A Daihatsu Applause of this type won "Festival of the Unexceptional" in 2023. It was driven from Sweden to England to take part. It was in great condition, but otherwise truly unexceptional in the best way possible!
I have just recently discovered your channel on UA-cam and I am really enjoying it. I remember having some of these cars over the years that you have featured. It's a real trip down memory lane. Great viewing for a former car enthusiast who doesn't drive now due to health issues. Keep these excellent videos coming in the future as i am loving them.
I had a 1999 Applause - last styling with chrome grill, Daihatsu alloy's, Metallic gold, had all the extras ( Think in its last years 97-2000 they pulled out all the stops) - joke was looked like a baby Volvo. But great car peppy 1600, could fold those seat down, big hatch could take my mates bike without him having to take wheels off. For a car in same bracket as a Toyota Corolla, was a reliable good runner, scrubbed up well when needed and looked quite smart. Never let me down or missed a beat, can honestly say don't have a bad thing to say about them & i've had worse and paid more for it!
In Greece this car , along with Susuki's Swift sedan version, were the cheap alternatives to Toyota corolla, Nissan Sunny and Honda Civic. They weren't top sellers, but neither bottom sellers.
I suppose one interesting body feature is the unusually long door handle surrounds which extend to the rear edge of each door. It seems apparent that no 0-60 times were mentioned here. So the 1.6L does 0-60 in 10.8 seconds and can reach 109mph. And the hotter 1.6Xi does 0-60 in 9.8 seconds and can reach 115mph. All perfectly respectable performance figures for 1990. And later post-'91 facelift Applauses looked quite smart with their two-tone paintwork and cross-spoke alloys. Sadly, it would be difficult to find parts to repair one now I would imagine.
I owned two Daihatsu Charades in the 1980's in Australia, again nothing special but certainly reliable. I thought the design of the Applause was interesting. It was probably the first "booted hatchback", though not the only one. I'm pretty sure Ford produced some small cars with a similar design. My wife also owned a 1996 model Daihatsu Pyzar, which was a small five door MPV. That one ran trouble free until it was written off following a flood in 2007. As far as reliability goes, and especially considering Daihatsu vehicles were priced lower than similar sized Toyota, Honda and Nissan products, they made a lot of sense for families on a budget.
Diahatsu sold well enough on the Irish market, mainly Charade and Fourtrack models. Not many of the Applause were sold, to be honest. The Charade was ok, but the three cylinder, one liter engine was prone to overheating and cracking blocks. The Applause would have been a much better proposition, the 1.6 liter engine must have been hardy enough, especially when, as you say, a 1.3 or 1.4 would have been fine. The rear tailgate was a surprise, and really practical. First saloon car I ever saw with a rear wiper was a Mazda 323, new in 1985. Interesting look back at a nineties car.
Unusual car for it's time, long enough rear end to look like Sedan, but still having practical Liftback tailgate. I think more recently Skoda Superb has had similar styling, or maybe even Seat Toledo Mk1 already in the early 90's? I remember seeing some of these Applauses here in Finland, but certainly it wasn't very often seen car, even when new. The 16-valve rear window sticker is funny, had similar rear window sticker in my 1990 Mazda 323 too, advertising the 16-valve engine :D Seems that Daihatsu 1,6 16-valve carb engine had more power and torque than my Mazda with same specs (87 hp and 125 Nm of torque).
Like Suzuki, these are better known for their 4x4's and small runabouts. This era of Daihatsu was really quite interesting. Have you found any brochures of the Fourtrak, and the Charade? That GTti version was incredibly quick for such a little one-litre three-pot.
I don't think they were imported in high numbers. I don't believe rust was a massive issue because it would have been the same as on it's parent companies' Toyota cars. At the time of this car ,I was driving a Charade that had zero rust and was one of the most reliable cars I have ever owned in 37 years of driving.
I don't remember ever seeing one but I remember the ford Orion around 1990 having a rear wash wipe
A Daihatsu Applause of this type won "Festival of the Unexceptional" in 2023. It was driven from Sweden to England to take part. It was in great condition, but otherwise truly unexceptional in the best way possible!
Aww right yes
I have just recently discovered your channel on UA-cam and I am really enjoying it.
I remember having some of these cars over the years that you have featured. It's a real trip down memory lane. Great viewing for a former car enthusiast who doesn't drive now due to health issues.
