A few months ago I bought myself a 1997 Move, and oh boy what a beautiful little car it is. I feel super lucky to have found such a brilliant automobile. Every time I drive it, it puts a smile on my face. No power steering, no brake assist, no central locking, no cupholder, manual transmission, manual windows, absolute perfection!
I love how everything feels, it’s all super mechanical. Even the indicator is satisfying to click up and down. I love the little wheels, the back door that opens like a fridge, the tiny boxy design, the spoiler on top, and how much space there somehow is inside. Even the tallest lads I know have headroom to spare! I even look forward to parking, since I know I can fit into any space I see.
I learned about Daihatsu when looking for Japanese cars to import. The moment I saw the design of the Esse, I knew I needed one. I still haven’t given up on the Esse dream, and even plan to go to Japan to watch the All Japan Esse Cup one day, but right now my little Move is more than enough for me.
Thanks for having me everyone, I look forward to sharing the Daihatsu love!
Welcome to the forum,
Moves are a great little car. I loved the one I had. So much you can do with them also.
Next time your out with yours give this a go if you haven’t already,
Lay all the seats flat. You can arrange them to be a bed. A great feature if you get stuck in your car somewhere.
Oh yeah, I’ve seen that feature in reviews for the car. I’ve tried it out just to see what it’s like, but I’ve never actually slept in it. Been waiting for a good excuse to try it out sometime, to the point where I’m honestly tempted to camp out in my own carport haha. Also seems like a good option if you’ve been drinking at a mate’s place and there’s not much room to crash.
Make sure to crash on private property. I once crashed on a public roadway. Having left the key in the ignition got me into plenty of trouble, when I was hauled off to jail for drunk driving in Canada, despite not having moved the car whatsoever. After having refused a breathilizer test (I thought that complying with it would be an admission to a phantom crime), they locked me up, until someone posted my bail. Otherwise, I would have stayed there for half a year. During the preliminary hearing, the prosecution accused me of violently resisting arrest which was nothing but trumped-up B.S… I only had a few beers of which would have slightly put me over the limit. So, I still remembered very well how it all went down. They didn’t offer to take a blood test of which would have likely proved negative or, at least, much less intoxicated than an initial breath test would.
Yeah, MOVEs are cool. I’ve owned two of them and wouldn’t trade it for any other Daihatsu, except maybe for a Hi-Jet van.
I’ve never heard of one of these being delivered without a brake booster. Does yours incidently have drum brakes on the front? It’s hard to imagine trying to stop a disc-braked vehicle without a booster.
On those, it’s important to change its oil, when due. You’ll never have trouble with it, until you start ignoring maintenance intervals. Even later Daihatsus are unforgiving, when ignored.
Some people here swap the original engines for the later dual-overhead cam EJs. The EJs need less maintenance (no distributor caps and rotors to replace; no periodic valve adjusting necessary). On the other hand, the original to your present ED fuel injection and engine management system is much simpler. Therefore, there’s less to go wrong with it
I think he means electronic brake assist and not being an unassisted brake master.
Its hard to remember that there is a generation growing up with cars that have way too many assists these days.
