Daihatsu Terios 7

Styling, features and equipment

Many fail to realize that the Terios is the actual successor to the bland but effective Perodua Kembara. It fits nicely into the gap where the 1.8-litre Toyota RAV4 left as soon as they were unequivocally upgraded to a 2.4-litre four-banger.

This seven-seater still is typical Terios, with obvious changes being the length of the vehicle. The wheelbase has grown to 2685mm – an 85mm increase over the standard model. This means that rear-most row passengers are seated right over the rear axle, and that the D-pillar windows have been lengthened.

Where the standard 5-seater, shorter wheelbase Terios claims to be a “bona-fide off-roader” with full time locking 4WD in its arsenal, the 7-seater, really, is just a rear driven, soft-core device with a whole lot of ground clearance in its class. If you need numbers, consider 200mm minimum road clearance and a 38.5-degree departure angle as figures.

That rather tall, square-ish, upright body in this case, translates into nearly a truckload’s worth of space. the To put things into perspective, the new Corolla Axio might be around 390mm longer than the Terios, but the Daihatsu’s cabin is actually longer and definitely more spacious. Middle row seats are split and can recline independently, and when both of them are, you get 600-litres of storage, or nearly 400 1.5-litre bottles of mineral water to be precise.

Local Terios-7s will receive dual compartment air-conditioning that ensures an ice-cold environment all the way to the back. Then, there’s colour-coded everything from bumpers to door handles, projector and fog lamps, immobilizer, mudguards, powered everything, rear spoiler, roof rails, a semi-hard type spare tyre cover, front stabilizer and 215/65 R16 Aluminium wheels.

While the black dashboard trimmings were a definite plus in the quality department, they were somewhat let down by pseudo-metallic plastic inserts here and there, especially where centre console and door handle trimmings were concerned. Other than that, we don’t have any complaints regarding poor build quality, and we must applaud Daihatsu for their stringent quality checks.


Driving it

When you do get behind the urethane-coated steering wheel, you’ll find that you’re seated high above the road. Maybe a little too high for a sports-car centric driver like me, however. While those who love being on top of the world would appreciate the tall driving position, I can’t say the same about the non-adjustable wheel. It forced us to sit up straight and high in order to get a proper grip, leaving little room for my legs to roam free.

The engine used is your typical 3SZ-VE from the Asian family of Toyota and Daihatsu vehicles. Somewhat related to the 1NZ-FE unit used in the Vios, this longitudinally mounted unit puts forth 103hp at 6000rpm and 140Nm at 4400rpm. Coupled with a workhorse 4-speed automatic gearbox, getting from point A to B becomes rather effective and painless when driven round our little island.

While you won’t reap the benefits of this particular car’s front-engined, rear-driven layout, it still gets to 100km/h in a tested 13.6 seconds with three-quarters worth of petrol, no passengers and with the air-conditioning turned on for your typical traffic light sprint.

Much of its power is developed closer to the top end of the rev-range, so you must floor the throttle in order to get it to downshift. This is where you’ll discover the Terios’ “vocal talents”, where after 4500rpm it sounds like a screaming child mimicking the sound of a constipated person more than anything else.

You might hear a distant rumble from beneath the car as the drive-axle gets to grips with the transmission and rear differential. Gearing tends to be well balanced, where an 80km/h cruise sees 2300rpm in fourth, and the Terios will go on to a claimed 155km/h top speed.

You won’t want to get up there with those heady numbers though, because the car tends to loose some stability above 140km/h in strong crosswinds, especially with its magnificent, slab-sided body.

It has to be said though, that the handling capabilities of the Terios is much better, and more positive than SUVs with separate ladder-frame chassis. Turn-ins are always sharp and precise for a car this tall, but of course, body-roll can be excessive when one is overzealous.

Is this for you?

Well, Toyota hasn’t yet answered to the Terios-7 with an extended Rush G, and we have to admit that for an Indonesian made car, it is well made, and a pretty effective tool transporting many “bodies” with a little more comfort on the side instead of your usual panel van.

You get a full 3-year factory warranty (or 100,000km) and comprehensive aftersales support from Sin Tien Seng themselves. From $66,300 (as of 23rd May 2008), we’ll see if this proves to be a seller.