Ever heard about the Daihatsu Terios? It was born in 1997 and it is sold in India as the Premier RiO. No, not the second generation model, but the first generation model is being sold in India. The rights of the first generation Terios were sold to China’s Zoyte in 2006. Premier (one of the oldest automobile companies in India) imports CKD kits from China and assembles the Terios. I had a chance to drive this car. All I can tell you: This 15 year old does show its age. Premier positions the RiO as India’s first compact SUV. I position it as a fail.
Rounding out the poor quality of plastics and abundant panel gaps, the RiO has poor dynamics too. It doesn’t drive well and has a lot of body roll. There is absolutely zilch feedback from the steering wheel. Power comes in from Fiat’s 1.3-litre Multijet diesel engine, which produces 72 BHP and 183 Nm. This motor is already powering close to 10 cars in India (from Suzuki, GM to Tata). Premier has the NVH levels all wrong, the engine sounds very noisy and there are a lot of vibrations . There is decent power for city driving though.
The cabin is quite cramped and there is not much space for the passenger. The vehicle is priced at Rs. 7.94 lakhs / $ 14,400 (with taxes and insurance), which buys you front power windows, power steering alloy wheels, an audio system and ABS as standard. There are no rear power windows, or airbags. At this price, one can get the Hyundai i20, or Maruti Suzuki Swift, or Volkswagen Polo. Now you know why Premier sells only 200 units a month, while the Swift sells close to 18000 units.
Faisal Ali Khan is the owner/operator of MotorBeam.com, a website covering the auto industry of India.
I drove a Terios all over western Costa Rica many years ago. It was fantastically well-suited to the road conditions, which is really a polite way of saying you frequently can’t tell if you are on a road or not on a road.
I did that in 1995 with a Suzuki Samarai. It was a different equipment level than the US and had a top speed of 110 kph. The roads were as you described though, so the lack of top speed really wasn’t much of an issue. One road we used entered a river and exited it several hundred feet down stream. Had we been going the other direction, we’d have had to drive up stream. That would have been interesting. The only other car I saw on the road was a VW bus, which I’d have liked to see going through that ford.
Love em Sammies. An acquaintance used them as service vehicles for his company, given his agents had to reach far-flung locations with no paved roads.
They hated them. Cramped, noisy, hot, uncomfortably stiff… but they couldn’t do much about it. Where the company was throwing away Yarii and Corollas after three years due to abuse, those Sammies lasted over a decade.
One thing I remember is that the rental company wanted us to take a Samurai with only 3,000 kilometers and no back seat. We insisted on taking one that had a back seat, which meant a Samurai with almost 7,000 kilometers. The rental agency knew where we were going and though the one we wanted was too used up to survive. We didn’t have any problems with the Samurai in spite of our best efforts, but I do think the front end rattled.
Chicago Dude,
Had the Terios rental in Costa Rica as well. You’re right, it was nicely suited for that use. You have to judge a vehicle by its operating environment.
My daughter and her new husband drove a rented Terios in Costa Rica last January, and didn’t report any problems with it. It was one of relatively few small vehicles we saw there that wasn’t diesel-powered, and had the also nearly ubiquitous 5-speed transmission.
I’ll always remember the Terios as the car Jeremy Clarkson chose to drive while being pursued in a foxhunt, using fox urine and a vinyl wrap to fool the hounds into thinking the SUV was a fox.
Please note that I think this is quite different that the JDM Terios that Jeremy Clarkson drive in Top Gear. This is what is known as Daihatsu Taruna in Indonesia and Perodua Kembara in Malaysia. One thing to find out for sure is whether it’s rear drive or front drive. The JDM version is much smaller, KEI sized SUV with front drive/AWD. The ‘developing market’ version is rear drive and is much longer. In indonesia it was quite popular for a while, as a rugged, affordable, three-row seat SUV. It’s been out of production a few years ago. It’s sad if India got it only today! It’s a stale product for sure. Why don’t India gets its much better looking successor instead?
MrWhopee, this is a rear-wheel drive and its a KEI sized vehicle.
thing is this car is over 15yrs old so therefore would not pass NCAP5 although I would imagine the new Multijet CRDi engine would pass Euro 5
and since no airbags, DSC etc.
would not pass in the Western world
probably because they dont have the tooling/rights for the 2nd generation Terios?
Also one must consider the competiton… this is a faux mini SUV that is jacked up… sure it may be only FWD but does one compare it to a Swift or a Polo?
Even in the West, people pay a premium for faux SUVs for that high driving position and perhaps the ground clearance. Sure it may drive worse and have less room but these things aren’t foremost on peoples’ minds when buying.
I would think the same happens in the developing world.
For some reason those gauges remind of me of a early-2000s VAG product.
“I was looking for a powerful car with good mileage and drivability so to use it as a daily commuter. After a lot of research I decided to go for Premier Rio with the new Multi-Jet engine. I have bought this car and has already driven it around 500km. The car is powerful and fuel efficient as I wished, it features a 1.3 multijet engine which is finely tuned and gives ample performance, gear shift is also very smooth. The Car also looks very good and powerful, its masculine looks attracts everyone. The twin barrel headlamps look good, whereas neatly furbished fog lamps adds charm to it personality. The roof rails, side cladding, alloy wheels and body colored ORVM make its side profile impressive. The interior quality is also good, the material like plastic and fabric are good in quality. The cabin space is very good and car can accommodate five adults easily, so it becomes a perfect family car for us as we are only four members in our family. The fuel efficiency is what attracts me the most, I have a top-end diesel model which gives a mileage of around 19 km/l which is pretty good for a SUV. Its SUV like looks and off road qualities makes it an ideal tourer too, in addition the boot space is pretty good. I usually go on weekends so its a perfect car for me and my family. I am enjoying the feel of driving a SUV and mileage of a hatch or a entry level sedan, it is just a awesome feeling. I will just say if you are thinking of buying a compact SUV go for RiO.”
7.94 lakhs?? Wouldn’t that buy you a base TATA Safari? How about a Scorpio? If it does, then I would definitely take the Safari.
But, if its Premier, bring on the Padmini. I’ll take one in tan/orange with brown/tan bench seats. Oh, I still remember the sweet sweet smell of my grandpa’s “Fiat” :)
The base Safari might just be in reach at that price, which is a much better product than the RiO.
Faisal Ali Khan…Are the TATA GUYS PAYING YOU FOR WRITING RUBBISH?? THE RIO IS A MUCH BETTER PRODUCT THAN WHAT IT WAS AND JUST CANNOT BE COMPARED TO A SAFARI !! ITS A COMPACT SUV. I test drove the car at chembur and found it perfect for Mumbai.