In families of three or more children, the middle children have a tough time.
Usually the eldest is the over-achieving sports or academic hero and the laatlammetjie gets away with murder. But the child in the middle has to fight for attention and recognition and, as a result, these kids spend their lives working twice as hard as the others to achieve half the accolades — a bit like the environment with which working women have to deal.
The Daihatsu Terios is like the middle child who has to work extra hard all the time. Toyota, which owns 51% of Daihatsu, is the benchmark against which Daihatsus are measured and, given Toyota’s global success, that is quite an intimidating factor.
Yet after spending a few days in the new long wheelbase (LWB) Terios and the off-road version of the short wheelbase (SWB), I got the feeling that the middle child was finally getting an opportunity to shine.
The shared Toyota chromosomes came to the fore when we drove through the bundus of Ceres in the Western Cape and the ease with which they tackled dirt roads, obstacles and sand dunes was surprising.
Initially, the LWB felt a little rough around the edges and the less-than-plush interior made an otherwise attractive little SUV look a bit like a guy who wears an Armani suit with no-name-brand takkies to a formal function. But I can’t complain much about the lack of finesse inside or out because Daihatsus are primarily budget cars and as such they offer a reliable value-for-money package that is becoming difficult to ignore.
The LWB, which pushes out 80kW of power and 141Nm of torque, is longer than the SWB versions, a little roomier and a third row of seats is now standard on the LWBs making it a seven-seater vehicle. The engine on offer is the same 1,5-litre that powers the SWB and this comes with a five-speed transmission that was easy to operate. But the high revs at high speed made me feel that a sixth gear for cruising wouldn’t be a bad idea.
The range-topping SWB off-road version comes with added insulation to reduce engine noise and the engine also benefits from 12kW of additional power as well as 10 more NM of torque.
With the small 1,5-litre petrol engine doing the hard work under the hood, it wasn’t as easy getting up to speed, but after a while highway cruising at about 120kph was comfortable enough. The advantage of the small engine is better fuel consumption with the LWB averaging about 8 litres/100km on a combined cycle, but it also meant that the heavier LWB felt underpowered when overtaking.
I gave the LWB some stick when we hit a long dirt road section and there were moments when it drifted slightly, but it caught itself quickly and I was able to drive at fairly decent speeds on rather unforgiving terrain.
When it came to the dunes, I was happy to be in the SWB as it made conquering a tricky surface quite easy. Of course, shorter, lighter vehicles will always excel on obstacles such as sand dunes, but when we were told how many times a fleet of Hummers got stuck on the same dunes that the Terios sauntered over, we realised that what the Terios lacked in finesse it made up for in ability.
Standard features on the LWB and SWB include air conditioning, ABS brakes, electric windows, permanent four-wheel drive, a front-loading CD player and much more.
The Terios offers those who really enjoy off-roading (as opposed to those mounting pavements) a capable vehicle and one hopes that Daihatsu doesn’t fall into the trap of making them too expensive as the brand builds on a successful model range.
The Offroad SWB Terios sells for R219 995, the LWB from R194 995 to R218 942 and they both come standard with a three-year/75 000km service plan as well as a three-year/100 000km warranty.