So Nice and Simple, But What is this Car?!

I’m sitting here in my used commercial Daihatsu Kei car and I want to tell you about him.  I’m looking down at the instrument cluster and this is what I’m seeing:

Pretty simple, huh? Just a big, easy to read speedo, a fuel gauge, an engine coolant temp gauge and, well, that’s it. Simple. Everything about this car is simple. It’s nice to have a simple car.  I’m relaxing in a comfortable driver’s seat that is supportive but not constricting and that easily accommodates my nearly six foot frame.

Behind me I’ve got a jump seat that will accommodate two human passengers at a pinch or three mid-sized dogs in comfort enough but that does not let them roll around when I’m cornering.

And, further back, one of the best features of my mini commercial vehicle: that big load space.

Here Comes the “Bonnet Van”

What am I driving? Let me tell you about my little jewel here, bought second hand from a Japanese used car dealer in Fuji City. I bought him for my wife just over one year ago and we have been more than happy with him and he has been very reliable and fuel efficient. Indeed, we’ve been pleasantly surprised many times at what a practical, economical, comfortable, and flat out fun little car he is. And here he is:

This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is our Bonnet Van. 

Among Japanese mini commercial vehicles, like kei trucks and mini vans, the Bonnet Vans are not yet well known in our major used car from Japan export markets of the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the UAE, and Ireland. (To learn the used car import rules for these countries, just click on the country name, and for other countries, just click here.) So let’s look at this class of Japanese Kei vehicle which may be just what you are looking for. It is certainly what we needed when we were used car shopping here in Japan the summer before last.

And what is it that we needed? Well, we needed a lot from our next car. We needed:

1. Good load capacity to carry a decent amount of groceries and other supplies on the days we go into town for shopping.
2. Good load capacity to carry the dogs.
3. A drive layout that can deal safely with snowy mountain roads in the winter months here on Mount Fuji. (We’ll look more deeply into this in a moment.)
4. Seats and interior space generous enough to accommodate six foot me, but ergonomically suited to my tiny wife so that she can reach the clutch (we only buy manual cars) and all controls comfortably.
5. Small exterior dimensions so that the car fits easily in our narrow parking lot so that said tiny wife, while driving the car, does not scrape the side of my parked Miata again (which is also tucked into our narrow parking lot).
6. Adequate power to climb back home up the hill from town when full of dogs and groceries, bottled water, and wife. (And preferably non-turbo…the car, I mean, not the wife.)
7. Clear glass, no tinted glass or privacy glass since our street lights are not the brightest up in our forested area and those blasted deer can be well nigh invisible up here at dusk or night if your windows are tinted. They wait in the bushes at the road side until your car is close and then they decide to run across the road. Totally stupid animals!

A buddy up here wrote off his brand new, bright red Suzuki Alto Works last year by kissing a big buck deer in the hind quarters. (That car had heavily tinted glass but it sure was totally cool.)

8. And, finally, I wanted the used car to be cheap to buy and cheap to run.

Was I asking too much?  

What the heck is a “Bonnet Van” anyway, Mr Price?

Well, it’s got nothing to do with this:

Nope, not this “bonnet.” It’s all about this “bonnet” (or “hood” if you prefer):

and what’s under it, namely this:

And this is where the Japanese Kei Bonnet Van is different from your typical kei van, like a Daihatsu Hi-Jet Van or a Suzuki Every Van, with the engine mounted front mid ship, or a Honda Acty Van with the engine mounted rear mid ship, or a Subaru Sambar Van with the engine mounted at the rear; all of these layouts giving you rear wheel drive with an option of four wheel drive on most models.

A Bonnet Van is front engine, front wheel drive, FF, with a 4WD option on some models.

My Mira Bonnet Van is FF and that’s what I wanted in my Japanese Kei mini vehicle load hauler. I live 1,000 meters up on Mount Fuji and the roads into town are all twisty and, in some areas, steep enough to be challenging on snowy days. I over steered on a twisty, snowy downhill stretch in my rear engine Sambar, same thing with my father-in-law’s mid engine Acty kei truck. Scary. Never had that problem in my old FF Mitsubishi Minica. Twisty, snowy down hill road? FF for me.

