I’m not sure exactly how you landed here, but I welcome you. You’ve no doubt seen a Kei truck / car / van somewhere, and thought “ok, now THAT looks like fun.” I’ve only had Kei vehicles for a couple of years now, but I can confirm for you that yes, fun is being had!
In my intro, I mentioned that I’m a Grape Ape and have been involved in some weird inverse relationship with the universe where I’m only interested in small cars. I was into the Classic Mini (1959-2000), and owned several between 2002 and now. Back in “the day,” we’d hang out over at MiniMania’s forums and talk about all things Mini related. I think one of the best things I ever heard was along these lines. I wish I could find the original quote, but this gets the point across:
“If you want to own a Classic Mini, never drive it further than you are prepared to walk. It’s not a case of if it strands you, but when.”
Just for reference, this is the first Mini my (awesome) wife and I owned. 1971, 998cc (transverse 4 cylinder), 4MT car from New Zealand wearing 10” ROH Contessa wheels. I think at that point it had Yokohama A008s on it. It was a “MK III” Mini. Brand new, it would have made 55 hp at 5800rpm. Drum brakes all around. Funny quick story - the stock exhaust box rotted and fell off, so I had a “Cherry Bomb” muffler welded on in its place. Even some friends that have had loud cars said “God DAMN, your car is LOUD!” Between the induction noise, transmission, and exhaust, conversations at full throttle were just not possible.
Why do I bother bringing up Mini stuff on a page that is all about Subaru’s EN07 engine? There are definitely some parallels between Classic Minis and Kei vehicles.
My first piece of advice to people when they ask me about buying a Kei vehicle is this:
You’re planning on buying a 25+ year old vehicle, sight-unseen, with an unknown maintenance history. We don’t know who owned it, nor how hard they drove it, or under what conditions, and how much they cared for it with maintenance. You’ve got to expect problems, and be ok with the vehicle potentially stranding you somewhere.
Still here? Good!
So what’s it like driving a Kei vehicle, daily, here on O’ahu? Thankfully my commute is about 15 min, and it’s probably a good 90% flat. The remaining 10% is a gentle hill that we have no problem going over. I have been tracking my fuel usage, and right now I’m averaging 29.69 MPG (25.26 km/l). I’ve seen as low as 22 MPG (9.45 km/l), and as high as 34.76 MPG (14.79 km/l). My ownership so far (1.5 years?) has shown that… Flat = good. Hills = bad. Going over the Ko’olau Mountain Range that separates my side of the island from Honolulu, man that’s a 4th gear, WOT (Wide Open Throttle), 5,000rpm+ affair. For like 4-6 minutes! It’s no wonder the mileage drops off when I do that. As for “how fast is it?’ - that’s usually a good indicator that the person doesn’t need a Kei vehicle. Fast, they are not. I mean, unless you drive off a cliff.
Under controlled test conditions, of course, I’ve had my 97 KS3 pickup to an indicated 115kph (~71mph), verified with GPS. I don’t have a tach installed yet, but man that is really the fastest I want to go on such a small wheelbase, narrow track, and skinny tires. Especially in a truck or van, you’re just not designed to make moves “at speed.” My guess is that you’ve got one good move, followed by a correction, before you’re sliding on the door.
On flat ground, it’ll do 100kph (~62mph) just fine. This is definitely a “right lane” experience though. In the above-mentioned test environment, we kept it floored in 5th and were down to 45mph (~72kph). On the highways and Interstates, I just try to stay out of everyone’s way, and most importantly, I drive defensively. You’ve gotta give yourself space to get out of situations if they develop. Watch the “Chads” and “Karens” driving their monstrous 5,000lb (2268kg) SUVs and Pickups. Drivers these days forget that other people exist in the vehicles that they whip past at 10,15, 20mph over the speed limit. Not only do you not want to have an accident in a Kei vehicle, you don’t want the added speed and having those gigantic vehicles in the equation. I mean, if you want to hit motorcycles, that’s probably ok because you outweigh them. They’re fast though, and hard to keep up with when you have 38hp.
Yes, you can use them on the Interstate, but you’re going to be doing around 100kph (62mph). Here in Hawai’i, I can count on traffic to be doing the same speed as me usually, but it is not entirely out of place to have someone fly up behind me (even in the right lane, minding my own business), whip around me using the minimum space as if to prove something, and then go ahead of me. I mean… # 1, why the fuck are you in such a hurry, and #2, I’m in the correct lane!
Is it useful? Oh man, is it ever! My Kei truck has a bed that is one inch longer than my full-size Nissan Titan. I find that hilarious. On top of that, the bed is really low to the ground, but above the wheels, so you don’t have the “wheel humps” in the bed like you do in American trucks. All 3 sides of the bed fold down and can be removed. It is super easy to load because the bed is so low, and it’s rated for 350kg (~770lbs) back there. Now, load my truck down with over 700 pounds of anything on the back end and I am not going anywhere fast, but … it can do it! My SWAG (Scientific Wild Ass Guess) is that I can do at least 85% of what a “big truck” does daily. Plus I get like 30MPG. My ‘95 KV4 (4x4 Sambar van, 5MT) is equally useful. The two rear seats (it’s a 4 seater) fold flat, so you end up with a flat, enclosed cargo space that is 6’6” (198cm), or one Andy long, and like 4 feet (~192cm) wide. Absolutely useful. We’ve done Costco runs in the KV4, and not even had to fold the rear seats down. it’s got that much space!
