If you don't know what a Kei Car is, it's a Japanese class of vehicles that are super tiny and limited to 63hp. They are typically cute and/or crazy and make affordable enthusiast cars.
Recently they've been very popular as cheap light farm trucks.
To import a car into the US it needs to be 25 years old because of stupid laws. Orange site cannot believe we would do something so dangerous as allow cars with outdated safety standards on the road - after all, you might hurt yourself! 
I feel like this sort of thing is a fantastic illustration of the irresponsible level which most drivers (in the US at least; can't speak to other countries) feel that they are just so so good at driving that they believe all these safety features are fine to go without.
Sure, this is presumably not your sole vehicle or daily driver. And sure, you're not going to be taking one of these on a 65mph highway. But a 30mph head-on collision with another vehicle will almost certainly kill you in one of these trucks. And I know if I was the driver of the other vehicle, and survived, even if I wasn't the one at fault, I'd probably need years of expensive therapy to get past it all.
If this is too 
for you, he's mad because he's afraid he'll need therapy after killing you because of your car choice.
This moron wants you to give up your fun car because he's afraid he'll need therapy. I just wanted to repeat that.
If safety was a primary concern for U.S. regulators, large consumer SUVs and trucks would not exist in their current form. As of ~2019 (the last such study I know of) trucks killed occupants of other vehicles at 2.5x the rate of cars and "SUVs" (an increasingly useless category as it includes everything from small unibody crossovers to enormous body-on-frame Canyonero-style monstrosities). I am not aware of any comparable headline figure for how pedestrians fare against them but I would put money on their pedestrian safety performance also being atrocious.
What is it will silicon valley and car-hate? 
I don't understand the anger and disdain from people about others potentially hurting themselves. The only thing I can think of is they are jealous of someone who doesn't have these sort of intrusive thoughts about safety all the time and how they get to do something cool like the OP every now and then.
Fortunately someone has a sane take.
A kei truck is still safer than taking a bicycle or motorcycle on public roads. Do you propose banning those?
Another refutation, what does the site think about this?
Nah, this is some terrible whataboutism. Stick to the topic.
He said the magic word that invalidates all arguments! 
Anyway I think much of the anti-kei sentiment is lobbyists trying to protect the truck market from affordable competition.
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Holy shit do they unironically support the fricking chicken tax? Absolute fricking r-slurs, I’m legit seething right now. I just want to wrench, for God’s sake.
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You VILL buy the hybrid oversized overweight shitbox for 20k and you VILL not be able to fix anything yourself and you VILL install the mandatory over the air updates to your expensive safety systems
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Most people who want a kei car have never driven one. They suck in a lot of ways and just don’t have the power output for anything more rugged than city driving on excellent Japanese infrastructure. A normal small car is better and more comfortable in every way.
Kei trucks in particular don’t make sense in the US. They are not viable replacements for normal trucks and can’t hold anything heavier than a washing machine. They are just dirt cheap ways for farmers and small business owners to transport small goods short distances. Anything they can do can be done with a normal van or SUV.
Kei class cars can only exist in Japan because they are a subsidized category protected from foreign competition. If the US allowed them it would be flooded with $2000 chinese death traps everyone would immediately hate.
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They’re farm trucks. What do you not understand about that? You drive it to your garden patch, pick baskets of strawberries, and then bring them back to the house. It’s literally just a cute useful truck for local farm tasks.
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They’re not really ideal farm trucks. You see them because they’re cheap and easy to license, not because they’re particularly good at what they do. Having almost no suspension and being barely able to ride on the highway sucks.
They are actually useful city vehicles though, assuming you are in japan where infrastructure is much better.
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have one its prety ok it 'll do like 40mph but its got goofy knobby tires so it sounds and feels horrible on the road. other people drive those 'UTV' offroad golfcart things around on the road constantly with the same tires, though. A japanese truck is built 100x better than a can-am and it has an interior, can be porperly road legal as well. Its good as a alternative hunting veecle or atv. not necessarily a full farm trugg
yes what little suspension it has is clapped and bottoms out immediately under the weight of the avg
but it is very funny and silly
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How the frick does a ~63hp vehicle only make 40mph?
