What a lovely little Diahatsu that completely passed under my radar during its production. I do love small Japanese, Malaysian and Korean hatchbacks. My wife owned 2009 and a 2011 Kia Picanto with 1.0 litre engines. They proved practical, as long as the rear seats are folded. Also comfortable, roomy and very economical compared to the Class above them. Taxing them is inexpensive, as is servicing. Smaller tyres are cheaper and perform better in snowy conditions. Plenty space for four people and the 2011 model can accommodate five. The main positive of cars like the Diahatsu Sirion is the ability to park them in most spaces. The Sirion also has rear doors designed to make entry and exit as easy as possible.
Sir, the clutch needed some getting used to in this Sirion, but otherwise it wasn't too bad. I wouldn't want to do long motorway journeys in this, however, it did seem fine for local journeys in particular. It has more interior space than the Mark I Picanto (that one isn't bad, of course), but it is probably a slightly larger car. I don't think many people took a lot of notice of these when they were new, but they seem very appealing these days.
Thank you for your videos. You do a super job when reviewing the cars 👍. To me these cars are so much more interesting than the 'supercars' reviewed on other channels.
Thank you ever so much indeed for watching and commenting! I personally find these cars more interesting than a supercar as well, and we have plenty more reviews coming up soon.
Thank you for the kind review Sir! We did have great fun driving this for the challange, but also took it to a number of events further away, to the extent that we covered over 3000 miles in our time with it - so surprising for such a vehicle to be so easy to drive on the motorway too. No back pain also!
They came standard with A/C (except 1.0), 4 electric windows, mirrors... I think that's a huge thing for this type of car I own one pre-facelift model and it's super nice, the big downside of this car is yes, plastics are cheap and they are easy to scratch do we need to be careful, and the rust, that's all, my came from Germany so I had more rust than the one I had from Holland unfortunately. I will redo the bodywork and the whole front suspensions and things to make it better
I remember a chap from my office had one of these , think it was his daily as he also had a Imprezza. Very impressed with the amount of cupholders compared to my Cactus which has 1 and pretty much useless! A excellent review as always Sir.
Thank you, Mr Watters! Lots of cupholders indeed. I imagine that your former colleague probably enjoyed saving money with one of these so that he could enjoy the Impreza on special days.
Daihatsu have always been a popular small car brand in New Zealand. We had the original Justy too, which used to be very popular. My Mum's friend had one, manual 4WD. Only swapped it for an auto Hyundai after an accident hurt her leg and she could not work the pedals well.
I haven't seen a Subaru Justy in many years! In the late 1980's a drove a CVT Justy, which I liked. Love the many cup holders, ingenious! And the sound of the engine is so delicious! Love this Daihatsu Sirion!
All three generations of the Justy were completely different from each other. The first one, which was also sold in America, was Subaru's own work. The next one was a rebadged Suzuki Swift, and the third one (like this one) was a rebadged Daihatsu.
Hi, I would definitely avoid the 1.0 liter engine(KRFE) they tend to develop a serious problem with the crankshaft in the 1st cylinder( it bends). I think this might be result of knocking, or a dirty vvt-i system. Further this engine tends to consume more oil than normal. I would go for the 4-cylinder 1.3 (K3) engine, it's almost if not the same as fuel efficient as the KR-engine. it's got more horsepower so you don't have to hi-rev it. I have a daihatsu sirion with a K3VE engine with almost 300.000km on it and it is a nice quiet engine. My daughter has a citroen C1 with a KRFE 3-cylinder engine with far less mileage and you hear this constant tapping metal on metal sound coming from it. and it doesn't sound like valves, it has a more solid/deeper sound. it sounds like a bent crankshaft hitting the cilinder bottom wall. that's not a good thing. You can find it on youtube also. It's very important with these vvt-i engines to change you oil regularly/ don't let it become dirty, cause it might clog up this vvt-i stuff and it will not work properly. And it's very difficult to un-clog it. Regards
I would say this is more due to poor servicing or lack of. The 1 litre needs to be serviced regularly and with good quality oil. Both myself and my dad have one, each over 150k miles and been perfect. Do a service every 5k miles. On the forum there are a lot of people with similar even someone with over 300k
Ah, I was waiting for this review - there's barely any recent M300 Sirion reviews out there, and I'm considering a 1.3 version; it won't be as fun as my Paseo, no, but that 1.3 from videos I've seen of it in the equivalent Yaris, does seem like quite a peppy engine at least (I think Daihatsu used it in the export-market Copen). Excellent interior space utilisation for a car just 3.6 metres long, but then I'd expect nothing less from the Japanese.
Yes, I have a review of a very late second generation Yaris on the channel with that 1.3 engine. It's virtually immaculate. I understand why somebody would like to like to own one of these, they are quite basic, but well equipped for the size of car and they tend to be very reliable. I am glad that I filmed this on 1st April, as it was sold that afternoon. I think that you are right about that engine in export markets for the Copen. We like the Paseo very much, sir!
Yep exactly Daihatsu put it in the Copen too, but the catalytic converter is different, in the Sirion it's more "sportier" (and sounds better lol) but otherwise it's exactly the same engine I own a Sirion Sport and a Copen, they are amazing cars, and honestly daily driving the Sirion is super good...
Honestly? Go ahead, it's an amazing car, and it's just reliable, it never breaks, only problems I had (due to bad road conditions) is all the suspensions stuff that became noisy but I will repair that. Make sure it doesn't have rust!
You can find 1.5 but honestly the 1.3 sounds better and is better because parts are way easier to find, for driving experience it's almost the same in both cars (1.3 and 1.5) I own a Sport 1.3 and it's perfect even for highway driving (120kph GPS is about 3500rpm) Also 0-100kmh is almost the same in 1.3 and 1.5
Was wondering i bought a daihatsu sirion 0.1 petrol 2008. Was wondering if they shake when there out of gear. It seems when i stop it shake. Many thanks steveo
