After a heated debate in the IRC, I decided to finally post my mighty Daihatsu up here. It’s actually a 2005 L251 Cuore/Mira, but for some reason it was badged a Charade here in the UK. 58hp, 720kg. 0-60 in 11.8 seconds.
In all seriousness though, it’s a fantastic little car. It sips fuel, and other running costs are cheap as you can get. It’s great fun to drive even at slow speeds. It has no anti-roll bars, so it tends to feel like you’re cornering a lot faster than you actually are. It’s well built, the engine is peppy and always feels willing, and it says “Hello Happy” when you turn it on. What’s not to like?
YES! haha, love charades. Have a g101 (1993, 1L TD) myself. Must get pics up in the next couple weeks when I finish the engine rebuild and put it back into the car.
My one is 48hp and 0-60mph in 17s or something. But who cares, i get 62MPG! (And thats only with driving 15 mins to and from work!)
3 cylinder, 993cc, OHC with Indirect Injection. Win! haha
Charade TD, fantastic, I would love a go in one of them. Can’t even think of ever seeing one. Those figures do make mine seem very advanced and powerful.
I bought the car almost by accident. I’m a Toyota man at heart, and my first car was a Corolla 1.3 that I shouldn’t have bought, had for about a month, and drove twice. I loved it, but it was severely broken and I needed it gone really. Spent ages trying to find a good Yaris in budget, and nearly every day I saw this little Charade in the listings at a local dealer. I knew Toyota was the parent company, and I had always kinda liked daft little cars, so I decided to have a look one night. Looking around the car, it was immaculate, and it was dwarfed by everything else on the forecourt, sat right in the back corner. Asked for the keys, and then it said Hello to me. Started like a champ (later learned it had been standing for several months), and went for a test drive. It was weird, with this really long gear stick that kinda squidged into gear, the noise of the little 3 cylinder, and everything being so tiny.
I got it back to the dealer and was almost convinced, and then when I turned the engine off it said “See You, Good-By.” I absolutely could not turn down such a polite car. As sansa93 said, adorable. It had a couple of niggles, but they were sorted quickly.
Sorry for the long response, now I read it back, it sounds sad and daft, but I really do like this car. It doesn’t like windy days, and I’ve seen bigger batteries in watches so it does die easily, but it is such fun. It has character in a sea of other cars that are just bland boxes.
