Daihatsu Copen Cars in Pakistan

When it comes to baptizing their products, Japanese brands seem fascinated by English terminology. This is true for consumer electronics as for the automobile. Let's be honest. This drift is not totally foreign to French manufacturers, far from it. With the detail that the Japanese seem to make even less case of the respect of the requirements of the syntax and the grammar English. The priority is to find a short word, "sounding good" to the Japanese ear, and whose Latin characters are easily memorized. Quit taking some liberties with the language of Shakespeare. However, if it is a name that a car manufacturer can congratulate on having chosen, it is that of Copen (for Compact-OPEN). Because if it had to be renamed because of cultural incompatibility or unfortunate consonance in our language (as was the case for the Toyota MR2), this micro-coupe would never have come down to us. Explanations.

The Copen has been approved in France without any substantial modification, as evidenced by the presence of license plate holders in Japanese format, and the obligation to deal with ... driving right! Launched a little over a year ago in Japan, the Copen is assembled by hand by a specialized team, in such a limited number that any adaptation to European tastes would be economic nonsense. We understand that changing his name, an operation requiring millions to invest in the design and manufacture of new badges, catalogs, etc. was out of the question Just as, a fortiori, convert it to driving on the left. Consider, for example, that Renault has never designed a right-hand drive version of its Twingo, even if it means drawing a line on the British market. The opposite situation (imposing English conduct on the "Continentals") would obviously have brought about commercial consequences of a completely different magnitude. Challenges that Daihatsu Copen escapes since it operates in a market segment with very low volumes (only fifty copies were awarded to France). Thus, it is not so much the weak diffusion of the Daihatsu brand in Continental Europe that Copen's quasi-artisanal manufacturing mode is at the origin of its extravagances.

This Daihatsu shares with the Chrysler / Dodge Viper the originality of its birth: this concept car presented at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2001 should not be the privilege of being produced in series only by the simple will of a public conquered by its charm and its look of Audi TT in reduction. The result is an immediate success that translates into waiting times of up to nine months in Japan. You will have understood it, to ride in Daihatsu Copen Cars, it is to choose to roll "different", by agreeing to draw on the eyes of all the passers-by. But it is also to reconnect with the motoring pleasure, makes at the same time egoistic sensations and the joy of raising the astonishment of the children as adults; women as men; without the aggressiveness and lust that can elicit, for example, a Smart Roadster or an Opel Speedster. Those of you already conquered by the crisp line of this coupe-cabriolet will make fun of considerations as trivial as the question of habitability, comfort, performance or price. However, by acquiring consciousness, we will specify that with 3.40 m long(64 cm less than a TT, and 44 cm less than a Peugeot 206 CC!), The Copen can offer only one tiny box (210 to 14 liters), and two places of the most restricted.

The driver is thus installed "old-style", against the door, knees in the steering wheel and the head in the windshield bay. One more element for the change of scenery, which will delight the amateur of the genre, but will scare his spouse. Despite this, pilots over 1.90 m will readily recognize that the at-the-roof is sufficient; that the seats offer good support in return for excessive firmness; and that all orders fall well under the hand. Special mention to the easy locking of the roof and the electric lock of the trunk. As for the control of the five-speed gearbox, its handling invites the auto-critic the presumptuous tester who rejected on her the responsibility for missed gear changes. This reproach disappears after a day of learning, the left hand gradually mastering the short and firm deflections of the grid in H, consistent with the sporting vocation of the machine.

  

This learning is facilitated by a precise direction and a behavior without excessive vivacity, revealing a reassuring understeer to the limit. The surprising flexibility of the engine is an additional help, agreeing to resume very low in the towers. This turbocharged 4-cylinder of only 659 cm ³ (a displacement dictated by the tax regulations of cars of the K segment, for keijidousha or "light") develops 100 Nm of torque at 3,200 rpm and 68 hp at 6,000 rpm (4 more than in Japan). Values which, compared to the contained weight of the machine (833 kg), guarantee recoveries sensations, out of scale with the real performances, not impressive on the paper: 160 km / h maximum and 11, 7 s for the 0 to 100 km / h. This is the main attraction of Daihatsu Copen Cars. To those who are surprised to see you driving, you can always argue that in these times of police remonstrance and appeasement of driving behavior, it is comforting to be able to enjoy every kilometer/hour without crossing the limits of legality. And this, without appearing displaced or excessively pretentious.