Good morning Autopians! It’s Friday, which means we blow the lid off the price cap and look at something nice for a change. I’ve got a pair of imported JDM sweet treats for you today, but first let’s find out how our high-milers ended up:
Yep. I agree wholeheartedly. I already have a better and lower-mileage pickup than that F-150, so I’d take the Volvo and try for half a million on the odometer.
Today we’re going further afield than usual, only not really. Although both cars today are Japanese domestic market cars, both are already here in the good ol’ US of A, with all the paperwork completed. I was inspired to look at JDM cars after listening to this week’s excellent Autopian podcast, with guests Myron Vernis and Mark Brinker sharing their love of cars from the Land of the Rising Sun. I confess I don’t know a whole lot about Japanese cars; I didn’t grow up around them, and I’ve never been much of a video game player, so I wasn’t exposed to them virtually either. But I do love a good tiny hot hatch, so I’ve selected a pair of them for us to compare. Here they are.
1990 Suzuki Alto Works – $12,900
Engine/drivetrain: 657cc DOHC turbocharged inline 3, 5 speed manual, FWD
Location: Ferndale, WA
Odometer reading: unknown
Runs/drives? Yep
American gearheads are fascinated by Japanese “kei” cars – a special tax category of tiny cars in Japan that have to fit within certain size, engine displacement, and horsepower limits. Sadly, truly small cars have never really worked out in the US, so the “subcompacts” that Japan sends us are two or three sizes up from the smallest cars they keep for themselves. This Suzuki Alto is a full foot shorter, and six inches narrower, than the tiny Suzuki Cultus that was sold here as the Chevy Sprint.
But look how cute it is! I even kinda like the “angry eye” headlight eyelids on this one. Who’s an adorable little badass? You are! Yes, you are!
The Alto Works has the power to back up its cute-but-tough looks, with a 657 cc three-cylinder, sporting twin cams, four valves per cylinder, and a turbocharger. Officially, this little wonder produces 64 horsepower, the legal limit for kei-class cars, but rumor has it that it has more. It drives the front wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox; the Alto Works was available with all-wheel-drive, but this one is FWD only.
This car has a few other add-on goodies, including a full roll cage and a racing seat. Someone was having some fun with this little guy back in Japan, I bet. The seller doesn’t list the odometer reading; it just says “total mileage unknown.” But does it matter? I mean, how are you going to cross-shop it?
And look! A bi-level rear spoiler. Merkur XR4Ti, eat your heart out. I don’t think I’d want to daily-drive something this small in the US, but I really really want to play with it.
1982 Honda City Turbo – $12,500
Engine/drivetrain: 1.2 liter SOHC turbocharged inline 4, 5 speed manual, FWD
Location: Seattle, WA
Odometer reading: 94,280 kilometers
Runs/drives? Indeed it does
Speaking of playing with things, I have been familiar with the Honda City Turbo since I was a kid. I built a Tamiya model kit of it when I was ten years old or so, complete with the folding Motocompo scooter in the back. Sadly, this City Turbo does not include a Motocompo, but it’s still a really cool little car.
The Honda City is not a kei car; it’s too big and has an engine displacement nearly double what the regulations allow. It’s a 1.2 liter turbocharged four, sending a whopping 99 horsepower to the front wheels through a five-speed manual. The City weighs about 1,500 pounds; it has more than enough power for that weight. (In fact, some would say it could get by with half as much.)
This City has cool aftermarket wheels and a nice Nardi wooden steering wheel, though the horn button appears to have an identity crisis. I’m sure a Honda logo button could be found to replace that blasphemous Toyota Racing Development one.
This City isn’t perfect; it has a couple of dings and scrapes, and the interior is a little grubby. The driver’s seat has been re-covered, but unfortunately the new red upholstery doesn’t quite match, and it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Still, the seller says it runs and drives well, and this one is just about big enough to actually use in traffic – about Ford Festiva-sized. It punches above its weight in the cool department, though.
Obviously, for most of us (including me), thirteen grand for a tiny car that’s just a glorified toy is kind of a pipe dream. But since they’re close in price, let’s just imagine you have the cash to blow on one of these. Which one will it be?
