RE: Shed Of The Week: Daihatsu Sirion Rally 2
Discussion
That video is brilliant.
Not quite up to modern day professional video blogs but the quick pans from the passenger to the driver really get you into it. And then that cut to the brakes smoking. The thing is with all our home made dodgy video's things look a lot slower than in real life. For instance if he was doing the N24 in his Psoriasis he'd be doing it in 23 hours, but on video it would take over 25.
That's from my own experience of driving a superchipped Yaris 1.4 diesel which is not fit to wipe the boots of this rather nifty 3 pot petrol.
Top car, top video, top shed.
Not quite up to modern day professional video blogs but the quick pans from the passenger to the driver really get you into it. And then that cut to the brakes smoking. The thing is with all our home made dodgy video's things look a lot slower than in real life. For instance if he was doing the N24 in his Psoriasis he'd be doing it in 23 hours, but on video it would take over 25.
That's from my own experience of driving a superchipped Yaris 1.4 diesel which is not fit to wipe the boots of this rather nifty 3 pot petrol.
Top car, top video, top shed.
P-Jay said:
Brilliant shed.
I sort of remember them when they were new, writer nailed it, I remember them being repulsively ugly 'back in the day' but it's fairly contemporary now, still ugly, just not shockingly so.
No idea they made a quick one, let alone an AWD one.
AWD one tested at Hot Hatch day at Rockingham circuit ( Mondeo made it in for comparison iirc )I sort of remember them when they were new, writer nailed it, I remember them being repulsively ugly 'back in the day' but it's fairly contemporary now, still ugly, just not shockingly so.
No idea they made a quick one, let alone an AWD one.
.Mr2Mike said:
BFleming said:
I'm really not sure I see this as a shed, more as an instantly forgettable old Japanese car.
As opposed to, for example, an instantly forgettable old european car?a) once have heard of
b) recall at some time after that
Maybe the Japanese bit was superfluous!
We had the standard 1.3 model for some years a while back. Somebody has to proffer some geeky info, so here goes:- there was the 3 cylinder 1 litre version, then Daihatsu designed and built this rather cracking 4 cylinder 1.3 litre chain drive engine. So good that Daihatsu's owners - Toyota - took it and used it in the Yaris. However, the Yaris version has about 85bhp while even the standard Sirion had 100bhp, and when the UK importers wanted to do the sexy Rallye versions they struggled to get any more horsepower out of it at all, finally squeezing just 7 more out of it. And this is a good ten years before the much-lauded Fiat Panda 100hp.
It wasn't that quiet or comfortable, but it was proper nippy, ridiculously cheap secondhand and, of course, indestructible. Took me to LeMans amongst other places, and still serving a friend well 15 years after being built. Oh and yes, it's ugly.
It wasn't that quiet or comfortable, but it was proper nippy, ridiculously cheap secondhand and, of course, indestructible. Took me to LeMans amongst other places, and still serving a friend well 15 years after being built. Oh and yes, it's ugly.
This feels very surreal and very sad as we are trading in our rally 2 tomorrow morning having had it for 5 years and having had a rally 4 for 5 years before that!
We originally found these when we got into endurance rallying some years ago. The rally 4s were so unbeatable they led to 4wd being banned and we never got to use it in anger! If I recall the rally 2s were strictly monitored for certain suspension reinforcements because on pace alone they were very difficult to catch.
I fondly remember using the rally 4 as my daily driver for years while working at M-Sport - leading a couple of other colleagues to buying them after she had her first run out on the annual 12 car rally.
The brakes are very questionable in terms of feel - in the snow the rally 4 will go anywhere but don't ask it to stop! The rally versions do have uprated Endless pads for what it is worth along with a shortened gear throw (gearbox is actually lovely), suspension springs and those alloys.
The lambda sensor fails regularly but other than that neither car needed anything other than service items in about 100k miles combined.
The comment in the article about relative pace is spot on for me. I've had TVRs, Lotus and Evos during my Sirion ownership but strangely that little 1.3 engine is possibly the most addictive back road car I've ever owned!
Great article - I think this has convinced me to find another
We originally found these when we got into endurance rallying some years ago. The rally 4s were so unbeatable they led to 4wd being banned and we never got to use it in anger! If I recall the rally 2s were strictly monitored for certain suspension reinforcements because on pace alone they were very difficult to catch.
I fondly remember using the rally 4 as my daily driver for years while working at M-Sport - leading a couple of other colleagues to buying them after she had her first run out on the annual 12 car rally.
