In seriousness, have always really liked these. No idea what they are like to drive but seems to have a decent driving position like the Sera I drove. I imagine would be better with the less weight and manual as well.
I drove a Paseo on and off for 15 years. I hated it. Fair play to the Toyota engineering for taking everything we threw at it, it performed above and beyond, but a nice drive it was not. An unfortunate mix of raspy, floaty, jerky and bouncy - in my most humble of opinions. I've never driven a Sera, but gull-wing doors trump anything the Paseo has.
Matski's fairly close to the mark I think, though I far from hate the car myself. But then it's not my only car and it's serving a very basic purpose for me which is low-cost transport.
The chassis seems neat enough and there's nothing fundamentally wrong with it, but it's certainly set up on the slightly soft side. I actually find the ride pretty good compared to what I'm used to, and that's maybe helped by the fact the thing doesn't rattle so it feels like the suspension's doing its job.
Not driven it "hard" yet though that's mainly because the tyres and alignment are pretty hopeless - the other day accelerating fairly gently out of a tight roundabout it actually started to
oversteer - but it doesn't immediately strike me as a car that'll be anything more than competent. The steering is pretty light, more than I'd expect for a car like this. Again it's reasonably precise and there's probably more feedback than you'd get from a modern supermini, but probably a fair bit less than something like a Puma would've given back in the day.
Engine-wise it's nothing special at all. The Paseo's 5E-FE is in a lower state of tune than the Sera (89bhp vs 104bhp) so I imagine a Sera feels more enthusiastic, but for a small-capacity 16v four, it's pretty unenthusiastic to rev. Again, that actually suits me kinda perfectly because I just want the thing to work and be economical and not coerce me into driving quickly, but I'd not drive one for "fun". The gearshift's pretty good though - typical Japanese car stuff, decent throw, quick, accurate, positive.
But yeah, all that said, it's pretty ideal for what I need right now. I didn't buy it for fun (I mean I didn't buy it, but you know what I mean) so it doesn't matter that it's not great in that area, but actually the good ride, light steering, engine that's better at low revs etc is spot-on for how I'm driving it. And it feels built to last too.
Also, it wouldn't put me off a Sera. The Sera's absolutely a car about its styling and gimmicks, and even if it's just as nice to cruise around slowly in as the Paseo is then it'd be perfectly judged. I'm very much about finding cars that do specific things very well rather than attempting to compromise to meet every single need, and the Sera sells me on the look alone. The fact it'd probably be super easy to run because it's just a Paseo underneath is just a bonus for that kind of car.
You bagged one of the big 5 JDM legends. 👍👍