(Image credits: Suzuki – The Import Guys; Honda – Sodo Moto)
Suzuki is 8 years newer and looks better, but either way I’m not paying more then 6k for either one of these. Especially since you have to shift with your left hand.
Is shifting with your left hand really that big a deal? I’ve never driven an RHD car in an LHD country, so I could see that being a long term comfort issue, but my experience driving an RHD car on home turf was weird for all of the time it took to pull out of the garage the first time I tried, and then wasn’t really an issue subsequently.
I prefer the looks of the little Suzi better, but like Dad always said, there is no replacement for displacement. City it is.
Honda City thanks to my daughter. When she was younger she was a huge Puffy Ami-Yumi fan, and was prone to blasting a song called “Tokyo, I’m On My Way” that included what I thought was the line “In my brand new Honda, it’s not so far away”. I just looked that up and it turns out they were singing “Auto”, and not “Honda”. At any rate, that song popped into my head the instant I read “Honda City Turbo”. Goofy story, goofy car, fun memory. This is what makes the Shitbox Showdown such a fun morning activity!
Give me that Honda!! I think I could get 12k worth of fun out of it. You can’t get coal rolled if you’re first off the light every time. And the wire wheel look on something so tiny and non-luxurious is just art.
Also putting “TURBO” graphics on anything makes it faster. Leonardo da Vinci figured that one out I hear.
This is a tough one. I love them both. The prices may be a tad high, but they’re already here. I’ve daily driven kei cars here in the States and it’s a joy. They’re not cramped. They’re just small. I’m leaning Suzuki because it’s a true kei and the condition is better. And I love Suzuki cars.
In a world where I have silly money to spend on either of these I vote Honda. In reality I vote neither.
Also wow the vote is so close. 1 vote separates them. I can’t wait to see the final results.
The City’s a wonderful period piece and truly attractive to my eye, and it puts as much power down to the wheels as my Yaris while weighing ~900 pounds less. I love the dash, the color combination, and the aftermarket wheels (both the gold basketweaves and the why-not-it-sorta-works wooden steering wheel, minus its horn button of course). It calls to me.
I certainly didn’t vote against the Alto, though. It also looks like a barrel of monkeys, and that biplane spoiler’s just the right level of over-the-top.
I was glad to see that my vote brought the vote to a tie: https://i.imgur.com/lxoYhRa.png
Honda is better than Suzuki, plus this example looks better than the
ricedmodded AltoAlso, the digital dash is awesome.
The market for these is a little nutty right now, but more and more Kei cars and trucks are passing the 25-year mark, and fly-by-night importers seem to be popping up like flies, so expect prices to fall as the supply increases.
I’ve sat in Honda Today (which is a true Kei, smaller than the City), as well as a Suzuki Cappuccino. I have yet to encounter a City in my travels, and just saw an Alto Works for the first time at the local C&C last weekend.
Sitting in the Capp, I was surprised that my six-foot-nothing frame had no issues with legroom or headroom. When the door closed, however, I found that my shoulders were quite squeezed. It felt like a fighter cockpit.
Not just fly-by-nights — a good number of performance shops and, oddly enough, European repair shops in my area always seem to have at least six or seven little Mitsubishis or Suzukis on the lot. They sell quickly, too.
I’m kind of tempted, but $6,000-ish for a truck with little to no utility on the highways and freeways where I live pretty far outside the nearest major city. . . .
$12k?!?!?!?!??
For a sub 100 hp car that probably doesn’t have enough room behind the rear seating to be useful even as a grocery-getter? I don’t know what these sellers are smoking, but keep it and these cars away from me.
I could see spending $1000-3000. That’s what a go-cart (which is what these things are) goes for.
I’ve dailied 100hp cars twice the weight of that Honda, I bet that thing is amazing.
I had to abstain because even if I won the PowerBall $400+ million I would not pay that for either of these. Maybe if they were new $12,000 would be okay. Although I think only if I bought 2 and had a quarter mile dirt track to race them.
Voted for the angry little Alto, simply because the interior is in better condition. I’d enjoy either of these rides!
The Honda sounds like an absolute blast to drive, and I’d absolutely pay a premium for one. But the Honda looks SO tired, and the pictures are from June at the latest, and if they think the drizzle on it is doing it any favors, then it’s probably even tougher than it looks.