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idk I think it'd go faster with real tires
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Weird gearing maybe
Plenty of econobox cars from the 70s had less than 50hp and would make 80mph with a runup
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i just looked up, carbureted daihatsu hijet, probably only has a 30hp engin
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Oh yeah I know of those things, they're gutless. They're designed for 3rd world roads (Cambodia, Laos) more than for Japan, that's why they're 4wd. Very low top speed, low gearing. Pack mule.
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They are completely fine for farm trucks. Where in my description of the general tasking of a kei truck did you see “transportation of goods on the highway”?
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Buy a UTV with a trailer.
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They're not a replacement for F150s they're used in the place of stuff like this
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The first car I ever owned was an (Austin, not BMW) mini that had to produce an absolute max 35hp
You could still drive up and down from London to Brighton at 70mph even if it did take a while to get up there
Perfectly serviceable vehicle
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That's what I would assume they'd be used for. People who work on farms or ranches, or maybe big construction sites or smth.
Like you need smth bigger than a quad, that also has flatbed space.. But you don't need a full size truck. And it's faster than a tractor or w/e.
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UTVs can fill that role as well but they are stupidly expensive for what they are so I do not blame farmers and such going the cheap route with a kei car.
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"go drive a scion xb, then imagine we neutered the power/space/handling even worse than it already was"
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“Yes goy you wouldn’t want the market to be crowded with Oriental vehicles, would you? Go ahead take out a loan for a new hard working American truck!”
Follower of Christ
Tech lover, IT Admin, heckin pupper lover and occasionally troll. I hold back feelings or opinions, right or wrong because I dislike conflict.
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Hey guys. Check out my new Gei car!
Not so cool now that it isn't Japanese, huh?
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Proof the fr*nch can't do anything right
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Just blame CAFE and move on. THERE I've solved Kcar threads!
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This but like unironically
The real solution is to kill fats and put a $7500 surcharge on any car over 5000 lbs
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Anything bigger than my Miata should be illegal. Too fat to fit in a Miata? Tough shit, walk. You need the exercise anyway.
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I'm too tall to fit in one and I tried to make it work.
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Manlets? we are so back.
Follower of Christ
Tech lover, IT Admin, heckin pupper lover and occasionally troll. I hold back feelings or opinions, right or wrong because I dislike conflict.
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Being tall is basically just like being fat, but vertically.
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Electric cars on suicide watch.
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most normal sized electric cars come in at 4000 lbs, 5000 lbs is enough to include the hybrid Pacifica and some of the lower trim Taycans, even the F-150 lol
which is why you ratchet the max surchargeless rate down 100 lbs every year
within the decade every car on the road will be a Passat 4motion as Ferdinand Porshe intended
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Frick you for implying I'm being ironic. Stupid CUTE TWINK
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shut your whore mouth BIPOC
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Funny enough, between my two cars... the Flex is closer to 5000lbs than the Bronco.
2016 Flex Ecoboost AWD: 4,828lbs
2022 Bronco 2-door, 2.7, Sasquatch: 4,600lbs
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I wish the AZ1 would fit people over 6ft
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In the yellow corner, /r/frickcars
In the red corner, weebish kei-car enthusiasts
LET THEM FITE
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CYCLISTS, SCUM OF THE EARTH. TCD.
LONG LIVE THE CCP
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I think these are the kei trucks in question.
Follower of Christ
Tech lover, IT Admin, heckin pupper lover and occasionally troll. I hold back feelings or opinions, right or wrong because I dislike conflict.
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They’re so cute lmao
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My parents are trying super hard to get one of these little trucks for our farm since we don’t need a big one.
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I support people's right to take dangerous risks, as long as they are fully informed of what those risks are
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Closing the SITE for a DDOS wasn't OK. (
I totally realize most people are going to disagree with me here but I feel compelled to say that closing the site for a simple ddos wasn't a very kind thing to do. We have seen TONS of posts from vulnerable populations talking about how this site is a source of support and humor in a dark time. Irony and dirtbagism aside, taking away that support without warning was not okay.
You can say I'm being silly, or humorless or reactionary. Whatever. I love the show and I love this community. But sometimes I come home after dealing with ableism and our nightmare reality all day, and this sub is one of many things that make me feel better. It wasn't a good feeling to find this sub closed for the sake of irony. Maybe that's laughable or pathetic. But for me, it's true.
Snapshots:
archive.org
ghostarchive.org
archive.ph (click to archive)
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