The Econobox You Forgot About: Daihatsu Charade!

Click to Subscribe! ► goo.gl/x9qFdW
Remember the Daihatsu Charade? If you live in the US, you might not even remember that Daihatsu sold cars here for a few years! Today let's take an in-depth look at this adorable 1991 Daihatsu Charade SE, talk about Daihatsu's failed attempt at selling cars in America, discuss what it's like living with a rare but valueless economy car, and even look at Daihatsu's successful history racing these tiny little machines. Come join us!
===========================
Follow Hello Road!
KZbin ► / helloroad
Instagram ► / _helloroad
Twitter ► / _helloroad
Facebook ► / helloroadofficial
Buy a Shirt! ► helloroad.tv/shop
Follow Me!
Instagram ► / mrethantufts
Twitter ► / mrethantufts
Follow Paul!
Instagram ► / paulsfinesthour
===========================
Table of Contents:
0:00 What Is It?
1:03 Where Did You Find It?
2:36 Why Daihatsu?
3:23 Daihatsu's US History!
5:23 Exterior Design!
8:25 Interior!
11:38 What's It Like To Drive?
13:58 Scary?
15:02 Just an Old Hatchback.
17:14 Racing Charades???
18:10 Ethan's Impressions!
20:27 A Proper Econobox!
===========================
Music used in this episode:
- Selected tracks from the KZbin music library
- Selected tracks by Kia Orion ( • Video )

[@HelloRoad]

Do you remember the Charade?

[@WayneMoyer]

Not as much as I remember the Rocky.

[@dave11686]

I never saw them in person, but there was one in the John Ritter movie problem child, and I remember reading a popular mechanics article about them

[@sebastiankelso]

I remember seeing these a lot as a kid in Puerto Rico and I'm sure there's a few left over there. Including the Rocky. They just looked like regular cars back then but nostalgia sure makes them look a little more special.

[@toronado455]

Yes there was a first year model parked on my street at the time. There were TV ads for it that were very unusual and only "teased" images of the car, especially that unique rear fender.

[@TenOrbital]

They were pretty common in Australia for a long time

[@TheGarnetNugget]

These are still around here in Europe, but getting rarer by the day. Most people buy these as their first car and scrap it when they get something newer or it doesn't pass inspection anymore. They're so cool though! Very similar to my 1 liter Justy :) A friend of mine owns a 5 door hatchback and has been driving it for almost 5 years now, currently working on a 1.6 engine swap from the Daihatsu Applause. They deserve more love!

[@williamsinger4124]

Justy...now there's a car I haven't seen in awhile. Here in upstate NY the winters and salt were not kind to them. I had an 88 justy, 3 door hatch, 1.2 liter 3 cylinder, 5 speed manual and 4wd. I think it was rated at 70 hp. I loved that little thing. Always ran, had a great heater, and would absolutely rip through the snow

[@squawksmcgee2083]

there's a dude who drives a Rocky in my town and he still uses it to camp and whatnot, sick little car

[@john_barnett]

The bog-standard white paint, unpainted bumpers and grey steelies will always be one of my favourite looks for cars

[@codyredfern88]

I love that you show off forgotten or unwanted vehicles and shed a beaming light on them to show how rad they are. Love it and always happy when a new video is out 🎉

[@grunkohlaktionar7474]

The GTti model of this had 101 hp from a 1.0 litre turbo engine. Highest output per liters of displacement at the time

[@Sorted7]

The GTti was a brilliant little 3 cylinder ‘hot’ hatch.

[@sheppardpat47]

It was hot hatch Since it was just a damn fucking rocket ship

[@rightlanehog3151]

Ethan, You were reminded of your Tercel and I am reminded of my base, 2 door 1988 Mercury Tracer though it did have an extra cylinder and 82 hp. Today Daihatsu has been fully absorbed into the Toyota empire

[@nolarobert]

The Charade reminds me of my Dad's early 90's Geo Metro. His Metro was also a three-cylinder but it was so lightweight I never thought that it felt underpowered unless I was trying to merge into Atlanta traffic on I-285. My Dad loved that basic little car and it never let him down. I haven't seen a Charade on the road in a long time but I have seen an old Metro still hanging in there on the rare occasion. Simple little econoboxes like this are history thanks to all of the safety regulations we have in place. I drive a Kia Soul and I feel nervous when surrounded by big SUVs driving aggressively on the Interstate. I can't imagine I would ever want to go back to the days of the Charade. Just no margin for error if you get into an accident.

[@p.informatico1320]

I think the Geo Metro was based on the Suzuki Swift, which had a GTI version with a 1.3 4-cylinder 16 valve engine with 104 PS... that specific model flies...

