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Mar 4, 2024 · Kei trucks are small, agile, and affordable vehicles from Japan that are gaining popularity in the U.S. Learn about their advantages, disadvantages, and what to consider before buying one.
- Daniel Strohl
- Are kei trucks hard to work on?We'll start with Mike Festiva, a fabricator who took the plunge on a Suzuki Carry last year and has been frank about what it's needed over three in...
- How do the different kei trucks compare?In Guam, the Living This Life channel rounded up three kei trucks - a Carry, a Daihatsu Hijet, and a Honda Acty - to compare and contrast and condu...
- What should I know before buying a kei truck?Maybe one of the most popular kei truck videos across the Internet is the "five things I wish I'd known" type. Daily MTB Rider provides a good run...
- Are kei trucks reliable?Most kei truck vids discuss how they'll be used in more rural settings, but WayBeforeTheFame got his Hijet to drive around Brooklyn and, in fact, d...
- How easy is it to lift a kei truck?We could keep going on, but we'll wrap it with one last video that really gets under the hood (so to speak) of a Honda Acty with a custom suspensio...
May 1, 2023 · Kei trucks are small, cheap, and versatile vehicles from Japan that can be used for work or off-road. Learn about their features, benefits, and the states that allow them on the road.
- 12 1959 - 1971 Subaru 360
- 11 1991 - 1997 Daihatsu Hijet
- 10 1994 - 1998 Mitsubishi Pajero Mini
- 9 1990 - 1998 Honda Acty Van/Truck
- 8 1990 - 1995 Suzuki Jimny
- 7 1988 - 1991 Nissan Pao
- 6 1992 - 1998 Subaru Vivio Rx-R
- 5 1991 - 1996 Honda Beat
- 4 1991 - 1998 Suzuki Cappuccino
- 3 1989 - 1991 Nissan S-Cargo
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
Average Used Car Price: $23,834
The Subaru 360 was a rear-engined mini-carthat debuted in 1959 as Subaru's first mass-produced vehicle. Named after its 356-cc inline-2, 2-stroke engine, the Subaru 360 eventually came in sedan, station wagon, and convertible body formats. A few sporty variants like the Subaru 360 Young S and Young SS were also offered with upgraded performance characteristics. By the end of the Subaru 360's production run in 1971, almost 400,000 units were built.
Average Used Car Price: $8,352
Classified as both a cab-over microvan and a Kei truck, the Daihatsu Hijet has been in production from 1960until today. Daihatsu introduced the first Hijet with a 360-cc, 2-stroke engine in accordance with Japan's Kei truck laws during that period. Last 2021, Daihatsu launched the 11th-generation Hijet with a 658-cc gas engine. Finally, last May 2023, Daihatsu announced that the Hijet will soon have a battery electric vehicle (BEV) version - which will also be marketed as the Toyota Pixis and...
Average Used Car Price: $6,349
The Mitsubishi Pajero Mini, as its name denotes, is the smaller brother of the off-road-ready Mitsubishi Pajero SUV(known as the Montero in North America). The Pajero Mini, which debuted in 1994, sported dimensions that slotted into the Japanese kei car segment. From its 1994 debut to its final model year in 2012, the Mitsubishi Pajero Mini used 659-cc, inline-4 engine variations (naturally aspirated and turbocharged) of the 4A3 engine family. Although its engine may not have impressive power...
Average Used Car Price: $11,666
Ending production in 2021, the Honda Acty is the one to have for car shows and being creative! Acty is short for Activity, and owners take that to the extreme. The Honda Acty's little three-cylinder engine has made between 35 and 45 hp through the years, and the 4WD made it an ideal farm truck. It can go up to 71 mph and the 2WD was offered as an automatic. Just check out this 1995 Honda Acty Pickup 5-speedfor an example of just why a sub $8k example could be the perfect foundation for your n...
Average Used Car Price: $8,750
This little Suzuki took the off-road heritage that the brand had and combined it with Jeep-like aesthetics to fit the Kei car criteria. Just watch a Suzuki Jimny make the mighty G63 AMG and Wrangler insecurewhen the going gets rough. The awkward two-seater was successful enough to run from the 60s to continue selling 2.85 million in multiple countries in 2016, but the 90s versions are the raw, off-road classics we'd rather have, not the Jeep Renegade cube they sell now. The Jimny is a silly b...
