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I finally realized that Americans buy for edge-case scenarios. Well, I might go off-road someday. Or I might need to haul something big someday. Same with houses. I might have six friends over for a month someday, so I should buy a house that will mostly sit unused until then. Instead, we should buy for what we actually use, then rent something for the rare occasion when what we have isn’t enough. We’d save a fortune, and not waste so much energy. 🙄
I’m looking into buying a kei truck for these exact edge case scenarios. Realistically I only need a vehicle that can reliably drive a few miles a day. With one of these I can get that plus 4wd, amazing mpg, a whole ass truck bed, and they cost PEANUTS compared to regular vehicles.
I don’t plan on hauling anything, but I do love the option.
Holy shit, I didn’t even know those were a thing. Thanks! That’s kinda perfect for what I’d need and they are reasonably priced (but ooooooooold, most of the once’s I’m finding are from the 90s for 5-7k. Certainly much lower price for the low mileage than any work truck I’ve come across…
Check your local laws, but if you can find a dealership in your state you’re probably fine.
I saw conflicting reports about legality in my state, but there’s also dealerships selling vehicles with valid in-state titles that they claim are highway legal. I just assume there’s some semantic/bureaucratic bullshit at play.
I checked, street legal in my state, but with restrictions.
Idk how accurate this resource is, but it’s what I found. I figure I’ll check with the dmv before I buy one, but I found a forum post that seemed to confirm it…
Didn’t see any dealerships in the area tho.
Yeah same I’ve been looking at a few different models because eventually I wanna build my own house out of cob and be self sufficient and all that. It’d be nice to have something that doesn’t take up a lot of space, can be relatively easily fixed, and gets good MPG
To my understanding the use and popularity of kei cars in Japan is a thing for the same reason as massive cars in the US- favorable regulation.
My undersunderstanding, take with a grain of salt:
Japan created the kei class of cars during an economic recession to try and get motorcycle manufacturers to make super small, lightweight, affordable cars with spare parts in order to help the economy and make motorized transportation more accessible. They had a huge stage advantage for buyers.
Here in the US, emissions regulations that change based on the size and weight of the vehicle inadvertently resulted in SUVs and massive trucks being more favorable to manufacturers and less expensive to consumers.
Japan kinda seems like they’ve always had more appreciation for small cars, and america kinda seems like they’ve always had a bit of a preference for large heavy cars, and we could speculate why that is culturally (amount of space, road sizes, what the motorsports there have historically looked like with mountain driving vs drag strips and highways cruising, and all sorts of other reasons) but it seems almost misleading to leave out massive regulatory factors that differ in the two countries- intentional in Japan, and I think very unintentional in the US
For those who think kei cars are super cool (they are) hagerty did a really fun video on the exciting kei cars that enthusiasts enjoy, but it also kinda takes you through the conditions that led to their existence and then eventual popularity as regulations were tweaked. (But do know in advance that it’s a car enthusiast’s channel, and the man loves cars. I recognize not everyone here might enjoy his perspective on automobiles as much as I do)
Hagerty’s mini-doc video on kei cars: https://youtu.be/LcB-nFt_bm0?si=tj-RquKZfwgUW0Uo
Japan kinda seems like they’ve always had more appreciation for small cars
I got a motorcycle and not a car purely because of the tight corners with stone walls and other insanity that is Tokyo street size.
Kei cars were meant to wear the roads less, be more fuel efficient (we import a lot of the various fuels we use), etc.
I actually am buying a farm in northern Japan and probably will end up buying a kei truck (though I’m debating buying a van instead, but money is super tight right now). Engine power and heating/AC are definitely factors to think about.
I wish there were affordable velomobiles on the market. I would totally use that to buy groceries and get around town.
There are some plans for building a tadpole yourself. The xyz spaceframes is relatively easy but not ideal.
This actually looks pretty cool. A modular bike frame has all sorts of applications.
Now I’m imagining a bike made out of profile with all kinds of shit bolted to it and you end up with a pedal powered car
The main advantage of this is you can build it with simple tools, there are better plans you can build by welding. Or using composite. Then everything is modular ;) I’m planing to build my own version of of the XYZ
Half of the YouTube comments are like “yeah well they’re not road legal in the US” which entirely misses the point. It’s not like that’s some kind of cosmic truth that can never be changed. It just means the law is dumb as well
They’re legal in a ton of states. They’re only actually outright banned in 2 states, and mixed rules in 19 others. The other 28 states don’t have any laws on them.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/kei-truck-legal-states