[@andrewhopkins1010]

My dad was on a game show (Classic Concentration) in 1988 and actually won a Ford Festiva. One of the other cars available to win at the end was a Daihatsu Charade. When I see one I always think about that.

[@jakelannetti3128]

There’s something really fun about being an enthusiast for a forgotten, every day car. For starters it’s unique, you always have something different, theres a fun hunt for vintage memorabilia or dealer options, and it’s generally a much cheaper way to be a car enthusiast!

[@karyo4560]

This gen known as "Charade Winner" in Indonesia, and it was the Charade generation that (might be) outsold by it's predecessor as well as the last gen to be sold here. Nowadays small numbers of them are still preserved, the rest are riced out into oblivion. The revving sound of that CB engine reminds me of Daihatsu Hijet (S70) my dad once owned. Sounds so throaty, always makes me smile whenever he revved it to keep up with the early 2000s traffic 😅

[@syaifullahumar2944]

Charade cx. 993cc 3 silinder. Charade winner HB 1.3 cc, 4 silinder same as sedan charade classy

[@JohnSharp-bd1wf]

I boought my Daihatsu Charade CLX new in 1989 and still own it 34 years later! It now has 182,000 miles. It still runs great and I put antique tags on it so I don't have to have annual inspections here in Va. I can honestly say it's that its the best car I have ever owned, I'm 75 and owned many cars!

[@ecymbura31]

I always remember the red one in Problem Child

[@pacerdanny]

Great-looking car for that age and mileage! Reminds me of my base 1986 Subaru Hatchback: simple, light, and raw. At the 1987 LA Auto Show, Daihatsu was part of a wave of cheap entry-level cars like the Yugo, Hyundai Excel, Subaru Justy, Toyota Starlet (manual choke on some models), and so on. IIRC, the strong yen drove that trend, as non-Japanese makers used their cost advantage to capture entry-level buyers and the Japanese went smaller and more basic to hold onto the segment as best they could.

[@srenhansen1542]

Oh loved the design of the 1. and 3. generation Charades. We used to have tons of them in Denmark back then. But the rust took them all 😢 Love the sound of the little three cylinder engine. The Daihatsu engine lived on in the PSA and Toyota triplets Toyota Aygo, Citroën C1 and Peugeot 107/108 of cause a bit modified as a "Toyota" engine 😊

[@mipmipmipmipmip]

Never knew that 1L engine was of Daihatsu Charade heritage. It's known as the most reliable engine you can get in a French car

[@sheppardpat47]

@@mipmipmipmipmipmost reliable « new » gas engine in a French car There are amazing diesel in French cars Most new gas engines are garbage from them

[@SimpleAsBDCs]

Kinda reminds me of my 89 Ford Festiva I had I like hatch back cars in general was looking to buy a Mitsubishi Mirage in 2018 didn’t have the one I wanted I wanted it in a manual Hatchback ended up getting a 2018 Ford Focus St…

[@RetroCarsForever]

11:17 "NOMINATED Import Car of the Year Motor Trend" (Pretty sure ANY new car was "nominated!" 😅) I've always appreciated Pauls dedication to this minimalist oddball car!

[@osvaldovidela6466]

Here in Argentina you can still see 2 or 3 Charades once in a while, most common model is the G10 from 1980-82 In 3 or 5 door body, the later models can be found as well in here from 89 to 1996 I think, they're really nice looking cars ngl but it's the same problem as the U.S. there are little amount of parts available for this kind of cars and yes we did get the GTti here. Though all of them are imports.

[@thebluexb]

I can't even begin to imagine how many of these, along with Rockys and HiJets are left in the US, gotta be less than 1,000! We never got cool little gems like this in when I worked at CarMax

[@infernoking7504]

I wish they would make more cars like this small simple to fix rebuildable just all in all nice

[@FlowStateNewOrleans]

I graduated high school in 1990. There were three Daihatsus that I remember in my high school. Two were Charades and one was a Rocky.

[@TemkaUwU]

You make one of the most mundane cars seem interesting

[@realnutteruk1]

They were sold in the UK with the option of a 1 litre diesel.... either NA or turbocharged!

[@robiricsantos-iq1se]

i love daihatsu charade, my charade is 30years now and still very goodrunning condition and now 700,000 kilometers and very good condition

[@taunusv4power]

Omg so he was the one to get that shakensho from Daniel! Man it's been ages since he did that giveaway. Glad to see someone mentioning him

[@jeremylittle1581]

This reminded me that there used to be a gray one in a neighboring town where I grew up in Minnesota. That’s the only one I can recall ever seeing.

