We revisit the Japanese used-car market, then take a closer look at the MOFAC hi-lifted XPLAY we sourced in Japan and finished in Britain.
The first thing you notice is the shape. The angular front bumper, black wheel arches and khaki bodywork give this little open-top car a character all of its own. Then you notice how high it sits, and how much tyre there is beneath those arches. Look inside and there’s a five-speed gear lever.
If that’s the Copen you want, how many would you have to choose from in Japan?
Over the past few weeks, we’ve introduced our red Cero, our GR Sport and our blue Robe S. For the last car in this series, we’re going back to the Japanese market figures to see how often a manual XPLAY comes up, before looking at the particular combination we chose for this one.
1. Start with the shape you like
The second-generation Copen gives you four distinct looks. The Robe is sharp and contemporary, the Cero has a rounder, more classic shape, and the GR Sport has a more purposeful sports-car appearance. The XPLAY takes the same compact, two-seat, open-top idea in an entirely different direction, with angular panels and pronounced black wheel arches.
Then there’s the question of specification. Our blue Robe S is a good example: you get the Robe’s bodywork with the S grade’s equipment. The XPLAY also came in standard and S grades, and you can narrow your search further by choosing a five-speed manual or a CVT. Every choice changes the shortlist.
Read about our blue manual Robe S
Four faces within the LA400 family. Body design and specification both contribute to each car’s character.
2. Out of 1,099 Copens, how many were manual XPLAYs?
When we reviewed 1,099 second-generation Copens advertised on Goo-net on 30 August 2026, we found 72 XPLAYs. Of those, 17 were five-speed manuals and 55 were CVTs. So even before choosing a colour or setting a budget, the manual XPLAY shortlist was down to 17 cars.
We also counted 17 XPLAY S listings. That’s a separate figure by grade. The first count tells you how many XPLAYs had a manual gearbox. The second tells you how many were advertised as the S grade.
One car in our earlier market article was a 2016 Off Beat Khaki XPLAY with a five-speed manual and 49,000 km. If that’s close to what you have in mind, you can see how quickly the search becomes specific. You’ve picked the shape, the gearbox and the colour. Now the mileage, condition and asking price all have to work for you as well.
Revisit our survey of 1,099 LA400 Copens in Japan
3. Why wait for the right XPLAY?
When we’ve bought Copens in Japan, we’ve sometimes found XPLAYs dearer than the Robes and Ceros we were considering. That’s our experience of buying cars, and it matters when you have a budget to work with. With a wider choice, you can pass on one car and compare it with several others. With a manual XPLAY in a particular colour, the next listing may be a CVT, or the next manual may be in a colour you’d already ruled out. Finding an XPLAY and finding the XPLAY you want can take quite different amounts of time.
Daihatsu introduced the XPLAY in November 2014, after the Robe. Its official model history lists the XPLAY through December 2024. Production of the second-generation Copen as a whole ended in August 2026, so the XPLAY had already left the range by then.
So what makes it worth waiting for? For me, it’s what you can do with that shape. Lower an XPLAY and the square shoulders and wide arches give it a squat, compact sports-car stance. Raise it and fit tyres with taller sidewalls, and those same arches start to look like they were drawn for a small crossover. Then you put the roof down and remember that you’re looking at a tiny two-seat roadster.
That freedom to take the styling in either direction is one reason I think the XPLAY continues to appeal. Japanese Copen specialists such as MOFAC have shown how much character there is in the shape. And if part of the pleasure for you is owning a car you rarely see in the same specification, the choices go well beyond picking an unusual model. A khaki five-speed is already a narrow search. Finding one with the raised stance and wheel-and-tyre combination you’d choose yourself narrows it again.
4. The XPLAY at Brooklands and Brands Hatch
We took this XPLAY to Japanese Day at Brooklands Museum on 21 June 2026 and Go Japan! at Brands Hatch on 31 August 2026 with 130R Yokohama GB, the owners’ club I founded here in Britain. We meet regularly and attend Japanese-car events together. At Brooklands, we brought 20 cars as a club.
We had good weather on both days, and the organisers put a lot of work into making both events a success. The crowds felt larger than at other events we’d attended as a club. Even with so much to see, plenty of people stopped to ask about 130R, what we do and how to get involved.
The khaki XPLAY prompted plenty of conversations of its own. We had people asking about the car in person, the stack of business cards kept going down, and the display’s QR code was scanned frequently. That combination of conversations and people taking the time to look up the car afterwards made the level of interest tangible to me.
Thank you to everyone who stopped for a look, asked us about the XPLAY or took an interest in the club. If you saw the car at either show and wondered how it came together, here’s what went into it.
[Images from the Japanese day and Go Japan 2026: The XPLAY and our demonstrator Cero alongside the 130R Yokohama GB display.]
5. Developed with Copen specialists in Japan, finished in Britain
We spent a long time discussing this build with Copen specialists in Japan. The starting point was a 2015 XPLAY with a five-speed manual, finished in Off Beat Khaki Metallic and Black Mica Metallic, with the black interior package. We wanted the wheels, tyres and ride height to suit the shape that had drawn us to the car in the first place.
The MOFAC lift suspension was fitted in Japan before the car was shipped. In Britain, we fitted new WORK CRAG T-G wheels and 175/65R15 all-season tyres, then adjusted the alignment. The side view shows what the three choices do together. You can see the space beneath the body, the depth of the tyre sidewalls and how the wheels sit under the black arches. From the front three-quarter angle, you can see how that stance suits the angular bumpers and bodywork.
Look closer and you’ll find TAKEOFF lens covers and an HKS exhaust tailpipe. Under the bonnet are a TAKEOFF Magic Tank and an HKS recirculating blow-off valve. In the black cabin, a Defi boost gauge lets you see the boost pressure from the driver’s seat.
The car also had an inspection and preventative servicing in Japan before shipment. Here in Britain, we removed the brake components for inspection, cleaned the underside and wheel arches, and finished the interior and paintwork. It has covered 72,500 km, is UK registered, and has an MOT until April 2027. The showroom page has the photographs, preparation details and inspection record if you’d like to see what was done at each stage.
See the XPLAY’s full specification and preparation history
6. Come and see the XPLAY for yourself
If it was the shape that caught your eye, come and see how the car sits in person. Stand back and look at it from the side, then take a seat and see how the cabin feels with the roof down. We’ll show you the inspection record, talk you through the work carried out in Japan and Britain, and give you time to decide whether this is the XPLAY you’d been looking for.
If the high-lifted Xplay appeals but you would prefer a different colour, mileage or budget, talk to us about a Bespoke JDM Import.
We can begin by working out which conditions matter most to you, and where you would be comfortable making an adjustment.