A Huge Break with the Past
Few cars offer as much packing fun per square meter as Japanese kei-cars. Especially the models that are as narrow as they are awkwardly tall are particularly clever building blocks. One of them is the Daihatsu Move. It has now been completely renewed and is partly taking a completely different tack than all its predecessors.
Do you remember the Daihatsu Move? That narrow and tall city car that was as sensitive to crosswinds as it was smart with its sliding and fully folding rear seat? The first generation Move, which was presented in Japan in 1995, also came to the Netherlands in 1997. With the steering wheel on the left, but with an 850 cc small petrol engine that produced less than 50 hp. The second generation Move also came to the Netherlands, but due to disappointing sales figures, Daihatsu pulled the plug on Move imports in 2003. In its home country of Japan, the Move’s career has never been stopped. Meet what is already the seventh generation Daihatsu Move!
Daihatsu Move: the first generation also came to the Netherlands. Much to the delight of ‘your scribe.’
That brand-new Daihatsu Move breaks significantly with all its predecessors in two areas. For the first time in the Move’s history, the brave all-rounder no longer has four traditional doors. The rear doors have been replaced by sliding doors. Depending on the chosen version, these sliding doors are even electrically operated. This means that no parking space is too tight anymore. All previous generations of Move were – incidentally not in the Netherlands – available in ‘regular form’ and as Custom. Those Custom versions were fitted with a sportier or – for what it’s worth – more aggressive front. This new Daihatsu Move has to do without a Custom version and naturally looks a bit grumpy at the world.
An outsized stringed instrument can easily fit. Handy, right?
The Daihatsu Move is of course again a true kei-car, which means that there are restrictions on the dimensions and on both the engine displacement and the power of the engines. A car is only a kei-car if it is a maximum of 3.4 meters long, 1.48 meters wide and has an engine no larger than 660 cc. The maximum power in that case: 64 hp. The new Daihatsu Move is therefore 3.4 meters long to within 5 mm, is 1.48 meters wide to within the same number of millimeters and is 1.66 meters high. The Moveje, weighing a minimum of 640 and a maximum of 940 kilos, is available with 658 cc three-cylinder petrol engines with and without turbo. The non-turbo variant produces 52 hp and 60 Nm, the variant with pressure filling kicks it up to 64 hp and 100 Nm. Shifting always happens with a CVT. Of course there is also a variant with four-wheel drive again.
The Daihatsu Move is available in Japan from a converted €8,313. The most expensive variant – with four-wheel drive, turbo engine and with the most pampering on board – costs a converted €12,387 there.