Enable/slap me: Kei truck... DD

Long story short, I'd very much like to thin down my herd, down to the Evo and something actually fuel efficient.

A Kei truck checks a lot of boxes for me: Fuel economy, vaguely useful, and weird.
Subaru Sambar, Suzuki Carry, Honda Acty, Mazda / Autozam Scrum, Mitsubishi Minicab, Daihatsu Hijet...
My commute is under five miles and can easily be done sans freeway, my biggest concern is actually fitting in it
(I'm 6'3'' and alll torso)

Any of y'all have firsthand experience with one?
No issues that I know of in WA, just gotta clear the 25 year minimum.

I know someone who's 6'1" and all torso, and they fit just fine. For you, it might be a bit snug, but with more space than a Miata.

In reply to G_Body_Man:

DD'ed an NA Miata for three years before the Evo, sounds like a non-issue, sweet!

Also, feel free to use the freeway. Those little trucks have a limiter on them that sets V-max at 80. It will be painfully slow, but as long as you stick in the right lane, you'll be a-ok.

Ok with wrong hand drive?

In reply to Kenny_McCormic:

Prefered, actually.
'Weird' is important to me.
My ill-fated Scoobaru project is RHD so I've dabbled, being a southpaw eliminates any worry I might've had about running a stick on the wrong side.

Are they street legal in WA?

Ever since I visited Catalina Island, I have wanted one. There are tons and tons of the on that Island.

In reply to JohnRW1621:

AFAIK WA doesn't care as long as it's older than 25 years, quick use of the googles yielded a couple of tales of successful registration in state.

Sounds good then, though finding one that's 25+ and in good shape might be challenging, don't they usually get imported a bit younger than that?

Where are you going to get a 25 year old kei truck? Subaru sold a few of them here in the US back in the day (my college chemistry teacher drove one) but finding one of those will be difficult. There are companies importing newer trucks from Japan for use offered, but they are going to be less than ten years old.

I almost bought one with blown hg recently for $500 but there was an issue procuring a title for it. I think it would be blast to daily one around town.

In reply to stuart in mn:

They're more common than you'd think, I know there's at least one outfit in NY that has had four on ebay in the last week.
There's one in WA done up all zombie truck style even, on CL right meow.

Also, I'm very close to the border with BC, there's a number of import outfits that would be willing to handle getting eyes on in Japan (then shipping) something that checks my boxes, if it comes to that.

So older ones are available, that's good. I wonder if any of the importers bring in left hand drive trucks, they use them in Taiwan and other countries (I rode in one in Taiwan some years ago.)

In reply to stuart in mn:

The market is focused on 'cool' 25+ year old JDM stuff like Skylines/Silvias/etc, a side effect is increased access to funky stuff.

Go with a 4x4 Suzuki or Daihatsu.

there was one for sale near me last month. the day i made my mind up to stop on the way to work, there was a guy there looking at it shaking the seller's hand, and it was gone on the way home. there was a crew cab one up the street for sale but same story, as soon as i decided i should check it out it was gone.

I've seen some on here before, super cheap too. I guess they use them as little runabouts on military bases.

http://www.govplanet.com

In reply to sethmeister4:

Cool that some of those are at JBLM, not all that far from me.
Too bad they're all rough around the edges and LHD though.
Related note: must... not... buy... humvee.

Why do you want RHD so bad? It's actually kind of scary passing on two lane roads, making left turns at busy intersections and even just maintaining lane position. And then there's tolls, drive-thrus, etc...I drove an ex-postal Subaru a few times and didn't enjoy the experience. I'd get a RHD car if it was something I LOVED and had no other choice, but man, I have no idea why people deliberately want it.

SnowMongoose wrote: In reply to sethmeister4: Cool that some of those are at JBLM, not all that far from me. Too bad they're all rough around the edges and LHD though. Related note: must... not... buy... humvee.

"Rough around the edges"…this is GRM after all, isn't it?

In reply to pointofdeparture:

My subaru is ex-postal, I love the quirkiness, have never had any problems arise from steering on the wrong side.
Bonus points because I don't deal with tolls or do drive through dining.

In reply to SnowMongoose:

I suppose if you're used to doing it already, it's not so bad. But the few times I did after driving nothing but LHD cars my whole life, I found myself doing a LOT more correcting and it was definitely a much more stressful driving experience! I could probably get used to it after a while myself, but I don't see anything RHD in my future anytime soon.

pointofdeparture wrote: Why do you want RHD so bad? It's actually kind of scary passing on two lane roads, making left turns at busy intersections and even just maintaining lane position. And then there's tolls, drive-thrus, etc...I drove an ex-postal Subaru a few times and didn't enjoy the experience. I'd get a RHD car if it was something I LOVED and had no other choice, but man, I have no idea why people deliberately want it.

None of this is true. Aside from maybe the passing and drive thru things, but with these vehicle you don't have to worry about passing anybody. You can also avoid drive thrus as well. Stop passing on bad info on RHD's, please.

In reply to Mazdax605:

What do you mean passing on bad info? I was relating a personal experience! In the RHD Legacy I drove there was no way I was going to attempt a pass on a two-lane road, and I really had to focus on my lane position and left turns at really busy intersections. I didn't attempt a drive-thru or tolls, but for some people that is a regular occurrence.

I'm glad that you have none of those problems whatsoever but, it's a fact that American roads and intersections are designed for LHD cars. I'm sure you eventually learn to compensate (as I said before) but I don't think I was sharing "bad info" in any way, shape or form. It was an opinion. I'm entitled to that, aren't I?

Personally I still don't get why someone would go out of their way to get a RHD car when LHD versions of the same thing are available. But if that's something you gotta have, so be it.

Mazda bongo, I mean just the name makes for an interesting conversation.

I know there's an importer here in Richmond that can get you whatever you would like with a VA title and tags but you would in turn have to come all the way to the east coast for it.

http://www.japaneseclassicsllc.com/