If I'm to be brutally honest - and I trust you would expect nothing less of me - I wasn't expecting to like the Materia anywhere near as much as I did. Perhaps this is because I'm a country boy; my local friends all live in villages and small towns, and in many cases in isolated houses with no visible neighbours, and their immediate reaction to the car was far from positive. Somehow it just doesn't fit into the rural scene.But I collected the Materia in the Big City, where its first job was to transport me to and from a meeting. And I found myself thinking, yes, this is right - I'm in a car which is quirky enough to be something of a fashion statement without looking entirely ridiculous, and it feels at home here.It's not just about the looks. Apart from the blind spots - which are vast, especially at the rear thanks to those ludicrously wide C pillars - the Materia is fantastically easy to drive in town. All the controls are light and responsive, and the only reason I had occasional trouble with the clutch is that I'm six foot three and there isn't quite enough legroom in the front for me.Other than that, the Materia is spacious to an extent you simply would not believe at a first glance. With the driver's seat set up for me (in other words as far back as it would go), I could sit immediately behind it with an almost comical amount of room to spare. I'm not joking when I say that the amount of room back there is comparable to what you'll find in the rear of a long-wheelbase Jaguar XJ.The driving position is slightly van-like (not that that's a problem - I've driven several very comfortable vans) and the view is good, as long as you're actually looking through glass. Since you don't drop very far to get into it, I'd say that the Materia would be a good prospect for drivers who, shall we say, aren't quite as supple as they once were.After all the city stuff I had a long drive home on fast, flowing A-roads. The Materia didn't shine quite so brightly there; road noise becomes very apparent once you go beyond 30mph, wind rush starts to come in at the same time, and since the gearing is quite low the 1.5-litre petrol engine is already starting to sound strained as you reach the national speed limit.That gearing doesn't help the fuel economy, and nor does the boxy shape, which is of such a nature as to make even the most battle-hardened, seen-it-all-before aerodynamicist grasp at the table for support. Combined fuel economy is 39.2mpg, and a long motorway run could prove to be rather expensive, to say nothing of being a trial for the eardrums.So the Materia isn't much cop as a cruiser, but that run did at least demonstrate that it's comfortable at higher speeds, thanks to the very impressive ride quality. Its considerable height and modest length and width put practical limits on this, but overall Daihatsu's suspension people have done an impressive job of making the Materia soak up the bumps.The really big surprise came a few days into the test. At least once a week I have to travel up and down about 40 miles of coastal road full of hard climbs, abrupt descents and corners ranging from long sweepers to ohmygod hairpins. It's a major challenge for test cars, and since the Materia gives no sign of being at all sporty I was prepared to accept that it wasn't going to be particularly good here, and that it wouldn't really matter.I couldn't have been more wrong about this. The car lapped up the whole thing. Turn-in was great, mid-corner balance was perfect, and the tall body was always kept absolutely in control. The Materia may not be very quick in a straight line, but with handling like this it doesn't have to be. I've no idea why it behaves so well - nothing in my previous experience of Daihatsus had led me to believe that the company was capable of such a thing - but I'm certainly not going to complain about it.From the outside, the Materia looks quite promising as a load carrier. In fact it might not be all that special, since the boot floor is very high, and with all that space devoted to the passengers there isn't much left behind the rear seats. With those seats in their upright position the quoted luggage volume is a modest 230 litres, and although this rises to 619 litres when the seats are folded, that's because the roof is so far up.You couldn't carry anything very long, though bulky objects such as amplifiers (which I'm sure a recording engineer of my acquaintance was thinking about as he prowled round the car) shouldn't be a problem.Euro NCAP put the Materia through its crash test programme last year, and the results were less than impressive. The car scored four stars out of five for adult occupant protection, losing several marks because of possible leg injuries, partly because of the way the dashboard has been designed.There were three stars out of five for child occupant protection, and two out of four for pedestrian protection; the lower part of the front end is quite flexible, but the leading edge of the bonnet is very solid (I leaned against it at one point and had uncomfortable visions of what would happen if that part of a passing Materia came into contact with me).Safety is not the Materia's best feature, then, and nor are economy or refinement. You can make your own decision about the styling. In other ways, though, this is quite a piece of work - easy to drive, amazingly roomy and far more sporty than I would have believed possible.So there are pros and cons, and it's up to you to decide what the overall balance is. To me, the Materia is easily the best Daihatsu I've ever driven, and by far the most surprising car of the year so far. Engine 1495 cc, 4 cylinders Power 102 bhp @6000 rpm Torque 97 ib/ft @4400 rpm Transmission 5 speed manual Fuel/CO2 39.2 mpg / 169 g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 10.8sec Top speed 106 mph Price From £11004.00 approx Release date 01/07/2007
