Daihatsu Terios Road Test

Daihatsi Terios

The Terios comes with five doors for more convenience and has a surprisingly spacious interior. The front seats are firm but comfortable and the driver is faced by a rake-adjustable steering wheel and a very smart fascia. The silver-coloured, centre console has a touch of ‘Cyberman’ about it, with large, louvred air vents and chunky comfort control dials. Above these is a black-faced radio/CD system. It is simple in its function and probably wouldn’t appeal to most Hi-fi buffs but it does, in fact, produce a good quality sound equal to that in some more expensive cars.

At the time of writing, it has been announced that between September 1 and October 31 2006 , all new Terios’ will come with a free satellite-navigation system and the range has gained an extensive options list featuring such items as a hard spare-wheel cover (£225), aluminium side steps, also £225 and full leather trim in various colours for just over £1,028.

Back to the cabin. The rear seat has a bench squab and sits three in comfort, each with their own 3-point seatbelt. It has a 60:40 split, fold and tumble function, which is easily accomplished although you have to watch out for the stud fixings on the bottom as they get a little hot. Folding the rear seats increases the luggage capacity from 390-litres to an undisclosed figure that is capable of holding a mountain bike.

According to Daihatsu, the Terios has ‘politically correct’ fuel economy with figures of 28.8 mpg, and 39.8 mpg for the urban and extra-urban cycles, resulting in a combined figure of 34.9 mpg while exhausting 191g/km of CO2.

The Terios is well built, although the paintwork seemed to mark easily. However, as with all Daihatsu's, it comes with a three-year, unlimited mileage warranty with roadside assistance and an 8-year anti-perforation warranty. Can’t be bad.

Daihatsu Terios