Hello

Hi Quartz, Welcome to Copenworld & congratulations on your purchase.

 

Hi quartz, the 1.3 is the car to have. Better than that turbo charged buzz bomb.

 

No no no

 

I nearly said 'fart box' buzz bomb was me being polite.
Do you know why Daihatsu changed the engine to the Yaris 1.3 motor in this country? I noticed the other day on a Japanese site that Copens just a year or two old still had the 660 engine.

 

The Copen was designed as a Kei class car in Japan. Which means it had to be certain dimensions. With engine size no bigger than 660cc & maximum
BHP of 64.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_car

The Copen was originally brought to Europe as this same version.
However due to new emission regulations in Europe, to continue to sell the Copen, Daihatsu had to change the engine. Thus the 1.3 Copen was born.

As a fan of all Kei cars, the 660 Copen is the only choice. As it was meant to be in it's true form.

 

dwayner

How reliable is the larger engine version of the copen? Im just ticking over 210,000 kms. Ive heard of the service problems every 3000kms, but i spoke to a diahatsu mechanic in Japan, who says that it is not a full service required- just the oil change is essential. and mainly becuase of the turbo - in Australia, that 3000km oil change amounts to just 55.oo dollars each time- so its not that great expense. I have it done even before that sometimes. and never had a problem with the turbo even though im well over 200, 000 kms

 

The previous owner of mine religeously had it serviced every year, and he only did about 1.5k miles a year!

 

So the 1.3 is a bastardisation of the original? Nice to know.

 

LHD Copens were made with 1.3L only; we (and Europe mainland and other RHT countries) didn't get Copens until they have this engine. To me, the Copen is a simple manual shift "sporty" car that's roughly under similar image (but better, of course...) as classics like the original Mazda MX-5 and MGF.

The 1.3 performs very different from a Yaris; it sounds and feels like a much bigger and powerful engine, and it goes to the red line so fast I frequently hit the limiter even in daily commute. From propaganda I've seen (not sure if it is true or not) Daihatsu had engine-acoustic specialists fine-tune both the 660 and the 1.3 engine tones.

Lotus Elise uses Toyota engines for Corolla. What are the odds racing a Corolla against an Elise?

 

I see you are from Taiwan?
Sorry, but some more detailed information about Copens and Europe:
Copen were sold in all Europe (UK and mainland) from 2003-2005 only as a RHD car with 660cc turbo engine.
From 2006 on they introduced the 1.3l RHD and LHD for all Europe.

In Taiwan there even is a LHD 660cc turbo Copen, see this link.

Andreas

 

Lotus - eater

The mention of Lotus, that's where I got the 'Lotuseater' from. Not long after I had the Copen I ended up at a set of lights next to a 'Lotus' - I think he must have missed second gear? Anyway I got off the lights first! -the first and i'm sure the only time my Copen will 'Eat' a Lotus!

 

Ah, a traffic light grand prix. Haven't done one of them for about twenty years, I'm much too James May these days.

 

True, Andreas,

There ARE RHD 660 Copens in Taiwan, imported as scrap metal and are illegal on the road. Probably one or two out there. I've seen one as early as like 2004 or 05 on auction sites. Although in theory you CAN apply for a license plate for an RHD car, the bureaucracy to go through is too complex and costly. Converting the driving side and changing the engine are supposedly illegal in Taiwan; you can do that only if you're not going on to public roads, or if you're willing to let the police confiscate it if you get caught. Lots of people modify Hondas and Mitsus for racing or for fun.

After the 1.3 LHDs are officially imported, the converted 660 can go a bit more unsuspicious, I guess.

 

More complex and costly than importing a LHD Copen and converting the engine to 660cc version?
Very strange world we live in....

 

Well, it is still illegal to change the engine. You CAN get a legal license plate with the LHD with 1.3 engine and then convert the engine to 660cc, and never go to the do the annual MOT at the government test locations; outsourced test garages can be "persuaded" to be lax on an engine swap.

Taiwan is a VERY strange place indeed.....

 

Welcome back