[@48Boxer]

I've always wondered who in the marketing department allowed this name to continue to production. A buddy of mine had a Rocky. Really cool vehicle. He forgot to latch the "targa" panel down and it blew off on the highway. It flew up about 20 feet in the air and landed on the side of the road in the grass and didn't get a single scratch on it.

[@CJWriter0925]

I remember this car. This makes me feel old, but at least I'm in good company.

[@mrjsv4935]

I remember these Charades, and the two previous generations too here in Finland. Daihatsu had also bigger model, the Charmant, which was based on last gen RWD Toyota Corolla, and from 1989, the Applause. I think there was also small Van, called Hijet.

[@joshuathompson2131]

Such a rad vehicle. I know your pain with lack of parts. My project 1993 Mazda 323 is a rare bird and I've only seen 1 in a junkyard and it was just a shell.

[@espinozanovak831]

I bought a 1988 charade new in december 1987 when they just came out. "Beige" inside and out like the one at 6:15 in the video. I painted the bottom half black to line up with the all black bumpers. It was the first reliable car I owned. It was a blast. I drove it hard and nothing ever failed except the outside door handle which was toyota camry handle, a rusted muffler, and a steering rod bolt because I drove over a curb. Always got 43 mpg even over 100,000 miles. Handling was fantastic because I went up 3 width sizes from 145 to 175 tires on the 13 inch rims. Great feedback since steering was direct, no power steering! And you could do the most amazing u-turns. I told people you put nuts in the gas tank for the hamster wheel under the hood. I even made a big sticker on rear window that said "hamster powered". Daihatsu was related to Toyota, so you could use toyota parts. Fun Fact, Daihatsu did leave, but you could buy them in the 2000s when new models came back to America renamed as ... Scion!

[@missamdan]

I had a red 88 Charade in high school. It was my first manual transmission car. I liked it.

[@cbh148]

21:25 This is the quintessential Daihatsu experience, where females chase you down after seeing your sedan, swooning because they probably know that means you've got the macho 4 cylinder. CharadeBae, bestill my heart.

[@brianrichardson7039]

The first time I saw this car it was a prize on "Classic Concentration". Alex Trebek was the host. (RIP)

[@barron204]

I did a driving lesson in one of these back in the 90s. Reasonably popular in my country.

[@Iskalawagz24]

We have plenty of that here in the Philippines.

[@gdawwg1125]

Very popular in Australia back in the day

[@derekj.tejeda267]

My dad owned a gold 5-door Charade, his first car ever. I always liked these, haven't seen myself buying one as a project, but maybe I should...

[@D3R866]

I've been on the hunt for a charade for about 3 years and I've only seen 2 for sale and both sold rather quickly they such awesome little econoboxes but hopefully I can one day have the money to import one

[@timothykeith1367]

A '90 Charade is now on FB Marketplace in El Paso, TX. Looks good. $1,500

[@CBwhales]

Nice to see Paul and his Charade on Camera. When are you guys doing another Podcast together?

[@mawa9843]

Here in Germany my first car was a used red Charade 1.0 2 door. Very basic but fun to drive and cool 3 cylinder sound. Being in a long distance relationship back then, i took it to the Autobahn for 500km trips quite regulary. Sqeezed every bit of power out of it for hours and it took 60000km of abuse like a champ. Sold it in 2008 and by the time those cars pretty much disappeared from the daily traffic. Let alone when Daihatsu left the Euro market in 2010 or something. Brings back memories

[@NFS4LFE]

My friend got his license in one of these. I sincerely want one.

[@p.informatico1320]

I dont remember seeing ant charade in Spain... I thinl we has the Rocky, the Feroza, the Sirion and the Terios, before Daihatsu decided to abandon our market... After that, the Copen is the only model they sell here.

[@terry4345]

I still have a Daihatsu Charade G100, it was my first car and still stay with me, it's an awesome car, very fun to drive, and easy to work on, Cheers from Chile :D

[@bengehrmann2397]

I love the little old Charades! Down here in Australia, I have 7 G11 Charades (one of which is a genuine Turbo 5 door) and a Applause that came with the 1.6L 4cyl. Seeing a 993cc 3cyl with EFI is so weird, as they kept the carburettor here into the late 90's in the G200!

[@Fopenplop]

Major love for guys who have a favorite font of all time. You're keepin this whole sorry world together.

