will.
But somehow out on the road this feels like a big car - ok it is almost narrow enough to overtake without passing to the wrong side, but it has a broad feel about it. Out of town it is relaxed at speed with quite high gearing, the gearbox a delight with its snappy change. I did find it less tiresome to drive around in 4th gear though. Even a hint of an incline necessitates a change down from 5th.
It handles well and the brakes although not bitingly sharp stop you quickly enough. There are no frills - no power assisted steering, no electric windows in fact no electric anything. There are no air bags and with exposed metal everywhere - it may feel like the 70’s again - but could be a little hard on your ‘soft bits’ should you whack yourself against them! - so drive carefully.
For the price this tiny car feels remarkably well made - certainly in the small Citroen league; and with its Daihatsu engine should give solid reliability too.
So would I have one? Errrrrr - No! . Perhaps if I were more of a city dweller then maybe I would consider a smaller runabout - but I’m not. For city people or those wanting cheap motoring with simple mechanicals then the Perodua Nipper is an ideal choice.
Oh by the way, prices start at £ 5124.00 all in.