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| Diahatsu
Sirion |
Broadcast
dates : 15th May 2005
21st May 2005 |
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Diahatsu
is a name that has some heritage here, having
cornered a fair chunk of the small city-car market
in the early 1980’s.
Since the late 1990’s, the Japanese manufacturer
has been back with a range of small cars with
ever-increasing quality.
The Diahatsu Sirion 1,3 Sport is one of a new wave
of city cars bidding to break the traditional
stranglehold of old-stagers like the Toyota Tazz and
Volkswagen City Golf.
Reliability and build quality have carried the day
for the Tazz and Golf so far, but that may be
changing.
The smart interior includes aircon, power windows,
and driver and passenger airbags.
Boot space is measured at a reasonable 224 litres
with the seats upright, and close to 900 litres with
the rear seats folded flat.
Upholstery is in durable-looking cloth, and there is
plenty of storage space up front.
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The engine in
the 1,3 litre Sport is a torquey four-cylinder unit, and
typically the Diahatsu is no slouch.
The four-speed automatic gearbox is a rather old-fashioned
unit with lots of torque-converter action causing the
engine to drone. It’s fine for suburban cruising, but on
the open road, we’d definitely go for the manual
version, which has a much crisper performance.
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Car Torque is
produced by
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