2002sday

"bwp240" (bwp240)
04/21/2015 at 13:30 • Filed to: 2sday

Welcome back to the weekly series 2sday, where we look back at cars that debut in years ending with 2. Today we look back at 2002, the new millennium is 2 years old, the car industry is looking at deviating from the typical designs of the 1990s and taking a more futuristic approach.

2002 saw the introduction of many interesting cars including the BMW Z4 and Cadillac CTS. However, I am going to profile one of everyone’s favorite beginner cars from Gran Turismo, the Daihatsu Copen.

The Daihatsu Copen is a Japanese Kei car, a micro-car that is primarily used for city travel. It would be similar to cycle-cars of early America. As many Gran Turismo players know, the Daihatsu Copen was not known for performance. Packed with a 63hp, 659cc, 4 cylinder engine, the Copen could power its way to 101mph* (*numbers taken from the Japanese market MT). Being a Kei car the Copen is very light only weighing 830kg (1830 lbs). Coupling its light weight with its small engine, the Copen was able to get about 41 MPG.

Japanese Kei cars are one of the staples of Japanese culture. Their small size and efficiency makes them great for the highly urbanized landscape of Japan. The Daihatsu Copen was sold outside of Japan in other Asian and European markets, but like most Kei cars, they were never seen in the United States, at least until 2027...