Terios and wider too

Just what kind of compact five-door 4x4 can you really get for £13,000? Not much of one if you've your heart set on something like a Land Rover Freelander, a Toyota RAV4 or a Honda CR-V. Even something of Suzuki, Kia or Hyundai ilk will set you back around £15,000 if you need five doors. But there is another option - and I finally got around to trying it this week. Daihatsu's Terios is priced from £12,995, only comes in five-door form and really rather surprised me.

Fully 142mm longer than the previous generation Terios and wider too, this model creates opportunities that Daihatsu were completely unable to pursue with the old car, offering space for young families and enough style to suit twenty and thirtysomethings looking for a leisure-oriented vehicle. I thought the interior to be clean and unfussy with materials quality that's a long way removed from the old Terios and the cowled instrument panel is a very nice touch. If you're familiar with the RAV4, you'll have a sense of deja vu in here. Large 4x4s with real off road prowess tend to ride and corner like the QE2 on choppy seas but the bouncy suspension and high riding chassis enable them to cope with the big knocks that off road vehicles are required to take. The Terios is much smaller and nimbler on the road with ride and handling amongst the most car-like in the compact 4x4 sector. Body roll in the bends has been successfully curbed and on the flat, you shouldn't be reaching for the travel sickness pills. It's one of the few 4x4s that you'd take for a drive on tarmac just for the fun of it, making the Terios notably better than its Suzuki rival in this regard and leagues better than anything from Kia or Hyundai. Fuel economy of 40.4mpg is possible on long motorway trips if you're reasonably prudent with the right pedal in the manual model, while the automatic gearbox is slightly thirstier with a 39.8mpg extra urban average. This isn't bad considering the hefty 4x4 transmission the Terios is lugging around and the less than ideal aerodynamics produced by the slab-fronted offroader shape.

The handling is pretty nimble but the penalty for that is off road ability that's decidedly modest. With a mere 17cm of ground clearance, the Terios isn't the ideal tool to take out into the wilds, but wheel articulation is surprisingly good and although the little Daihatsu will adopt some rather dramatic angles of lean through a gnarly off road test course, it'll manage to keep its belly from scraping too badly. Compared to a big Volvo XC90, the Terios is a good deal more useful in the mud. If you can keep the Terios on smooth surfaces, it'll do surprisingly well, although tyre choice is obviously very important, but without a dedicated low range or hill descent system, really hilly terrain is beyond its scope. Compared to Hyundai's Santa Fe, the short front and rear overhangs allow a little more manoeuvrability although the exhaust system is rather vulnerable when the modest ground clearance is exhausted. The Terios feels a little more composed and the steering is a good deal quicker when you need to flick it from lock to lock in a bid to help front wheel grip.

As I've said, if all I wanted was a faux 4x4 for short commutes, school run trips or the urban commute, I'd be very interested in giving this little Daihatsu a go. Enough said.