CarBrandLogos archive · Daihatsu · 1980

DaihatsuMira

Thirty-eight years of kei-car orthodoxy, with occasional turbocharged madness.

Photo: TTTNIS · CC0

The story

A defining chapter in Daihatsu history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Daihatsu Mira, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

The Mira replaced the Max Cuore in 1980 and then simply refused to stop, running through eight generations before the last one left production in March 2018. For most of that time it was Daihatsu's core product: a small, cheap, upright kei hatchback sold in vast numbers to Japanese buyers who needed a car and nothing more, with front-wheel drive as standard and four-wheel drive for snow-country customers.

2008 Daihatsu Mira-Custom 01 · Mytho88 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Design and engineering

It was also, periodically, ridiculous. Japan's kei rules capped engine size but not ambition, and the TR-XX versions of the late 1980s and 1990s ran turbocharged 660 cc engines up against the industry's self-imposed 64 hp limit in a car weighing well under 700 kg. The five-valve-per-cylinder Mira X4 built for rally homologation is now a collector's item.

4th generation Daihatsu Mira · TTTNIS · Public domain

In production

Exports went out under the Cuore and Charade names in various markets. When it finally ended, its role was split between the Mira e:S, the Tocot and the Hijet Caddie van.

1991 Daihatsu Mira van 01 · OSX · Public domain

Technical specification