2008 Daihatsu Sirion S from UK and Ireland - Comments

Hi Peter. See my recent comments defending the Cee'd SR.

Well the Sirion has been sold to the local dealer and I have done my sums - I lost £1254 in 11 months and 9,000 miles, which included road tax, warranty and breakdown cover - I sold it dead on the service interval so no service cost either!

I worked that out at £114 per month to run a new car, with an average fuel economy of 50mpg, cheap insurance and no repair costs this has not only been the most enjoyable car I have owned, it has also been VERY cheap indeed. I could not recommend it enough.

I will battle on with the Materia and see how I go -but it is hard work after the Sirion. We needed some cash out for the house, so the Sirion went as it got the highest bid, and the Materia was retained as the family car.

After some thought, I have today done a deal on a cheap runabout replacement that has left just enough money to pay the builders out of the Sirion deal: I have bought a mint 2003 Daihatsu YRV Radical 1.3 with 1 owner, 37,000 miles, tax and full MOT - from a main dealer at an astonishing £1535. I have total faith in the brand quality after a Copen, two Sirions and a Materia and hope the YRV upholds the name! A full YRV report will follow and I will update the Materia report soon.

A final thought on the Sirion - I bought mine just at the right time from a motivated dealer and sold it to another keen dealer who had a buyer waiting, so lost very little. It is worth noting that two of the dealers who I know well have dropped the Daihatsu brand recently after they put prices up too far and made them un-competitive; this may be why mine sold so well secondhand as during the time I owned it the new base model price soared to £8320... There are other excellent new cars for sale at that money.

I stand by my comments that a 1.0SE in red metallic would be the pick of the range due to the combination of the 1.0 engine being truly outstanding (after 5,000 miles), the spec being excellent and the colour looking expensive and suiting the shape. The fact that metallic pre-reg, delivery mileage 08/58 cars with five year warranty are available for £7,000 seals the deal. I would not buy the 1.3 or pay over 7k for a box-fresh car, but 7k for a new 1.0SE is worth having. It is at this price it makes perfect sense, but the competition is too fierce at 8-11k, for example the new Fiesta is endlessly capable and drives superbly.

The 1.0 is by far the best model, with a huge grin factor and a great sound, along with £35 road tax and 50+mpg. It suits the car better than the 1.3 unit, although noisier, and keeps it at the right price and running costs. The light peppy, throaty 1.0 works very well indeed and the light (67kg) engine block also improves the weight distribution. Drive a run-in example of each hard before signing the order...!!

I'll shortly be buying a new Sirion 1.0SE. We were tempted by a good deal on a Nissan Note, but decided not to get one. A shortcoming of the Nissan Note is that they have an unusual tyre size - only Continental supply tyres for them - at £105 each!!! If you read reviews of the Nissan Note, owners frequently state that the tyres last only 12,000 miles! So that is £420 every 12,000 miles approx. and there is no chance of getting the tyres from anyone else!

Good luck with the purchase - look for a pre-reg with a transferrable 5 year warranty from a main dealer - there are some deals about.

Don't judge the car until it is run in and you have given it some abuse to loosen it up - they are totally different after a few thousand miles.

I am missing the Sirion already... the YRV feels old and woolly compared.

Oh, I wasn't slagging off Kia, per se, Geoff. I'm quite happy to buy 'budget cars', but not to spend over about £10k on them.

I feel that depreciation on these so-called budget brands is going to be bearable if the car's under £10k (that's been my experience with Suzuki and Hyundai) but once you start heading towards £12k you're looking at a much bigger hit when you P/X.

And I think an automatic Soul with a reasonable level of trim is probably going to cost at least £12k.

But we'll see! On a positive note, I see Kia have worked on the ride (with Lotus) so one of my main concerns may be alleviated...

Cheers - Peter.

Yes I absolutely agree with that - I would however buy a 9k Cee'd SR new, but as you say 12k on a Soul points to a possible heavy loss, if like the Materia, it does not take off in the UK.

I would struggle to justify list price on a new Sirion now - but at the time they were much cheaper.

