Have had the car a week now.
First off, the misses is absolutely delighted with it, she wont hear a word said against it.
In her estimation, it is better in every area over the Picanto.
Our biggest congratulations go to the dealer who has been simply superb. No question unanswered, no request too much.
Our only issue so far is that one of the alloys, which have a polished surface on the spokes, has laquer which has lifted, I think due to the valeter who also seems to have acid cleaned the alloys for some daft reason as the polished surfaces are all dull. I suspect he used alotta heat too hence the damage.
Luckily I have the stuff to polish the wheels up so thats a job for Friday afternoon. I wont bother requesting they rectify it as the valeter clearly isnt all that so it is likely beyond his skills if he was dumb enough to damage them in teh first place.
The dealer, true to form has already got the matter in hand. We didnt even need to bother the service department - the salesman took upon himself to handle the matter and was as swift as you could hope for.
Its had its first wash and hoover and is a very easy car to clean.
Ive driven it a few times so far and it is a very well sorted car, feels like it will go on and on in that classic japanese way with a smooth autobox and totally intuitive controls. I especially like the 'pod' that the dials are mounted in - it is just beyond the steering wheel, not set deep in the dash. Its extremely clear and easy to read at a glance.
I can well see why the owner reviews on Parkers are so positive.
If I could improve it, id prob add a centre armrest in the front and some cruise control would be good. Other than that it is a great tool with excellent backup.
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Glad you're pleased with it, but I have no idea why anyone wants wheels which need polishing. Life is too short.
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I must have missed something - I thought you had settled on a Peradua doo-dah? Presumably the Daihatsu dealer did something special on the price?
Glad you like the car anyway!
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www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=69565&...f
Yes you had (as had I) anyway did some HJooogling and found this !
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Thank you. I had my xmas party over thoses days so was "out of circulation" so to speak....
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And me but in other ways (and it wasn't on remand for taking a whip to staff)
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Daihatsu dealer did do something nice with the price yes. Made it worthwhile for us.
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hey stu,
Push Daihatsu for a replacement set of alloys... the lacquer should not be coming off and is indicative of a manufacturing defect. I reckon they'd be prepared to replace them, and the Sale of Goods Act is on your side. The last thing you want is those alloys starting to go scabby in a few years' time, when (even if it's under warranty still) they may be reluctant to replace them.
My Charade has alloys with this lacquered effect, and after 4.5 years they are blemish free, so for there to be imperfections on them is not right.
I'm glad you're enjoying the Sirion, and are building up a Daihatsu fleet! According to What Car, the new Charade is coming here in February. It looks really good, and it has not abandoned the distinctive styling cues of the previous Charade. I'm not convinced it will be here in February though. By the time export costs are factored in, and needing to keep its price below the Sirion, Daihatsu will be making very little on it (especially as it's tipped to be very well equipped). What frustrates me is that Daihatsus make the ideal credit crunch car (low CO2, high economy, low list price, long warranty) but are never marketed sufficiently to capitalise on this.
All the best, Rob
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Thanks Rob,
There is only one alloy affected hence I think its the valeter at fault, plus ive seen this done before - ive checked the others thoroughly so no real grounds to replace them.
We certainly like Daihatsu cars. They seem to be able to offer both space and economy in decent amounts but without spending anywhere near as much money as mainstream brands. It does help that our dealer is great though.
I had a chat with the salesman about the new Charade. He said March is roughly when its arriving. The pricing is going to come in just below the Sirion - thats why Sirion prices have been raised of late, so that the Charade can occupy the space the base Sirion used to pricewise.
He too wishes the car was marketed better BUT now they sell them alongside Fords, he is hoping they get better footfall and can steal some Ka/Fiesta sales - they have huge 5 year warranty boards on every Daihatsu in the showroom and Ford customers in for a service are surrounded by new Daihatsu, they cant be avoided!
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>>I have no idea why anyone wants wheels which need polishing<<
We didnt, it just so happens that the outer faces of the alloys have a polished finish and the twit who valeted it ruined the finish, so they need a thorough polish to give them their normal sheen. A quick run over with Carnuba wax does the job and stops brakedust baking on too.
In normal use and care, you would prob never need to polish them unless your an idiot and use the wrong stuff to clean wheels. I clean weekly and with high wax car shampoo which also pretty well negates the need for polishing any of the car unless like me, your very picky and like to know its been done.
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Oddly enough, the very first Japanese car to be tested by Autocar was a Daihatsu, in 1965 I think. It wasn't very good. Japanese cars might have remained a sideshow if British Leyland's quality (both design and assembly) hadn't plummeted in the late 60s and through the 70s and 80s.
Ford and Vauxhall got on with selling to fleets: private buyers loved their Austin Cambridges (never let them down), put up with less well-built but good-to-drive 1100s, and cried enough after a Marina or Allegro. Some had a Rover or two, but gradually they went Japanese.
