1993 Daihatsu Charade CS review from Malaysia

The engine is not reliable. This is the 3rd engine of my car. It is very noisy and under power. The highest rotation per minute that I can go when I'm driving in highway is about 5,500rpm. The highest speed is 150km/h. Acceleration is terrible, as it even slower than a Perodua Kancil 850cc from my country.

The air-condition compressor had troubled me for a long time. It cause me RM450 for a re-con one and this is already the 3 times I change my compressor. In tropical country like Malaysia, a car without air-conditioned will produce a "sauna" like effect in the car!

The water pump also seems to be very fragile. It leaks immediately 2 months after I bought my car.

The seats are quite tough, but not comfort enough.

The sound system needs to be upgraded. I've change the original JVC radio-cassette player to a Kenwood CD player. On top of this, a Kenwood amplifier plus two Kenwood 6" X 9" mid-speaker. It sounds better then.

The car reaches its resonance with the speed of 120km/h. Faster than this, the car will be very unstable.

It is an economic car, with petrol consumption of about 6.5l/100km in highway with average speed of 110km/h.

Its performance is kind of low. As mentioned earlier, its acceleration is even slower than a 850cc Perodua Kancil, a product of my country, which is a "serotype" of Daihatsu Mira. The top speed is also quite bad. I have friends who can press until 170km/h, but my Charade just can't do this.