DriveTimes Five
The coolest kei-cars
Japanese kei-cars are awesome. Tiny machines with engines limited to a maximum of 660cc and a throbbing 47kW, they are hugely popular in Japan where they qualify for special tax breaks, but make little sense anywhere else. Which makes them even more awesome. We’ve had some pop up in New Zealand, both as used imports and new cars (Suzuki Cappuccino, Daihatsu Copen and the utterly brilliant Honda Beat spring to mind). But Japan has been bursting at the seams with even cooler examples for decades.
Mitsubishi 360
While it would eventually morph into the fairly conventional Minica hatch, the original Mitsubishi 360 from 1962 was a fantastic range of tiny vans and pickup trucks. The best thing about them? Undoubtedly their unashamed American styling, scaled down onto a minuscule 1900mm wheelbase. While the van was brilliant, the star of the 360 range was definitely the Minicab pickup. It was essentially a cute knockoff of a Dodge D Series, with a 359cc two-cylinder, two-stroke engine. It had a thundering 13kW of power and a top speed of 85kmh. Oh, and did we mention suicide doors? It had those too.
Suzuki Jimmy
Sure, we get the Jimmy in NZ and have for quite some time, but did you know that it is actually officially a keicar? Not when it’s equipped with the four-cylinder engine we get here, but rather the 658cc three-cylinder offered in Japan. While the current car is great, the one we’re referring to in this list is the first generation produced between 1970-81. A miniWillys Jeep with a range of engines including a 359cc twin, 539cc triple and 797cc four, the LJ10 was Suzuki’s first global automobile success.
Honda S660
While almost everything else in Honda’s current (full-size) lineup seems designed to be as dreary as possible, the fantastic S660 popped out of nowhere as a concept in 2013 – seemingly just to taunt us. But amazingly, Honda actually put the tiny mid-engined roadster into production last year! Harking back to Honda’s classic 360cc S360 roadster, the S660 adds a healthy dose of the new NSX supercar to its styling. Packing the regulation three-cylinder engine with 47kW, the S660 is available with a manual transmission, or (if you are a joyless, desolate human being) CVT. Export versions with a 1.0-litre turbo engine are widely rumoured: yes please.
Honda Vamos
Today, the Vamos is a nondescript kei van. But the original was all kinds of weird in a bug-eyed package. Based on the KN360 kei-truck, the Vamos packed a 354cc two-cylinder midmounted air-cooled engine. With its VW-ish looks and open cockpit design, it quickly attracted buyers who wanted a car to suit an adventurous, outdoorsy lifestyle. This suited Honda nicely, as the hope was that the Vamos would fit in with the image of the hugely popular Dax off-road minibike. Unfortunately, the Vamos only came in 2WD and that put potential customers off again. Honda only sold around 2500 of them between 1970 and 1973.
Dream Factory Blow
Anything by Dream Factory Blow, really. The company doesn’t actually make cars itself, but it does produce brilliant recreations of classic American vans and pickups out of keis. Basically an American-obsessed customiser, Dream Factory Blow seems happy to have a crack at almost any American van or truck from the 60s, 70s and occasionally the 80s. There’s no apparent rationale for this: when the cars are so cool, who needs one?