Nippy little beastie! (Daihatsu Charade)

Name: Davie Kerr

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Product:	Daihatsu Charade
Date:	21/09/02 (592 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good acceleration, Excellent roadholding, Impressive mileage, especially the smaller engine

Disadvantages: My only complaint was the poor bodywork, and I suspect that Bermuda's salty atmosphere was a lot to blame for that

I'll start by saying that I live in Bermuda, which has no cars bigger than 2000cc, a very salt-laden atmosphere (and therefore serious rust problems), and a 20mph (35 kph) speed limit (although NObody, but NObody, sticks to it!). The first new car I ever owned was a late 1980 Daihatsu Charade 3-cylinder 5-door 993cc hatchback, a superb piece of engineering: acceleration, economy, and road-holding were first class. The bodywork, however, was rubbish: I had to have 3 of the 5 doors replaced while the car was still (fortunately!) under guarantee! I had the car about 8 years, and only had to scrap it when the bodywork simply began to disintegrate around me. Our present car is another Charade, a second-hand 1989 1300cc 4-cylinder 5 door hatchback: the bodywork has improved somewhat over the 1980 model, but unfortunately the engine has deteriorated accordingly, and I've had more mechanical problems with this car than I ever had with the older one. Fortunately, however, none of them have been too serious, and by and large I've been very happy with the Charade. I do like the hatchback: my two main sporting activities are SCUBA-diving and hockey goalkeeping, both of which need fairly bulky equipment bags, and I can load either one into the hatch compartment with no problem. It's also quite roomy enough for our dog, a golden retriever/border collie cross. If Daihatsu could bring its bodywork up to the standards of its 1980 engines, I'd be a very happy camper!


Apologies for the lack of ratings with my initial submission of this review. I managed to touch the ENTER key, and WHOOSH! it was gawn!

Summary: