Dollywobbler's Dinky (ex) Daihatsu - Boring update.

[dollywobbler]

So, having a little extra paid work naturally meant that I was on Gumtree quicker than a mong. I quickly found a very suitable steed, needing something that had as few frills as possible to keep Mrs DW happy, but enough quirk to keep me happy. The excellent* photos drew me in, as did the two-line description. Actual size.

 

But was it the right choice? Handily, I found some excellent* sales information to convince me.

 

I emailed the seller, who turned out to be one of those rare LEGENDS. The car had just 24,000 on the clock, believed genuine and both seller and car sounded ideal. Especially when he noticed how little MOT was remaining (one month) and knocked the price down from £350 to £300. For a 16-year old car. That was barely run in. Logistics were challenging, due to actually having a job. I got today off, hit National Rail, found a £23 train ticket to Bootle, Liverpool and then spent two days desperately hoping no-one else would buy it. I wasn't quite brave enough to send a deposit. Which is is most unlike me. 

 

Collection capers will follow after food! Watch this space...

[Pillock]

Good lord that advert is extraordinary! 

 

Has yours got sexy graphics DW? 

[dollywobbler]

Not really. Once I've had some food and let my ears recover a bit, I shall provide full gory details, including petrol station shots obviously.

[Lacquer Peel]

Always fancied one of these to razz around in, bet they're a load of fun, like driving a bumble bee riding on sofa castors.

[HillmanImp]

Per-o-dua. I never knew it was pronounced like that. I am not sure how I would have said it as I don't think I ever had but it certainly wasn't like that in my head. I think my brain must have subconsciously mumbed everything after the PE..mumble..A Nipper.

 

I bet this is a hoot to drive. Old ladies will be throwing their knickers at you when you cruise through the town centre.

[Timewaster]

I had always thought it was "Prod You Err"

 

Waiting for pics. Kettle on.

[dollywobbler]

I go for Per-odd-yew-a myself. Anyway, I'd better get some capers kicked into action. 

 

The day began in lazy fashion as I had been woken by a banging door at 5:30am. There was then a failure to get back to sleep due to 'OMG IZ CRISSMUS' levels of excitement. Eventually, me and Mrs DW clambered into the 2CV and headed to town. Mrs DW went shopping for girlie things like mortar, computer hard drives and fruit while I got on this train.

 

At Caersws (care-zeuss is close to what it sounds like) we were subject to a delay due the train running late coming the other way. It's single-track here, so we had to just sit and wait. Given that I had nine-minutes between trains one and two, and nine-minutes again between two and three, I became nervous. Fortunately, the driver got a hoon on, which made up for the disappointment of failing to get a photo of a beige Toyota Tercel estate.

 

Soon, Wolverhampton hove into view. A desperate dash for the loos was followed by a desperate attempt to work out which of the many frigging platforms I was meant to be on. I arrived just in time for this.

 

Electric, which was a lot bloody quieter than the epically noisy Arriva train. The only let down was the horrible beeping it did on a frequent basis. By comparison, the green interior wasn't so bad.

 

Any thoughts of live reporting on AS went out of the window almost immediately. I can't really make my phone do it, and the battery life is so appalling that by this stage, I was seriously concerned that I might not have enough battery life to get to my destination. Therefore, you shall have to live without a photo of the miserable MerseyLine train. It was horrible. 

 

Eventually, many hours after setting out on my quest, a gentleman named Walter met me at Bootle New Strand and led me off to a car park to see his Nippa.

 

24,000 miles on the clock, very tidy. He took me for a spin, which allowed me to confirm that it rode just as badly as the Sirion, especially on Bootle's horrendous roads. A Police chase flashed past us at one point, but even they seemed to be taking it gently, presumably because the roads were so poor. Strategic road shiteness? Walter took me for a coffee and we chatted about cars (he has a DS in the family and loves 2CVs) and I checked through what service history existed - not much, but enough to confirm that when he bought the car, it had 10,000 miles on it. It had done a few hundred miles the year before, then leapt up to 5000 in his first year! That was 2012. I then had a test drive. Good grief this car is small! I was pinned against the door one side, and Walter the other. I was scraping my knuckles on the seats as I took the handbrake off and the heater controls are mostly in front of the passenger. 

 

It drove well though. Typical sharp clutch, lovely three-pot growl and it seemed to turn and stop as I desired. £300 was handed over, paperwork was signed and I headed north... TO BE CONTINUED (I need to find more pictures!)

[richardmorris]

That looks more like a toy car than a 2cv!

[Sloth in a bowl]

Did he not have a full size one to sell you?

