2003 Daihatsu YRV Radical from UK and Ireland - Comments

This car was owned by the dealer from new as a courtesy/loan car, and has had hundreds of drivers and shows some signs of abuse, but has a full history and runs like new.

I have carried out the following works to undo 6 years of loan car use:

Numerous trim rattles - I have removed and refitted three door trims and tightened/lubricated as necessary, removed the stereo and secure the wiring connectors to the dash frame with tape, tightened a few screws/bolts here and there, and realigned the knocking boot lid/catch. The car is finally rattle free.

Standard tape player (!) had awful muted sound, which I thought would mean replacement of both the unit and speakers, but when I removed the dash top speaker covers, the problem was instantly solved as the covers only had a tiny hole for the sound to escape. With the covers missing, it looks ugly but sounds good.

Windscreen chip repaired and wiper blades replaced.

All locks/hinges/catches lubricated and adjusted.

Wheeltrims removed, sanded and resprayed with Halfords wheel trim paint to look brand new.

Tyres rotated and balanced plus tracking done to right the off centre steering wheel.

Brakes stripped and calipers lubricated, handbrake adjusted, oil and filters changed.

Rear wiper spindle to glass rubber seal missing, so asked windscreen fitter to mastic it watertight - not pretty, but it works!

No faults really considering the age, just maintenance and considering the type of use/abuse of six years as a loan car, the car is in excellent reliable form.

Comparing a 2003 YRV to my previous 2008 1.0 Sirion is perhaps unfair as technology has moved on, but I am pleased with the car now the obsessive fettling is complete. The swap was necessitated by renovation funds being needed for our new house.

Notes:

The Radical spec is total poverty spec, and I had not realised that most of the standard YRV kit is deleted on this cut price special edition - (I had also mistakenly thought the Radical 2 was a later model without the air-con) - the Radical deletes central locking, electric mirrors, rear electric windows, air-con, rear parcel shelf, rear headrests, foglights etc etc so is actually an extremely basic utility model. Even the seat height adjuster is deleted, making it too low for my wife!

If buying again, I would look out for a 1.3 Premium with the glass roof as there is no real difference in normal prices, and the Radical is tiring without central locking, and the lack of essentials like a rear shelf and headrests is a step too far.

Driving wise, it has many good points, particularly the very strong and silky smooth (0-60 10 sec) 1.3 engine and slick gearbox, the magnificent visibility and strong brakes. Narrower cabin than the Sirion, but bigger boot.

Points that were apparent straight off were the odd steering, which requires a huge amount of turning for a small amount of turning the wheels, and the hard ride, coupled with lots of roll under cornering. It is bizarre that a car aimed at younger drivers with a quick powerplant has lazy, vague steering, and lots of roll, which is at odds with the jolty ride.

The car looks good, is quiet and refined on a motorway, and returns 41-48mpg (using posh 98 unleaded) and surprises with the effortless pull and decent ratios of the 'box. On the back roads, the power makes you forgive the dynamic weakness, but I do tire of the jolting (which doubtless caused most of the trim rattles to occur).

I paid £1530 from a main dealer including a new MOT and service and full valet, which for a tidy 37,500, 6 year old Japanese hatch seems good. I have run it hard across a variety of conditions, including fast down unmade roads, and at very high speeds, and it runs faultlessly.

This car was bought by me over the phone from the dealer that supplied the last three Daihatsus to me, and I knew I could trust, so was bought on price, history and future reliability, rather than as a car to enjoy.

I do rate it, and now enjoy it driving it more than I ever expected, even though the spec is truly appalling. As a car model, the YRV has many good points - but make sure you compare the specs before you pay for it!!!

If I had to replace this for whatever reason, I would look at another YRV, but maybe the Premium, F-Speed or 130 Turbo to get the things I am missing. There seem to be a lot of good low mileage 2002-2004 YRVs about for under 3k now, and I could recommend one in the right spec - I will probably swap it when I miss the air-con too much...

After owning newer Daihatsus - Copen, Materia and Sirions I am far more pleased with it than I thought I would be, and impressed with how tight and precise it all is still after six years as a daily loaner. If anything, it has reinforced my respect of Daihatsu engineering further as it runs as well as my 2008 car did.

After more use, I have now got more rattles:

Dash clocks trim surround-wedged with a glove but needs a proper fix.

Driver's door panel.

Bootlid lock/catch.

I think the bumpy roads and tracks that I travel along, coupled with the hard suspension, conspire to shake the car to bits.

It drives like new though and pulls amazingly well in any gear. Every time my wife drives it, she commments that it goes like hell, and she has to watch the speedo like a hawk.

