RE: Shed Of The Week: Daihatsu Sirion Rally 2

RE: Shed Of The Week: Daihatsu Sirion Rally 2

Friday 26th May 2017

Shed Of The Week: Daihatsu Sirion Rally 2

Comfortably more than 100hp, comfortably less than both 1,000kg and £1,000 - there's a lot going for it!



What's best: (1) going fast in a car that could easily go a whole lot faster, or (2) going fast in a car that's going as fast as it can?

If your answer is (2) then you might be interested in this week's Shed, a Daihatsu Sirion Rally 2.

Does it get better from a distance?
Does it get better from a distance?
When it first appeared in Europe in 1998, the Sirion (or Storia as it was known in Japan) attracted a lot of comments for its looks, most of them negative. Cranking up its well-earned reputation for sophisticated humour, the motor trade called it the 'Silly One'. Ooh me sides.

If it was launched now though you suspect that it wouldn't get such a hard time, city car design having in some way caught up with the little Daihatsu's presciently upswept side windows and inoffensively metrosexual blobbiness. This is a 20 year old design, remember.

In another interesting twist, we see that the basic '98 Sirion had a three-cylinder 1.0-litre engine. Again, all very familiar in today's city cars, but quite radical back in the 20th century. Then you realise that Daihatsu had been doing triples as long ago as 1977, the high point arguably being the gigglesome and now sought-after third-gen Charade GTti Turbo, the world's first 1.0-litre 100hp/tonne production car. Good examples of this rambunctious rollerskate do not come cheap.

Anyway, let's return to our Sirion. Rowing back from the 713cc X4, a deliciously mad domestic-market cult-racer which put 118hp (!) through its twin-LSD (!) 4WD chassis, everyday hot Sirions came in Rally 4 or Rally 2 guise. Both used the naturally aspirated 107hp 1.3 four-pot motor that also saw duty in Toyota's Yaris.

Well we like rare Japanese curios, don't we?
Well we like rare Japanese curios, don't we?
The Rally 4's heavy four-wheel drive system predictably took the edge off its performance, but the 850kg 2's tin-box lightness gave it a highly respectable power to weight ratio of nearly 128hp/tonne. That's 106 GTI territory. In the Rally 2 it meant a 7-second (with a following wind) 0-60 time and a top whack in the order of 115mph. Driven in a quieter fashion you could easily get mpg figures in the low 50s. The insurance will be usefully low, especially on a classic policy.

So far, if you can get around the looks, the little Sirion is starting to appeal as a left-field and extremely rare town/B-road squirter: just 70 Rally 2s are currently registered, and 25 Rally 4s. The downsides could be un-low parts prices and the fact that you wouldn't really want to have an accident in one. Not that you'd want an accident in anything, of course, but if you do have one, have it in something else. At the very least, make sure that more than 40 per cent of your Sirion's front end is involved in any frontal assault. Although the Sirion had enough safety kit for Euro NCAP to give it an acceptable 3-star rating, German TUV/Auto Bild tests exposed a noticeable lack of resilience in front offset crash tests.

The seller of this car has uncovered another of the Rally's weaknesses, namely the brakes, or more accurately the lack of them. For those of a loony disposition, this will only add to the appeal, but for saner folk the effects of relying on the brakes and not on blind luck to get around the next corner are clearly shown in the last minute of this video of a Scotch man having a Buttertubs razz in his one.

You could be kind and call it cute
You could be kind and call it cute
Contemporary road testers noticed this braking deficiency too, using disconcerting phrases like 'alarmingly soft' to describe the pedal.

What else? Well, the power steering is a bit too helpful, it'll always be noisy in the cabin, the short-travel suspension will challenge anyone wearing ill-fitting dentures, and those above hobbit size might struggle to find a comfy driving position. Surely, though, a little pain in one part of your life helps you to put the rest of it into a more positive perspective. That's how Shed looks at it anyway.

Gran Turismo 2 had a full-house 427hp rally version that cost one million credits. This real one is a lot more affordable at £650. That includes a new windscreen, a brand new MoT and some hopefully-fitted braided brake hoses.

Here's the ad.

Daihatsu Sirion Rally 2 in red - Cheap, reliable motoring
115bhp

85k miles (it's done 84588 to date and is in daily use for the nursery run)
12 months MOT (passed on 10/05/2017)

Just replaced the windscreen, red stainless braided PTFE brake hoses, new window switch.  One of the rear wheels had a flat spot which I have had repaired by a specialist for the MOT.  Other than that, it's totally standard.

There are small dents all over the place on it and the wheels are a bit tatty.
The interior is in really good condition. The brakes, although good enough to pass the MOT are a bit poor in my opinion, nothing that can't be sorted fairly easily and cheaply though (I have 4 cars and just haven't got round to it, I've had other priorities dictated to me my the better half and two small children).

