2007 Daihatsu Materia
Jun 12th, 2007 by Don Ray
I have seen several of these little Daihatsus running around town and thought I would stop in at the Toyota dealer and take a closer look.
Here is the sticker on the window. This is for a standard transmission. The B/ on the price stands for Balboa. One Balboa equals one US dollar. The easiest money conversion in all of Latin America.
Here is the rear view on the car that was outside.
I looked inside and it is pretty roomy for a small car. Not bad looking. I kind of like that retro look. The cars were locked so I couldn’t check out the leg room, but I had plenty of legroom on my Terios, so this should handle most people.
I didn’t ask anyone to unlock it because I didn’t want them to confuse curiosity with interest.
Don Ray,
Stick with a Toyota or Mitsu or Nissan. What little extra investment you make now will be repaid in a more enjoyable motoring experience, better reliability and higher resale value. But I know you know all that!
Anyhow, who builds this car and where? (The Daihatsu line?). Do you still own the Terios? How did it treat you? Did you take it off road for a pounding? How’d it hold up? Enough power? Road noise? Reliability? etc etc. Just wondering. I saw many a Terios in CR in use as taxi’s and the rental outfits are flooded with them..
KK
Reminds me of the bumper sticker I once saw on a ‘51 Studebaker. “It may be slow, but it sure is ugly.”
But that’s not why I wrote. Back when I was new-car shopping a couple of years ago, one of the things that I noticed about most new car dealers was that floor models were often locked and I practically had to rope and hog-tie a salesman to get them to pay me any attention. I ended up buying a Chevrolet because Silaba was the only dealer in PC who showed any interest in selling me a car. The fact that the Vivant is one of the roomiest and most comfortable cars in its class was a bonus.
KK - Actually the Daihatsu is a great car and uses the Toyota engine. I think the Daihatsu is a Toyota subsidiary. I have driven a Terios for 3 years and never had a problem. I always get 34 miles to a gallon and with its size, i can park it anywhere. My Terios has a 1.3 engine and I see the new ones have a 1.5. I have taken the Terios off road on every kind of road and would recommend it to anyone. My old Terios didn’t have ABS and the new ones do, but I only paid $14,000 for mine also.
Henry - I go for utility over looks any day. You have heard C&W song about making an ugly woman your wife and she will locve you the rest of your live. I havent seen the Vivant yet. I guess I don’t even know what it looks like.
No argument about utility. Actually I like the look of the ‘Materia’ (Where the hell do they get these names?). It’s looks like a modern day version of the ‘38 Ford.
The Vivant, like most of Chevrolet’s small cars, is made at the Daewoo factory in Korea. Here’s a pic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Daewoo_Rezzo.jpg
Henry - Ok, I have seen them and just didn’t know their names. GM in Panama is GM in name only. It seems that all of the GM cars here are either from Mexico or Korea.
I am having a terrible time finding out what cars are available in David and the prices. I’m still in the states, and doing this long distance isn’t working.
So–anyone know about the cost of the Sante Fe (Hyundai) or the Rav4, or Hilux?
Thanks
Try the Chiriqui Chatter Link section for Panama Auto dealers. If the dealer doesn’t have a working URL, that may tell you something. Here is the last post I did that shows the dealer locations in David.
http://www.chiriquichatter.net/blog/2005/11/14/david-car-dealers/