[@kokonut1350]

My god, I remember riding that kind of Charade in a 5-door.. I rode along with my father back then, t'was a great compact car after but... It became much rare here in the Philippines 😢

[@ericckcguys9822]

Still got 350 plus owners and all cars are kickin ❤🚗🔰🔰

[@Midnight_Millennium]

There's still a lot for sale in fb marketplace but almost all are riced out, planning to buy one soon. I spotted a decent 3 door hatchback charade for only 34k php, (roughly 600usd) and the only issues are paint, aircon, some scratches, small dents and a few years late on registration. Otherwise it's a good deal! There's also better options like 2 fully restored charades that I saw but the 3 door hatchback goes for 80k (around 1400usd) and issue is late registration while the 5 door hatchback goes for around 100k (around 1700usd) and same issue, just the registration is late. Tingin tingin ka lang may mahahanap ka den!

[@kelemenkaban2505]

Mickey Rourke as the face of the ad campaign? What could go wrong?!?!?

[@ericwhitehead6451]

A guy I was in the AF with had a red one of these in the early 90's. He drove it hard but maintained it and never gave him any problems.

[@TheCarCrazyGuy]

My friend had one, a 3 cylinder hatch.

[@JanarzGTA]

Thank you Paul for an interesting Daihatsu (Charade) overview! About 20 years ago, when I was 3-4 years old, we had a black 1991 Charade here in Finland. It wasn't anything special, but it got 5 of us everywhere we needed to go.

[@61chickens]

Ah, makes me miss the 53hp 1 litre 3 pot goodness of my old Suzuki Swift. Would love to drive a turbo Charade - that would be a lot of fun....

[@reggaeful]

This was so fun to watch. Your videos are really getting me into 80s and 90s cars!

[@benjaminnorris7370]

I had a charade cx 5 door and it was the most amazing go anywhere vehicle ive ever owned nz new 5 speed 3 cylinder would go places some 4x4s couldnt and always came out the otherside just fine 🥰

[@Trance88]

What a neat little car! I wish more people bought Daihatsu vehicles in the US back in the day. BTW, Dankpods has one of these that he's trying to fix up, just FYI.

[@ryanglass2778]

Great video and exciting to see in my feed Until 2021, I had owned a 1988 Daihatsu Charade for 11 years. Same generation and engine as this one, but with only 48k miles. It was a fantastic little car that was reliable, solid, and fun to drive. All of the attributes mentioned in this video apply. I've had the pleasure of meeting Paul on several occasions at Radwood and having our Charades together. He's done a great job at keeping it running and it looks cleaner than ever, belying the 200k+ miles. It looks spotless and he's obviously committed a lot of time in it since we first met years ago. Wonderful to see the Charade get some love on here and glad you had a chance to drive one, Ethan

[@gregorysmith3763]

Superfun hang, guys; "banana for reference" 😂 good format shakeup, E 👍

[@ptproductions3582]

I just seen one on the freeway for the first time yesterday, I fell in love ! I'll buy it !!!!

[@mikem5922]

Always had a weird soft spot for these. I always thought they had a unique look.

[@michaelcoffey7362]

I like this car 🥰

[@Saul_Soto82]

I love this car!! I haven't ever seen this before because I'm Mexican, but man, this reminds me of our beloved tsuru here

[@JanLemkes]

So nice. I live in Europe, but actually had a US-spec Charade SX around 2009. That's a sedan with the 1.3, but also white with unpainted bumpers. I wish I still had that, but I'll have to make do with a EUDM Charade sedan. Thanks for te video!

[@chriscastillo4634]

I live in rural central Texas and I found a green Charade hatchback in a field..unfortunately it was wrecked.

[@HelloRoad]

😭

[@TheOne4worldpeace]

can testify 100+hp in one of these is a lot of fun. GREAT VIDEO!!

[@manueltoscano2074]

It’s funny the only time I’ve seen one was outside a mechanic shop in Illinois and their was two right next to each other. This was a year or two ago.

[@paytopray1468]

I have a 1990 diahatsu charade 4 cylinder automatic. I love the thing but it is impossible to find any parts except generics that sort of work. Nearly pulled all my hair out looking for a drivers side door handle

[@waterbacon2229]

nice vid keep it up!!!

[@trillcollins7847]

dankpods aka garbagetime here on youtube is fully rebuilding the engine on one of thsese if im not mistaken! you should check out his progress, he's also hella funny. I love learning about random jdm cars from when I was a kid. dont think i've ever seen a charade in person tho!

[@Bunnysarefat]

Great content

[@nubetre]

I remember the Mitsubishi Lancer/Mirage did that “logo instead of a side marker” thing too

[@HelloRoad]

Oh yeah!

[@MrPropanePete]

I’m just about to restore one here in Australia. Get it into my workshop next month. Great little cars.

