The prognosis was much worse than I had feared. The cylinder head, which sits on top of the head gasket and the engine block, was warped. That had to get sent to a machine shop to be refinished. There were also other issues (head gasket, water pump, timing belt, etc.) that had to be taken care of, so I would technically be without a car for some time. However, Saito-san offered to put me in a car, free of charge, while I was waiting for Tackawanna to get fixed. I consented to have him fix the car, and two days later, he dropped off my loaner at the dormitory. It was a Mitsubishi Minica.
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| It took up two-thirds of the length of the parking space. |
The Minica was a kei car sold on the Japanese domestic market from 1962 all the way to its phase out in 2011. (It has since been replaced by the eK Wagon, another JDM goodie.) The Minica that I drove was from the eighth and final generation, which was released in 1998; I do not know what year and didn't check. Kei cars were essentially one of the key players behind Japan's rise as a global vehicle manufacturer. The concept was a postwar government-created one meant to provide auto manufacturers a opportunity to develop small, practical cars for Japanese families and business owners to drive. James May actually explained the history really well in a documentary that he did a few years back. A kei car is especially defined by its size, weight, and displacement constraints, which have not been updated since 1998 and most likely will not within the future.
With a wheelbase of 2.3 meters, length of four meters, and 150 cm height, the Minica was definitely a challenge to get into. I know that that sounds odd considering that I drive Tackawanna, a low-seated convertible with foam missing from my seat to accommodate my height, but even in her, legroom was relatively okay. This was not the case in the Minica. Like Tackawanna, the steering column was locked, so I had to position myself going in and out of the car to fit my left leg underneath the steering wheel so that I could get in. My legs in the driving position were positioned in a way that they weren't at a right angle but also not stretched out to a point where I could handle it. This is a position straight from a nightmare for people my height. In addition, I could also rest my left leg over the gear shifter handle. I was glad that the shifter used a push button on the handle, or else I probably could've destroyed the transmission just by moving my leg.
The Minica that I drove was a front-engined, front-wheel drive car with a 660 cc, three cylinder, 12-valve SOHC engine. It produced the government vehicle class limit of 64 hp, which was sent to the wheels via a three-speed automatic transmission. This mean that, for all intents and purposes, the car was slow. It certainly felt that way. If you wanted to go anywhere at a decent rate with the flow of traffic, you needed to seriously mash the gas pedal. Of course, because this was a three-speed transmission, the engine got angry whenever you did that and voiced that anger loudly.
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| There's the whole engine bay, complete with a transverse layout of both engine and transmission. |
The interior was nothing to write home about. The seats were cloth and could fit four adults, two in the front and two in the back. There was a radio/cassette player/CD player and manual climate control with A/C. The dashboard did not have a tachometer; it only showed the speed, which only displayed up to 140 km/h (~85 mph). In addition, the shift lights on the dash for the transmission would turn on if you were in park, reverse, or neutral. The light for drive, however, did not turn on, even though there was a space for it on the instrument cluster.
My friend Naoki and I took the Minica on the Ban-etsu and Tohoku Expressways for my first trip to the license center. Getting the car up to speed on the highway was...interesting. The classic car enthusiasts and older portions of my [very small] blog audience may understand where I'm going with this. The effectiveness of a transmission depends on the number of speeds that it has. A transmission with many gears can allow for a better selection of the engine's torque output, thus saving engine wear and fuel. However, the kei car is not meant to go fast; the usual top speed of one is around 140 km/h, and expressway tolls can make travel on them economically unfeasible. Therefore, the three gears that the Minica has are more oriented for lower speeds. You're at top gear at around 55 km/h (~35 mph). So if you want to go faster in third gear, you have to wait for the engine to produce the torque required to get you up to a higher speed. That was especially the case as I was getting it up to around 90 km/h (~56 mph). It'll stay up there with minimal throttle input once you get it there, but you're going to have to wait for the power to come as you put your pedal on the floor. And wait. And wait. (And the engine will be crying the whole time.)
