1992 Daihatsu Charade Reviews - Page 3 of 3

Tiny bit of surface rust starting to appear in a seal near the passenger side door.

Cocked one engine before, literally boiled it. Resulted in a cracked head = new engine.

Back seats have seen better days.

CV joints are starting to whine after 340,000.

Annoyingly slow.

Being the 993cc engine coupled with a 5 speed manual, it is basically a shopping trolley.

Tends to have a fair bit of body role, but never the less handles at an acceptable level.

Skinny tyres make driving in rain interesting.

Lacks power and top speed. Fastest I ever had the car was to 135km/h (aid of a hill too).

Fastest achieved, 60 in 2nd, 90 in 3rd, 120 in 4th, 135 in 5th. Not bad for 3 cylinders.

Due to low compression ratio, sounds good when rev-ed.

Drinks petrol heavily when being pushed at all.

Needs all those gears to climb any sort of hill.

If needed for navigating the city, perfect. For speed, don't even think about it.

No problems finding parts. New engine cost $400 Australian with 40,000km on it.

Replaced the clutch disc (only) at 70,000 miles, since I could longer nurse the original disc from slipping too excessively during even moderate acceleration. New disc (purchased from CarParts.com) works fine. Pressure plate and disc seem to have lots of life left.

Replaced the water pump at 95,000 miles, although it wasn't leaking, and had only moderate play in the shaft bearing.

Runs hot in the summer; have to run the heater to keep the water temperature within limits. So far, I've just put up with this annoyance. I suspect the radiator is slightly "scaled up" & not allowing the water to circulate fast enough.

Engine has developed a miss (#2 cylinder) only at throttle settings of just above idle to approx. one quarter throttle. All higher throttle inputs the engine runs 100%. Idles normal also. Another annoyance ignored. Suspect it could possibly be the oxygen sensor causing the miss.

Replaced the rear brake shoes at 75,000 miles. Still on the original front pads, but they're ready for replacement within the next 5,000 miles.

Seems to be a well made machine. My first impression of the car after purchase was that it was very "Toyota" like on the inside. Which in fact it is, for Toyota owns 51% of Daihatsu.

The seats in my vehicle were rather torn, but 2 seat covers from Pep Boys took care of that. Seat covers are wearing well.

The front seats feel adequately comfortable for my 73 miles round trip daily work commute. The back seat lower I removed completely, and folded down the upper, making the car a 2 seater.

Am waiting for my Firestone 155/ 80-13 tires to wear out (another 8,000 miles. or so) so I can put some 175/70-13s on it. It should corner a little better.

Motor pulls well for a triple 1 litre. Gets 40 miles per gallon, week in week out. Need to replace the timing belt one of these months. Inspected it recently, and it looked no worse for wear.

Zero, it's wicked.

This is probably the most enjoyable car to drive ever! The standard seats are like buckets, feel good factor is 10/10 and the torque is instant. My car is a 16v injection and the thing rockets from 0-100mph in under 18 seconds (1.3L). I am definitely getting the GTi model next! Wicked.