Comparison left vs right for a craftsman who doesnt know which one he should buy:
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l/r same bed size
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r lower bed for way easier loading/unloading
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r less likely to crash
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r less fuel consumption and costs
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r less expensive to repair
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r easy to park
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r easy to get around in narrow places like crowded construction sites or towns
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r not participating in road arms race
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l You get taken serious by your fellow carbrained americans because ““trucks”” are normalized and small handy cars are ridiculed.
So unless you are a fragile piece of human, choose the right one.
Really wish I could get my hands on one of these. The import process is so complicated it makes it barely cheaper than a domestic used truck.
So it’s still cheaper than a domestic used truck?
With a bunch of headache and work to do the paperwork, sure. Depends on what your time is worth.
Plus can’t imagine it’s cheap to work on a car that had to be fully imported by yourself. A car sold here likely has more readily available parts.
I was going to buy one of the kei trucks when I had to replace my truck in 2022. I ended up with a base used F150 for 12k, because it was cheaper than any kei truck I could find.
It’s probably model dependent, but the one I drove around for my job in Japan had zero leg room. My knees were resting on the dash as the passenger with the seat all the way back.