Proton Exora

Proton Exora

Manufacturer	Proton
Production	2009-
Class	Compact MPV
Engine(s)	1.6L Campro CPS  I4
Transmission(s)	4-speed automatic, 5-speed manual
Wheelbase	2,730 mm (107.5 in)
Length	4,592 mm (180.8 in)
Width	1,809 mm (71.2 in)
Height	1,691 mm (66.6 in)

The Proton Exora is a compact MPV vehicle produced by Malaysia car manufacturer Proton and launched on 15 April 2009. It is a new model from Proton based on a new chassis. The development of this MPV started from scratch and it is the first Malaysian-designed MPV. Fully undisguised photos of Proton Exora were leaked onto the internet on the 23rd of January 2009, ahead of the MPV's April 2009 launch date.

One year after the launching, on 15 July 2010 Proton came out with an improved version of Exora. It is known as Exora MC which stands for Minor Change. The interior get a dark grey treatment, a new set of twin 5 spoke 15 inches rims, and not forgetting a new set of body kit with just a minor RM1000 increase in OTR price. By this time the gaia blue and pyrite brown colour option discarded but a new plum red colour make its appearance.

Performance

Engine specifications

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CPS 1.6

• 4-speed AT/5-speed MT
• S4PH DOHC
  • Multi Point Injection (MPI) Fuel System
  • Max output : 125 bhp (93 kW/127 PS) @ 6,500 rpm
  • Max torque : 150 N·m (110 ft·lbf) @ 4,500 rpm
  • Max speed : 165 km/h (103 mph)
  • 0–100 km/h : 14.8s for M-Line 5MT/15.3s for M-Line 4AT/15.5s for H-Line 4AT
  • Weight : 1408 kg for M-line 5MT/1422 kg for M-Line 4AT/1442 kg for H-Line 4AT

The Proton Exora chassis uses a MacPherson strut design at the front and a torsion beam at the rear. It measures 4,592 mm (180.8 in) long, 1,809 mm (71.2 in) wide and 1,691 mm (66.6 in) tall with a wheelbase of 2,730 mm (107.5 in). It is powered by the Campro CPS engine producing 125 hp (93 kW) and 150 N·m (110 lb·ft) of torque, resulting the top speed of165 km/h (103 mph).

The average fuel consumption of 7.2 L/100 km (39 mpg_-imp/33 mpg_-US). The CPS engine same as the one found in Satria Neo CPS which feature cam profile switching. The gearbox is similar to the Proton Waja and Proton Gen-2 Mitsubishi sourced but has a higher final drive ratio to help with power delivery.

The Exora features a Body Control Module which allows automatic activation and configuration of various vehicle functions such as door locking/unlocking, interior lamps, headlamps, brake lamps, hazard lights and wipers. Other make offering BCM are mostly continental cars with RM100k and above price tag like BMW, Mercedes Benz, and Japanese Nissan Silphy.

What BCM offer in all Exoras:-

■A battery saver for room lamps, luggage and key ring illumination. These turn off after 30 seconds to ensure they do not make your battery flat if for some reason they are left in a situation where they are on all the time.

■Follow-me-home headlamps stay on for a certain period of time to help light up your walkway when you park and want to enter your house.

■The battery level for the remote key is indicated on the car’s instrument panel briefly when you turn the ignition on. The remote key has a range of 20 meters.

■The remote control will not work if your front door is not closed. The vehicle will also remind you if you activate a remote command if the rear door is not closed.

■There is a door open indicator on the instrument panel that indicates exactly which door, engine bay hood or rear hatch is not closed.

■There is a door opening warning when you reach a speed of 7km/h if any doors are open.

■Tap feature for the signal indicator stalk. This is similar to a lot of modern cars – you just have to tap the indicator stalk (not press fully) for the signal to flash 3 times to indicate a lane change and stop automatically, no need to press fully to turn on and reach for it again to deactivate it.

■Dim-in and dim-out feature for the interior room lamps – Proton says this is better for the eyes at night and it also adds a certain touch of class. The interior room lamps turn off automatically after you lock the car, or they also stay on for 30 seconds and then fade out in 2.8 seconds. When you unlock the car, the room light fade-in in 3.4 seconds.

■Front and rear wiper washer drip wiping – automatically wipe to remove excess water. What happens is when you operate the front washer, it will wipe 4 times and then pause for 5 seconds and then wipe one more time, to remove all the excess water effectively. This is because some of the washer liquid from the top of the windscreen will slowly drip down after the initial wiping, so the last wipe completely removes the washer water.

■Programmable front wiper interval. This can be anything from 1 seconds to 25 seconds. The default is 4 seconds. This is how you program it – you put it into INT and then back to off. Then you wait for the duration you want and turn switch it to INT again. The time duration you waited will become the new interval, up to a max of 25 seconds.

■The rear wiper turns on automatically when you engage reverse gear if your front wipers are on.

■If in SLOW mode, the front wiper changes mode to INT mode when you bring the MPV to a complete stop, let’s say in a traffic jam in the rain.

■The remote unlocks the drivers door only if pushed once – probably push twice to unlock all doors. Apparently you are able to configure this to unlock all doors at once by default.

■There is an alarm activation history kept but I am not sure how to access it, perhaps only at the service center.

■The doors will lock automatically once you reach a speed of 20km/h.

■The doors will unlock automatically once you remove the key from the key barrel.

■All doors unlock automatically upon a crash via a signal coming from the airbag control unit.

■If you perform any sudden braking at speeds of at least 96km/h, the hazard lights will flash automatically.

Safety

The high tensile steel frame, exhibited at Proton Technology Week.

The Exora has equivalent 4-star EuroNCAP rating after 32 Exoras were crashed at the Applus+ IDIADA crash testing facility in Spain. As well as this, the Exora was awarded 4-star rating by Malaysia's own MyVAP evaluation program. One of the key features that made these ratings possible was the use of high tensile steel for the body cage, providing better stability and increased impact absorption during a collision. Side impact bars are also installed to reinforce the door frames and to absorb impacts from the side.

Other safety features include an Antilock Brake System (ABS) to avoid skidding during an emergency brake and an Electronic Brake Force Distribution System (EBD) to ensure the correct amount of braking power is sent to the correct wheels according to the current weight distribution of the car. Two front airbags and pre-tensioner seat belts are installed for the front passengers.

Even the basic one OTR price RM59k have driver only airbag but minus those ABS and EBD features.

Proton MPV naming contest

Proton announced a contest called the Proton MPV Naming Contest to find a name for the MPV. The contest closed on 30 September 2008. This is the second time Proton held a naming contest for their new car after Proton Saga.

The result has been announced on 17 February 2009. The name Proton Exora was picked from the Name The Proton MPV competition grand prize winner Norsholihan bt Abdul Eanich among 251,763 entries. The winner was awarded with the first Proton Exora off the production line.

A controversial rule in this naming competition stated that an entry must not be taken from flora or fauna, but the winning entry Exora is inspired from the Ixora flower. Proton later clarified that the word Exora was only similar to Ixora but not a direct name of a flora or fauna so it was allowed.

Maybe due to its Lotus influence just like the Lotus Evora, Exora has been chosen as the MPV's name.

External Links

• Exora Overview
• Proton Holdings Berhad
• Exora at a glance