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Waste of a story. Kei cars would be terrible for most American commuters. Small cars would be good, but not kei. Too small, too dangerous, too bad in the snow, too likely to break down, too slow for expressways.
I love my kei, and I would never suggest it for the average American. This is common sense, too. Anyone who researched the matter a little would say the same.
Honda fit owners were born ready!!
Most Americans aren't like me, but I love my Smart car. I got into it late, I thought the cars were really goofy and stupid when they hit the scene. It's now my favorite car of all that I've owned, including my previous Porsche Boxter S. The Smart car was $6k used, it costs a little over $20 to fill up with gas, the 6 gallon tank takes just under a minute. It's still a manual which I love and it's so easy to drive. There is no extended hood so you never worry about scraping things when turning. The turning radius is insane by the way; the wheels turn to almost 90 degrees. I only need 1.5 lanes to make a U-turn and the power steering and clutch is very light. It also goes plenty fast which I was concerned about, I don't feel scared driving on the highway in it at all. It really doesn't feel small when you're in it until you look behind and remember that the car just ends as far as your arm can reach. Smarts are made by Mercedes so they're good quality. It's a shame they were discontinued in the US, but I'm not surprised at all.
This all sounds amazing.. Except having no rear. I was rear ended by a drunk driver and was able to walk away (relatively) unharmed because my trunk was a massive crumple zone able to soak up all the energy.
Everyone I know has been begging for smaller cars for years. Idk why everyone thinks people don't want them. No one said they didn't want them it was just decided for us by some CEOs. That seems to be how all of the opinions of "Americans" are formed. Same way the CEO of my company says we all love to go into an empty office and do all of our work online. It's just bullshit
Not just CEOs. Tax and emissions law in the US discourages smaller vehicles and encourages personal vehicles large enough to qualify as "light trucks". https://publications.lawschool.cornell.edu/jlpp/2024/11/25/the-unchecked-rise-of-trucks-and-suvs-in-america/
I bring this up every time people talk about vehicle sizes and people always treat me like a conspiracy theorist.
There's a much higher markup on large luxury vehicles so no manufacturer wants to waste their time on smaller cheaper ones.
I think the thing is when they do make them, they’re a shitty American car and nobody wants that so the Detroit execs blame us and go back to making luxury tanks for the wine moms.
I think the REAL issue is that when they sell those little cars people do buy them, but they are people who would have bought a larger more expensive car if that little car wasn't available.
We have a little Honda fit. Great car. Also a pretty popular car that you see on the road all the damned time. Honda still sells the car globally, but they stopped selling it in the US. Not because it wasn't selling, but because it was selling to people that would have bought HRVs or Civics (which cost more) instead.
nobody wants that so the Detroit execs blame us and go back to making luxury tanks for the wine moms.
Exactly why Stellantis is selling this in the USA in 2026:
Why leave it to car brains to determine if they like it? The people driving F350 GMC Yukon zero visibility death machines will never. Too bad.
Regulate the size of cars and stop pedestrian/biker deaths.
Regulate the size of cars and stop pedestrian/biker deaths.
I think that's the point of the USA, though. You're not allowed to indulge in nature, only industry.
I guarantee if vehicles were properly regulated here, and the Big 3 here had to suffer actual consequences for their piss-poor choices, smaller cars would be a more popular choice.
Regulations have partly caused the car size problem. Manufacturers have gas mileage targets/requirements, but they're scaled based on axle length. Essentially this means they can make small efficient cars, or big expensive cars.
Properly regulated, i.e. closing up all the loopholes.
As soon as they figure out how to make them super loud and roll coal.
I already love them
I owned a Ford Festiva, made by Kia, in the 90s. But at that point, I had a fully developed penis and did not need a truck. The 4 doors were for the excess women this attacted.
Loved those back in the day but they were not safe and a lot of people died in them. There's no chance that car would pass today's crash tests.
I had a serious fetish for Ford EXPs and Escorts in the late 80s / early 90s. Me and my buddies did lots of hop-up work and engine rebuilds. Set aside the nostalgia though and they were absolute piles of crap.
please, bring back cars whose engine is just capable of reaching the speed limit, a 70hp engine in a small car is more than enough for the average person. it'll cost a fraction of a normal American car, and be much cheaper to run and maintain.
and they are so adorable. seeing a kei car or a delica in the wild makes me happy.
be much cheaper to run and maintain.
no one mentions how heavy vehicles use more tires, brakes, transmissions and wear everything faster.
however big cars cost more and increase so the cost relating to transport. making more money for rich people. that's why we can't have nice things
So, they are forcing their US shit cars an European roads, but won't show competition in their on land?
Typically trump to play the victim and saviour here
There almost no American cars on European roads, with the regrettable exception of Teslas.
There used to be a lot of Fords, but they were like "Euro Fords". F150 is not a thing outside the US. Japanese, Korean and obviously European cars (the Germans, Fiat, Seat etc), yes, loads.
Volvo and Saab maybe not so much these days.
If they have to pay the same prices for fuel as the rest of us, they will
Sounds good to me, I'd love a cheap small electric car
Powerful rich conservative men literally will be unable to deal with this, it is too threatening to the spiritual symbol of the The Big American Car which underpins the rest of their theology.. so no Americans will not be allowed to learn to love tiny cheap Kei cars whether because of literal forceful separation and denial or by rich conservatives stoking culture wars about it through their shitbag rightwing influencer mouthpieces... no there is very little chance this future will be allowed until it reaches a point somewhere indefinitely far down the road where the advantages become undeniable.
Americans will not be allowed to learn
That's the US in a nutshell
America is a learning disability masquerading as a country
It's not so much that but instead that most of us are both indoctrinated and emotionally manipulated so that we're mostly reduced to trauma based responses even to good things. A society of figurative caged beaten dogs. The outward appearance would be one of a learning disability though.
Happened in the 70s, and unless we can do something about it, it'll happen again most likely
I was sort of interested in a Kei electric minivan for a while. The size is fine, they are cheap, and if you don't drive much they need no fuel or electricity. You can put enough solar panels on the roof that the van self-recharges in the parking lot enough for a few local grocery runs per week or that sort of thing. Top speed is just 40mph though. It would be great as a 2nd car but with just one, I needed something freeway capable.
Not unless they’re made out of titanium; half of the other vehicles are monster trucks.