Perodua Aruz

The Perodua Aruz shares its entire cabin layout with the Toyota Rush on which it is based. However, there are visible signs of cost-cutting here, with a few features and garnishing elements removed to bring the costs down.

The overall dashboard of the Perodua Aruz looks a bit basic with a very simple-looking combination of the three-spoke steering wheel and an analogue instrument console. The centre console looks a tad too simple, but it packs in a couple of modern essentials like a plain touchscreen infotainment system and a panel for automatic climate control. The all-black finish for the cabin makes it look very basic, however, it gets features like rear AC vents and push start-stop button.

The Perodua Aruz is a Toyota Rush with the Toyota badges swapped out for that of Perodua. The sleek and sharp design of the Aruz makes it look attractive, which somehow looks better than other simple-looking three-row MPVs.

At the front, the Perodua Aruz has an aggressive-looking fascia, which comes with a large trapezoidal grille with multiple slats, some of which are finished in chrome. The upper edges of this front grille are attached with angular and sharp-looking sweptback LED headlamps, which also integrate daytime running LEDs. The lower front bumper has vertical black triangular housings for the fog lamps, while the lower black coloured skid plate below the air dam on the front bumper adds some rugged appeal to the front look of the vehicle.

The Perodua Aruz has an attractive-looking side profile, which is possible due to a sharp-looking window shoulder line and a sharp crease which flows upwards from the front fender to the tail lamp edge at the back. The rounded wheel arches and bottom portion of the door panels come garnished with slim black body cladding, which along with the roof rails, make the Aruz a bit rugged in appearance. The chrome finish for the shoulder line and diamond-cut alloy wheels add some glitz to the design of the MPV.

At the back, the Perodua Aruz has a simple-looking design with two-part combination LED tail lamps taking the majority of the space of the boot lid. These tail lamps come with LED inserts which make them look modern and appealing.

The Perodua Aruz gets a fairly simple suspension setup of Macpherson struts at the front and live axle with coil springs at the rear. The overall suspension has been tuned for optimal comfort for low speeds and high-speed cruising. While comfort is not something that can be called super-comfortable, it gets the job done with ease. However, the too-light steering setup is something that is not too pleasurable for the high-speed driving experience.

There are no changes to the engine either, as the Perodua Aruz gets the same 1.5-litre four-cylinder, naturally aspirated petrol engine under its hood as the Toyota Rush. Available solely with a 4-speed automatic gearbox, this engine is capable of putting up maximum power and torque outputs of 100 bhp and 133 Nm respectively.

The Perodua Aruz packs in just the basics when it comes to safety, with the list having dual front airbags, ABS with EBD, reverse parking camera and sensors, vehicle stability control, traction control, hill start assist and ISOFIX mounts for child seats.

The Perodua Aruz is a basic seven-seater compact MPV, which thanks to its modern design and lifted stance, gets the appearance of a fresh SUV. However, there are visible cost-cutting signs, which make it look and feel basic, especially on the inside. However, for a city runabout, this MPV serves pretty well for its price.