Kei Cars: The Future of Budget Friendly Transportation 

i am an American retired in the Philippines. I bought a suzuki DA 64 minivan when I moved here last year and I am really happy with it I live in the City of Cebu and it gets around quite well in city driving. They are called surplus vehicles here. There is a whole industry devoted to rebuilding these cars and changing them to left hand drive. Kei cars come to the Philippines after the Japanese are done with them and they see a new life in the Philippines. I paid 260,000 pesos ($4500) for mine and I think I got a good deal.

We use an older model 4x4 Turbo HiJet at our small farm in Scone (like the gray one in the end but ours is white), it was cheap reliable plus it's a tipper. Some of the smaller farms here in AU are using them more these days, cheap reliable workhorses. Bloody great these things!

I am Saudi and we do not care about cars K Practical, very economical and very beautiful cars, but the local agent wronged them😞 Thanks for the tour❤

I visited Japan in September 2023 and the moment I saw those K cars, I just fell in love with them coz they look so cute and yet very nice. I wish they can bring some of these into the land down under.

Some comments, additions, corrections: -While $1 (100 cents) to 100 yen was a close approximation just a few years ago, starting shortly after this video the conversion has dropped to 75 cents to the 100 yen and is currently down around 66 cents to the 100 yen. So a "$12000 USD" truck would actually be $8000 at the current exchange rate as of early December 2023. -Keis aren't just popular with women or thrifty people, many people in America are buying EPA/NHTSA exempt 25+ year old examples because they're so fun to drive, easy to work on, and can be parked anywhere. I also saw many men driving them when I was in Japan as well, I wouldn't say there was much of a gender split nor that they're just for people with kids, they're just a great all around everything vehicle. Price and tax/inspection incentives aside, so many roads are so narrow and it's just so much easier to get around in a kei in Japan and sometimes they even have special parking that can make finding a parking spot easier. -While they're not sporty in the Western "high horsepower" sense, they're actually really fun to drive (especially with a manual!) because the small displacement high revving engine usually sounds really good somewhat like a sports bike or race car, so you get to blast down the street rowing through gears and get the involvement level of driving a race car and then realize you haven't even hit the speed limit yet. They are also a blast in mountain corners if the center of gravity is low on that model because you can maneuver within your lane and actually run a racing line instead of carefully trying to stay between the lines like a larger/wider car. -You'd be surprised how well taller people can fit in kei sports cars, many Americans have imported the early 90's "ABC" kei sports cars and a large portion are over 6 feet tall. The car may be small, but the passenger compartment is similar to other cars, it's mostly the smaller engine and cargo area that shrinks the footprint. Jeremy Clarkson at 6'4" even drove and did a review of the Honda Beat in the early 90's! -While officially many keis (esp turbos) are rated at 64 horsepower, dyno tests have proven that number to be a lie. Like the 276 hp gentleman's agreement with sports cars in Japan in the 90's, keis had a similar agreement to 64 hp that they've regularly broken since. It's not uncommon for some keis to be over 80hp stock and that's a decent amount for a car that weighs well under 2000 lbs sometimes even with a driver. They're never *fast*, but some do get off the line very quickly. -Overall, I love them, if I can help it I will always own a kei at least as a non-primary vehicle (mostly because parts availability can be tricky in the US so relying on it isn't a great idea). I don't know if it's possible to get other American's on board since they've been obsessed with larger and larger vehicles for so long, but it would save a lot of congestion and make parking more efficient if they were more available and popular here, not to mention save people a ton on gas without needing hybrid complication and battery replacements.

Love your videos. Very informative. Thank you !!!

thank you, appreciate the tour.

Super interesting video. I've always been curious about kei cars

I love so much those reasonable cars ! The Honda N-One is particularly smart and very nice !

cool little trucks, especially the mini dump truck. Th Rocky is also nice. Probably best for running local errands.

I live in the U.S. in the state of Indiana, I work at the only Subaru plant outside Japan, last week I bought a 1994 Subaru Sambar KS4 kei truck. Can't wait till it gets here. In most of the U.S. you can import and license a kei vehicle as long as it is 25 years or older. That way they are considered classic cars and are not required to meet crash safety standards.

That's what most people need; We don't need 300 hp to go grocery shopping.

Thanks for the interesting video. I find those small cars really nice and cosy, profitable to own and good enough to drive. Japanese are so practical, I love that

I love the Thor Taff :)

I'd have one tomorrow if the prices in the UK weren't so ridiculous. A 10 year old Sambar with 100,000KM behind it is more here than a brand new, factory fresh one is in Japan!

I'm English and Daihatsu Copen has been on sale here for years in 660cc Turbo and identical but not classed as a kei with a 1300 4 cylinder engine..Kei cars and trucks are seen on our roads from all ages there not common but you do see them, also Daihatsu is owned by Toyota just like lexus.

I wish I could get the k vehicles easily in usa!!

in kenya we luv em got three i use as taxis

Blog also the da17 boss as well as the Suzuki pallete

Unfortunately Japanes Brands have stopped selling those in Europe- Would love to get one here .

I'm looking for basic 4 seater ones! What are the prices!

The only keis I can think about now are Mitsubishi EK X EV and Nissan Sakura because they are electric. Power is limited to 47kw or 64 bhp but you can have a lot more torque out of electric motors.

The Daihatsu/Toyota models are being recalled for faking crash tests - different airbags etc.

I owuld live to buy one! we have to wait 25 years before we can import them to the USA

for these small cars to become popular purely psychologically, they should cost no more than $5,000 fully equipped and, of course, with left-hand drive, but this will not happen, so the prospects are not obvious

I wish DAIHATSU have them in the Philippines..its a practical Car

When you say dollars instead of yen are you referring to Australian dollars ?

Nice car. Are you an exporter cars?

i live in the netherlands and i'd rather drive one of these, only concern i have is, how does it drive at 130km/h on the highway. kei cars are often much more convenient than regular small cars here... and i would need 5 seats and i actually checked, these are not skinnier than the suzuki alto 1995 that my mom used to have, and in that one you had "space" for 5 people (and yes, space is an overstatement for that car, but still, 3 seats in the back)

11k for a base model? That's a lot.

Why do you start showing non-Kei cars at the 05:20 mark? Those cars are so-called "mid-sized" cars with bigger engines and bigger car taxes. Someone else has already commented that your Yen to Dollar exchange rate is way off, unless you are talking Australian dollars.

I like it cars, can I count

I want one so bad! But the powers that be in US say no. I hope that changes.

Daihatsu may make the most Kei but Suzuki Kei cars are the best selling in Japan

i use kei car for daily driver its a Nissan Dayz.

I'd like to see the same video but at a Suzuki dealership. Suzuki range of Kei In my opinion is better

i think they great , i wish they sold them here in south africa, we dont have much cheap cars

Like bring here in the Philippines Daihatsu kei van tnx

Apparently Japanese women enjoy good gas mileage more than Japanese men

If only Kei cars could be sold here in the U.S. Ford, GM, and Stellantis would pee in there pants.

Germany 2024: Daihatsu Cuore 20€ct/km total costs