DAIHATSU TERIOS - Bush baby on Home Services

Jan

DAIHATSU TERIOS - Bush baby

posted by admin in Window Cleaning

It would be true to say that the Daihatsu Terios created the small SUV sector with its wee Terios. The first model didn’t exactly scream “take me to the dirt”, but once it was allowed to play off-road, a combination of ultra light weight _ for an SUV _ and an unburstable engine meant that it could embarrass ostensibly much more capable machines.

It didn’t look much. In fact, its narrow Kei-car beam (for Japanese parking regulations) conspired with the car’s tall body design to make it look ungainly and toy-like. Its on- road performance was a little limp too, with only 1300cc to call upon, and you’d never press on too hard in the twisties with its fairly crude underpinnings.

If you’ve been noting those negatives, that’s exactly what Daihatsu did, and the result is a new Terios that not only improves on the old model’s strong points but largely eliminates its weaknesses, too. It’s bigger, it looks better, in a scaled down RAV4 sort of way, and thanks to seconding the use of the 77kW VVTi 1.5-litre version of Toyota’s Yaris power unit, it performs much more effectively both on and off-road. Underneath, it’s more advanced as well, with a clever hill negotiation pack option and more ground clearance to boot.

Inside, the Terios has also expanded. You really can fit five in the new model, something you’d never attempt in the old one, although shoulder room in the rear is, shall we say, intimate. A measure of the car’s front cabin space is that even I, at 1.88m can get comfortable behind the rake-adjustable wheel without using more than two-thirds of the driver’s seat’s fore and aft movement.

Tumble-folding the rear seats, which you can manage together, or as a 60:40 split, creates a huge uncluttered load area for a 1.5-litre vehicle, which is one of the keys to the Terios’ appeal. Simply, it does everything a car of similar engine size would manage on the road, while offering a good wedge of extra space, a fashionably tall driving position and a surprising level of talent off road. Starting at $28,000, it’s not priced too badly either.

For all its tougher look and gain in attitude, I was most impressed with the Terios’ gain in refinement when on the road. Now, instead of buzzing its valves off at a 100kmh cruise, the wee Daihatsu eases along at just 2900rpm, and relatively quietly too, with little tyre noise for this type of car. It’s not that quick off the mark, and loading more than two passengers did affect the performance of my automatic test car on hills, but those downsizing from larger SUVs or even mid-sized RAV4s and CR-Vs, will find the economy’s pretty fair, with about 8.1L/100km being about the order of the day.

Strangely, unlike just about every recent product from Daihatsu and its owners Toyota, the Terios has reversed (European) column levers, with left hand indicators and lights and a right-hand wiper wand. Most other items are well-organised and laid out, however, with the deep centre console presenting all its sound system and air-conditioning wares logically, and none of them are much more than a hand-span from the wheelrim.

Shiny, and a touch brash, the dash and console area is however, well made and easy to use, and like the rest of the cabin, assembled from plastics and vinyls that prove easy to wipe clean after a day in the dirt.

Vehicle stability control (VSC) is available as a $1950 option on four- wheel-drive versions of the Terios. The package includes hill-start assist control (HAC) and downhill- assist control (DAC) functions on automatic models.

In the dirt, the brake-pedal operated HAC automatically increases the Terios’ brake fluid pressures, prevent roll back. It works uncannily well, to the point that the Daihatsu will scramble very tidily up quite serious slopes.

The DAC set-up does the same thing in reverse, and provides a brake and throttle free “both-hands- on-the-wheel” way of coming down a steep scree and once used inspires great confidence.

Suffice to say, with coil springs now doing the work at the rear and extra ground clearance, the Terios is definitely capable of doing more than taking you to favourite fishing places and up-country picnics, and expensive though it is, I’d definitely opt for the VSC package for that little bit of extra edge.

On the road, the Terios rides decently, but still tends to pitch a little over undulations. In terms of cornering, it’s no hot hatch, but its new 210mm longer, 140mm wider and 20mm lower stance means that it’s a more biddable handler than its predecessor.

On the safety front, all variants of the new Terios have anti-lock braking systems and driver and passenger front and side airbags, while the two more highly-specified variants _ the SX 4WD and SX 2WD _ also have curtain shield airbags. Home comforts are well catered for too, with air-conditioning, a four- speaker AM/FM in-dash CD-player fitted as standard, along with power mirrors and windows. Alloy wheels and roof rails are fitted to the higher echelon SX model Terios models.

In terms of revamping its Terios, Daihatsu can be commended for getting things close to perfect with the new model. It’s just as well, for next year, new small lifestylers will be coming from Suzuki, Fiat, Skos and VW, and who knows what other makers are going to take advantage of the Terios-led trend in this segment?

DAIHATSU TERIOS

Drivetrain: 4WD and 2WD fuel- injected 1495cc DOHC 16-valve four. 77kW at 6000rpm, 140Nm at 4400rpm. Max 155kmh, 0-100kmh 12.2 seconds (automatic), 8.1L/100km.

Chassis: Front MacPherson struts, rear five-link system, coil springs front and rear. Power assisted rack and pinion steering. Solid front disc, drum rear brakes. ABS, Brake Assist (BA), Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD) standard. VSC pack an extra cost option. 16 6J steel or alloy (SX) rims with 215/65 R16 tyres.

Dimensions: L 4055mm, W 1695mm, H 1690mm, W/base 2580mm, F/track 1450mm, R/track 1460mm, Weight 1140 to 1200kg, Fuel 50L.

Pricing: 1.5 4×4 $28,000, $29,500 (automatic), 1.5 SX 4×4 $31,500 (automatic), 1.5 SX 4×2 $29,000 (manual). Vehicle stability control (VSC) pack $1950 extra for automatic 4×4 models only.

WHAT’S HOT: Larger external and cabin dimensions; more flexible engine; good refinement levels; usefully capable when off road, especially with VSC pack. WHAT’S NOT: VSC pack brings the Terios’ price out of the sub $30,000 bracket. Chassis still pitches when on road.

VERDICT: A useful small hatch alternative for those with rural activities on their agenda, the Terios is an engaging wee 4×4 with surprising talent.