RE: Daihatsu Charade GTti: You Know You Want To

RE: Daihatsu Charade GTti: You Know You Want To

Thursday 20th July 2017

Daihatsu Charade GTti: You Know You Want To

The downsized, three-cylinder turbo hot hatch? Daihatsu was on that trend nearly 30 years ago!



A little over two years ago, we brought you a Daihatsu Charade GTti on sale for £9,000. "Absolutely bonkers price," said PHer Quhet in the comments thread. "Fun, but not £8,995 of fun," said another, treetops. All of which, frankly, sounds fair enough.

Here's something we've not seen for a while!
Here's something we've not seen for a while!
Another PHer, Turbobanana, said: "At that price one of two things will happen. It'll sell immediately to a true fan with deep pockets - or it'll still be for sale this time next year, at £6,000."

Well, Turbobanana, looks like you had it bang on. Well, you would have done, but for the fact that it's now two years later, and the price has gone up, rather than down. Now, if you want a pristine, 24,000-mile Charade GTti, you probably aren't going to find one anywhere else, so perhaps there's some justification for that high price - but for our money, we'd rather pay half the cash and settle for a car that's a little rougher around the edges.

This one, for example. It's on for £3,495, and bearing in mind how quickly prices of old performance paraphernalia have risen in the intervening two years, that doesn't sound too bad. Certainly, it's less than you'd have paid for any of the Charade GTtis we've seen for sale recently.

There's a certain appeal to this example, too. It's done 84,000 miles, which isn't ridiculous, and on first inspection the bodywork looks tidy, if in need of a good clean and a polish. Inside, the seats look in good order and the plastics all look tidy and well-kept.

Looks tidy enough in here...
Looks tidy enough in here...
Don't expect a phenomenally quick car, mind you. The GTti's 1.0-litre three-pot turbo meant it was never going to challenge, say, a Peugeot 205 GTI for hot hatch supremacy. Still, you'd be amazed what 100hp in a car this light can do - and that horsepower figure meant the GTti delivered 100hp/litre, more than many cars could muster in its day.

Despite its vestigial power figure, the Charade still attracted its fair share of attention from boy racers, partly because it was so cheap to buy. It's one of the reasons it's actually quite hard to find a clean, straight example that hasn't been mucked around with - and the fact that that's what this is makes it even more appealing.

As this is You Know You Want To, there is, of course, a catch, and it's that the car's been stood for a while. The seller points out that it needs "slight tidying and TLC". Hmm. Well, you take your chances with such a description, but the straightness of the bodywork and cleanliness of the interior suggest that, indeed, it wouldn't take much to bring this GTti up to show-winning condition - or you could simply drive it as-is and enjoy a neat little retro hot hatch in good, usable nick.

And drive it you can, right away, because it's MoT'd until June next year. Of course, while an MoT is a guarantee of... well, very little, other than the fact that the car is at least reasonably safe to drive, the fact that this GTti has one that runs to 11 months suggests it isn't a hound.

... and under here too!
... and under here too!
Beware, though, as cars which are fresh out of long-term storage usually require a little bit of patience as they wake themselves up again and work through perished this, creaky that, and sticking the other. That's something you should be prepared for with a car like this, and it's probably part of the TLC the seller is referring to.

Nevertheless, what we have here is a Charade GTti at, believe it or not, what is the cheaper end of the scale these days, with reasonable mileage and a long MOT, ready to be driven and enjoyed. And if it does need a little nursing back to full health along the way, at least you'll have the warm glow of having saved a delightful, if obscure, hot hatch from being cooped up in a garage for the rest of its life.


DAIHATSU CHARADE GTTI
Price:
£3,495
Why you should: It looks like an honest, clean example of a lovely, and rare, little hot hatch
Why you shouldn't: It's just come out of storage and needs unspecified love and attention



See the original advert here.

Author
Discussion

MGFozzie

Original Poster:

4 posts

115 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
fond memories. Mums car, 1st car I learnt to drive on.Lost my licence after 4 days with this rocket. managed 500Km 1st day had my licence and went no further than 25Km from home,
How time have changed.

