Quickride: 2007 Daihatsu Copen

"Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW." (aya-yu)
11/17/2014 at 13:40 • Filed to: Quickride

Quickride is back from a long hiatus with a tiny little shoe, errr, i mean car! Yes it's a legit car, albeit a bit small. Like, really small. It's called Daihatsu Copen.

The Copen is Daihatsu's attempt of making tiny-sized sports car. As you know, in Japan there's something called Kei Car, a car that so small that in Japan you're allowed to have lower tax and park it on the street. Although some say because it's so small why you don't pocket them and take it with you?

Because it's so small, the engine is also small. It has a 659 cc 4 cylinder turbo which makes 63hp. And because this car is a kei car, it's limited at 140km/h. That's about 86mph if you live in McDonald Land. You might says "uh, aya, my blender has more power than that." If you do say that, well, then you forgot one thing..

This thing is light. It's weighs about 800kg, even with the fancy metal folding roof. Maybe because it's so small. Because it's light, this car can do 0-60 in...11-12 seconds. Even a Corolla is faster than this.

But still, there's nothing more fun than driving a slow car fast, and that's what the Copen is all about. The chassis is really good, the suspension is stiff, and the wheels are exactly on the corner of the car, which makes driving this car really fun, even in the city. Or some people would say, it has a "gokart-like handling". Despite Gokart is rear-wheel drive, and copen is front-wheel drive. But, the copen is really agile and fun for it size, although i'm really wishing i had more powaaaaaah.

Yes it's small, it's not very well-equipped, it's quite slow, it's quite cramped, and if you're taller than 180cm/6ft you cannot might not fit with the roof up. But, for a weekend toy, copen is a suprisingly good car. You wouldn't complain about any of this issue when you're behind the wheel. Think about the copen, is the modern equivalent of tiny little british roadster that everybody loves, like MG Midget. I love this car.

But still, can i haz moar powah?