Daihatsu Materia Turbo
The Materia is an innovative, solid family car. Released in 2007, the car still feels fresh and new. It is of course intended to be a budget offering for families who need a little space. Mini MPV if you will. It does the job with aplomb. Surprisingly spacious and well put together, balanced with a 3 year/75000km service plan, it is the epitome of practicality. The little 1.5 that could, if you will. We are seeing surprisingly many of them being used as meter taxis for this very reason.
Now imagine you were a red blooded teenage boy with dreams of taking over Dad's Materia. You would of course take this competent, well thought out and nicely finished family car and add some bits to it wouldn't you? Start with bolting on a turbo. Lower the suspension 30mm for that sporty look. Fit some Eibach springs for some better handling. Perhaps a bonnet scoop to go with that Turbo? A Momo steering wheel of course. A 1000W amp naturally. And the wheels. Need some lower profile takkies if we are going to bother. Perhaps some nice anthracite ones with a red pinstripe? Cool huh?
And that is exactly what Daihatsu South Africa has done. There are some additional niceties like uprated brakes with high boiling point fluid and the like, but essentially a Materia with some go faster bits bolted on. The turbo is an ISK (Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries) turbo and is oil and water cooled, conservatively set for 0,4 bar of boost pressure. And it has an impressive dump valve, wind it up even a little bit, take your foot from the gas or change gears and a satisfying mechanical whoosh of air emits like a fire breathing turbo rally car. The last car I was in with this feature was a highly modified Subaru WRX. It is enormous fun to listen to. Accelerate for no good reason, just to dump some air out. Whoosh. Fun. For about 5 minutes. Then a little annoying. Mostly for you as you have to explain it to every passenger who gets in, who wonders what is “wrong” with the car.
It achieves 0-100 in 8.9 seconds at the reef. Hardly blistering enough to justify the body kit. Especially the scoop that has been riveted to the bonnet. That is the thing with this car. It feels like that which it is. A family car with bits bolted on. Faster yes, but not enough to justify the aftermarket looks and price difference. It becomes a R219 900 investment, a R55 000 premium over the standard model, and you are left wondering if you couldn't have achieved the same thing yourself. For less. It feels like a locally developed attempt rather than a well thought out factory special, and that is exactly what it is. What a sadly missed opportunity. As I write this I am testing the Suzuki Swift Sport, a factory attempt at the same thing, and my, but the difference is obvious. The only thing this car really does brilliantly is remind you how good the standard Materia actually is!