[cms206]

That looks fantastic DW, I hope it lasts until Shitefest so we can see how many 6-footers can squeeze in along with your video camera.

 

Jock seems a trustworthy chap too, pity he lost his Volvo franchise and blew his last 50p on that video.

[dollywobbler]

MOAR!

 

By happy co-incidence, I ordered the wrong laptop battery on Ebay, and it arrived yesterday. The sender was based 5-miles away from the bloke selling the car. Sherlock's deductions are not required here. Even though they said they didn't deal with members of the public, they were actually superb when I just turned up. Which I said I would when they emailed me to say they didn't deal with members of the public. Batteries were soon swapped. My day was just full of Epic Win. Speaking of which, the industrial estate provided an opportunity for more pics. What bloody colour is this? The V5 reckons gold. I reckon it should just be called Giffer.

 

If you think it looks tiny from the front, check out the rear! Turning around to reverse is alarming as you almost headbutt the rear window. Despite there being another seat back there!

 

Original dealer sticker still present. Sadly not the same one as the video.

 

The battery saga had left me dangerously low on fuel, as I ended up wrong-laned past two petrol stations, before a short stretch of motorway. Then, with battery saga resolved, the sat nav wanted to take me straight back onto the motorway. I told it to find a petrol station instead. It found one of those ones where there's not really enough room for two cars between pumps. Unless one is a Nippa!

 

From 'fumes' to full was £23 exactly! The same price as my 'bargain' train fare. Chocolate was consumed and I hit the road.

 

It must be said, this thing buzzes along very merrily. It doesn't have quite the top-end zing of the Sirion (which had 989cc to the Nippa's 847) but it seems to have surprising levels of torque, so I wasn't ragging it like I had the Sillion. The ride is bloody awful though. Cats eyes had to be avoided. White lines had to be treated with respect. It does seem pretty grippy, but road and wind noise levels are hilariously high. It'll blezz along at 70mph no bother at all - even an indicated 80mph at one stage. I have no idea what RPM the engine is doing at these speeds, as there's no rev counter, and the engine is pretty much impossible to hear above 40mph. Even though someone has fitted 'low noise' tyres to it. Maybe some attempt at sound deadening is required. 

 

Photos were few and far between, as I knew bad weather was forecast. I just wanted to keep moving. Other road users don't seem to mind getting passed by a Perodua though - I even overtook a Porsche Cayenne GT3! Which was doing 60mph on a dual carriageway...

 

After passing through hilarious Pant, I stopped for a photo. Some may recognise the location.

 

Newtown was fun* as usual.

 

This at least allowed time to marvel at how crap the Nippa is to drive in traffic. Like the Sirion, it has a weak tickover, so giffer-revs tend to be needed. Trying to potter along on tickover in gear is just impossible. It won't do it. The idle was also getting lumpy at this stage. I'm hoping new plugs will cure that. It does need a service.

 

Being stuck in traffic allowed me to absorb the magnificent interior, of which photos will have to wait for now as I don't have any. There's LOTS of exposed metal, even on the roof. Switchgear is pretty much hidden too - that for the rear wiper is near your left knee and invisible from the wheel. The fog light is right next to it. The heated rear window switch is also invisible, which is probably why I only noticed it was on after several miles. I wonder how long it had been on...

 

The driving position is pretty good - pedals are straight ahead. Like the Sirion, it lacked under-thigh support someone but didn't seem as bad. It made up for it with very poor back support and seats that are so small that even I feel like I'm falling off them. The wiper blades are all completely shot. I think the rear might be the original. Therefore, hitting rain at Oswestry (just as I had when collecting the XM - does it always rain there?) was not entirely enjoyable. There is no mist function, but there is the great luxury of intermittent wipers. That really is a great luxury when the interior light doesn't even come on when you open the doors. Locks, windows and steering are all keep fit too, though you can reach every lock (and even window winder) from the driver's seat quite comfortably. A Blaupunkt stereo is fitted. It even works. There is a digital clock, but I think it has a habit of randomly resetting.

 

The gearchange is remarkable, presumably because there's so little wear in the linkage. Wonderfully direct, though I do find the lever rests against my leg in fifth. 

 

Anyway, I neared home. I thought I'd better fill up again, as the tank had dropped to half. 

 

Insane. It had cost me £12 to get home! That's 55mpg and a lot cheaper than the train. 

 

It should be the ideal Mini replacement really. Sure, it doesn't really handle all that well, but it grips well enough and importantly, the lack of steering assistance means you can feel what's going on. Hopefully it'll get the Mrs-DW seal of approval...

[Vantman]

I pass John Childs garage a couple of times each week and have known him for about 50 years. I think he still has a few new ones in stock. Let me know if you need anything DW.

