My daughter has her heart set on a 3 cylinder Daihatsu Sirion (1 litre).We took it for a test drive today and it is a lovely little car.Her father has now put a dampner on it by saying that a 3 cylinder car has to work twice as hard as a 4 cylinder car to run at 110km on the highway (we're in Australia).I'm no mechanic so your thoughts would be helpful please.
unbeatabull,
Sep 17, 6:31pm
Depends on the car you are comparing it to.
zooki007,
Sep 17, 6:34pm
The Sirion can move quite nicely - for a shopping basket. How much open road driving does your daughter do! If she only ever drives in town and hardy goes onto the open road, a 3cyl will be fine. Be warned genuine Daihatsu parts are very expensive.
a.woodrow,
Sep 17, 6:36pm
Well they don't have to work twice as hard! they will rev a little higher at 110 but that's more a gearing issue and not a cylinder issue. What kind of driving will it be used for! if it's mostly 50-60km city driving in traffic, then the sirion will really shine. If she is going to be doing regular highway running, she would be better off with a larger engine.
a.woodrow,
Sep 17, 6:38pm
Daihatsu parts aren't expensive at all, no more than their parent company toyota
zooki007,
Sep 17, 6:39pm
Wanna bet!I work for Toyota, and Daihatsu parts are waaaaaay more expensive even for fast moving parts as they aren't line priced like Toyota parts are.
kazbanz,
Sep 17, 6:42pm
OP if you are spending time at 110 then I will honestly say don't buy a 1000cc I don't agree with your husband that it works twice as hard JUST by being a 3 cylinder. That isn't the issue. Its the engine just isn't big enough for regular 110km/h driving. The 1300 cc version is much better. You probably already know thatThe D company is in partnership with Toyota so maintainence is typical toyota
gammelvind,
Sep 17, 6:42pm
A one litre car will work quite hard at 110km regardless, actually 3 cylinder engines are nicely balanced along with the larger 5 cylinder. The size of the engine is more significant in the "working hard" department than the number of cylinders.
trogedon,
Sep 17, 6:43pm
A 3 cylinder engine is less harmonically balanced than a 4. Just sayin'
a.woodrow,
Sep 17, 6:44pm
Yup I worked for toyota both here and in australia for many years until quite recently, all common service items are reasonably priced. Trim and panel parts are dear, but they aren't common replacement items
kazbanz,
Sep 17, 6:45pm
Hey troggie-off subjectbut I have an URGENT battery change needed.
zooki007,
Sep 17, 6:50pm
Try pricing genuine front brake pads for a Daihatsu as an example. Common as muck and frighteningly expensive! Or try a water pump for 1 as well. Toyota parts are lined price to beat (or at least make them competitive) aftermarket prices. Daihatsu parts aren't, so they are more expensive.
mirrhing,
Sep 17, 6:50pm
My daughter would be mainly using it for town driving - to and from work and school.Possibly with a couple of trips to Adelaide a year (400km) and maybe a monthly trip to Mt Gambier (50km).
a.woodrow,
Sep 17, 6:53pm
Would be a great car for round town, I'm sure she can put up with it for the occasional long trip. Why buy a car for those long aussie straights when you're never gonna see them
a.woodrow,
Sep 17, 6:54pm
OK so whats the price difference between brake pads for the sirion and a yaris! and the $ difference between the waterpumps
ETA - never mind, I see you've realised that they are in aussie now
zooki007,
Sep 17, 6:54pm
ooops, I see that the OP is in Aussie. Parts pricing may, more than likely, be different to here.
zooki007,
Sep 17, 6:55pm
Try $380 for pads, $1400 for a w/pump. Just had to do these very things recently. Bought aftermarket parts.
zooki007,
Sep 17, 6:56pm
Yaris w/pump $120, pads $93
curlcrown,
Sep 17, 6:59pm
Based on that get a V8 or better yet a V12.
r15,
Sep 17, 7:04pm
having had both a 1 litre manual sirion and a 1.3 litre manual sirion as work vehicles.
the fuel economy with me giving it a bit of shit was always around 7 litres/100km,which was pretty much the same as eachother in consumption.
the 1.3 goes really well, drive it spiritedly and they can do really good pace, especially on a tight road.the 1.0 feels underpowered and really needs to be thrashed and have the revs kept up in order to make it go.
getting across busy intersections required a lot of clutch and a lot of revs on the 1 litre.
mirrhing,
Sep 17, 7:34pm
As far as parts are concerned, I have just done a search on 2 sites in Australia and both brake pads and water pump are available for less than $120 each.
zooki007,
Sep 17, 7:47pm
The western island seems to get things much cheaper than us.lol
Try genuine for those parts though, just to compare.
mantagsi,
Sep 17, 7:52pm
Am I about to look even sillier here :P isn't it the other way around! please correct me if I am wrong, which I probably am
[EDIT] yeah, I'm wrong! woopsy
garfield69,
Sep 17, 8:00pm
My three cylinder 1000cc baby seems to get along quite well at 110. In fact if I tried I think she would still wheelie at 110!
mantagsi,
Sep 17, 8:05pm
I take it you are a couple of wheels short of a Sirion! :p
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