Time to move on from the Daihatsu

"Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell." (oppisitelock)
09/15/2018 at 12:48 • Filed to: None

Now that I have 4 cars and am about to move house, at least one has to go. The Daihatsu is the odd one out sadly. It’s up for sale and to be fair I don’t feel that upset about it...

I enjoyed getting the car mechanically sorted and driving it around for a while, but I never really bonded with it. Now I have the itch for more of a project and something quicker (my e46/ Skoda pickup project filling that role) I don’t feel the need to keep it around. If any UK oppos happen to be interested, I can do an opponaut discount.

DISCUSSION (15)

fhrblig > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
09/15/2018 at 14:28

If I had the patience and time, I’d consider importing it. It reminds me a lot of my two Chevy Sprints, which were probably quite larger than this.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > fhrblig
09/15/2018 at 14:52

Its slightly narrower but slightly longer than an original Mini to give a sense of scale. It would certainly look extremely small on US roads next to F150s etc. If you ever did get the patience and time to import something you'd probably want to look at one of the top spec turbo ones rather than this boggo one though.

dogisbadob > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
09/15/2018 at 14:56

You’re just trying to show off another cute lil fun car we don’t g et over here :p

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > dogisbadob
09/15/2018 at 15:07

There aren't many over here either... Less than ten road legal, including mine.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
09/15/2018 at 17:38

If I had the money and a place to put it I'd import it here to nova Scotia! I love cheap basic cars! :)

fhrblig > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
09/15/2018 at 18:00

Nah. Both of my Sprints were pretty low-rent versions that were bog slow. I loved them. I like old barebones little cars.

I checked on Wikipedia and it looks like these aren't as much smaller than the Sprint as I thought they were, but still pretty tiny.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
09/16/2018 at 07:24

I imagine the importation would exceed the value of the car haha.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > fhrblig
09/16/2018 at 07:25

Yeah it’s not microcar small, but in modern traffic it looks pretty comical.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
09/16/2018 at 07:32

I drove one of these for a day. They were known as Mira here. I got one as a loan car when my Charade was at the dealer. It had a two speed automatic...which might as well have been ‘frantic’ and ‘beyond frantic’. In retrospect, i t was like trying to hill climb in a Series 2 Land Rover. Hilarious. Stupid. Slow. Engaging. Endearing. Entertaining. Daft. Brilliant. I giggled the entire time I was driving the thing...enjoying it but glad I didn't own it.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media
09/16/2018 at 08:42

Mine is the 5 speed manual so it's slightly more civilized... slightly. It's a lot of fun, but not exactly a comfortable daily driver.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
09/16/2018 at 11:56

Probably, but if the import fees were cheap enough I’d go for it! :P

That being said, the downside is the cost of insurance and FINDING an insurer for RHD vehicles around here...

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
09/16/2018 at 12:24

Over here it qualifies for classic car insurance so it’s pretty cheap. It’s a shame that RHD cars are an issue.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
09/16/2018 at 16:15

They are insurable over here, but I’ve been told its hard to find insurers that will work with them and they seem to be more costly.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
09/17/2018 at 07:03

Yeah I'd rock that...but it would be killed under my command. It would be worthy of a mental all-electric conversion...

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media
09/18/2018 at 08:22

Electric conversion did cross my mind some time ago, but my mind wanders from one crazy project idea to the next pretty quickly.