Faults:

Dead cell in the battery last year, happens with any car though.

General Comments:

Cabin is noisy above 50mph.

Side windows fog up a lot on damp days if the blower is not turned on.

Small boot.

Basic features.

BUT...

Same engine as the Toyota Yaris, but lots lighter so..

Very quick off the mark.

Handles very well for a small car.

Great for town and city driving.

Very manoeuvrable, small turning circle.

Easy to find a parking space. You can park where others cannot, nice!

Absolutely fantastic on fuel. Does not like to drink petrol - great.

Cheapest road tax class for its age.

Faults:

Corrosion on the rear wheel arch suspension seam caused the car to fail the M.O.T.

Other than that, nothing major went wrong.

General Comments:

I purchased this car as an insurance write off for £450 from an auction. Repairing the damage cost more than the car! Didn't come with a master key either, so had to be exceptionally careful not to lose the only remaining key.

Performance was pretty spry, fastest I ever went was 90mph on a slight uphill gradient in 5th.

Acceleration was good, but it would tend to drink petrol if I became too enthusiastic, also high speed cruising tended to decrease fuel economy, at 70mph, plus it would drop to less than 40mpg. Keep it under 60mph and no harsh accelerating, and 50mpg plus was achievable.

Did suffer from punctures, managed to have 4 in the time I owned it, but tyres were cheap at around £25-£30.

Big problem was rust; it started to corrode quite bad for a 9 year old car. Weak spots were the rear wheel arches and below the fuel filler cap, which could have failed the next M.O.T. so decided to cut my losses and invest in something newer.

Wasn't really rustproofed with the British market in mind, I've seen 1993 Fiat Cinquecento's with less corrosion. Bodywork is very flimsy and easy to dent thanks to the thin metal, which results in the car being very light at 720kg.

Good legroom in the front and rear, but a bit cramped width-ways; two large passengers would tend to rub elbows occasionally.

The radio/cassette was crap with lousy FM reception, started a bad habit of taking my eyes off the road to re-tune it.

The engine is a gem, but tended to use a fair amount of oil, and filled up the car would billow blue smoke for about 10 seconds after starting from cold, then would clear.

Couldn't fault the reliability; started on the button 1st time every time. Sad to see it go.

Faults:

The rear light on the left side broke down after three years. Daihatsu changed it for free: the cause was a corroded socket, because water squirted up from the tyre.

General Comments:

This car was incredible reliable!

I never had a serious problem. I made 40000 km per year with one machine, one clutch and the same brakes.

But I have to say, that most of the time I was on motorway (more than 90 %) not faster than 110 km/h, so I had very rarely to break.

And I never used my Cuore for Distances under 50 km.

And that is the reason because the consumption was only 4.6 to 4.8 L/ 100 km (=20.8 km per liter).

I bought my car (red, 3 doors) in Feb. 1999 when the production just ended and Daihatsu came out with the new Cuore (No. 5).

Faults:

No problems so far. However the steering wheel needed to be realigned before I accepted delivery.

General Comments:

Not bad for a very small car. Build quality is probably below average (rattles and squeaks everywhere) but it is fun to drive. The auto transmission is good too. Not sure about safety in a car this size despite the airbags and SIPs. In summary: surprisingly good.