I wish I had not traded the Sirion for the Materia - not one dealer will bid on the Materia, but they all wanted to buy in the Sirion because of demand for £35 tax cars.

As a point of interest search Auto Trader for 58 Kia Carens 2.0 S/GS/LS AUTO (without making this an advert) and there is a motor provider in the North selling them NEW for 7ishk direct from Kia. Forget the tax and fuel economy, that deal makes them irrelevant - especially as you WANT an auto. I would sell the Sirion off to any Daihatsu dealer wanting stock first and buy one of those - it will cost you very little to change and lose little as so cheap.

I loved the Copen and Sirions, but the Materia was a mistake and the YRV is too recent to judge yet. Say one thing, though - none of them have ANY faults - good old Daihatsu!

Just thought I'd give some info on 'minty', our Sirion 1.0s which we have had for 22 months from new.

Been a great little car. Covered 12,500 miles. I find it hard to drive it slow as it's good fun to drive. Does exactly the same job as my CDX 2.0l Cavalier used to do; 5 up on airport runs.

Fuel can be disappointing though. The most I've had out of her is 52mpg. Averages 39 on short journeys. Get a lot of insults about image of the car, that is until people get to ride in it!

Only one annoying problem with it has been since 1500 miles; an annoying vibration patch at 71 - 80 mph (on closed roads of course). The local dealer said supposedly it's caused by hydraulic clutch fluid vibrating? A mystery to me. Still not sorted.

Would buy another Sirion tomorrow though, but then why would I want to get rid of the best car we've ever owned.

Well it definitely won't be a clutch issue - what are they on about?!

It is likely to be a wheel issue - get tyres, pressures, tracking and wheel balancing checked by a tyre place first.

I bought a 1.0s Sirion from a local dealer in June this year - taking advantage of the governments Scrappage Scheme to get £2,000 off the £8,300 price in return for my, utterly reliable, 11 year old Toyota Corolla.

Given the incredible reliability of my Corolla, I wanted another car MADE IN JAPAN - but baulked at current high Toyota prices - and that most Toyota's are no longer made in Japan - though the very good but rather pricey Yaris still is. The Sirion fits the bill exactly, and is made by Toyota Group subsidiary Daihatsu - who also make the Yaris, with which the Sirion shares its underpinnings.

Early days yet, but I am so far very impressed with the car - and I agree that the 1.0 litre engine is perfectly nippy for anyone but "boy racers" - and certainly a revelation for someone who has owned old style 950cc engined cars like the early Fiesta, and Hillman Imp (AKA worst car ever built runner up to the Trabant).

The £35 annual Road Tax is great too - and the insurance is reasonable too. I only use this as a runabout around Shropshire's sparsely populated roads, but its roominess and ease of driving makes this perfect for me and my wife. No faults so far - and hopefully I can look forward to none in the future if the reports on this thread are a good indication of the high quality of this vehicle.

Good luck with it - they are excellent cars (original reviewer back).

Advice with 1.0 Sirion; run it carefully for 1000 miles then thrash the living hide off it to loosen it up - this will transform the sticky gearbox, improve the power delivery markedly and improve the fuel economy. The car is UTTERLY different at about 10,000 miles if driven enthusiastically - so don't judge it yet!

The scrappage scheme is a good idea and you did OK out of it - but I only paid £6304 for mine... prices have gone up and discount then comes off - so no real change!

Read through earlier comments on here about useful additions to the car - the bulbs and sticky cubby mat being the most essential.

Would buy another tomorrow - great car!!

Just bought a Sirion 1.3 SE + under the scrappage scheme. I felt like a traitor trading in my 1993 Hijet, but need a car less affected by high winds and more able to deal with potholes on country roads, and don't need the Hijet for camping at the moment (but I WOULD love to get another Hijet sometime, because is was great to use as a camper van, but that is another story..). Anyway, I was determined to buy another Diahatsu. My Mum (now 94 and still driving until she was 92 had two Diahatsus and no problems).

I was so pleased to hear the comments about sticky gears, because other than that I just love this car. So comfortable to drive and roomy (can't quite sleep in the back of this one!) So, I shall take heed of your comments and "run it in", then drive it hard!!