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Kitaro - 2004 Daihatsu Copen

Overview Updates (8) Gallery Discussion

Introduction

Well here we go again... :devil:
Been wanting a little side project for a while as the daily commute is incredibly mundane and I want a little fun for the weekends.
I was looking at Cinq's pretty heavily but after being messed around by 2 sellers I started looking more broadly.
Had a keen interest in Japanese kei cars for a while, find the concept fascinating and so here we are :rolleyes:
2 weeks ago I scooped up this



It reminds me of my 92 Panda in some ways, so small and narrow makes UK roads suddenly feel open and wide, no issue having to squeeze past mums in their LR Discovery on the school run.



Being a kei car it is a 660cc turbo as required by the Japanese regulations although it makes an extra 4hp compared to the Japanese sold models due to not having the 64hp cap kei cars adhere to in Japan, so the ignition doesn't retard quite as much to keep the power under that 64hp limit.
It revs out to 8000rpm and has a twin-scroll turbo so boost is pretty even throughout the range :D
It's got some rust starting to appear but its last MOT was clean sheet, 1 owner from new, serviced annually and covered just 32k miles.

Oh and the roof folds down. I keep forgetting that and have only driven it once with it actually folded back :cool:
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StevenRB45 said:
It would be an entirely worthy and forgettable save for the colour and the engine. I've had none turbo ones and hated them...so dull.

All it needs is an engine the chassis isn't really set up to take and it becomes fun to try and helm it about without putting it on it's side or making your passengers ill.

Other than that the fun comes from my sense of mischief..and playing with people's expectation of how fast it is. Not fast...but significantly faster than most expect.
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Thats what I found with my Twingo GT back in the day, quite a fun engine, fairly early days for the little petrol turbos that are now in everything. Despite being a 'GT' it wallowed around like a wet sponge in the corners so you couldn't really throw it about, the engine was very willing though and quite playful
 
Still got the Copen, it has been sat on somebodies driveway that I've rented for a small monthly sum, slightly out of town and seems to have been safe. Ended up driving it to work to give it a run, all seems to be ok, forgot how tiny you feel on the road in it (and thats compared to a 500! 😂)
Its still joyful to drive but I feel the love might've gone.
blu73 said:
no joke though, it'll probably be thousands cheaper than 6 months ago right now, go look at the yen vs gbp graphs over the last year or so, its crazy!
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... if you don't mind my asking what importer have you used? Whats the process like? Just uhhh, brainstorming 🤔
 
Didge3 said:
Still got the Copen, it has been sat on somebodies driveway that I've rented for a small monthly sum, slightly out of town and seems to have been safe. Ended up driving it to work to give it a run, all seems to be ok, forgot how tiny you feel on the road in it (and thats compared to a 500! 😂)
Its still joyful to drive but I feel the love might've gone.

... if you don't mind my asking what importer have you used? Whats the process like? Just uhhh, brainstorming 🤔
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I use Dan Bell who is kinda the cube guy but he imports all sorts of stuff. https://www.firstchoicecarimports.com/ thats his main website, I believe he is migrating to the 'straight outta japan' name.

Its painless tbh, so long as you trust the guy and Dan is totally trustworthy. In brief though you contact him and tell him what your looking for, you fill in a form etc. He will have his contacts in japan keep an eye out for what you asked for and he gave me access to the japanese auction site so i could browse myself (i didnt find anything quicker than them though).
When it comes to actually getting a car you get photos and the auction report which he will help translate for you etc and if you want to try win it they do everything for you so he has a bidding deposit you pay up front. I can't remember the exact moment you pay all the different bit but Dan basically has a flat fee, there will be shipping (about £1k it cost me the transport). When it lands in UK it is delivered to Dans place, he will do all the paperwork and have it registered and MOT'd etc and do any extras you want, servicing or undersealing etc etc. And then you either pay the final bill and go get it or he will deliver it (on a trailer) to you.

