Category: Superminis 
Price Range: £10,995 to £10,995
Roomy, good value, makes quite a statement.
Loses its composure at speed or on poor road surfaces. Horrible gearchange.
If you like the looks, this is a neat way to stand out without compromising on practicality.
There aren't many £11,000 cars that turn as many heads as the Daihatsu Materia. For some people that's a big selling point in itself - perhaps the same people who bought a Chrysler PT Cruiser a few years back, or Nissan's retro roadster, the Figaro.
Others of a more forward-looking bent may enjoy the way it fits in with Japan's 'box' car culture . But the rest of us will need a few questions answering before we get excited about the Materia. What is it? What's it for? And does it work as well as more conventionally styled alternatives?
The Materia is a high-roofed, five-door supermini with some flexibility to its seating arrangement, which is enough to label it as a mini-MPV if that helps define it. The extravagant styling is not confined to the exterior - the cabin exhibits an unusual degree of design flair too.
There is one engine, a 102bhp 1.5-litre petrol four with variable valve timing, as already used by Daihatsu in the Terios and, in 1.3-litre form, in the Sirion. It drives the front wheels through a choice of two gearboxes: a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic. With the manual gearbox, the engine makes 97lb-ft or torque; the auto version gets 102lb-ft. The manual costs £10,995, the automatic £11,795.
Daihatsu sees it as being the hipster's alternative to the Vauxhall Meriva and Renault Modus. Certainly the Renault is very close on price and it looks pretty cute, but it has the whiff of being the answer to a question nobody asked. The Vauxhall, meanwhile, is short on appeal, but it has a clear point: it's a shrunken Zafira.
The car Daihatsu doesn't mention is the Honda Jazz. Some will sneer that it's an old person's car, but it's their loss: the Jazz is a very good package, combining practicality with a decent amount of driving pleasure, and all for a very sensible price. You'd have to really love the Materia's looks to go for the Daihatsu rather than the Honda.
