You choice should include the Perodua Kelisa, highly
recommended. Can customized some more, like the Mini Cooper... it's
a poor man's Mini Cooper 
Of course, automatic version is also available.
This is at least a Daihatsu Mira / Cuore equivalent (which is
proven in Japan's K-Class Cars), with a Japan sourced Daihatsu
Engine, Koreans? Sorry to say, they are not there yet 
their reliability is still questionable.
Go test-drive the Kelisa to realize how good it is.
Read on:
Top Gear Review
http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/prog13/perodua.shtml
The Car Enthusiast Review
2003 Perodua Kelisa review
Let's get the obvious out of the way. The Perodua Kelisa has zero
street credibility. No, make that negative. Its name sounds
terrible in the English language, and very few people will have
heard of it, never mind have the ability to pronounce it correctly
(Per-odd-you-a). It looks like an ugly copy of the previous
generation Nissan Micra with skinny pressed steel wheels. Now
that's out of the way, forget all your preconceptions and take the
Kelisa for a test drive. I am convinced that after 10 minutes you
will be mightily impressed.
For starters, rather than feeling like a snail tied to a lamppost,
the Kelisa really shifts. Yes, I am being serious. The
Daihatsu-sourced engine is only of 1.0-litre capacity, and has just
54 bhp, but its delivery is fantastic. There is a wide and flat
torque curve and it feels much quicker than is claimed by Perodua.
The low weight of the Kelisa has a large influence, but the little
engine also pulls strongly to its 7000 rpm rev limiter (is that
really necessary in this type of car?!). The little 3-pot engine
has real vim and character by the bucket load too, sounding like
the Smart Roadster (but without the wastegate flutter). It is
barely believable that a few people in the office likened the sound
to that of an early Porsche 911...
Once you are over the shock of actually enjoying how quick the
Kelisa is, take a look around the cabin and you may be further
surprised. Though lacking luxuries, the cockpit is well designed
and practical. It is certainly as good as that in the Daewoo Matiz,
with perhaps less emphasis on cheeky design touches. The important
things are present and correct: two airbags, comfortable seats,
loads of cubbyholes and even room to rest your clutch foot. It may
not have the list of standard features the CityRover has, but it
beats it hands down on quality and execution.
I would never have expected the Kelisa to be fun to drive. Perodua
do surprisingly emphasise that it is in its brochures. Along with
the engine is a 5-speed manual with perfectly matched ratios. The
change is not quite as slick as in the Matiz, but it is still good.
The brakes are full of feel (which is just as well as it has no
ABS), and even the steering is not completely devoid of
communication. It didn't feel unnatural to hustle this little
mini-car along from roundabout to T-junction. The Kelisa really is
a bit of a hoot.
In fact, the Perodua Kelisa reminds us of the current Nissan Micra;
it is competent and well designed; its damping is spot-on; it is
light and easy to drive, but actually rather fun. The Kelisa also
has bags of something missing from many new cars: character. That
alone would never be enough to survive in the tightly fought
super-mini class. It does after all compete with the likes of the
new Fiat Panda. So, the Perodua is probably the least obvious
choice, but you'd be a fool not to consider it.
Words and photographs by Shane O' Donoghue.: 2004-04-26
from:
http://www.carenthusiast.com/news.html?article=384[/url]