When we got the first cube, I went to Dan and told him the exact model and colour and spec I wanted and he found 2 options almost immediately and we won the 2nd auction. The car sold in Japan for £1k and it cost me all in with underseal, gearbox service, engine service, delivery over 200 miles, MOT, tax, everything, £5300.
The supercharged one is a bit different cause I just told Dan we had the accident and I was looking for a cube but it had to be a cool not normal one and he had already bought this supercharged one and it had just left japan on the boat. So I dunno what he got it for or anything, he just gave me a price and i said shut up and take my money. Again, fully ready to go, but i picked it up this time so I could go shake the mans hand.
 
blu73 said:
I use Dan Bell who is kinda the cube guy but he imports all sorts of stuff. https://www.firstchoicecarimports.com/ thats his main website, I believe he is migrating to the 'straight outta japan' name.

Its painless tbh, so long as you trust the guy and Dan is totally trustworthy. In brief though you contact him and tell him what your looking for, you fill in a form etc. He will have his contacts in japan keep an eye out for what you asked for and he gave me access to the japanese auction site so i could browse myself (i didnt find anything quicker than them though).
When it comes to actually getting a car you get photos and the auction report which he will help translate for you etc and if you want to try win it they do everything for you so he has a bidding deposit you pay up front. I can't remember the exact moment you pay all the different bit but Dan basically has a flat fee, there will be shipping (about £1k it cost me the transport). When it lands in UK it is delivered to Dans place, he will do all the paperwork and have it registered and MOT'd etc and do any extras you want, servicing or undersealing etc etc. And then you either pay the final bill and go get it or he will deliver it (on a trailer) to you.

When we got the first cube, I went to Dan and told him the exact model and colour and spec I wanted and he found 2 options almost immediately and we won the 2nd auction. The car sold in Japan for £1k and it cost me all in with underseal, gearbox service, engine service, delivery over 200 miles, MOT, tax, everything, £5300.
The supercharged one is a bit different cause I just told Dan we had the accident and I was looking for a cube but it had to be a cool not normal one and he had already bought this supercharged one and it had just left japan on the boat. So I dunno what he got it for or anything, he just gave me a price and i said shut up and take my money. Again, fully ready to go, but i picked it up this time so I could go shake the mans hand.
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Thanks for the wealth of information!
I'm not really sure what I want tbh but the exchange rate is still good (albeit not as good as in July). I've always like an S13 Silvia but they're thin on the ground, especially an unmodified one...
I have a weird affinity with Suzuki Jimny's but most of them in the UK are absolute rust buckets so an import could be good but most in Japan are the physically smaller kei variant with a 660, the export model is available but again thin on the ground... Lots of thinking to be done
 
thats before you start looking at weird stuff thats not got cult following outside europe.. theres some properly cool little cars. I'd seriously consider what sort of driving you usually do before buying a kei anything though. Theres so many i love but reality of the roads of drive on, kei would just be underpowered and annoying on a daily basis here. If it was flat or you lived in city and only did city driving they'd be fine. If theres anything i know about Didge though its he likes a weird little car and that japan can do lol.
 
blu73 said:
If theres anything i know about Didge though its he likes a weird little car and that japan can do lol.
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You're not wrong...
Anything kei would have to serve as second car duties still, I tried the Copen as my only car and its... wearing, its not really the lack of power, I trundled about in Char' for 3 years with half the power of the Copen and much less torque! 660's just really scream at motorway speeds
 

The Final Update

So the day has finally come, I hadn't driven him since the end of October. Listed for sale and after a month or so he finally sold to a young couple looking for a small project. They "fell in love" on the test drive so I am hopeful he will be treated well.
I hooked up the battery having left the negative off and he fired right up, drove the short journey home, I forgot how frantic it feels, old school cable throttle so it does whatever you tell it to and shift rods not cables so (IMO) the gear change feels more direct (certainly more than my Abarth 500's does)

I will miss him dearly, a did a hopeless wash in the pouring rain and took a rubbish final picture sheltering indoors
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And the obligatory "watching your pride and joy drive away" video

Goodbye old friend, its been fun.
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