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| I didn't even have to use my hands to stay in a straight line! |
As for fuel economy, I measured the mileage between two fill-ups. The tank was smaller than that of a regular car, but the engine's small displacement should help balance out the number of required stops. An 80/20 (city/highway) mix of driving with occasional A/C usage put me at about 16.4 km/l (38 mpg). In the late 90s/early 00s, that would've been pretty impressive, but there are cars out on the market today that can do the same or better, and at higher displacements.
But griping aside, I have nothing against this car. It was a loaner generously provided by Saito-san, to whom I owe a ton of gratitude for helping me out (本当にありがとございました、Saitoさん！私に助けました！), and it served as a manageable errand-runner and grocery-getter. Outside visibility was easy thanks to thinner pillars all around. The A/C blasted cold air at low settings, and it had power doors and windows and remote entry. And the mileage was definitely better than on Tackawanna. If I had to buy a car in Japan, and I had little money and didn't give a shit about cars, I probably would've bought a Minica. With renewed shaken, I could've pulled out of the dealership lot with an eighth-gen Minica like this one for 300,000 yen (~$3000). It was plain and boring, but for most people, that's enough as long as the car did what it was supposed to do, and in my case, it did.
Flavien Vidal wrote a piece for Jalopnik about kei cars in a contrarian light. (i.e. They're not cool like anyone says, they suck, and they're outdated.) No doubt, he made a few good points regarding the current condition of the kei car market, but he also missed the overall point of the kei car. In the states, you can go onto Craigslist and find a "beater" for $500, then get it registered for another $100 or so, and if the engine blows up, you sell the car for scrap and buy another $500 one. Cars do not work like that in Japan. Even if you found a regular vehicle in this country for the same price, the taxes, fees, maintenance, and inspection costs are going to balloon the final price of the car in multiples. (Why else would Japan be trying to offload all their older cars onto Africa and Southeast Asia?)
If you're poor or working class, and you live in a section of the country where public transit is either sporadic or non-existent, you still need a car, because a bike can only take you [and only you] as far as your legs can push the pedals. You aren't going to get a car for the equivalent 50,000 yen unless you just lose a family member who had a car with a recently renewed shaken. But here comes the eighth-gen Minica. Including dealership handling fees, you could probably take it home for around 250,000 yen (~$2500), and so long as you take care of it, it'll last you a very long time. Your displacement and weight taxes are going to be lower, and while the fuel economy isn't super great, it'd be much better than a regular-sized car from the same era. Plus, if you do find yourself taking the expressways, you'll save a few hundred yen on tolls.
Or, maybe you're middle-class and have a small parking space available that a normal car can't fit into as explained by the friendly police officer processing your parking space application required for registration. In addition to the discounted costs above, modern kei cars have technology like engine idle stop that turns off the engine at stoplights and CVTs (hurk), which bring the car's average fuel economy to around 70 MPG. The OTD cost? Around 1.2 million yen (~$12000). Not bad considering that the cheapest car in the US (Nissan Versa sedan) goes for about the same price. Sure, it isn't a hybrid, but good hybrids can start at around three million yen (~$30000), and for the occasional trip around town, what's the point in shelling out extra? (Speaking of hybrids, even electric cars can comply with the existing kei car regulations. Mitsubishi also manufactures the i-MiEV, which has a 63 hp electric motor in its tiny body.)
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| Fun fact: the plates on the car were issued before the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism started assigning Aizu-based plates in 2006. |
Back to my earlier point. Even though the price points are different, the Minica, as well as similar kei cars of its age, are the Japanese equivalent of the $500 Craigslist beater. They serve a functional purpose as a car (or truck, or van) to shuttle people from one place to another. They're modest, well-built, and fairly economical. As an automotive enthusiast, I'd only drive one if the circumstances warranted it like they did when Tackawanna was getting repaired. But for what the Minica is, and what it is supposed to do, I can only do nothing but respect it. So if you ever find yourself over here, whether for military or JET/eikaiwa purposes, and you need a car that you will otherwise be indifferent about, get a Minica. You won't be floored, but you won't be disappointed, either.
-wp
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