The reasons behind those criticisms:
don’t worry you guys. i’m bashing a lot more on the reviews than i actually think
the finalist are consists of those cars that are being bashed quite a bit anyway.
[spoiler] yes. in case you’re wondering. it’s actually already finishedand mostly ready to be posted. but it’s 1:45AM. so i’m saving it for tomorrow. huehehehehehe [/spoiler]
Ok… So I experimented a little bit, and yeah, it could be better (sort of, at least).
I don’t get why full clad undertray was bad, so I used it to improve economy. I6, as I wrote, was probably cheaper and maybe more efficient - definitely smoother, improving comfort slightly (also I like I6s and it didn’t seem too absurdly out of place here, only a bit 
). Headers… Yeah, maybe that wasn’t particularly reasonable, as I usually tend to care more for material cost than production units. Cat might have been an overkill too, but at first I really struggled to get the needed fuel consuption level, so I tried everything imrpoving that.
Sorry for that not overly relevant post, but I hope that it might be in some way helpful to someone 
From a lore perspective the Basic infotainment in the Gnoo was intended to be simple, but not low quality.
The ingame description of Basic infotainment for that period is “cheap, two speaker stereo radio and aux input”. Which makes sense for a little budget car. Small, simple, light. Enthusiasts will go and get something aftermarket, but the standard setup is fine for listening to the radio or a little bit of music. So you take the equivalent of this (2.8kg boombox) and wire the guts into the car and through some completely baffling spacetime anomaly it ends up weighing…
…52kilograms in Automation. FIFTY TWO.
This (small home audio system) weighs 8kg. This (big home audio system) weighs 34kg. A bag of cement weighs about 40kg.
Gnoo didn’t cut corners on quality, they just omitted 12kg of complementary lead. 
so lets defend my car
1 where’s the badge there was meant to be a a badge there
2 Direct Injection and restricted exhaust improve fuel economy unless you like 500cc engines
3 full undercladding helps fuel economy
4 Rear brakes are somewhy super big. brake fade, brake fade, fading brakes, brakes may fade
5 Plain Steel construction car again makes it cheaper, and this car isn’t meant to be a future classic either
6. minimum price —> minimum design efford
The forged crank, and steel connecting rods don’t add anything to the cost but improve durability and smoothness so why not.
41.4 loudness isn’t that bad, one muffler was to reduce cost.
Ok I could have done better with the brakes. But our farm boys who did the test driving had no problem locking them up. (so their legs are as thick as your average Indonesians waist, and their used to stopping a loaded 60 year old 10 ton tractor with cable brakes.)
No radio well yeah cost cutting you said think Tata nano, so I did. At least you can go more than 50mph without burning out the wheel bearings.
Had to drop the power steering to get it to pass the fuel economy on this relatively big beast. Also I thought it was part of the $500 drivers aid penalties. (The farm boys thought it was light and easy to steer)
Solid with coils are simple, cheap, and reliable.
$120 for several points positive on most stats, probably would have been fine with the 5 speed but it is what it is.
What i hope the next host
You’re missing
I really enjoyed this round. I really enjoy building economy cars and the fact that this related to a real market with low budgets it made it a very interesting round of compromise. It’s also a good break from the fairly unrealistic environment most of us are used to with high powered daily drivers.
This is happy Quaggan…OoooOooOOOOOooo…
Not going to defend my car because there was bugger all wrong with it.
It’s fine to not want to build cars for the third world. Mind that you’re not actually being dismissive of the relevance of the third world because you live in a first world country when you express this, though, because that’s a bit dickish, especially to the actually quite a few people on this forum who do live in said “third world”.
In the parlance of annoying social justice warriors: you’re not the centre of civilisation (and if you think you were, you’re definitely not anymore), so check your privilege.
Ccars that stuck on my mind after all the reviews are done, and in no particular order:
@Conan with the “Trim 1” :
it’s one of the earlier cars that stuck to me. The economy rating is high, and supposed to be really reliable, really reliable. But that’s the only 2 thing that really sticks out from this car.
@CadillacDave with his “Horyuji Kesan 1.0E”:
looks is not bad, but isn’t it’s forte either. But what is, is the mix of the quality of the build, the driver aids available, and the fuel economy rating. But it’s let down by the absense of any kind of entertainment system, and the available cargo space
@Leonardo9613 with the “Yucatan Santaka”
now this is what most indonesians, at least the lower middle class population that lives in a metropolitan area are looking for. Since the tax on sedans are ridiculous, might as well get something super practical. More stuff, more people, and, sacrificing a little bit of fuel is okay, As long as parts are cheap and easily accessible. And this car exactly fits all the criteria… and some extra that will never be used… like the manual locker differential. And it also has the looks to go along with it.
@thecarlover with his “CM Nanaimo B5”
a car build with the same mindset as the Yucatan Santaka, except this one is smaller, and cheaper.
So better fuel economy, but less cargo space and cheaper, or more a practical car that can do more?
@phale coming in with “Adanine Asante”
a car that looks the part, and also looks good on paper… at least most of it. It has too much parts in the engine bay, and not enough parts inside the car.
@HowlerAutomotive with the Gnoo Familight
This is an example of new and advanced tech could be superior on every side if done correctly. if only they hired someone to design the exterior better, and do the infotainment system. Otherwise it’s great, the economy figures are record high, the quoted running cost is almost unbelievable, and to top all that, the price of the car is also record low.
@szafirowy01 with the “Griffa Aurion 1.2ES” :
looks is one of it’s high point amongst other stuff like ease to drive, Power Steering, ABS, more than decent Fuel Economy rating, a good amount of cargo space. It’s not a thing that sticks out that makes this car good. It’s the combination of them… including the combination of several weird engineering choices
###After all said and done. here’s My Prediction of the car that’s going to be the best Seller in Indonesia
#5. @CadillacDave - Horyuji Kesan 1.0E
the decisions made on this car are mostly perfect, it’s the execution that put it back down to #5. it has quite a bit of potential untapped left.
#4. @Szafirowy01 - Griffa Aurion 1.2ES
great car. Just have a bit of engineering decisions that end up adding uneccesary costs that dragged it down. Though can see it catering to the younger buyer due to the power potential is has.
#3. @HowlerAutomotive - GnooFamilight
the option #3 is just the #2 taken to a more extreme level. Even more economical, even cheaper, but even less practical
#2. @thecarlover - CM Nanaimo B5
a close battle with the first place. It’s the other option for those who have a smaller family, lives suburban, or just cares about the economy and costs more than practicality.
#1. @Leonardo9613 - the Yucatan Santaka
as I said before. This is perfectly what the indonesian are looking for.
on the preview it looks fine, but when posted the spacing looks all messed up. why?
Congratulations to @Leonardo9613 on winning this challenging round - and deservedly so! It was close, though.
Congrats Lonardo,
Mine was most likely too big, heavy with a couple of hang ups (like crap brakes, no power steering) that held it back.
Good competition.
WOW! Didn’t expect so high place! 
Glad that you liked my car. It seems that I’m not as bad at budget cars as I thought.
And congrats to Leonardo, of course
PS Really interesting and educative round, thanks for that Koolkei
Leo winning at what Leo knows best. All is right with the world.
When going why not, you’ve gotta go all out. Why an FWD V12 with a complex exhaust and enough boot space to live in? Well, why not?
Maintenance cost, complexity, and scarcity of parts, for a start 
eh? educative? really? i really didn’t feel like i did anything special though