I am pleasantly impressed with it, but the lack of central locking on this base model is starting to irritate... I could recommend the YRV, but not the Radical base model special edition. Thing is though, that the car is so good otherwise I am happy to keep it for now.

Very good review. Thanks.

I have been using the turbo 130 version for a long time. It has the same reliability, amazing performance and hard-to-find-even-in-2009-model-cars features such as 6 airbags, moonroof, parking sensors, 4 decent speakers plus two more slots which you can easily install 2 more, Sony CD-MP3 player etc.

Original reviewer signing off with parting comments.

I have now sold the YRV off the local supermarket car park for £2000 with 43,000 miles on the clock. I paid £1530 for it but then got £50 from the dealer when my friend also bought from them, so cost £1480, plus:

Road tax £125.

Service and tracking, plus drill out boot catch stud which I broke adjusting the catch to stop rattles £125.

Brake service, caliper strip and grease £25.

Touch in paint £7.

Weld original exhaust up after off road damage £15.

2 new tyres, balancing £75.

Total cost £1852, sold for £2000- 6,000 miles enjoyable motoring with a profit of £148 which covered my labour to fix the rattles. Free car!

Verdict on the YRV after 6,000 miles of hard use -

Positives - superbly reliable engineering, very quick engine, cheap to run/tax/insure, stylish

Negatives - lots of trim rattles needed fixing, steering too low geared, "Radical" spec loses all of the standard YRV kit - even central locking and ABS.

To sum up - would I have another? If I find a nice high spec version at the right money with the glass roof, yes I would - I have been highly impressed with the model.

I do a high mileage so buy and sell quickly (3 months/5-10k miles) to avoid heavy depreciation - I tend to just buy what is the best deal at the time and have not seen a bargain YRV this time round. Shame!

So what have you bought now, Geoff? Always enjoy your reviews.

Cheers - Peter.

I looked at various Daihatsus, bought a Mazda Premacy for my wife, and looked at a few higher spec YRVs and a Terios for me, but none of the deals felt right.

I like the Daihatsu brand, but I am on a tight budget so bought a fabulous 9,000 mile 2004 Perodua Kelisa GXi (Peroduas are Daihatsu designs built in Malaysia under Toyota supervision) off ebay for only £1700, plus RFL, plus £71 flight to collect it from Glasgow. Had to do deep valet, detailing, new exhaust, oil change so stands me about £2000 now for a car that looks and drives as brand new and has the all-important Daihatsu engineering. Have had one before-my wife passed her test in it and said she preferred it to the Copen, Sirions, Materia etc, so was a no-brainer!

The (100% reliable) Mazda Premacy 2.0 GSi, which I bought for my wife was run for five months and 6,000 miles without fault, and sold at a reasonable profit before any costs were incurred servicing it.

Bizarrely, she was going to have my new Kelisa and I went out yesterday to buy a Daihatsu Terios to suit my rural job - spent hours traveling to pick it up, but dealer was a crook and car had spent its (hard) life in a quarry and was horrendous so left it.

Today, I bought ANOTHER Kelisa GXi off ebay, same colour as mine but 2003, 77k, new MOT, £200 stereo, tidy and only £830..!! My wife will run this and I will run the 9,000 miler. Back to two identical cars - like the two new Sirions!!

They are superbly entertaining to drive and not too much of a compromise after a nice new car...! Apart from safety..

NOTE: have had bargains off the Internet - but the Terios cost me a lost day and £77 in lost fares due to a dodgy seller, plus I also bought a supposedly factory fresh 1993 classic Fiat Panda and got royally done - but sold it honestly to the right guy for a loss of only £60.

Wandering off the point a bit on a YRV thread, but suffice to say you can have enjoyable motoring for free if you buy a decent Daihatsu from the right place, run it for a while and sell it well. If on a tighter budget, look at Peroduas on the Internet - many dealers do not have any idea what to do with these and panic sell them to avoid getting stuck with them - they do not realise that supply is limited and buyers are fiercely brand loyal. I did very well out of my last Kelisa and the Myvi was OK too.

When money is more plentiful (!!), I will not hesitate to buy another good spec YRV or new Sirion, but would never have a Materia again. The only thing is that it will be hard to justify the loss of capital through depreciation on a new car now I have managed to have free use of used cars and make a little each time too by buying and selling wisely - the Daihatsu/Mazda/Perodua Japanese engineering means I don't spend on repairs, and buyers trust well maintained cars enough to pay full price.

Footnote - remember the YRV for amazingly quick and characterful VVTi engine and tiller-like under-geared steering. The Kelisa is better to drive - and in many ways I prefer the simplicity and honesty of it over the new cars I had so I don't feel hard done to. Kelisa report to follow (previous report/comments, see 2002: Proven Japanese....)