Now these lovely and super practical Bonnet Van cars that I’m talking about go by a number of names here in Japan in addition to “Bonnet Van.”: “Commercial Van,” “Business Van,” “Two Box Style Light Van,” “Kei Car Freight,”　“Four Number Kei Hatchback,” and, my favorite: “Kei Bon Van.” But, in the end, a Japanese kei car Bonnet Van is basically a hatchback kei car stripped down and optimized for simplicity, low running costs, and high commercial load capacity. Good Road!

My Bonnet Van is based on a Daihatsu Mira, but there are vehicles of this type based on the Suzuki Alto,

and the Mistsubishi Minica,

all of which I have driven. (There must have been Bonnet Van versions of the Subaru Vivio, and the Honda Life, but I don’t see them around nowadays.)

Does the Bonnet Van Measure Up?

Let’s look point by point at how my Bonnet Van fulfills my requirements as I listed them above.

1. Good load capacity? The Bonnet Van has been a total winner for me. He just gobbles up the goods without having the exterior height (and high exposure to cross winds) of your typical panel van. Sure, he doesn’t have the same total load space of a kei van like a Subaru Sambar or a Daihatsu Hi-Jet van, but he’s got enough…enough for me.
2. Woof, Woof! No problem. Three dogs in and no one needs to sit up front. (Not safe anyway, having the pooches up there.)
3. Big time score here and this, along with the high cross wind signature, was a main factor in my staying away from buying another typical kei van, like my Sambar van, which I really loved. But, as I just mentioned, the FF layout of the Bonnet Van is simply much better going down the snowy, twisty roads into town; front engine gives me better control and road holding than I get in this situation with front mid engine (Daihatsu and Suzuki), rear mid engine (Honda Acty), or rear engine (Subaru Sambar) and climbing ability up those roads, while not as good as the four wheel drive systems you can get on those panel vans, is, again, good enough for me.
4. Bonnet Van ticks all the boxes here. Indeed, I have to say that I really like the interior layout of this mini commercial vehicle. A surprising amount of elbow room in such a small car. I never feel cramped.
5. Bonnet Van is just the ticket here, too. Of course! He’s a Japanese kei car. Super compact little gem. (And, no, the wife has not, since we got the Bonnet Van, scraped my Miata again. But I am watching her. Heeeey, Man…..Watch her! Watch her!)
6. This is interesting. I’ve had a number of used Japanese kei vehicles over the years living here; my first one was also a Daihatsu Mira and I did find that, driving up the mountain, that old guy was under powered. I note that he was an automatic, a power sucking option in small engined vehicles generally, and he was normally aspirated (non-turbo), and…..and, well, this was years ago, and those old engines just were not as powerful as the motor in my 2005 Bonnet Van. Newer, say from the mid 1990s, Japanese 660cc non turbo kei engines are more powerful and have much better power curves; so they are not horribly peaky and have good mid and low range push. Much better than the old days. You don’t have to rev the crap out of them these days to get anywhere. It also helps that a Bonnet Van is about 200kg lighter than a box (panel) type kei van. I tend to recommend turbos on those, or superchargers in the case of the Sambar Van. In fact, driving our Bonnet Van, I am often surprised at how quick he is, I kid you not. And he’s not geared too low in fourth and fifth gear so that, cruising on the highway, the engine is not tiring you out by reving way up in the stratosphere. Amazingly enough, he’s a fine little cruiser.
7. Yes, thank God! Clear glass. Much safer and much better visibility in low light conditions. Helps avoid those bloody deer. Stupid things!
8. Winner again. Good gas mileage and burns regular gas. Parts are cheap and readily available and there is lots of parts cross over with other Daihatsu kei offerings. Repairs? The only repair we’ve done in the last year was when the passenger side drive shaft started showing signs of wear at about 90,000kms and so we replaced both shafts. Parts and labor very reasonable. In addition, pretty well all Miras run the same gear ratios for dogs ages; an important fact if every transmission work is required.

