did a small carspotting trip through the parking lot of a local lumber mill.

Theres one sort of custom painted purple in the lot there that never moves, so I went to go check it out ( a metro)

In the same lot theres a blue xfi, and then closer to the mill building not even in the parking lot theres a red one.

Only it says daihatsu across the side door. And it looks barely different than a metro.

I mean, the metro and the swift look barely different. but they look mostly the same I mean same parts and body

this daihatsu, it looked the same only its plastic front bumper looked entirely different. it was a two door. its headlights looked centimeters different too.

I took a picture of all 3 cars actually but havent uploaded them to the net.

anyone know about the daihatsu metro?

You probably saw a Daihatsu Charade. They're pretty similar looking to a metro. There is in fact an MG metro tho :grinyes:

yes it must have been a daihatsu charade.

Another canadian thing I assume.

As I googled it I see it comes in 3 cylinder 1 liter and 1.3 liter 4 cylinder. produced from 1977-2000.

It has to be related to the metro somehow.

http://www.cars-directory.net/pics/daihatsu/charade/1989/daihatsu_charade_1885243.jpg

wow read about some of these engines

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daihatsu_Charade

a 1 liter turbo dohc with 105 hp. thats what im talkin about.

You probably saw a Daihatsu Charade. They're pretty similar looking to a metro. There is in fact an MG metro tho :grinyes:

Yeah, one of my friends in England used to own an MG metro.

there was also on the world market, the mazda 121 metro

It was a specific kind of the 121, which is similar to the ford festiva here. ( which, is similar to the geo metro I guess)

i looked at it and its a charade

it has some factory thing written on the rear window I wish I could direct quote

but it sounded engrish lol it was something like

You wont believe your dream of Daihatsu

lol

I dont know if the charade was for sale in the us market

If Ive seen others I dont remember

The most common daihatsu I see is the rocky, and another model which is actually a tercel

I have a '92 Geo Metro 2-door hatchback, and I recently saw in Germany the same car. Not "looks very similar" but the same exact body & everything. But as it passed me I saw the badges on the back and it was a "Subaru Justy". Now I know about the Justy that Subaru sold in the US and this was not it. This was a Swift/Metro.
This is just one example of lots of very incestuous badge engineering that the car companies go through, especially on economy cars. They do it in the US and Europe and Japan too I'm sure. The big companies decide it makes more business sense to just buy a vehicle, often from a competitor, with their badge on it. They own the name and they stick it on a car and the average consumer knows nothing and buys it because it does what they need it to do (get from A to B). And it probably makes no difference with cheap cars anyway.
I also saw Toyota pickup badged as a VW.
There is also a version of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van sold as a VW with a different grille & headlights.
etc. etc.

Yeah, those damn Sprinter vans are all over the place now. I've seen the Dodge version, the Mercedes version, and of all things, a Freightliner version that was put together as an RV. I think I saw the VW also. I don't know why they're so popular all of a sudden, or if they're just relatively new, but I hadn't seen them much before then all of a sudden WHAM! They're everwhere!

Incidentally, I just want to say that I don't think I could ever drive a vehicle named "Charade". Waaay too much baggage with that name. ;)

I agree. Charade is almost as bad as "Aspire".
We have a Sprinter. The reason they are so popular now is fuel economy. They are taking a big bite out of Ford & Chevy van sales. Why would anyone buy one of those when they can get 25 mpg fully loaded (8500 or 10000+ lbs) with a Sprinter? It will tow 5000 lbs and it ain't slow, even loaded.