[dollywobbler]

Thanks! He apparently still has a decent stash of parts. Might need a clock at the moment, and probably service parts. I have oil and filter included in sale! But nowt else.

[skattrd]

850cc 3-pot? Do you want me to put you in touch with some Malaysian drag racers? they get 200+bhp out of those

[dollywobbler]

Ah. That reminds me. Coming down our driveway, which is all off-throttle, I then turned around at the bottom and, just like the Sirion (and Rover 416) got a whiff of burnt oil. I'm hoping an oil change will help it - presumably gunky rings. I never stopped the Sirion burning the odd bit of oil, but it did vastly improve after an oil change.

[outlaw118]

Top work Sir!

 

My limited experience with these came at a Mtorshow at the NEC in the '90's where my brother and I got into a Nippa, and were unable to close the doors. (Those who haven't had the pleasure of meeting myself and bro' just think 6 foot tall and 18ish stone....)

[Cavcraft]

Ace that!

 

Disused pub looks like Llanermynech (sp?) just past Pant, and I see the road past Lion Works in Newtown hasn't changed much since I used to go round that area.

[Jon]

Nice one! My Dad bought a Daihatsu Domino new in 1988 and proceeded to rag it senselessly for the next 5 years. My sister got a job in his office and they'd commute together on a short stretch of the A64; apparently, my Dad's daily routine on that journey was to attain 80+mph and overtake all the dawdlers. We did go out for a run to the shopping centre in it as a family of five at least once and I remember Dad overtaking a somewhat disbelieving giffer in an Astra on the single lane ring road.

 

Dad then replaced it with a second hand Sterling in 1993 and the commute times slowed down somewhat.....

[phil_lihp]

That really is quite neat, there's something very 'pure' about a base spec version of a tiny, basic car.  I recall James May likening its replacement to the original Mini in spirit a few years back - probably a stretch to be honest but I can see his point.  Loving the metallic beige too.

[skattrd]

Apologies for the music on most of these, but have some videos of Peroduas in action https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzPuxirfX0myDJk1ToYNwQw

[Shep Shepherd]

Not a car that I'd own (I like big Swedes far too much), but I think it looks really cute

[Station]

I have the same but in black with those Sepang graphics. I also put coil overs on it.

I bet the suspension is tired on yours, does it clonk a lot? It otherwise handles extremely well.

Take the rocker cover off and check it isn't sludged up.

[dollywobbler]

Not very clonky - chap reckons he had new dampers put on it two years ago. He also reckons he had the timing belt done, though it had already been done twice on age grounds. I won't be meddling with it. If Mrs DW was happy enough to drive a bleedin' Mini, she'll be fine with this. 

 

After seeing your engine, I may well get the rocker cover off come service time. I'm pleased this chap has actually driven it a fair bit though. Previously, it seems to have covered 10,000 miles in 13 years!

[dugong]

You've managed to buy a Daihatsu without marker pen on it.

 

Have a bun. That's easily three times better than that rancid Sirion.

[Angrydicky]

That actually looks very, very tidy, good purchase. A little bit new for my tastes, but seeing the Kent reg and dealer sticker reminds me that my housemate drives a Hyundai Amica, which looks very similar. He regularly takes this little thing from home (Shrewsbury) to Uni (Canterbury). Apparently it's a "bit buzzy".

[gallondrunk]

The Perodua range is for champions, especially when they first started being imported. I love them - Cute, tiny, and unashamedly old school. The Nippa nails all of these qualities.

 

An excellent purchase. I'd love to hear more about it in the future.

 

 

 

 

[dollywobbler]

Dugong - it looks a bit bland to me. I may have to get the felt tips out...

Dicky - the road and wind noise mean I've no idea if this is buzzy or not.

Have just remembered that this is my first Malaysian car though! Need to experience more cars of the world.

[dollywobbler]

I just about remembered to tax this last night. Naturally it's been back-dated to the 1st of the month due to the crafty DVLA bastards but I couldn't be arsed trying to tax it before driving home when it was already taxed. All sorted by monthly direct debit. All three cars need taxing this month, but with the 2CV, I'll get to see whether the tax really does stop when the MOT is up. I'll be paying a month's tax to tax the 2CV for two weeks.

[Slappy]

Hey DW, have some gratuitous photos of the John Childs garage from a rainy day last August.

 

 

 

 

To add to his shitre credentials, he also sold Dacias and Yugos

[HMC]

I did wonder if it would be another pint sized 3 pot! I bet it's a brilliant thing to whizz around in, just how much of that parking space unused says it all. What wheel/ tyre dimensions does it have?