Tag: daihatsu charade

Is this Daihatsu Charade an absurd pretence?

What is it Daihatsu, Charade or Charaaydo or Chalayde? – Commercial time

April 8, 2024 / banpei / 0 Comments

The first generation Daihatsu Charade was released in 1977 and the three door hatchback featured a weird looking opera window in the C-pilar. Today’s commercial isn’t about that funny three door, but its larger five door hatchback.

The ad seems to to highlight the fact that the Charade is everything a Toyota Crown sized car can offer with its boot (or trunk for you Americans) cut off. Is it really that large? The literal definition of Charade is an absurd pretence intended to create a pleasant or respectable appearance. So the Daihatsu Charade was meant to be something absurd which it actually isn’t? That sounds just about right when they pretended this Charade to be a Crown with its boot cut off!

What I found most confusing were the three ways of pronouncing Charade in this video. The first voice over pronounces it as the American charade (charayde), the female voice sings it as charaydo and the girl with the aviator glasses says “Yes, chalayde” with a thick Murican accent. So, what is it then?

Wangan Warriors meeting 10: the oldskool

November 25, 2011 / banpei / 10 Comments

Not only hard tuned cars were present on the Wangan Warriors meeting, but also a lot of oldskool cars from the 80s and early 90s.
I already posted the decals of this original Suzuki Swift GTi before, but here it is in full glory:

Also this original Skyline GT-R R32 can nowadays almost be considered as a classic: Continue reading

DOTS: 1986 Daihatsu Charade wants to be a Detomasso badly

March 21, 2011 / banpei / 3 Comments

One day you write about a Daihatsu Charade Detomasso and the next day you will pass a Charade that wants to be a Detomasso badly!

Daihatsu Charade G11 wants to be a Detomasso badly
This Charade TS Daimatic (Daihatsu and Automatic together? Just like Hondamatic?) may not be en-par with the Detomasso but it certainly wished to look like one with its chicken-fence grille and aftermarket exhaust!

Commerical time: This is DeTomasso Turbo!!

March 5, 2011 / banpei / 0 Comments

Back in the 80s most Japanese car manufacturers were creating hot turbo-ed (pronounced as Tarbo) city cars: Honda had the Honda City Turbo, Nissan had the Nissan March Turbo, Toyota had the Corsa Turboand if you didn’t have a turbo you had at least a Twin Cam (pronounced as Shweencam) engine like Suzuki did.

Daihatsu always was a master in creating small cars, so naturally they joined the turbo race with their own Charade Turbo. But when that wasn’t appealing enough they joined forces with Innocenti DeTomasso and created the Daihatsu DeTomasso Turbo:

Basically the car is the same as the normal Charade Turbo, but it has a better tuned engine, restyled to match the looks of the Innocenti Turbo DeTomaso. The Innocenti Turbo DeTomaso is a remodelled Mini by Bertone built by Innocenti with a tuned Daihatsu engine by DeTomasso and the Daihatsu Charade DeTomasso Turbo is a Charade with that very same engine. Can you still follow it? Neither did I at first… :D

Commerical time: Yes, be pop with your Corsa!

September 6, 2010 / banpei / 1 Comment

When I saw this commercial my first thought was that the title was wrong: it looks like a zenki AE86 Sprinter Trueno front end in the first seconds, but then I saw the rear… Oh my… That resembled the third generation Daihatsu Charade!

Yes, be pop with your Corsa! Or Tercel for the non-Japanese residents!

This third generation Corsa featured a 3E-TELU powered GP Turbo model that was clearly marketed as a little sister of the Trueno. In power it actually may have been (almost) equal to the AE86, but it drivetrain was unfortunate in the 80s FF fashion… Otherwise it may have been a candidate to be the Starlet KP61 sucessor!