[@legerdemain]

In my late teens, looking for a first car, one dealer had a really clean Charade, a nice looking Sterling and a Fox. I don't think I've seen any of those for sale in the twenty years since.

[@PSXBOX-lz1zq]

you can still get parts for those charades in indonesia and malaysia

[@nigel-Rollercam-channel]

Ethan I have to say I really appreciate the variety on this channel ! I remember when bumper stickers were a thing and my favorite was "my other car is a piece of shit too!" No disrespect to the Charade since the dictionary definition is, an absurd pretense intended to create a pleasant or respectable appearance. A friend still has a Suzuki Forsa turbo (Cultus) the predecessor to the Sprint languishing at his property, I may have to go and revitalize it soon. I spotted your Scion XB in the background looking forward to updates on that and the dreaded Northstar money pit!

[@topofthepalm]

how cool, i remember the car from the 90's, i don't have any ties to it but i have a 99 civic hatch and it is very similar, it has a/c and that is the only option......very connected to driving and i that about it!

[@2m4fiero80]

I'm driving One here in the Netherlands. also a 3 Cyl but Carburated, 1993 White Hatchback , 54 hp , it sounds like a 6 cyl , always liked the Rallye History and Safari Rallye with 1.3 l and 1 litre turbo!

[@christianmonreal9303]

I have the sudden desire to see a carmeet where the nothing but charades , geo metros,Yugo gv and amc pacers ,those obscure econoboxes that everyone's forgot about.

[@Stormtrooper_98Trd]

I would love one of these!

[@frog382]

I remember as a kid glancing trough windows of all cars gauge clusters to see the top speed engraved and rev counter and i was shook at charades 9000rpm rev counter. This is why i remembered this car 😆

[@REPOMAN24722]

The turbo was a mini monster.

[@paulsz6194]

These were popular in Australia. They even had a Gti version of it with a 3 -Cyl turbo.

[@Typingwithpaws]

Love the owner's attitude. He gets it. Hope to see more of the USA adopt some of his energy!

[@mikeyfourbarrel8473]

I was waiting for the comparison to the Porsche 911. 😁 In all honesty, this is vastly more interesting than a 911 when it comes to how I spend my KZbin time.

[@Ford_TImelord]

Check out the earlier generation Daihatsu Charade that Old mate 'Garbage Time' is rebuilding on his channel.

[@ydmf2]

I want one of these.👍

[@albarriault6147]

That's in pretty awesome shape for the year and mileage.. i can help but hear Seth Rogen every time Paul spoke 😂.. I'm sure if he tried, he would be spot on

[@blue_lancer_es]

This was a direct competitor to the swift. But iirc a friend had a hatch with a 4cyl dohc engine. Have in mind I'm talking 30 years ago. Might of been sohc but I know it was 4cyl.

[@nathanha8760]

These were produced until the early 2010s in China as the FAW Tianjin Xiali

[@TheMajortanner]

I would love to see it drag race a Geo Metro.

[@jimmyjckjones]

I have driven one just like this.. adored it. Great little crap box cars.

[@sheppardpat47]

Why did he took out A/C?? Bruh that was one of the best option about this car we didn’t get it in Europe 😭😭😭

[@keaganskateboarding]

I love my Daihatsu charade, kinda dressed it up a little bit like any teenager would, fun little car and recently picked up a Detomaso charade too as a project ( only 60 in new zealand ) whereas my g202 charade has 100 cars left too :(

[@user-ns6td8gi8y]

I have one , its a 1989, i have made it a complete European version, OEM power windows, No changes to the Engine,I love the ride, Fuel economy is close to 54 MPG, more than the 2000 toyota echo that i have. As a matter of fact the Charade is a Toyota 3Cyl car if you guys dont know. Who ever has one dont sell them. I am planing to make it a hybrid though. Rear Electric Diff,,gonna start on this project in 2 weeks from now. I also have a power generator made from a spare engine i got, that thing dont dies and its silent.

[@victorbaird8220]

Very cool😊

[@callumfreebairn8082]

i would love one of these

[@EricLee-ku7cb]

This car has a special attachment to me, the first car I drove is a beat-up Charade. I am looking for a Charade for a long time. Please, if the owner wants to sell it, please let me know how I can get in touch with you guys. I would like to buy it in a heartbeat! Thanks! Serious buyer here.

[@mohammadarham3231]

I have the 4 door detomaso version pre facelift and i luv it :>

[@conjopatrix666]

Love them.

[@kupokuporay]

Love the Charades and Applauses. Drive a 95' G200 CS Charade myself that still only has 70000 kms on the odometer, so plenty of time to spend with it until we can use gasoline no more.