I worked with a fella who drove Daihatsu Charade which he bought new. Now Andy was a big fella and almost sat in the back seat to drive, however his little Charade clocked up 380,000km with very few problems. In fact the only maintenance the engine had was regular oil changes. Now thats what you can call reliability.
The old faithful Nissan Pulsar,driven by my wife, eventually decided it had enough, after 20 years, and wanted to go to the wreckers for a rest. As she wanted something higher my daughters suggested a Terios and remembering Andy's Charade and its reliability investigated what was around. We eventually bought a mint 2006 SX Terios 18 months ago. Best decision we made,drives like a dream and no problems to date with 130,000km on the clock. Not sure we really need a 4-wheel drive as the only off-road it will ever do is up the driveway.
Being retired we decided to retire my Nissan to the scrapyard and get by with one car. Didn't work did it. So started to look for another Diahatsu as a cheap runabout and found 2001 YRV in exceptional condition, so thats mine now. Not too sure the "Y" bit suits me but what the hell I like it. Reminds me of my first Mini. Column auto with a foot "handbrake".
Daihatsu still selling the Terios and Sirion in New Zealand through Toyota at competitive prices.Those two models being the most popular together with older Charades and secondhand ex-Japan imports of Move,Mira and Rocky.

Terry Milburn