Daihatsu Cuore - The new acquisition: Motoring Motoring Discussion forum

Motoring Discussion > Daihatsu Cuore - The new acquisition	Buying / Selling
Thread Author: Stuu	Replies: 16

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Thu 15 May 14 12:15

Daihatsu Cuore - The new acquisition - Stuu

Tommy the Cuore has arrived at his new home ( my wife named him, Tommy Tomato as he is bright red ).
Didnt break down, that was a good start, whenever I buy a sub £1k car I start off with the expectation I have made a huge mistake and go from there, thankfully the list of identified issues is short and easy to fix.

Problems are limited to the front tyres needing balancing, the tracking is slightly off, the pattern exhaust doesnt match up well with the hangers on the car so it knocks on the rear subframe and the air intake attached to the airfilter was loose. I also picked up a stone chip and windscreen crack on the way home so it will need a new screen at some point. I note from the MOT advisories that the rear brake pipes will need doing at some point too.

I have already got to fixing the issues and with some manipulation the exhaust now sits better so it doesnt knock anymore. It isnt perfect but it will do for the time being. Some cable ties sorted the air intake which seems to be missing the bit it mounts into, hence it was loose.

Other than that it goes extremely well, Cecil, its first owner, seems to have taken good care of it, the tyres are all good, the trim is undamaged although the rear seat rattles a bit ( wrapping a bit of rubber around the rear seat catch will fix that ). The engine is leak free, there were no worrying noises on the way back and the engine is very peppy, no doubt driving the 60 miles home was the longest journey it had done in a while. I have now filled it up with some Tesco Momentum, seems to run smoother on the expensive stuff. It heats up quickly but never ventures over half way on the temp gauge even in traffic.

It has no PAS but it lightens up as soon as the car moves, the lack of a heavy engine up front means you hardly notice and around town the steering is lighter than some assisted cars ive owned. It is extremely basic, no central locking, manual windows, just a cassette player ( I have the CD player from my Charade to go in, knew I kept it for a reason ).
The brakes are sharp, the clutch is sharp and the throttle is responsive so it feels very 'alive' and you need a bit of finesse to drive it smoothly. I got it up to 70 which is at around 3200 rpm so it isnt under any great strain at that speed. The unassisted steering has completely different feel to a PAS setup at most speeds, you can really feel what the tyres are doing very well indeed and there is no self-centering, it is also a fairly quick rack so back roads are much more fun than the Elantra ever was.
The ride is a bit choppy, I wonder if better tyres would improve that as they did on the Ignis. The seats were comfortable for the ride home, I didnt have any aches when I got out, they are softer than they look.

Overall I am pleased with it, I could have done without the windscreen issue but the crack isnt spreading anymore so I might wait before sorting it. Now it just needs a valet which is what I am going to do right now, it is fairly clean but not at my standards and I am taking it to work this afternoon so it needs to be on form by then.

:-)