What would I recommend if I were to give a general recommendation to someone looking for a Kei vehicle? Go forced induction (supercharged or turbocharged) if you can. While my truck currently makes (err, made) 38hp, a Kei vehicle with forced induction is going to be more like high 50s or up to about 62hp. (In Japan there was, and still might be, a “gentleman’s agreement” to cap out Kei power at 62hp. They did the same with their fast cars like the Nissan Skyline, and they were all rated at 276hp for the longest time.) We want…need to be close to that 62hp end right out of the box. Now, this being a Subaru site, I would absolutely recommend either the Sambar van or truck. Both came in a supercharged flavor. If you can drive manual transmission, or want to learn (it’s super easy because these vehicles are so light and the gearing is so short!) - I highly recommend going manual transmission. Plus, all the cool kids drive MT. :) Subaru made an early CVT (continuously-variable transmission) called the ECVT. It was present in both the truck and the van, as well as the Vivio (car). My ‘96 KV3 (2WD, Fuel Injected, ECVT) van has it. When we went to pick it up at the dock, we couldn’t drive it home, because the transmission was screwed six ways to Sunday. Two years later (yes), it is drivable, but not where I want it to be before I list it for sale. That KV3 is a special one, as it has a factory installed (yes!) hydraulic wheelchair ramp in it. We purchased it to hopefully transport a family member, but they have since passed. I really hope I can get it running well and get it sold to someone who can use the wheelchair lift! Ok ,so - ECVT. In a new vehicle, I heard they were fine. High mileage, not so much. There are special parts in them that I was 100% not familiar with at all, namely the “brushes” and the “electromagnetic powder clutch.” The first one is about $100 (and is a “wear” part), and the 2nd, $550 without shipping. Good news is, the KV3 should be set for quite a few kms when we’re done getting her ready! The EVCVT transmission was replaced with a traditional 3-speed automatic transmission in 1997 in the trucks and vans. Cars, I’m not so sure. If you can, don’t purchase an ECVT vehicle, as you’re more than likely going to inherit someone else’s transmission problems. We want FUN, not 100% fixing and trying to chase down 25+ year old parts.
Parts. Ah, yes. “Are parts easy to find?” Well, it really depends on what you’re looking for. Some stuff is out there, surprisingly still “new, old stock” but the overwhelming majority of stuff you’re going to find is going to be used. That goes back to the whole thing about not knowing where it came from nor how it was cared for. Sometimes, you have to check several sites. I’m going to make a post regarding parts suppliers, but that’s for another day. Thankfully, stuff like oil filters, spark plugs, spark plug wires (if you can do a little work), air filters, oil, coolant, and transmission fluids are available locally. I haven’t tried to chase down a suitably exchangeable distributor cap or rotor yet. The spark plugs I recently learned that we can purchase a “universal” set for a V8, and a special crimper. Then it’s a matter of figuring out how long you want that particular spark plug wire, cutting it, and then crimping the appropriate end on it. For comparison, I found a comparable NGK “5 wire” kit (4 spark plugs, plus one to the coil) for $75 on eBay. Checked one of the US-based suppliers for the same kit, and it was over $110. We’ll be learning more about what gauge of spark plug wire to purchase for the universal kit, and then I will show ‘ya how to make those!
What should you spend? Well, it comes down to what your budget is. As an example, the purchase price of my truck in Japan was $6,305. Shipping was another $2,100. That’s before it hits US soil and US Customs and Border Patrol touches it, or in our case in the Islands, also the Department of Agriculture. Then there’s the dock workers. You’ll have to pay your Customs broker (more on that in another post, but yes, you should use a broker). THEN, you can drive the damn thing home. Following that, in Hawai’i, youv’e got to get the VIN inspected. You’ve got to get it weighed at a certified weigh station. Then you’ve got to go get the Safety inspection, which you’ll fail because you don’t have a current registration - but that failed Safety allows you to register the vehicle, at which time you can go back to the Safety Inspection station you went to and pass your safety. Is it difficult? Honestly, no. There’s a lot of paperwork that you’re responsible for, and there’s a lot of back and forth once the vehicle hits the port, but it’s totally doable. Here in Hawai’i there are at least a couple of people that will take care of all that for you, but you then get to pay for all the “stuff’ plus their services. We’ll make a post about the (Hawai’i) registration process at some point. Back to my little silver truck - after the smoke cleared and there was a Hawaii license plate and Safety inspection sticker on it, we’d spent around $10,000. Don’t want to deal with the hassle of finding, (exporting usually done by the company you purchased from), then importing and registering a vehicle? There are are at least a handful of dealers here on O’ahu that you can buy a Hawai’i registered Kei vehicle from. Keep in mind though that you’re not only paying all the stuff I paid, but on top of that, you’re paying money to the dealer, too. Having worked for an auto dealership, I can confidently say that they’re going to throw another $3,000 to $5,000 on top of what it cost them to get it here. They can also do things like buying 40’ containers and stuffing it with 4+ vehicles to cut their shipping prices down…plus, they’re probably connected to people who can purchase directly from the auctions in Japan (regular people can’t). If you’re ok paying what’s essentially a “dealer markup,” then there’s nothing wrong with getting one that is already on US soil. There is a reason why the used car guys & gals always dress the best, have the nicest shoes and watches, etc…
What should I do when I need to service my vehicle? Remember that part about “unknown maintenance history? Well, you should plan on establishing a baseline once you’ve got possession of your new “child.” :) You’re going to want to do a basic tune-up (I touched on it above in parts, but we’ll cover that in future articles as well), go over all the mechanical stuff, things like CV (constant velocity joint) boots, suspension parts, brakes, and tires. I would expect to spend another $500 on those parts.
Now youv’e got your Subaru Kei vehicle. If you’ve purchased a truck or van, welcome, fellow Sambarian! (I don’t know what the Vivio guys call each other yet).
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