The brakes are very questionable in terms of feel - in the snow the rally 4 will go anywhere but don't ask it to stop! The rally versions do have uprated Endless pads for what it is worth along with a shortened gear throw (gearbox is actually lovely), suspension springs and those alloys.
The lambda sensor fails regularly but other than that neither car needed anything other than service items in about 100k miles combined.
The comment in the article about relative pace is spot on for me. I've had TVRs, Lotus and Evos during my Sirion ownership but strangely that little 1.3 engine is possibly the most addictive back road car I've ever owned!
Great article - I think this has convinced me to find another
ABT said:
I fondly remember using the rally 4 as my daily driver for years while working at M-Sport - leading a couple of other colleagues to buying them after she had her first run out on the annual 12 car rally.
Long time ago ('99?) I won a instructed trackday experience with my gravity racing skills, and my instructor was a local multiple rally champion. What a surprise when we afterwards went to the parking lot and he drove one of these! He said they were cheap (rallying is expensive), good fun and gave him at least some chance at keeping his licence.I also remember earning his respect that day when I told him it wasn't possible to go faster in a chicane, we swapped seats and he put the car in the gravel pit in the next pass...
Edited by Onehp on Saturday 27th May 07:41
Great shed!
I love interesting cheap old cars like this.
Means you can afford to actually buy something and have some fun with it without worrying about the resale value or worse still, breaking it.
This looks ideal.
Perhaps paint the chrome bits, perhaps upgrade the brakes, perhaps new dampers, maybe strip some weight out, or transform the interior with some leather seats from a beemer?
Trawl eBay for bits and pieces and have some fun.
I love interesting cheap old cars like this.
Means you can afford to actually buy something and have some fun with it without worrying about the resale value or worse still, breaking it.
This looks ideal.
Perhaps paint the chrome bits, perhaps upgrade the brakes, perhaps new dampers, maybe strip some weight out, or transform the interior with some leather seats from a beemer?
Trawl eBay for bits and pieces and have some fun.
My mum had a normal 1.3 Sirion, the parts were ridiculously expensive. She got rid of it eventually because the pipe between the fuel cap and tank was almost rusted through, nobody could find a replacement in the UK and getting one from Japan would take a month and the dealer wanted £300 just for the part.
We had one of these for several years. Not only was it very reliable but running costs were not dear at all. We did knacker the gearbox but sourced a replacement quite easilly for £50. Apart from that it was rock solid.... well until a DHL van ploughed into it whilst it was parked and wrote it off.
They are insanely good fun. You do need to rev them hard to make progress but once over about 3500 rpm they do go. Handling is not bad and they are very chuckable. We found the brakes very good and overall a really enjoyable car to drive. If you can find a Texaco petrol station and run it on 99 ron was were genuinely shocked at the difference this made. Don;t run crappy supermarket fuel as the car will feel very sluggish in comparison to what it could with the right fuel.
MPG was stupidly good so with the reliability of Daihatsu these cars are an absolute bargain and pretty much unbeatable for cheap fun, reliable motoring.
This one for sale would be an absolute steal. We'd snap this up ourselves but don't have the room currently. Gutted. Whoever buys this will have an absolute hoot !
They are insanely good fun. You do need to rev them hard to make progress but once over about 3500 rpm they do go. Handling is not bad and they are very chuckable. We found the brakes very good and overall a really enjoyable car to drive. If you can find a Texaco petrol station and run it on 99 ron was were genuinely shocked at the difference this made. Don;t run crappy supermarket fuel as the car will feel very sluggish in comparison to what it could with the right fuel.
MPG was stupidly good so with the reliability of Daihatsu these cars are an absolute bargain and pretty much unbeatable for cheap fun, reliable motoring.
This one for sale would be an absolute steal. We'd snap this up ourselves but don't have the room currently. Gutted. Whoever buys this will have an absolute hoot !
daveco said:
I don't know if it's old age or just that I'm getting tired of spending so much cash on cars, but...
Smaller, older cars like this are becoming far more interesting to me than the newest Porsche 911 or McLaren.
Great shed btw
Exactly this ^Smaller, older cars like this are becoming far more interesting to me than the newest Porsche 911 or McLaren.
Great shed btw
Like a Fiat Cinquecento Sporting I once owned (post divorce) it was more fun to drive at 9/10ths than my previous very hot hatch at 7/10ths. To clarify, the hot hatch just couldn't be driven flat out anywhere safely, yet the little grey Fiat was great fun, and also attracted less attention, a bit like the SirLoin.
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