Is Mr Price a happy camper with his used Bonnet Van? You bet he is.

Basically, at Japan Car Direct, we are fans of Japanese kei vehicles, so don’t miss our other Japanese kei vehicle pages on our JCD web site; just click on the link to go to the page you want: Welcome to the World of Kei Vehicles, Kei Trucks, Kei Vans, Kei Cars (including the turbo and Supercharged pocket rockets), and the Suzuki Jimny, that great off road kei car.

And you’ll also find our series on what is the best kei truck to export from Japan here, here, here, and here.

So if you have motoring needs similar to mine, including needing a light, simple, commercial vehicle, and if you are in a situation tight for cash similar to mine, then I can recommend a Japanese Kei Bonnet Van similar to mine.

And the Other Bonnet Vans?

Well, I’ve road tested a few of them, and they were all….mostly all.…good. And while, for me, the prize goes to the Daihatsu Mira Bonnet Van, I’d give an honorable mention to the Mitsubidhi Minica Lyra van and the Suzuki Alto Van.

The Minica I test drove had good grunt and lots of interior space and good handling. He struck me as a sound, simple, and robust vehicle.

The Suzuki Alto Kei Van I tested was, at first glance, a total write off! The poor thing was dirty and uncared for and looked to have had a hard life. I only got in it and went for the test drive out of respect for the used car dealer and out of a desire not to hurt his feelings.

But.…Surprise, Surprise! What fun car that old goat turned out to be! He was a happy guy. (Just needed a bath.)

I noted that the aluminum block Suzuki K6A engine in the Alto Van was very lively and with good pull and response. 

Gear ratios were actually a bit sporty; handling and braking were quite fine, and it was the lightest (at 630kgs) of all the Japanese kei Bonnet Vans I tested. Under its coat of grime and crud and tobacco ash, a real winner was hiding with the potential to be a good motoring friend. And he was cheap, too. Why didn’t we buy him? Well, the Daihatsu was just a bit better. And he had a passenger side sun visor, which most Kei Bon Vans do not. Aaaand…..

(And this is a big “and.”)

The Mira has better rear seat leg room. The rear seats in the Minica Van and the Alto Van were really just jump seats. The Mira’s rear seat is much more useable.

Any losers? Yep. The newer model Alto Van (it was a 2010, vs the lovely, dirty, fun and charming old goat van which was a 2002 model year car) just did not charm me at all. It lacked the simple, light, fun feel of the older Bonnet Vans and it had these bells and whistles and chim-chime warning hooters on it that just turned me off. (What’s the point of having power windows in a car that is supposed to be super cheap and super simple? Such a car should have winding windows. Winding windows, people!

Just like the OLD days. Yeah! The days before power windows, seat heaters, in-car entertainment systems, automatic transmissions, air conditioning, and starter motors. The days of the hand crank:

Don’t you miss those days? The days when a hand crank could kick back at you and break your wrist? No? Well, I don’t miss them either. I just like to pull your leg. But my Mira Bonnet Van is sophisticated in his own way. He doesn’t have seat heaters or an in-car entertainment system, but he does have a painted on indicator to show me what side the fuel door is on:

But, seriously, if you are looking for a used car from Japan that is simple, cheap, reliable, capable, and fun; a car that has good commercial load hauling ability but is not a big van; a car for your groceries and your dogs, and for your small business, look closely at a Japanese Kei Bonnet Van, it just might tick all your boxes. It ticks mine.

And a special note to our customers in the USA and Australia: The first examples of the post 1998, newer series kei Bonnet Vans are now 25 years old and ready for easy import from Japan to America and Oz.

To find out more about these and other excellent, good quality and reasonably priced used cars that you can import yourself direct from Japan, just contact us here at Japan Car Direct and we’ll be happy to bring you and the right car together. 

So hats off to the Bonnet Van!