Off Topic: Muzium Orang Asli (indigenuous people)

After lunch at Restoran Mohd Chan Abdullah at Melawati, we headed towards Old Gombak road(Route 68)not knowing what to expect. As with most people, Karak Highway (E8) is only known route to Genting and East unlike this almost deserted road. My kids got excited when we told them about Muzium Orang Asli and insists that I stop by. The location is shown below to those who are clueless of its whereabout.


View Muzium Orang Asli in a larger map

My kids were asking lots of questions about orang asli with usual why this, why that........while I kept thinking of the right answers. One notable pictures shown was the way some orang asli cook rice in bamboo which is similar to what Malays cook their lemang.

Admission is free and only registration is needed. It's close on Friday and I've seen some souvenir shops without anyone manning it. Our photos below:

Muzium Orang Asli

No more clunking sound

What a relieve. Finally Proton Service Center managed to rectify irritating sounds when my exora hits the bump. On another note, service personel at Proton Service Center told me that service interval should be 5000km NOT 10000km as stated in the service booklet. I challenged him to provide black and white on this issue but he's just dismissed it and talked about oil filter instead.

I email this issue through proton-edar.com.my feedback form yesterday but no reply given so far. Where else can I highlight? I google 'exora service interval' at behold, 10000km in proton-edar website. Who should I believe?

Exora Arrived at Brunei, Third Export Market After Indonesia and SIngapore

From this Article:

HUNDREDS flock to see the unveiling of the first Malaysian multipurpose vehicle (MPV) `Exora’ by Malaysian car manufacturer Proton when it made an official debut here in Brunei at a launching ceremony held at the Rizqun International Hotel yesterday.
Present at the launching ceremony were the Brunei-Muara District Officer, Dato Paduka Haji Md Yusof bin Bakar, High Commissioner of Malaysia to Brunei Darussalam, Dato’ Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari and representatives from proton Holdings Berhad, as well as from Worldwide Motor Sdn Bhd, the sole distributor of Proton cars in Brunei.
Brunei is the third export market for the Exora after entering the Singapore and Indonesia markets earlier this year. The Exora is also making its way to Thailand and is expected to be launched there in December. This is the 9′ Proton model to be exported to Brunei since proton made its presence in 2002.
The Exora marks Proton’s foray into MPV segment, a new segment for the 24-
year-old company.
“As a relatively young car manufacturer, the Exora is a major achievement for us and it signifies our commitment in developing products that satisfy the current market needs and wants, both domestically and internationally,” said Proton Holdings Berhad Chairman Dato’ Mohd Nadzmi bin Mohd Salleh.
The Exora encompasses almost 90 per cent of Malaysian parts and components and is the first “Malaysian-made’ MPV, with Proton’s involvement right from its design and concept to its engineering and manufacturing stages.
The Exora is also an engineering feat for Proton as it was developed in merely 18 months from the time Proton fixed the design (model-fix) right up to its production stage.
Dato’ Mohd Nadzmi added, “Brunei is an important MPV market for Proton as the segment is in high demand there.
“Our target market is for those families who are looking for an MPV that is competitively priced but spacious, stylish and up-to-date in terms of technology. We hope to see a positive response from the families in Brunei.”

Wiper's Intelligence

Starting from this post, I'll put my mileage and general conditions of my exora. I just brought my exora to Proton Service Center at Puchong for 5000km service but the actual mileage is 7000km. Somehow I confused whether it should be 5000 or the one stated on sticker, 6700. Service manual clearly states 1000, 5000, 10000, etc. The guy attending my service says that since my first service was at 1700, then next one should be 6700. Whatever....

Now back to the main topic. I felt embrassed for my ignorance about this wiper features. I thought we can only adjust the timer for intermittent mode, that's it. How wrong am I. Apparently this wiper will switch mode when vehicle stop from continuous wiping to intermittently wiping and in reverse if vehicle starts moving. Clever isn't it? Enjoy the video showing this operation below:



Final note, I told service guys about small problems with my exora such as that strange sound when driving over the bump, broken clips of netting, shrudder wiper. They informed me that new parts are coming in by the name of "stopper" to prevent that strange sound and also new netting. For strange reason, I heard new sound coming from the side of my vehicle randomly. HHmmmm.......back to Proton Service Center again.

Raya 2009 with Exora

This is the first time me and my family travel with Exora to Perak for our Eid Fitr 2009. Besides Ipoh, we also visited Bota Kanan/Kiri and Cameron Highland. As with previous Raya celebrations, E1 is congested particularly near Slim River where 3 lanes becomes 2 as shown below:

From Raya 2009

On the second day of Raya, we visited relatives at Bota Kanan and Bota Kiri. I truly admire these traditional Perak houses. 

From Raya 2009

From Raya 2009

From Raya 2009

From Raya 2009

I feel sad thinking that if current situation is not changed, most of these houses will be disappeared in a few years since most of it are abandon. 


We also had a chance to climb up to Cameron Highland and stay there in two days. There's no problems with my Exora, just trundle along comfortably without any rush. However traffic can't be any worse since there's night market right in middle of Brinchang small town. 

From Raya 2009

From Raya 2009

From Raya 2009

From Raya 2009

From Raya 2009

From Raya 2009

From Raya 2009

Exora Auto Cruise

It's been a while since I wrote about my exora. I went back again to my home town over the weekend to meet my parents. So, I thought why not write about auto cruise? I'm quite familiar with proton's auto cruise during my Wira's day until it broke down one day.

However Exora's auto cruise is different than Wira as it's more advanced I would say. In Wira, it's either ON or OFF. Drive to certain speed and press ON button will engages it and to cancel it, stamp on the brake.

Exora's one as depicted above is quite different. For a start, it is attached to a stering and occasionally intervene with my fingers.
To operate, just press "IN" and orange icon will appeared at center console like below:

 

At this time, auto cruise is still not engaged but merely turned ON. In order to engage it, press the toggle "DOWN" at desired speed and that icon will turn green as below:

 

 What makes it special is that, the cruising speed can be increased or decreased by 1 or 2 kmh while still engaged. The toggle need to be press "DOWN" to decrease the speed or "UP" to increase it. Stamping on brake will cancel the auto cruise but the icon remains orange. Just press "IN"  again to permanently turn it OFF. 

One feature I wish  my exora would have is the temporary suspension of auto cruise when there's a slower vehicle in front. Apparently after reading the manual, temporary suspension of auto cruise is available after stamping on the brake, just press the toggle "UP" and auto cruise will engaged again.
Other infos I found was that auto cruise won't engage if the speed is below 40kmh.

Exora fuel consumption

 

Judging from the Google referral that this website received, fuel consumption is one of top search I guest. As you can see above, fuel gauge warning LED turn ON while there's single bar left and blinking. 65 means estimated distance in KM before empty while 503.7 means distance in KM I have travel so far since last fill up. One perculiar data about distance to empty reading is whenever I fill up to full, it shows 600++ but as you can see above, it's only 500++. Maybe software bug.