The engine and gearbox are particularly sweet.  Over 4k rpm, the engine really comes alive and just keeps pulling relentlessly to the red line. It's a fun little car and with thicker anti-roll bars and some slightly less compliant springs it would be quite a little weapon. For the price, I think it's a bit of a bargain shed.

 

Author
Discussion

AndySA

Original Poster:

900 posts

262 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
I had a 2nd gen charade as my 1st car, still miss it almost 30 years on! The sense of speed at or even below the legal limit made it special. Got a ticket once at 2km/h over its stated max, was so proud I had it framed and mounted behind the bar in my varsity digs. Have many memories of passing much faster cars by simply driving the nuts off it. Mine was an na 3pot built in the alfa romeo factory in South Africa.

Valgar

850 posts

134 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
I owned one of these, it was brilliant fun, it's all about that engine. I'd definitely have another, seriously tempted right now

TwigtheWonderkid

43,248 posts

149 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
This always remind me of a shrunken Porsche Cayenne

culpz

4,881 posts

111 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
Another car that i did not even know existed! Well, this sporting version, anyway.

Looks aside, that is an absolute steal for the money being asked for it. Easily a reliable and fun daily that will, no doubt, last for years and years. It wouldn't surprise me if these fetched a bit of money if kept for quite a while. It kinda reminds me of an Ignis Sport and a bit of a rarity.

Coming back to the looks, i like the wheels and the extra bits to make it look sporty. There's no denying that it looks a little bit feminine but it's definitely got that Japanese toy-car look to it and that does make it some-what cool, in my eyes.

I hope it gets snatched-up quick. Someone please just buy it! biggrin

daveco

4,122 posts

206 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
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 beer

Drive Blind

5,076 posts

176 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
I would need to do something with the chrome, Remove it? paint it?

Fizzbomb

484 posts

106 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
I had a 2003 SL version, I think that was even quicker in the 0-60 figures and top end speed.

Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
Drive Blind said:
I would need to do something with the chrome, Remove it? paint it?
Agreed! No hot hatch should be festooned with chrome imo.

TristPerrin

135 posts

177 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
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 beer
Totally agree!

Something usuable that you can drive hard without losing your licence / risk smashing something expensive up.

Thankfully this is miles away from me boxedin

Edited by TristPerrin on Friday 26th May 08:51

Nuppy

95 posts

161 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
Looks only a mother could love...eek

Never even knew these existed, sounds like a fun little thing :-)

marshall100

1,124 posts

200 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
Good shed, an absolute bargain at £650, why not find another for spares? I think I've seen one of these stripped out and being used at a local rally. I can imagine that getting parts aside, they're made of soft metal and prone to the old tin worm?

Cambs_Stuart

2,833 posts

83 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
Really interesting shed. Good work!

Limpet

6,293 posts

160 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
I had no idea such a thing existed. I always thought the Sirion was exclusively to be found shunting back and forth in supermarket car parks with a blue rinse pensioner behind the wheel, and accompanied by the faint aroma of vapourised clutch.

Looks like a fun thing.

Lotusgone

1,160 posts

126 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
Shed's phrase "tin-box lightness" reminds me when I had one of the standard Sirions as a hire car in Greece for a week. Tinny was indeed the word. A rapid one might just affect your hearing.

grumpy52

5,565 posts

165 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
We had a Charade GTi at the garage as a run around ,it was never still for long as everybody ragged it about mercilessly,office staff ,the boss ,parts collection even some of the customers.
It was just too old to be retailed but was never going to make a profit in the trade .
Everyone was peed off when one of the mechanics crashed it and it was written off .
If this shed is half the fun it's worth a punt .

only1ian

684 posts

193 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
French ex girlfriend had an auto one! Surprisingly useful space... One of my most engaging motoring experiences

BFleming

3,589 posts

142 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
I'm really not sure I see this as a shed, more as an instantly forgettable old Japanese car.

Mr2Mike

20,143 posts

254 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
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?

Buzypea

225 posts

138 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
I ran an identical one to this between 2005 - 2007. Brilliant little car. Very quick up to 60mph but performance tailed off once into 3rd gear. Used to sound like a touring car inside when thrashed with a really loud whining noise that was quite addictive. Never had one problem with mine and don't ever remember the brakes being bad. Only thing that wasn't great was the handling. Very bouncy at the front and the back would skit around if hitting a bump mid corner. What I loved most was it looked like something your gran would drive to bingo but it could keep up with most hot hatches of the day up to legal speeds.

Top shed!

mikeyr

3,118 posts

192 months

Friday 26th May 2017
quotequote all
Love it when SOTW goes for something different. Especially when it's something I've never heard of. Someone snap this up!