DAIHATSU has long been well-known for its long lasting and reliable small cars and the Charade fell right into that category.
Built between 2004 and 2007 it’s small and light, with a peppy three cylinder engine and it’s like a tardis inside.
It’s rather blunt, bluff looks grew on me and it is much more fun to drive than its 57bhp would make you think.
There are three and five door models and a range of three or four models eventually came down to just one at the end of its production run.
The engine is superb, hugely willing and reasonably refined at almost any speed.
Unlike most other small units, it pulls well from fairly lowly revs and carries on pulling all the way to a red line of 6,500rpm. With one person up it’s an absolute hoot and is still capable of 50 plus mpg.
Road-holding and handling are good enough to give plenty of fun but narrow standard tyres mean the front wheels can slide if corners are taken to fast in the wet.
Interior
It’s bigger inside than any other city car and held five adults on a 20 mile trip to a friend’s wedding in decent comfort.
All the controls or light and easy, from the well weighted power steering to the clutch and the gearchange for the five speed gearbox and equipment is very good.
FAST FACTS
Daihatsu Charade
Price: Pay about £1,000 privately for an ’04 04-reg EL three door, or £2,000 for an ’07 56-reg five door
Mechanical: 57bhp, 989cc, 3cyl petrol engine driving front wheels via 5-speed manual gearbox
Max speed: 99mph
0-62mph: 11.8 seconds
Combined mpg: 58
Insurance group: 13
CO2 emissions: 114g/km
Marks: 10/10
Main rival: Suzuki Alto