(7/11/2011) Here in Canada we are treated to some exotic treats with our import laws allowing pretty much anything over fifteen years or older. There is a trickle of interesting imports from Europe, but most of the action comes from Japan. Sports cars and SUVs are the most popular, with diesel 4×4 vans perhaps in third place. Amid the Skylines and diesel Pajeros the occasional Kei class car makes it over here. And that’s worth stopping for, especially when its a sports car kei, like this Honda Beat.
Kei cars are a result of the exploiting the Japanese tax regulations by having a small engine and exterior dimensions. When this Honda Beat was made, the regulations included a 660cc or smaller engine making no more than 63hp and a maximum width of 1.4m (4.6 ft). Honda fit the Beat with a 63hp E074 656cc three cylinder engine which was mated only with a five speed manual gearbox. Rumour has it this engine isn’t quite up to Honda’s usual bullet proof reputation.
Most of these came with steel rims with 13” on the front and 14” on the back. Our example seems to have had its wheels swapped out for some slightly larger Civic ones.
Beats where produced from 1991 to 1996 but oddly enough two thirds of the total production happened in the first year.
Performance tests of the day showed these Beats where outclassed by the similar sized Suzuki Cappuccino and Mazda’s Autozam AZ-1. The crucial difference was the Cappuccino and AZ-1 used a turbocharger to produce both horsepower and torque. The turbo engines were of course easily modified by the owner to unleash even more power. The Honda stuck with normal aspiration and high revs.
So why import a Beat? Well because it is certainly different and unique. Sure you could buy a very nice Mazda Miata of similar vintage for the same money that would out perform it, be easier to source parts for and offer some extra cabin room. But the world would be a slightly duller place if this Beat owner had done that.
What else but a Beat would be capable of making even my Mazda 808 look big. Wanna race?
Ah you guys shop at the same store we do but no age restrictions here there are some crazy Japanese cars out there and for every mediocre offering there seems to be a high performance front cut to take home as a kit, 20 valve turbo 2.0 for your Corolla ?certainly sir its in this one cash or charge? Kids with new licences have no restriction here if they can make the payments they can die in anything.
Did Canada ever get the Honda City? I remember seeing that car and thinking how cool it looked–only it was never imported to the US. (Although I guess the Fit is its descendant.)
Same for the Mercedes A-Class, FWIW. (See one of those up from Mexico now and then.)
Not when new. I did one in BC a couple years that was imported in.
Alright, everyone write your congressmen/women! We need cars like this in America. Our 25 year rule needs to be lowered to 15. I want to run circles around Excursions in a little Beat. I don’t care if I get smashed to a bloody pulp, at least I’ll die having fun in a little micro speedster!
It ain’t gonna happen; and the reason is all politics.
The “good” reason is that cars like this don’t meet the “safety” standards – the standards that make a SMART weigh over a ton.
The real reason is, the government hates cars and all they stand for; they want us stuffed in their crime-ridden cities and on their union-operated mass transit.
But, there’s a guy who got plates on his Kawasaki Mule and he runs it up and down my fully-paved, town-owned street to get coffee and donuts from Dunkins and beer from the Mini-Mart! A Beat is safer than a Mule, isn’t it?!? Life is so unfair *harumph* 🙁
Yeah – when I was working in South Dakota last year, I saw numerous right-hand-drive kei-trucks. Somehow they got in the country; somehow they were registered in South Dakota as motorcycles!
I don’t know how that works. About eight years ago I looked into importing a Mexican Type I Beetle; with the exchange rate, I could have gotten a new one dirt cheap.
But it was no-sale. No, capitalized: NO!! I was warned I’d lose the car and be indicted – without reimbursement and probably convicted as I’d been caught with the goods.
Maybe the thing to do was ship it UPS to South Dakota.
I don’t know how it works either but just a few years ago there was a place ~35 miles from me that had a fleet of Kei trucks for sale registered with NH automobile plates. I’m pretty sure NHTSA shut them down. Gotta keep the citizenry safe from themselves….
But your line about motorcycles led me to think:
1. Bring over Kei sans engine.
2. Install motorcycle engine, as per CJinSD
3. Register as kit car or motorcycle, depending on whichever can be done.
4. Profit?
Send me a note (mrbillg AT verizon DOT net) and I’ll tell you how to get that VW into the country.
Mr. Bill
FYI state regulations on kei trucks:
http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/laws/minitrucks
At the CA/AZ border, I talked to a fellow in business importing used Suzuki Carrys into AZ. He wasn’t worried about Fed harassment.
First of all Thank you for the HARUMPH! Secondly when I turned 14 and got my restricted license (must have licenced driver in front seat, drive half hour before sunrise or sunset, motorcycle can produce 5 b.h.p. or less) Of course I got a Honda 160 with an regular tag and could cruise at 65 on I 95 Not one ticket untl 16 with full operators licence in first car. Improper start from standing position. Yes, a burnout in a 65 Marlin. It was fun.
Give the Governor HARUMPH! In Florida we could get restricted at 14. Bikes were limited to 5 BHP or less. That was a joke. Had a Honda 160 twin. Cruise at 65 on I 95 all day.
Here the car dealers have tried to get the rules changed over and over again. I’m sure one day they will succeed. The volumes are tiny but they are upset at what they see as a threat to their sales.
Just like the real estate lobby and mortgage-interest tax deduction, or colleges & the student loan program. It’s hard to think of any business sector that doesn’t have a pet Federal program.
