New Daihatsu Materia mini-MPV review

The ‘F’ words can be used to describe the boxy five-door Daihatsu Materia mini MPV. Function over fashion or form, and even funky as Daihatsu in the UK describes it.

In truth it is the Marmite car, car buyers will either love it or hate it. If you asked a young child to draw a car, the Materia is exactly what they would produce. A box for the passengers, a box at the front for the engine and a wheel at each corner.

Simple but effective when it comes to making the best use of space within a car. Functional it is - but pretty it is not.

The Japanese have been building Kei-Class cars for years, tiny city cars well able to cope with the congested roads and little or no parking spaces in Japan. Some of these cars have become popular in the UK because of their size, ideal commuter cars in fact.

Materia market segment

One class up from them is where the Daihatsu Materia comes from, compact family cars, they also use little space on the road but can accommodate a larger family.

On the face of it the Materia is relatively cheap at £10,995 with the manual transmission or £11,795 with an automatic gearbox. But there is only one engine choice, a 1.5-litre petrol unit.

In reality the Materia is not so much of a bargain because it has to compete against more sophisticated European models of the same size and more acceptably styled for European tastes.

The Renault Modus, Vauxhall Meriva, Ford Fusion, Nissan Note, Skoda Roomster and Peugeot 1007 all do the same job as the Materia but look better and have a wider choice of engines, for roughly the same price.

Materia size and practicality

With the split 60/40 rear sliding seats in their furthest rearward position there is 181-litres of luggage space. Slide the rear seats forward a little and this increases to 294-litres. Fold the rear seats away and the cargo area jumps to 619-litres.

The Materia being tall also has a high waistline. In particular at the rear so vision out of the small side windows is limited and to make it worse the rear windows have privacy glass and the car’s interior is finished in black so it’s all a bit gloomy.

The flared wheelarches, sports style extended sills and flashy alloy wheels combine with the dark windows to add shall we say a distinctive appearance to this boxy appearance. Even with the ‘bling’ the Materia is going to definitely be a Marmite car.

Materia equipment

The equipment levels are good with anti-lock braking, much needed rear parking sensors, driver, front passenger side airbags, air-conditioning, stereo radio/CD player with six speakers, alloy wheels and fog lights. But there is no electronic stability programme as standard or as an option and for a family car these days that is unacceptable.

The interior plastics feel hard and look pretty basic and it all looks well put together. But there is nothing that brings the car to life, there is no sparkle - it just does what it is supposed to, carry people, luggage or both - but it is very sterile.

Performance and running costs

The engine is a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder petrol unit with variable valve timing. Power output is 103PS at 6,000rpm and torque 97lb ft at 4,400rpm so you can see this engine has to be revved to keep it in its power band.

It is flexible enough around town but on the open road or motorways it is rowdy and pretty unsophisticated. Added to the engine noise there is too much road and wind noise intrusion so expect not to be having conversations with your fellow passengers on faster journeys.

Working the engine hard does not help the fuel consumption or indeed the now very important CO2 rating. Officially the Materia with its five-speed manual gearbox will return 39.2mpg as an average. My experience was much worse, hardly 30mpg.

The 169g/km CO2 rating I’m afraid means a road tax bill of £170 a year as it falls into the new Band E rating, much too high for a car of this size.

Ride and driving

For such a tall car the body roll is well contained but it is prone to side wind gusting and driving into a headwind takes the edge of what performance the engine can offer.

The suspension cannot easily absorb the UK’s poor road surfaces so the ride is uncomfortable at times. The steering is light but vague at cruising speeds.

The Materia might just be odd enough with its styling to become a fashionable ‘cult’ motor for some people. Or it just might sell because it can carry five people in its compact bodyshell. But I fear the Materia will not materialise as a common site on our roads.

MILESTONES

Daihatsu Materia 1.5-litre 5-Door Mini MPV

Price: £10,995 manual transmission model

Engine/transmission: 1.5-litre, four cylinder petrol, variable valve timing, 103PS 97lb ft (132Nm) of torque from 4,400rpm. 5-speed manual gearbox

Performance: 106mph, 0-62mph 10.8 seconds, 39.2mpg (29.8mpg actual), CO2 169g/km, VED Band E £170

Insurance group: 8E

Dimensions: 3,800mm long, 1,690mm wide, 1,635mm wide

For: Functional, carries five passengers, generally well equipped, seems well made, distinctive styling

Against: No electronic stability control or curtain airbags, noisy lacklustre engine, poor mpg, high CO2 emissions

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