Daihatsu Boon

Numbers first, because with the Daihatsu Boon they are the story: Petrol engine, 98 kW. Daihatsu built from 2004 to 2023, in the decade of stability control, dual-clutch gearboxes and the first serious hybrids. Aiji Shimizu, Kazuki Tanaka, Michio Tada, Takumi Ichikawa and Toku Harumino (facelift) drew it.

Where it came from

The Daihatsu Boon (Japanese: ダイハツ・ブーン, Hepburn: Daihatsu Būn) is a subcompact car produced by Japanese automaker Daihatsu from 2004 to 2023, and also sold under Toyota brand as the Toyota Passo (Japanese: トヨタ・パッソ, Hepburn: Toyota Passo) between 2004 and the ends of 2023. The Passo was once sold at Toyota Corolla Store Japanese dealerships until it was consolidated with other Toyota dealers in 2020. Outside Japan, the first- and second-generation Boon is sold as the second- and third-generation Sirion.

The first-generation Sirion was sold as the Storia in Japan. According to Daihatsu, the name "Boon" is derived from the English word boon, and also inspired by the sound that Japanese children make when imitating the sound of a car, while the name "Passo" is Italian for "step". According to Toyota, the name conjures up the image of a casual and approachable car.

Under the skin

Power comes from Petrol engine; 98 kW is the published figure; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It weighs 900 –. Work it out per tonne and you get about 109 horsepower — brisk everyday performance. It shifts through a 5-speed Manual transmission / manual / 4-speed Automatic transmission / automatic. The wheelbase is 2440 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

In context

Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Daihatsu Storia; assembly was at Ikeda, Osaka (Ikeda plant), Japan. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Proton Savvy, the Toyota Scion xA, the Mitsubishi Grandis — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Daihatsu catalogue sit the Daihatsu Applause and the Daihatsu Atrai.