It has been 5 weeks with our Perodua Ativa and it has clocked over 3,000 km on the odometer. Cik Tiva has proven to be a practical car for the WapCar team, and there is not much for us to complain about.

Unfortunately, we have some unpleasant news. Remember that rattling sound that we had before? Well, it is back to haunt us, and we are not enjoying it.

If you've been following our updates on Cik Tiva, you would know that we’ve had this problem fixed earlier this month (April).

The Perodua service centre in Sg. Penchala had successfully identified the source of the problem being the rear right drum brake.

Apparently, some free play at the brake shoe was causing the unpleasant rattle.

All it took was some tightening and adjustments by the guys at the Perodua service centre, and the sound was gone. Good stuff.

We were very happy about that, and continued to enjoy our Ativa. However, 2 weeks later, it seems that the sound has came back to annoy us every time the road had any sharp edges. Even the slightest uneven road patch would instigate the sound.

It’s hard for me explain the sound through words, so here’s a video to show you the sound coming from the rear right corner of our Ativa:

Hear it? It can almost be passed off as loose items rattling in the boot or door pocket. It might be unnoticeable for those entering the car for the first time, but having to live with it everyday, boy does it get really annoying.

Perodua has assured us that there is no safety issue with this, so our simple temporary solution for the time being is to turn up the volume of the radio to drown out the rattling sound.

I wouldn't mind this sound in a five-year-old car, but for a car that’s only five weeks old, this is quite a turn off. Who knew that a single loose part could ruin our “new car” experience?

We already know that it is coming from the rear right drum brake. So, there's no point probing into that anymore. The question right now is, how do we eliminate this sound for good?

So, what should we do then?

We’re definitely going back to the Perodua service centre. But do we just get things tightened again only to have the sound the eventually coming back? Or do we ask for a new drum brake assembly all together?

What do you think we should do? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section.

Average Fuel Consumption

Rattling sound aside, we are yet to obtain the claimed 5.3-litre/100km fuel consumption written on the EEV sticker.

At best, we’ve only managed to get 6.7-litre/100km based on the Ativa’s onboard fuel consumption meter. Using our refuelling method, we managed to obtain a best reading of 6.39-litre/100km.

On average, we have been getting around 7.5 l/100km by doing the normal combination of urban and highway driving, and driving like the average Malaysian.

Our average fuel consumption so far:

*The sudden change in fuel consumption at 2,826 km is due a drag race we conducted with our friends from another automotive website.

So that’s our update so far on our Ativa. We have some comparisons lined up too in the coming weeks (vs. Almera, vs. Myvi). Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, we’ll try to get this rattling sound sorted out.

More stories on our long-term review here.

Also Read: 

6 little things we like about our Ativa – long term review #7

Our Ativa’s rattling sound is fixed! What was the problem? - Long-term review #6

Costs RM 64, our Ativa goes for its 1k km inspection - Long-term Review #5

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