I’d take the City, because Honda. I think both cars are a bit too pricey for their conditions (the Alto has almost certainly been beat on hard, and the City is just plain worn) though.
Having driven two Kei cars — an Autozam AZ-1 and a Honda Beat — in Los Angeles, I wouldn’t be too worried about it. They’ll make reasonable speed and, if you can adjust to RHD, they’re really easy to putt around town with.
Still, if the opportunity ever presents itself, I’m all in for an AZ-1 or a Mitsubishi Dangan ZZ-4.
While the Suzuki seems a little cleaner of condition, the Honda a bit more original, plus digital dash- leaning Honda.
I’d happily take either with my fake $12k but the Alto is quirkier so I voted that. With real money $12k is just too much for such niche limited use cars.
While I like the looks of the Alto, it screams abused on the track.
I will take the Honda and do a deep cleaning on it.
Initially, I was going to choose the Alto, but holy moley, that Honda has a great power-to-weight ratio. If Wikipedia is to be believed, that thing puts out 99 hp at 5500 rpm and 108 lf-bt at 3000 rpm. I mean, the Alto is in very nice condition and the body kit looks cool, but that Honda must absolutely rip.
Honda? Yeah, Honda I think.
The Alto is detuned, at one point it was at 77hp (1990) and at 553cc but was slapped down by the Japanese government when a maximum HP of 63 hp was enforced. the 4th gen (HA11) has a 657cc F6A which can produce a reliable 120hp with a few bolt-on mods and about 90hp or so without throwing too much cash at it. The Alto also has a huge cult following with plenty of aftermarket trinkets available as opposed to the City although I have always been a Honda fan and have a JDM StepWGN as our “Practical” vehicle.
Truthfully I’d happily drive either of these. I’d also, never, pay for either of them. They’re both super cool, they’re probably tons of fun on a little backroad but $13K to be cramped and spend almost every drive terrified of someone texting in a 3500 truck or oversized SUV slamming into me because they didn’t see my ‘cute little car’.. yeah, I’m good thanks.
Keep away from Runaround Sue(zy).
I’m a City Boy
Voting City just for that sick dashboard.
$12,000+ is simply too much for either of these cars. I get that Kei is kinda cool but at some point on the pricing scale you have to take off the rosy glasses and look at what you are actually getting for your money. Tiny engine with a tiny turbo in a tiny car, for TWELVE THOUSAND dollars!?!?!? No thank you.
Yeah, I think Kei vehicles are really cool and would love to own one. That being said, I agree that really anything over $7,500 is just too much for such a niche vehicle with limited use. I however, lack the time, dedication, and desire to deal with all the legal BS to import one so you know what they say, “ Gotta pay to play.” So if the market is at $12k well, that’s the market.
Yeah, it’s hard to say how much of that pricing is “the used car market is hot right now” vs a genuine sense that the cars are worth that amount.
I love these kinds of little cars and would enjoy owning one, but $12k is already-restored money in my book, not fixer-upper money.
I don’t doubt that in a few years the prices could start climbing higher as more Americans start to appreciate kei cars as collectors’ items, but right even as running, driving examples I don’t think they’re clean enough to be into the five-figures prices yet.
Yeah. The most perfect Alto Works RS/R (top of the line AWD, MT) is $5k in Japan.
This one is probably a RS/X (top of the line FWD)
I’d still take it over the Honda.
You can import a clean Alto Works for around $7K if you don’t mind waiting a few months for it. I have a 97 with 127,000km or 78,900mi clean as a whistle that was about $6,500 to the port and another thousand for a U.S. import broker to do all of the paperwork for the DOT and Customs for me to be able to pick it up at the port. It usually takes up to 6 or so weeks for space to be allotted on a boat and then 3-4 for it to arrive. If you have the cash to gamble with you can snag bargains, I have 3 more JDMs waiting for a ship to get loaded on.
I would like to play with the Alto, but I don’t know that I would fit in the little thing.
Any word on when you’re too big for one of these?
They sold them in New Zealand and across Europe as well.
I have a 6’4″ friend who has a Honda Today (which is much lower than an Alto). I bought my Honda Today from an aging bodybuilder, 6′ and 200+ lbs.
Honda City, for sure. That power to weight ratio still holds up well by today’s standards.