| Launch Report Daihatsu YRV Turbo 130 |
||
 |
||
|
Now, Look Here . . . Well, we asked our readers about this, and the response was very positive. Having decided that it could meet its target of 200 units per year, Daihatsu has decided that it will indeed import the car, now called the YRV Turbo 130. It goes on sale in late May, costing £10,995 on the road, and we've tried out the UK version. Only a very small number will be sold in this country, but you'll know all about it if you see one. The front-end treatment is aggressive, with large foglamps, a deep bumper and a bonnet scoop. Down each side there is a black strip with "TURBO 130" printed on it in large letters, just to make it quite clear that this is no ordinary YRV. Interior modifications are simple but significant and include an aluminium footrest and leather-covered steering wheel, gearshift and gaiter. The "130" part of the title is a slight exaggeration of the power output from the 1296cc, 16-valve, variable valve timing engine, which in fact produces 127bhp along with 125lb/ft of torque. That's the highest figure of any 1.3-litre car on sale in this country, and it's enough to create very strong straight-line performance - the official 0-60mph time is 8.1 seconds, for example. No Manual Option Impressive stuff. But I can't help feeling that Daihatsu decided to unleash the full potential of the engine and then realised that the rest of the car couldn't keep up. This is literally true in the case of the transmission. No manual gearbox available for the YRV will cope with all the torque, so a four-speed automatic has had to be used instead.
Daihatsu says that the auto also provides some measure of traction control - you can certainly feel the engine holding back if you apply too much throttle too early in a corner, though there is nothing on the car that would normally be understood as a traction control system. The power of the engine also overstretches the car in terms of its braking. Wheel arch space is very limited on the YRV, and the largest tyre Daihatsu feels it can use is a 175/55x15 (there's actually a slightly larger 185 section tyre available for the Terios, but it's apparently not as suitable, probably because the compound is wrong for a performance car). That in itself isn't a problem because the grip levels are quite high, but the 15" wheel diameter limit also places a restriction on the size of brakes that can be used. Even on public roads the brakes have to work quite hard to balance the acceleration, and I imagine they would quickly give up if anyone took the car out on a track day. I'm not so sure if the basic limitations of the car have anything to do with the ride and handling. In last year's test these were just awful, but the suspension set-up that caused this was exactly what Daihatsu so firmly insisted would not be changed. Improved Up To A Point That attitude has turned out to be nonsense, because the chassis of the YRV has in fact been worked on quite considerably. Within the first mile it's apparent that the production car is a lot better than the one we originally tried. Unfortunately, it's still nowhere near good enough. The work was done by an outside company, and Daihatsu then decided to add a rear anti-roll bar. This suggests firstly that Daihatsu didn't like what it was given, and secondly that it didn't know what to do about it. The main reason for this particular modification is to compensate for understeer (or possibly roll oversteer, though that's unlikely to be a probem in a front-wheel drive car). This seems to be missing the point, because the handling limit of the Turbo is neither understeer nor oversteer. It's bounce. The front end is so under-damped you could be forgiven for thinking there were no shock absorbers under there at all. Most of the weight of the car acts on the front springs, which compress and release under almost no apparent control - which in turn means that they continue compressing and releasing long after the car has passed the bump or whatever it was that got them started in the first place. Several times during this test, even when I didn't think I was pushing very hard, I felt the car was close to pogo-sticking off into the scenery, with me helpless at the wheel hoping the resulting accident wasn't going to hurt too much. Even when this isn't happening, the lack of control means that the rest of the YRV can't deal with the amount of power the engine produces. In a straight line this is an impressively quick little car. On any road with corners, it simply won't do. The automatic transmission and small brakes are unfortunate but unavoidable. I don't see, though, why there should be anything in the basic design that makes the YRV Turbo handle so badly. Despite the obvious limitations, I'm sure this car could be a great deal better than it is, but no doubt Daihatsu will say (again) that it won't be changed. Pity. |
Just under a year ago, Daihatsu presented the high-performance turbo version of its YRV hatchback to the British press and invited comments, even going so far as to issue journalists with a questionnaire. This was a very unusual occurrence, but it quickly began to seem that our more detailed opinions were not going to be taken seriously. CARkeys made one or two remarks about the suspension and was brusquely informed that nothing was going to change. All Daihatsu wanted to know was whether or not we thought the car should be imported over here.
