Kei trucks

I just wanted to share a tip about the Kei truck class from japan. These mini trucks are becoming more popular in the United States. I have owned mine for a year and I find it perfect for the small hold farmer. Mine is a 1994 honda acty. It has a flatbed, 4 wd and gets excellent gas milage. These trucks are mechanically simple and easy to understand mechanically. They are highway legal in many US states and can go 60 mph pretty comfortably.

I love these guys. I drove one that belonged to a friend when I lived in Japan, and I plan to buy my own as soon as we get done here and move to the farm. They're fabulous. I'm glad to see they're showing up in the US, when I lived there (2000ish) I missed the K-class car, when I visited my mother last month in PA I saw a few. I agree, they're great for smaller setups (and also people like me who tend to, uh, accumulate a lot of random crap/plants/goats/etc.).

Thanks for taking the time to point these out. They seem like a better option over a side by side because you could run into town if you needed to. It is also nice to see the 2 wheel tractor you have. I got one of the new 780HY models in May and have 75 hours on it already. I wish the haying implements were less expensive so I could try them out.

I see a number of them around my area also, and my son's friend drives one. In case you're new to the idea, be aware they're Right Side Drive!!! (like British cars). They are definitely not build for passenger comfort, but they're such a practical alternative to the huge pick-up trucks most people around here buy, for short trips and picking up awkward loads they're great. If Hubby hadn't bought one of those huge trucks for getting chicken feed already, I'd be pushing to consider this sort of truck.

I think they are a great value too. Mine cost around 5 grand with only 60 thousand miles on it. A ford ranger  with similar milage costs much more. A utv or side by side also costs more but generally don't have ac or heat. Like others have pointed out, I like my kei because i can take it to town but I have been driving it to work more and more often. They also make 4wd vans on these same frames which were very handy when I worked overseas.

I think my jiffy might almost fall into this category: I just measured it at 12 ft long and under 5ft wide - very approximate as it is missing it's bonnet and flatbed at the moment. It's a bit of a project which has come to a halt as I don't want to damage the fibreglass body as I strip it down. I'm thinking of parking it in my new polytunnel (when they are both finished) to keep it out of the weather.


I'm thinking it will be ideal for toddling around the roads here to pick up seaweed, or doing local deliveries.

Here's one getting an MoT (photo off Facebook)

Wow I like the looks of that thing! Where were those made? It's pretty intresting that multiple countries have made a similar vehicle to a kei truck.

Interesting......would these things make a good daily driver? Or are they more for putzing around the pasture with an occasional trip to town? I understand that they aren't exactly comfortable, but I'm okay with that. Not long ago, i upgraded my daily driver to something with air conditioning and cruise control, and those are major luxuries for me. Most every vehicle I've had didn't have A/C or cruise. Biggest concern is if they're stable at highway speeds, or if it feels like when you were a kid going down a big hill on your bike, knowing that one false twitch of the controls meant a bad crash.

They're apparently illegal in my state. Maybe it's time to write some letters!

James Bridger wrote:Biggest concern is if they're stable at highway speeds, or if it feels like when you were a kid going down a big hill on your bike, knowing that one false twitch of the controls meant a bad crash.

My Sister lives near a very big city with huge highways, and she said she'd never drive in a Smart Car.

Here where I live, the highways are small and the speed limit is 90Km/hr for about 10 km and the rest of the time 80Km/hr and my friend drives her Smart car all the time.

I've only been a passenger in a Kei once - it isn't designed for over 80km/hr and as you say, even at that speed, I wouldn't want to crash in it. The trouble is that other people are more than capable of using bad judgement - my husband has a collection of some of the worst offenders from his dash cam - and a Kei doesn't give you any serious protection from high speed physics in my opinion, but maybe someone's looked into that much more closely.

I think they're a very practical vehicle for zipping around a community when you need to move small loads that won't fit into a hatchback.

While my honda acty is very capable of driving 90 kph  for extended periods, I don't usually take it on long trips for safety reasons alone. Mine has a seat belt but no airbags. If I had a short commute at slow speeds I'd pretty much only use my kei truck. It's much safer than a motorcycle or a moped for sure!

I think around half of the kei trucks I have seen have air conditioning. Automatic transmissions are available but rare. Personally with such a small engine I'd prefer a manual over the kind of automatic transmission they put in a truck like this. You have to use the low gears aggressively to get these kei trucks up to highway speeds somewhat quickly.

Wills Brooks wrote:Wow I like the looks of that thing! Where were those made? It's pretty intresting that multiple countries have made a similar vehicle to a kei truck.

My jiffy?
It was a kitcar based on the original Morris mini. Produced for a very short period in the 1980s by Indespension in England. They made about 80 I believe. Not god's gift to motoring I suspect even then, but dead cute in a ducky sort of way . Mine will be a 'historic vehicle' pretty soon which will make it cheaper to run when I do get it roadworthy.

Kei trucks are incredibly popular in Korea, as you might imagine. See them everywhere in Seoul. There is a firetruck version parked on the street in Smithers, B.C. Pretty cool. Outfit out in Alberta, and elsewhere I'm sure, converting them to 4x4 via a snowcat-like independent four wheel track setup.
My neighbor has a pickup type one, don't like it at all, but that's me.
Some US states are revoking/refusing registrations under the idea that any vehicle without a 17 digit V.I.N. even if imported under the 25yr exclusion rule, cannot have passed federal safety standards.  
Would affect these as well. My wife and I have matching 1997 Mitsubishi Jaspers. Turbocharged, 4cyl. diesel, very capable 4x4 with a locking center differential. Fuel efficient, really nice little trucks. Importing one for U.S. registration.