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Sasquachulator · 08-05-2023, 02:18 AM

Theres a reason why Kei cars in Japan works....its so densely populated there. If you ever been there alot of the roads are very skinny. Even the major open roads are skinny. My mother in law owns a BMW 5 series and its baffling how she can manage to get around there. She once told me one of the benefits of having a car that big in Japan was that everyone gets out of your way lol. Freeways/highways arent a big deal but once you get into the rural areas there are roads where you're basically sharing the road with traffic going the other way, cyclists and pedestrians (which might not even have a sidewalk for them to walk on) The population is very good with sharing the road though so there's really no worrying about some asshole driver being a **** trying to run you off.

These will never work here because they'd be rolling deathtraps against dodge rams, F150's and other cars. Think of a honda civic from the 70's/80's. Door panels on kei cars are paper thin (probably contributes somewhat to how tardis like they seem to be on the inside....that and most of them are shaped like a literal box)

How did the Smart fourtwo fare? How did the Scion iQ fare? They didnt really work out and the only thing those cars (which ARENT kei cars) have in common with a kei car is that they're tiny.

The other thing about kei cars is that they're they're slow for american roads. They feel peppy and fine in japan because kei cars are everywhere and everything is scaled down. you dont feel like that first gen prius trying to get up to highway speeds against semis, rams, accords, camry V6's...etc. hell people bitch and whine about the twins being slow...how could they possibly accept a kei car?

And then the Sakura is popular because a Kei car EV makes sense there...not an Ariya, not a BZ4x....plus you dont need 300 miles of EV range in Japan unless you're planning on driving to another city. Almost everything is walkable, and if not the transit infrastructure is insanely good. I beleive you can travel the entire mainland from north to south just on bullet train....might take a few days but you can do it.

08-05-2023, 02:18 AM	#15
Sasquachulator Pavement Grey Join Date: Dec 2011 Drives: 2020 Toyota Camry XSE, 2017 BMW X1 Location: Calgary Posts: 3,116 Thanks: 109 Thanked 2,256 Times in 1,221 Posts Mentioned: 8 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	Theres a reason why Kei cars in Japan works....its so densely populated there. If you ever been there alot of the roads are very skinny. Even the major open roads are skinny. My mother in law owns a BMW 5 series and its baffling how she can manage to get around there. She once told me one of the benefits of having a car that big in Japan was that everyone gets out of your way lol. Freeways/highways arent a big deal but once you get into the rural areas there are roads where you're basically sharing the road with traffic going the other way, cyclists and pedestrians (which might not even have a sidewalk for them to walk on) The population is very good with sharing the road though so there's really no worrying about some asshole driver being a **** trying to run you off. These will never work here because they'd be rolling deathtraps against dodge rams, F150's and other cars. Think of a honda civic from the 70's/80's. Door panels on kei cars are paper thin (probably contributes somewhat to how tardis like they seem to be on the inside....that and most of them are shaped like a literal box) How did the Smart fourtwo fare? How did the Scion iQ fare? They didnt really work out and the only thing those cars (which ARENT kei cars) have in common with a kei car is that they're tiny. The other thing about kei cars is that they're they're slow for american roads. They feel peppy and fine in japan because kei cars are everywhere and everything is scaled down. you dont feel like that first gen prius trying to get up to highway speeds against semis, rams, accords, camry V6's...etc. hell people bitch and whine about the twins being slow...how could they possibly accept a kei car? And then the Sakura is popular because a Kei car EV makes sense there...not an Ariya, not a BZ4x....plus you dont need 300 miles of EV range in Japan unless you're planning on driving to another city. Almost everything is walkable, and if not the transit infrastructure is insanely good. I beleive you can travel the entire mainland from north to south just on bullet train....might take a few days but you can do it.