Can it Be a Daihatsu in Disguise

[schreck]

I owned a 90 Daihatsu Charade with the 1L, 3 cylinder engine. 0 to 60 was measured in minutes but it got 50 mpg on a bad day. Only car I ever owned where the owner's manual came with a warning against using the a/c at speeds under 45 mph.

Drove that car from 90 until 97 and when I was reviewing the Yaris recently it looked somewhat similar. Except for the larger engine, this appears to be a Daihatsu with a Toyota nameplate. Same seats, nearly identical interior layout (minus the center mounted gauges the Charade didn't have). In fact, the Charade came as either a sedan or hatchback. Gee, sounds a little familiar, doesn't it?

Now I discover that Toyota bought Daihatsu and relegated them to the Australian and British market a few years ago. Guess what, foreign versions come with a 1L engine! Upon looking at a picture of the engine, it looks like my old Charade engine right down to the oil cap in the middle instead of off to the left side (or course, with just 60 CID to work with, just how creative can you get with cap placement?).

Anybody care to give their two cents as to whether or not the Yaris is actually a Daihatsu design?

Just a thought, not a criticism.

[Thirty-Nine]

No need to yell! :-)

I'm pretty sure the Yaris is a straight-up Toyota design. However, I think I'd drive just about any of the new Daihatsus, especially the Materia (e.g. the Toyota bB).

I see Charades and Rockys around here every now and then.

[mr. poopyhead]

did a quick search on the google for daihatsu+yaris...

http://www.channel4.com/4car/di/road...pression/793/2

Engine from a Yaris
Toyota owns 51 per cent of Daihatsu, so it's not so surprising that the Toyota Yaris's all-aluminium 1.3 engine is made by Daihatsu....

article was from 2001 though... not sure if this is true anymore... wiki doesn't mention anything about the 2NZ-FE 1.3L being made by daihatsu...

[BluYrs]

Well the current Daihatsu Boon (along with Subary Justy) is essentially a redesigned Yaris with the same engines and same wheelbase. So my money would be on Toyota being the "main engineer" and Daihatsu just receiving the fruits of that work.

However I seriously doubt if the Charade of old had anything to do with Toyotas (the Yaris in particular). Granted they both had a 1-litre engine, but the engines had differences (bore, stroke) which suggest they weren't engineered in cooperation.

[yaris-me]

IMO the Yaris is a Toyota product. Seeing that Toyota own 51% of Daihatsu, it would make sense that they share the same parts bin.

[hatchbackkid82]

Say it ain't so

[eTiMaGo]

Originally Posted by mr. poopyhead

did a quick search on the google for daihatsu+yaris...

http://www.channel4.com/4car/di/road...pression/793/2


article was from 2001 though... not sure if this is true anymore... wiki doesn't mention anything about the 2NZ-FE 1.3L being made by daihatsu...

not the 2NZ, but the 1SZ, which is another kind of 1.3L engine in the Yaris in some other countries.

And yes, in Japan there are a TON of identical cars between Daihatsu and Toyota (and a couple small Subarus too)... Kinda like GM has the same cars under different sub-brands in the US, each with some slight differences for a different market...

It's just the way it works, manufacturers can save so much on R&D if they pool resources like this, it's a dog eat dog world...