Numbers first, because with the Daihatsu Mira Gino they are the story: Petrol engine, 58 PS. Daihatsu built from 1999 to 2009, when airbags, anti-lock brakes and Japanese build quality became the world standard.
Where it came from
The Daihatsu Mira Gino (Japanese: ダイハツ・ミラジーノ, Daihatsu Mira Jīno) is a kei car/city car with distinctive retro styling made by the Japanese automaker Daihatsu from 1999 to 2009. It is based on the more mainstream Mira and was first introduced to the Japanese market in 1999, with the second generation model following in 2004.
The Mira Gino replaced the Mira Classic which is a subvariant of the L500 series Mira. The second generation model was also exported as the Daihatsu Trevis to some markets in Europe such as Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Gibraltar and France.
Under the skin
Power comes from Petrol engine; 58 PS is the published figure; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It weighs 830 kg. Work it out per tonne and you get about 70 horsepower — unhurried — enough for the job, not for the bragging. It shifts through a 5-speed Manual transmission / manual / 3-speed Automatic transmission / automatic / 4-speed automatic / Continuously variable transmission / CVT. The wheelbase is 2360 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 Mira Classic; its successor was the Daihatsu Mira Cocoa. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Chery A11, the Toyota Vitz, the Opel Frogster — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Daihatsu catalogue sit the Daihatsu Applause and the Daihatsu Atrai.
Daihatsu1907
Daihatsu Mira