Daihatsu Extol road tests and consumer car reviews

Daihatsu Extol Toyota sparky Glass Van 2001

I live in Malta and mine is a variant, it’s the Toyota Sparky with glass windons not a closed van. It’s a seven seater with great room, rear seats fold down to make room for big boot space, still seating 3 plus passenger and driver + 5. I use this as my MPV, it’s automatic, very simple and comfortable to drive. I had this car imported from Japan as it’s not available in Europe, though it should be as it’s a great city car for large families e.g 5 family members like 3 kids 2 adults kids are in between 8 yrs - 15 yrs. To sum it up would not change it for anything else if have to buy new car will still keep this till it dies; btw it has already done over 118000 miles in 9 years it had 710000 miles on the clock when I bought in 2007. It’s a great companion also has full extras; dual Airbags, aircon, power steering, eletric windows all round, Abs, automatic transmission, GPS CD/Radio Japanese Version/Software cannot be used in Europe only CD/Radio works in Europe.

Daihatsu Extol 2004

I own an Extol van which is an 04 plate, I bought it as an ex demonstrator with 158 miles on the clock. It now has 87000 and having sent it in for MoT it needed new brake pads; as I am an ex mechanic I always do minor work myself, at the same time I noticed the alternator belt was a bit shabby so decided to change it. My big beef it that there seems to be little stock of parts held by the dealer, alternator belt out of stock at the factory, brake pads, next day but discs 3 week wait, (it’s normal to change both at this mileage), after market parts are few and far between, pads, only one type of pad held by all factors, not the same as the ones fitted to my vehicle, maybe it’s because mine is an early model? Alternator belt; I had to remove it and take it in to match it up, for your ref its 1750 long and has 4 ribs, that’s for my van with power steering but no air con. I have just ordered pads from ebc and await delivery with baited breath, if all turns out well I will post part numbers and manufacturers for your reference as the parts from the factors are about one third of genuine. I would have given a much higher rating for the van if I had not had so much trouble with after market parts, as it has been a good little work horse and up ‘til now has been trouble free.

Responses to this review

Hi Dave, toyally agree, this has been the most reliable and best designed vehicle I have owned. The aftersales parts thing is a bummer. I have ordered three sets of third-party brakes and none fit. Looks like a dealer job which is not cheap for a small van. Good luck with yours and please let me know how you get on. Cheers - Andrew Sellick-Brown from Torfaen

Daihatsu Extol 1.3 EFI Micro

This is a great little van, even if it does look a bit odd. Very smooth ride and excellent steering make it a really nippy little motor. Perfect for me as a market trader and the wife enjoys driving it too. Very drivable little van and good load capacity for it’s size.