I can't understand why Daihatsu didn't cash in on this as Toyota, Datsun / Nissan and Honda did in particular. Someone will be along soon and no doubt enlighten us.
But anyway, good luck with the Sirion, Stu - sounds like a good choice and excellent value for money.
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Oddly enough the very first Japanese car to be tested by Autocar was a Daihatsu in 1965 I think. It wasn't very good. Japanese cars might have remained a sideshow if British Leyland's quality (both design and assembly) hadn't plummeted in the late 60s and through the 70s and 80s.
AFAIK, the Japanese gained market share in ever market they entered, because they rapidly developed a reputation for reliability and value which exceeded not just BL, but also Ford and Fiat and GM and the French makers. They gained a foothold by offering lower prices and higher specs (e.g. std radios when European cars kept them for the options list), but the reliability became good enough for them to outsell European cars even if the euroboxes were cheaper.
I can't understand why Daihatsu didn't cash in on this as Toyota Datsun / Nissan and Honda did in particular. Someone will be along soon and no doubt enlighten us.
Daihatsu has been under Toyota's wing since 1967, and a partially-owned subsidiary since 1999; they share not just engines, by do a lot of badge-engineering in the Japanese market. It may not have suited Toyota to have Daihatsu competing significantly with Toyota in export markets.
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I can't understand why Daihatsu didn't cash in on this as Toyota Datsun / Nissan and Honda did in particular. Someone will be along soon and no doubt enlighten us.
Daihatsu's previous importer Inchcape decided that the Fourtrak and Sportrak had most potential in the UK as a cheaper and more reliable alternative to the LR Defender. They had considerable success and built their dealer network in rural areas where farmers had a keen eye for value.
Toyota set Daihatsu's strategy to concentrate on city cars about 10 years ago - hence the lack of updating/replacement of the Fourtrak. The established dealer network was not ideally located for the change in product, hence the slow take-up of some attractive designs.
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My father has the 1.3 auto.
Believe it or not, it is the 'sport' model... which comes with a few extra doo-dads like front fog lights a looks-like-aftermarket rev counter on the dashboard, and a spolier above the back window. (spoiler????)
Pretty nice car, i must admit, but the only thing that galls me is the bong-bong-bong-bong when the car is in reverse.
Edited by Webmaster on 11/03/2009 at 23:53
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Wheel has been sorted, happy with the swift action of the dealer. We have just clocked 500 miles.
Had our first mpg figures in. For a mix of 30 stop start and 40 main roads, we got 38 mpg on Tesco UL.
However, on advice from the BR, the current tank is Shell UL albeit 95 octane.
It seems to be having a dramatic effect on mpg. At the half tank mark on Tesco UL it got to 150 miles, but it hit the same halfway point with 180 miles showing using Shell. I wont know quite what this means until we fill it up, but with Shell matching Tesco in Northampton, we will continue with the Shell juice.
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Eeew - I wouldn't use Tesco/ Morrisons fuel after the silicon incident last year, keep away from it Stuart.
I would have thought that the Sirion would/should better 38mpg? Hope the next tankful improves on this!
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I rarely put anything other than Morrisons petrol in my car (convenience and cost). Never had anything untoward happen.
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"I would have thought that the Sirion would/should better 38mpg?"
Don't forget it migh be a small car but it's an automatic. I once got lumbered with a 1.4 auto Astra as my first company car. To make any progress it used more fuel than a 2.0 Vectra auto. I got them to increase the fuel rate quite a bit to compensate in the end.
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Im not going out of my way to fill it with Shell really since its only a few miles away. We generally filled up with Tesco juice because it was cheaper by 3p p/l and we could tie it into our weekly shop but now its the same price, we go with whichever seems to make the car run better, that being Shell so far.
38mpg doesnt sound good but the car has only done 500 miles from new so no doubt this will improve as the engine loosens up. The combined figure for the 1.3 auto is 44.1 mpg so 38 from a new engine isnt too bad at all, esp given the large proportion of stop start running its done. Im hoping that this current tank of fuel will come in around the 45 mpg mark, which is what we expect given the extra miles we seem to be getting.
As a yardstick, its currently the same as the Picanto auto which is a 1.1 doing the same journey but that had 37k on it, so we are hoping that it will surpass that in time.
It proves to a certain extent the theory that if the engine is too small, it will use more fuel than a larger, less stressed unit, esp if you tend towards the gentle stye of driving like we do allowing it to change up early.
What definately helps are the change points for the autobox as it slips into 4th just on 30 mph and will stay in the gear even if you drop to 27mph, nor does it hunt around or panic as soon as you hit a hill, which the Picanto did. The extra ccs make alotta difference in this respect.
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