2nd Feb 2009, 13:57
Well the Sirion has been sold to the local dealer and I have done my sums - I lost £1254 in 11 months and 9,000 miles, which included road tax, warranty and breakdown cover - I sold it dead on the service interval so no service cost either!
I worked that out at £114 per month to run a new car, with an average fuel economy of 50mpg, cheap insurance and no repair costs this has not only been the most enjoyable car I have owned, it has also been VERY cheap indeed. I could not recommend it enough.
I will battle on with the Materia and see how I go -but it is hard work after the Sirion. We needed some cash out for the house, so the Sirion went as it got the highest bid, and the Materia was retained as the family car.
After some thought, I have today done a deal on a cheap runabout replacement that has left just enough money to pay the builders out of the Sirion deal: I have bought a mint 2003 Daihatsu YRV Radical 1.3 with 1 owner, 37,000 miles, tax and full MOT - from a main dealer at an astonishing £1535. I have total faith in the brand quality after a Copen, two Sirions and a Materia and hope the YRV upholds the name! A full YRV report will follow and I will update the Materia report soon.
A final thought on the Sirion - I bought mine just at the right time from a motivated dealer and sold it to another keen dealer who had a buyer waiting, so lost very little. It is worth noting that two of the dealers who I know well have dropped the Daihatsu brand recently after they put prices up too far and made them un-competitive; this may be why mine sold so well secondhand as during the time I owned it the new base model price soared to £8320... There are other excellent new cars for sale at that money.
I stand by my comments that a 1.0SE in red metallic would be the pick of the range due to the combination of the 1.0 engine being truly outstanding (after 5,000 miles), the spec being excellent and the colour looking expensive and suiting the shape. The fact that metallic pre-reg, delivery mileage 08/58 cars with five year warranty are available for £7,000 seals the deal. I would not buy the 1.3 or pay over 7k for a box-fresh car, but 7k for a new 1.0SE is worth having. It is at this price it makes perfect sense, but the competition is too fierce at 8-11k, for example the new Fiesta is endlessly capable and drives superbly.
The 1.0 is by far the best model, with a huge grin factor and a great sound, along with £35 road tax and 50+mpg. It suits the car better than the 1.3 unit, although noisier, and keeps it at the right price and running costs. The light peppy, throaty 1.0 works very well indeed and the light (67kg) engine block also improves the weight distribution. Drive a run-in example of each hard before signing the order...!!
10th Feb 2009, 07:17
I'll shortly be buying a new Sirion 1.0SE. We were tempted by a good deal on a Nissan Note, but decided not to get one. A shortcoming of the Nissan Note is that they have an unusual tyre size - only Continental supply tyres for them - at £105 each!!! If you read reviews of the Nissan Note, owners frequently state that the tyres last only 12,000 miles! So that is £420 every 12,000 miles approx. and there is no chance of getting the tyres from anyone else!
10th Feb 2009, 13:12
Good luck with the purchase - look for a pre-reg with a transferrable 5 year warranty from a main dealer - there are some deals about.
Don't judge the car until it is run in and you have given it some abuse to loosen it up - they are totally different after a few thousand miles.
I am missing the Sirion already... the YRV feels old and woolly compared.
13th Feb 2009, 12:24
Yes I absolutely agree with that - I would however buy a 9k Cee'd SR new, but as you say 12k on a Soul points to a possible heavy loss, if like the Materia, it does not take off in the UK.
I would struggle to justify list price on a new Sirion now - but at the time they were much cheaper.
I wish I had not traded the Sirion for the Materia - not one dealer will bid on the Materia, but they all wanted to buy in the Sirion because of demand for £35 tax cars.
As a point of interest search Auto Trader for 58 Kia Carens 2.0 S/GS/LS AUTO (without making this an advert) and there is a motor provider in the North selling them NEW for 7ishk direct from Kia. Forget the tax and fuel economy, that deal makes them irrelevant - especially as you WANT an auto. I would sell the Sirion off to any Daihatsu dealer wanting stock first and buy one of those - it will cost you very little to change and lose little as so cheap.
I loved the Copen and Sirions, but the Materia was a mistake and the YRV is too recent to judge yet. Say one thing, though - none of them have ANY faults - good old Daihatsu!
30th Mar 2009, 12:15
Just thought I'd give some info on 'minty', our Sirion 1.0s which we have had for 22 months from new.
Been a great little car. Covered 12,500 miles. I find it hard to drive it slow as it's good fun to drive. Does exactly the same job as my CDX 2.0l Cavalier used to do; 5 up on airport runs.
Fuel can be disappointing though. The most I've had out of her is 52mpg. Averages 39 on short journeys. Get a lot of insults about image of the car, that is until people get to ride in it!
Only one annoying problem with it has been since 1500 miles; an annoying vibration patch at 71 - 80 mph (on closed roads of course). The local dealer said supposedly it's caused by hydraulic clutch fluid vibrating? A mystery to me. Still not sorted.
Would buy another Sirion tomorrow though, but then why would I want to get rid of the best car we've ever owned.
30th Jan 2009, 11:58
Nice one, Geoff - it's been interesting reading! I hope I get similar treatment when I trade in my Auto (which has given no more trouble - now at 8k miles).
At present I'm waiting for someone to get in a demo of the facelifted Note - on sale since 8/1 but no-one has one to drive - well done, Nissan!
Will probably wait for '09' reg now, which will also see the Kia Soul hit the dealers. It's reported that they've modded the ride quality (courtesy of Lotus) so might be worth a look.
But do I want to spend well over £10k on a Kia supermini...?
Cheers - Peter.