1988 Daihatsu Charade CLX 1.0 from North America

Summary:

The best car for the money ever!

Faults:

Bought the car ($1200) with a bad clutch and CV joint at 88K miles.

Installed a new water pump at 120k miles.

Tachometer and water temp go in and out, they have bad screw grounding inside the instrument panel.

Will tend to overheat, as the fan will not come on soon enough during in town driving. Some people put in a manual switch to turn the fan on.

The drivers' door hinges wear out because of the long door on the 2 door model, but that allows easy entry into the seat.

General Comments:

This car is great and it has taken me back and forth from California to Florida to Missouri, but now has 198000 miles on it and the head gasket is leaking some, but it still gets about 44 MPG on the road, and 39 MPG in town with its 5 speed.

I wish they would still make them like this. It has the largest 13 inch tires on it, and I had to pound down the inside of the back wheel wells so they would not hit the large metal seam, but that help me get the high MPG.

The AC unit installed in the USA is a little under powered for the car, but I know a guy who put in a bigger compressor that fixed it with only a small bracket change, and it works great.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 3rd September, 2008

26th Feb 2009, 14:28

I've owned my 1988 Daihatsu Charade CSX for 18 years and 120k miles and concur with all the praise expressed for this phenomenal car---well ahead of the times.

My CSX model is a sport model with the larger, 175 tires, alloy wheels, special seats, tach and superior handling. The standard, narrower, 155 tires (both are 13inch) will, contrary to another opinion I just read, will give slightly better fuel economy, having lesser rolling friction though they will not grip the road as well. Mine also gets 39 mpg around town and in the mid forties on the highway. It used to get 50 in its earlier days when fuel was better and so was it. I have run all synthetic lubricants in it, thankfully, so it still runs about as strong as when I bought it with 12,500 miles.

1988 Daihatsu Charade 3 cylinder 1.? L from North America

Summary:

Cheap and reliable! find one!

Faults:

Pretty much nothing went wrong...

When I bought it for 300 bucks the muffler needed replacing.

And I changed the brakes and oil when I got it.

40,000 miles later the clutch was going, and since parts are impossible to find for it in the US, I decided to sell the car...

General Comments:

Best car I've owned. paid $300, drove it from coast to coast 3 times, up to alaska and back and it was my daily driver for over two years. all that with only a 3-cyl engine!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 30th July, 2007

21st Feb 2010, 19:33

You can get a lot of parts for Daihatsu from rockauto.com. I had mine totally rebuilt, 1 Lt. motor, in Missouri in 2008.

1988 Daihatsu Charade CX patrol from Pakistan

Faults:

I like my charade model 1988. I want to buy 1 more car with same make model in Pakistan, but now Charade is not being imported from Japan or Dubai if any person having Charade model 1988 0r 89 selling in Pakistan he my contact with me on my cell: NO.0923335187573.Rawalpindi/Islamabad/Karachi.

Thanks.

Zeeshan.Pakistan

General Comments:

Mini sports car better then Vitz.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 17th February, 2007

1988 Daihatsu Charade from Costa Rica

Faults:

I just overhaul the engine, but it was like new after almost 170000 miles.

General Comments:

It's an excellent car, and very economical and reliable.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 20th September, 2005

1988 Daihatsu Charade CR 1.3L EFI from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Economical, Sporty Hatch

Faults:

Timing belt at 130,000km

Faulty Thermo fan switch at 135,000km

Faulty CO2 sensor at 138,000km.

Internal panels are coming loose. Probably from the 4 sub-woofers in the boot!

General Comments:

I purchased the car from the local wreckers for $2700.

I intended this vehicle to be a cheap form of transport and to keep me out of trouble, as my last car got me in a lot of trouble with the law.

The car was quite nimble for a 1300cc and seemed to hug the road quite well.

And that's all it took.

I had the bug again!

I fitted a cold air intake with pod filter. GT suspension and performance treads.

Extractors. Mandrel exhaust, which gave it the sexiest note you have ever heard!

Increased acceleration, 0-100 from 11 sec to 8 sec.

Increased top speed from 145km/h to 185km/h.

Fuel usage increased in the city from 6L/100km to 7L/100km. But Highway usage decreased from 6L/100km to 5L/100km.

The point I am trying to make is that I never thought of the charade as being a fun car to drive until I bought one.

The power and economy of a Suzuki Swift GTi, for half the price.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 8th July, 2005