Yet On Closer Investigation

At first sight, the Daihatsu Copen appears to be like like a lifesize toy for a 10-12 months-previous. Dwarfed by the opposite automobiles in the road, it might match comfortably into the midday shadow of a Mini and little doubt might sneak beneath the undercarriage of a Hummer, too. For not only is it a lesson in brevity size-clever, it’s also low-slung to the purpose at which bumping your head on the curb appears a possible hazard when leaving the automotive. If Noddy went rock’n’roll, that is the automobile he’d buy.

How sweet, you assume, but surely nobody’s expecting me to get inside it. After all, my only gift for contortionism lies in the moral rather than physical realm. Yet on closer investigation, it seems a grown man can insinuate himself into the cockpit of the Copen. And though two-seaters do not come any extra snug, it’s not a punishing squeeze. True, I used to be relieved I might recently had a haircut, in any other case there would have been contact with the roof, which may very well be just a little claustrophobic. There may be, although, コペン la400k a superb resolution to this drawback. A flick of a swap and the hard roof eases again and, in a manoeuvre that James Bond’s Q would be proud to have engineered, folds into the micro boot. Forget driving anywhere: the roof-disappearing act is so impressive, one might happily sit and take it down and put it back for hours on end.

However, that would be a shame, because the Copen is sort of probably the most entertaining car I’ve driven in a metropolis. It isn’t superfast and the acceleration provides no G-pressure, but it surely feels so alive that driving the rest looks like an exercise in morbid banality. Never thoughts pace bumps, in the Copen you experience each dip and dent the highway has to offer. That could possibly be tiring over a long haul, however zipping around city it’s positively revitalising.

The unfussy dashboard, the clean lines and natty little gear follow a chrome ball head mix to supply a simple elegance in keeping with the sleek exterior. Yet whereas it appears to be like convincingly like a sports car, albeit one that’s been shrunk in some form of molecular spin-drier, the sensation of driving it is closer to that of a dodgem automobile that’s been liberated from the fairground and loaded with a 1.3-litre engine. If its dimensions are reminiscent of a child’s toy, its innocent pleasures are also commendably youthful. This, you are feeling, is what urban driving should be like: compact, open and infused with sensation. It turns the mundane into one thing magical.

I felt a loss out of proportion to its modest measurements when the Copen was taken away. Overtaking mopeds will never be as much fun once more.