Average Used Car Price: $8,100
This adorable Nissan Pao vintage JDM carsold out in just 90 days, leading to a substantial waiting list for those who still wanted to buy one. After selling over 31,000 units of the Nissan Pao over a hugely successful period between 1989 and 1991, Nissan called it a day and no more were made. With throwback styling, and nothing on the outside or inside except the vents and stereo buttons, the Pao was wonderfully simple. It has exposed hinges, a narrow steering wheel, a 1970s-style dashboard c...
Average Used Car Price: $5,777
How about a car that fits in through your front door and can also rally the dirt trails? Subaru didn't hold back its AWD streak when making this little thing, even though it looks like a squished WRX that has a few Fiat 500 styling quirks thrown in for some measure. The four-cylinder (non-boxer) engine makes 62 hp, and best of all, it's supercharged! Just looking at that formula should explainwhy Japanese Kei cars are cooler than you might think. The RX-R merges a red interior and bucket seat...
Average Used Car Price: $8,555
The Honda Beat is one of the very first cars people think of in terms of Kei cars. Many compare it to a S2000 despite weighing about half as much. It was made for useable speed, possessing a limited-slip differential and even individual throttle bodies! The features and buttons are scaled down to make it look more superficial, and this free-spirited outlook on the entire car is exactly why the mighty Honda Beat is the only JDM car you will ever need. The standard 62 hp engine was paired with...
Average Used Car Price: $8,555
Along with the Beat, the Cappuccino is another car we immediately think of when we start to daydream about the Kei car world. Unlike the Beat, the Cappuccino is turbocharged and has its engine out at the front. But like the Beat, it's rear-wheel drive. Somehow, brake discs that are small enough have found their way beneath the wheel arches, and combined with a manual LSD, the Cappuccino becomes a wonderfully expressive car to drive. There are also several reasons why some believe the Suzuki C...
Average Used Car Price: $15,143
Let's get this out of the way immediately; this is one of the ugliest cars you can ever own alongside the Fiat Multipla. We might argue that ugly could be translated to unique, and since it's so tiny, it can hang out as the strange unicorn at car shows. The S-Cargo was made from 1989 to 1991 and unlike a lot of cars at the time, came with AC. In fact, there are many things people didn't know about the "puntastic" 1989 Nissan S-Cargo. It ran on a three-speed automatic controlling the 1.5-liter...
Learn about the history, features, and benefits of kei cars, which are tiny, reliable, and versatile vehicles that fit Japan's size and tax regulations. See the list of 12 kei cars that you can legally import and drive in America, from Subaru 360 to Honda Acty.
Kei car. Kei car is the smallest category of Japanese, expressway -legal motor vehicles. 'Kei' is diminutive for kei-jidōsha, ( kanji: 軽自動車 ), "light automobile" or "compact automobile" ( pronounced [keːdʑidoːɕa] ). With restricted dimensions and engine specifications, owners benefit firstly from lower taxes and insurance rates ...
- Alex Kierstein
- 6 min
- Honda
- 1963–1970 Honda S500/S600/S800. Imagine this being your entrance into the automotive world (just after the humble T360 trucklet). The S500 was an automotive jewel, combining clever engineering derived from Honda's motorcycle experience with a lot of typical Honda unconventional thinking.
- 1972–1974 Honda Life Step Van. The kei category predates the kei van, but the little van form factor has come to epitomize modern kei vehicles overall. The most popular kei cars are, indeed, vans.
- 1970–Present Suzuki Jimny. One of the very few kei vehicles to gain a foothold in the United States and the highest-profile of that small subset, the Suzuki Jimny was originally developed as the HopeStar ON360.
- 1987–2000 Suzuki Alto Works. The little Alto, smaller than the Suzuki Cultus we got in North America as the Suzuki Swift and Geo Metro, could have been consigned to history as just another workaday kei hatchback.
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Aug 6, 2020 · A Kei car is a small, light, and economical vehicle that meets specific size and engine regulations in Japan. Learn about the history, features, and examples of these pocket-sized fun cars.
Kim Ji-yeon ( Korean : 김지연; born March 20, 1995), known professionally as Kei, is a South Korean singer and musical actress. She rose to fame as a member of South Korean girl group Lovelyz in November 2014. Kei officially made her solo debut with released EP on October 8, 2019, titled Over and Over. [1] On November 16, 2021, she left ...