HedgeyGedgey

1,281 posts

93 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
Makes the red one at DCY Europe seem like an absolute rip off.

STILLJOE

697 posts

91 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
remember trying to get my hands on one of these in the late 90s after seeing one in one of the max power type magazines. Gutted I never managed to get one.

Steamer

13,846 posts

212 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
STILLJOE said:
remember trying to get my hands on one of these in the late 90s after seeing one in one of the max power type magazines. Gutted I never managed to get one.
I seem to recall it was heralded in their performance chart (usually found towards the back pages) as being the cheapest insurance group v's highest performance IIRC.

Very rare even at the time though, I think there was one that we occasionally saw around town.

Wild Rumpus

375 posts

173 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
I remember test-driving one of these back in 1990, at the time I was considering this vs the AX GT, 205 XS and the Suzuki Swift GTi. They all had their merits - the Diahatsu was the fastest, the 205 had the best handling and the Suzuki had the most characterful engine. In the end I bought the AX GT - mostly because there were amazing deals on them (21% off list price plus 1 years free insurance with full no-claims bonus at the end of the year!).
The Daihatsu had faster acceleration and a comparable top speed to the 1.6 205Gti, by the way.

spodrod

224 posts

149 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
Is it just me or does the front ride height look too high?

ian2144

1,662 posts

221 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
Great wee car. I had a new one in white back 1989, still remember it's reg number F124TSX
Back then £9k was a lot of money. We put 32,000 on it in three years, it was faultless. It sounded somewhere between a 5 pot quattro and 911. Happy days.

cuprabob

14,424 posts

213 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
These were great little cars at the time, however I chose the Suzuki Swift Gti when it came down to it. Although a bit tinny the engine was an absolute peach and took 125k miles of abuse without missing a beat.

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
Ha ha, this makes me feel old! I also plumbed for the suzuki swift gti instead...!

Toyoda

1,557 posts

99 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
Asbestos sticker in the engine bay?!


CS Garth

2,860 posts

104 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
My old games teacher had one - he was so fat I'm not sure why he bothered.

rossub

4,400 posts

189 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
HedgeyGedgey said:
Makes the red one at DCY Europe seem like an absolute rip off.
It is and that's why nobody has bought it after all this time.

Agree on the front end looking too high. It looks like it's missing it's engine - though obviously isn't. Wrong model front shocks?

helix402

7,832 posts

181 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
I think the article needs a little more research. I remember it's launch and a front page cover on Autocar or Motor. I think the 0-60 was quoted at 7.9 or 7.7 seconds. A couple of seconds research on Google finds this:

http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/...

paulmakin

653 posts

140 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
had 3 (well, 2 and a GTXx - the JDM "luxury" version). fun to drive for short periods, d/pipe and hybrid turbo from Camskill, bigger i/c from something or other and a DRS ecu added more laughs.

one of my old ones is still around and according to MoT history checker has just passed 35k. failed a few over the last few years but seemingly all fails rectified pretty quickly

paul

oceanview

1,511 posts

130 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
Back in the day, I remember being amazed ( and no one believing me!) that this little 1.0 litre car was as quick to 60 ( if not even a little more) than a Ford Capri 2.8i !! cool

TwigtheWonderkid

43,248 posts

149 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
Boring bit of general knowledge, Daihatsu is Japan's oldest car manufacturer, and started making cars in 1903.

parabolica

6,703 posts

183 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Boring bit of general knowledge, Daihatsu is Japan's oldest car manufacturer, and started making cars in 1903.
Mighty Car Mods just posted a video today where Marty went to Japan and toured the Daihatsu factory down by Osaka; it was surprisingly interesting!

billzeebub

3,862 posts

198 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
Saw one of these little gems at The Darling Buds car show the other week, had almost forgotten about them. Was definitely on my list back in the day.

Xaero

4,060 posts

214 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
Sensibly priced. I'd be all over that if I had the spare cash and space. I'd be surprised if it doesn't go quickly.


rallycross

12,747 posts

236 months

Thursday 20th July 2017
quotequote all
Interesting but the Swift Gti 1.3 16v really is much better pocket rocket from that time