Keep these excellent videos coming in the future as i am loving them.
Thank you so much very happy that you found the channel.
I had a 1999 Applause - last styling with chrome grill, Daihatsu alloy's, Metallic gold, had all the extras ( Think in its last years 97-2000 they pulled out all the stops) - joke was looked like a baby Volvo. But great car peppy 1600, could fold those seat down, big hatch could take my mates bike without him having to take wheels off. For a car in same bracket as a Toyota Corolla, was a reliable good runner, scrubbed up well when needed and looked quite smart. Never let me down or missed a beat, can honestly say don't have a bad thing to say about them & i've had worse and paid more for it!
In Greece this car , along with Susuki's Swift sedan version, were the cheap alternatives to Toyota corolla, Nissan Sunny and Honda Civic. They weren't top sellers, but neither bottom sellers.
I was impressed by this car. It was very good value for money.
Applause to you Stephen for making it to two years of Quarter Light, and reaching 1350 subscribers. Well done.
Thank you very much I’ve very much enjoyed two years on UA-cam. It really is the viewer that makes the channel.
nice too see this Daihatsu applause, this is small sedan and the rare model this time, in the UK model now how many this model left in road now
I suppose one interesting body feature is the unusually long door handle surrounds which extend to the rear edge of each door. It seems apparent that no 0-60 times were mentioned here. So the 1.6L does 0-60 in 10.8 seconds and can reach 109mph. And the hotter 1.6Xi does 0-60 in 9.8 seconds and can reach 115mph. All perfectly respectable performance figures for 1990. And later post-'91 facelift Applauses looked quite smart with their two-tone paintwork and cross-spoke alloys. Sadly, it would be difficult to find parts to repair one now I would imagine.
I owned two Daihatsu Charades in the 1980's in Australia, again nothing special but certainly reliable. I thought the design of the Applause was interesting. It was probably the first "booted hatchback", though not the only one. I'm pretty sure Ford produced some small cars with a similar design. My wife also owned a 1996 model Daihatsu Pyzar, which was a small five door MPV. That one ran trouble free until it was written off following a flood in 2007. As far as reliability goes, and especially considering Daihatsu vehicles were priced lower than similar sized Toyota, Honda and Nissan products, they made a lot of sense for families on a budget.
Diahatsu sold well enough on the Irish market, mainly Charade and Fourtrack models. Not many of the Applause were sold, to be honest. The Charade was ok, but the three cylinder, one liter engine was prone to overheating and cracking blocks. The Applause would have been a much better proposition, the 1.6 liter engine must have been hardy enough, especially when, as you say, a 1.3 or 1.4 would have been fine. The rear tailgate was a surprise, and really practical. First saloon car I ever saw with a rear wiper was a Mazda 323, new in 1985. Interesting look back at a nineties car.
Unusual car for it's time, long enough rear end to look like Sedan, but still having practical Liftback tailgate. I think more recently Skoda Superb has had similar styling, or maybe even Seat Toledo Mk1 already in the early 90's?
I remember seeing some of these Applauses here in Finland, but certainly it wasn't very often seen car, even when new.
The 16-valve rear window sticker is funny, had similar rear window sticker in my 1990 Mazda 323 too, advertising the 16-valve engine :D Seems that Daihatsu 1,6 16-valve carb engine had more power and torque than my Mazda with same specs (87 hp and 125 Nm of torque).
These were certainly a rare sight in the UK. Looks quite handsome in red. The 12 month warranty seems rather stingey.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Like Suzuki, these are better known for their 4x4's and small runabouts. This era of Daihatsu was really quite interesting. Have you found any brochures of the Fourtrak, and the Charade? That GTti version was incredibly quick for such a little one-litre three-pot.
Charade including the GTti will be featured in the next couple of weeks
Daihatsu Applause.....not worth a clap 😆😆😆
I don't think they were imported in high numbers. I don't believe rust was a massive issue because it would have been the same as on it's parent companies' Toyota cars. At the time of this car ,I was driving a Charade that had zero rust and was one of the most reliable cars I have ever owned in 37 years of driving.
Unexceptional at it's best. 🙂
Wasnt there a fast turbo version?
I don’t remember one to be honest.
It wasn't a bad car.
1st