Are any of these small Japanese trucks street legal where you live ?
 

I had mentioned this van I found in another thread. I was going to buy it to save $$ on the route I do, but found it was not street legal :mad:
Some of the dealers Ive seen sell these really small Japanese trucks (similar to the van I have attached) mainly for off road use.
When gas went up 3 yrs ago some of the small towns here legalized golf carts for intown use.
Does anyone own one of these types of vehicles or use one on the street ?

Before you see the 'other' crash video of a vanlet configuration, see the full context.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uykStESm3vw

Yes, they are. This one is a 1994 Daihatsu Atrai

http://www.prince-cva.ca/images/albu..._Atrai.JPG.jpg

States like Arizona and Georga have vehicle registration laws that make it easier to get real regular titles for vehicles like those micro trucks, so if you really want to get one check in those states but make sure that it already has a title before you buy it! once it is titled in one of those states you can transfer that title to the state of your choice, depending on your state there are some loop holes that allow you to title vehicles that are imported if they are over 20 years old.
street legal golf carts and the NEV/neighborhood electric vehicles, LSV/low speed vehicle are nice but often restricted to 20 to 25mph even tho alot of them would be safe to 35 or 45mph, as alot of them are based off the micro vans or other road legal vehicles that are imported, but the 20 to 25mph speed limit makes them annoying to use.

My retired neighbour has one - dates back to the late 80s I'd think.
They used to be more popular back then, but they are rare now.

micro trucks are awesome.

They are still very popular in Japan but less so overseas these days. The pickups used to be very popular - my local DIY store in England would let customers borrow one for transporting stuff home - useful if all you have is an original Mini.

EDIT - to answer your other question, I believe these are still street legal 0 a guy on our road has one.

Yep the Japanese legal system encourages these things simply because of the width (or lack of it) which makes them great inner city delivery vehicles.

The fuel economy is not all that great by the way since the engine must work hard to transport what little they can manage to carry and the gearing makes sure they are reasonably quick off the line but have a limited top speed.

Oh yeah one final point...do NOT try and make a quick turn in one or you may find out about limited suspension travel and a high centre of gravity!

Peter.

Yep, plus a lot of them use solid axles and leaf springs...

Hop hop hop

Here's a Chinese model that might be available soon. :eek:

Here's a Chinese Model that might be available soon. LINK :eek:

As far as the feds go, anything over 20 years old is fine, but anything newer needs to be modified to conform to emissions regs. State requirements vary.

Rode on one of these several times before..ride isnt great but it gets you there not to mention it fits on those small streets where you couldn't squeeze a regular car in

http://d21c.com/LooneyRon/baybay/multicab.jpg

http://images.mindanao.com/wp-conten...lcp1010043.jpg

Is this the small truck configuration you are looking for?

http://cdn.wn.com/pd/8b/53/6f182f1aa...a42_grande.jpg

I've seen that video before and what they didn't point out is that the truck had over a ton of weights in the back and that it was not a crash test of the vehicle but a test of the test wall.

There is a micro truck on Ebay right now, a Honda Acty that has a real title making it street legal in every state in the USA.

Honda | eBay

There are left hand drive variants of that Honda truck available and it can be easily converted into one from right hand drive.

5 Star Mini Trucks
This guy imports them in Oklahoma, he has a link to tell what your state thinks of them. My Toyota PU is 17 years old and still going strong. When if finally dies I'll get one of these. My HomeDepot is 5 miles away, Dump/landfill is 17 miles, Rock/Mulch Yard is 15miles. That's about as far as my truck goes.

nice find! What i'd like to see is you guys modify them in such a way that will make them more efficient yet able to carry more loads than they were designed to

50mpg for a half ton truck is not enough?

Those are kei trucks as the japanese called it, search wikipedia. They are still in production in Japan. Here in the Philippines, its very common truck. From market vendors, farm trucks, to anything it can fit in as a mode of cargo/transportation.

Maybe in US its not legal. I've been to Japan and its pretty legal as long as its within city or farm road limits. Its prohibited to ride in the freeway.

Just found out that the old Hi-Jet Daihatsu model is still available here in the UK - its now sold by Piaggio (more famous for motor scooters) as their own Porter range - they used to assemble the Hi-Jet anyway so its just a change of badges. They even do an electric one.

Linky.

MPV - family moving machine ?
http://www.piaggioporter.co.uk/resou..._MPV_large.gif

Panel Van
http://www.piaggioporter.co.uk/resou...lVan_large.gif

Pickup truck - watch out SUVs
http://www.piaggioporter.co.uk/resou...ckup_large.gif

Or make your own :D

http://www.piaggioporter.co.uk/resou...ssis_large.jpg

It's a VW Transporter T3 (Vanagon) in pickup-guise.
They were available in the EU and US up to the early 1990s.

I personally can say those daihatsu models are unreliable among those minitrucks. Remember that there are many car manufacturers(japanese) that made those "mini trucks" or kei trucks and daihatsu is the underdog of them all. Search wikipedia for more info.
The reliable brand of them all for me is the suzuki and also the current mitsubishi..

Yes I was on the AVEO website the other day and someone said he had to clean his shoes AFTER he left the plant it was so nasty inside. Most he had to do it before they would let him inside. No wonder they went bankrupt and sold to GM and Suzuki. Now they are building crappy Aveo's and Swifts there.