Voters are fine with eliminating Special Interest influence, until you propose one they profit from.
Now that’s a refreshing sight! Damn it should have come to the states. After all, it’s full circle back to my sweet ’77 CVCC 5-speed. Wikipedia says it had an 87″ wheelbase, 53 hp from 1488cc, and weighed 1500 lb. The Beat has a 90″ wheelbase, 63 bhp like you said at 8100 rpm(!) from only 656cc and weighed 1675 lb. We had a ton of 1st gen Civics down here. I adored my Civic but it sure wasn’t styled by Pininfarina. You Canadians have it good.
Curious about right-hand drive cars: are the pedals also reverse from left-hand drive cars? I can’t quite tell in this pic.
No; the pedal layout is the same.
The Navy made me a Duty Driver while I was in Japan for a month; I had to take a Japanese driving test on a kei-car van. A Honda.
Aside from the novelty of the floor-mounted gear lever on my left, it was all the same. Probably helped that I’d had a RHD mail truck as a junker, years earlier.
Remembering to stay on the left side of the road…now THAT took some doing, especially when making a right-hand turn.
Nope. The shifter layout is the same too. I had a right hand drive Toyota Hilux SURF for quite a while. Driving on the “wrong” side was no big deal. Going back and forth from it to our left hand drive minivan did have me hitting the wipers when I went to signal as they where on reverse sides.
Pedals and manual gear shift patterns are the same, left or right.
Up to late 90s they had the wiper / lights stalks reversed. All Euro imports too.
Then changed to the same too. Which I find stupid (as a driver), if cost-effective.
Some fond memories of my first drive around campus in Hiroshima and getting furious wiper action instead of the right indicator. Tried once to search for a gearstick in the driver’s door during that ride too. The ride was a friend’s Ford Telstar, JDM clone of a Mazda 626 hatch with sweet but gutless 1.8L V6 engine.
My 59 Hillman can be assembled either way its all predrilled captive nuts in ready to go export em anywhere the steering box may differ but it all transposes.
I’m in Southern Ontario, and you do see a few RH drive, very rare imports. I can’t say as I have ever seen, or for that matter heard of, a Honda Beat.
My High School history teacher drove a 66-67? Honda two seater sports car with RH steer. That was the first non- motorcycle Honda product I ever saw.
I spent several years in Japan and learned how to drive on the left. First, you keep repeating to yourself, over and over, “Keep left, look right!” The pedals are the same, the shifter is the same but of course opposite. The only thing that really took me some time to get used to was the signal light lever. It is on the right and on many occasions I turned on the wipers and not the signals!
I see a Honda Beat around my neighborhood from time to time. It is powered by a Hayabusa engine with about 3 times the original engine’s hp.
Two thirds of them were sold in the first year?
… I think your remark about questionable reliability may be correct.
Imagine one of these with a K-series swap?? Or even a B18…. 200+ reliable HP, what fun!
This is supposedly the last Honda car to be given the green light by Mr. Honda himself.
I am regretfully selling my Honda Beat due to illness. I live in Toronto, Canada & I have one of two Beats in the city. I love this car but have been unable to drive it.
Ah, that’s sad to hear. As a fan of the Beat and the AZ-1 I’d love to have it, and it would be well taken care of, but the rather senseless import laws here mean it’ll be a little while before any of us Americans can have one. Your best hope at this point would be holding onto it and selling it for a pretty big profit once the 1991 model-year cars become legal next year, because American car nuts can go crazy over imports.
I remember reading about the Honda Beat. I remember thinking how awesome it would’ve been if it were sold here in the USA, it would’ve made a cool Mini-Me to the Acura NSX. Sadly the NSX was discontinued.
The Honda beat is pretty much everything I like. It’s small, it’s completely impractical, it’s impossible to work on (and therefore a true challenge to tinker with), and it has funky but aesthetically pleasing styling. Soon. Soon I shall have my hands on a Kei car…
I’ve always thought Beats looked bland. They’re no ugly, but the front end looks like it came off a Geo or something.
If I were going to go through the trouble of importing a car, I’d find something more interesting.
Always liked the Mazda AZ-1 and Honda Beat… Especially being RWD and Japanese.
The Beat always looked like a baby S2000, with a hint of 3rd gen MR2, mixed in.
The Suzuki Cappucino is cool, but kinda funky looking.
Another kei roadster we forgot is the Daihatsu Copen. They were cute, but too bad they were FWD. 🙁
The Suzuki Cappucino is probably the best as far as power-train and suspension. Its like a 2/3 scale Miata in concept.
I was wondering when someone would mention the Copen. We got that one in Australia. I remember finding one in a car park – it looked so tiny! And I’ve seen a Cappucino in the metal too. But yeah, I’d rather have the Mazda or the Honda.
This one is on Melb’s streets. My uncle had a ‘cino in Italy, and put prancing horse badges on it (v. embarrassing). I prefer the looks of the Beat.
The new second generation Copen is really good looking, in my opinion:
Many years ago I was reading about these cars. I think it was on a car calendar which featured one in yellow. But it also mentioned that it was unavailable in the U.S. due to not being able to meet crash standards. I live in Toronto, Canada but I have never seen one.
What about the Nissan Figaro? If I were in the market for a kei-car that one would be my first choice. At the opposite end of the scale, I’d want a Toyota Century.
Several years back I spotted an East German Trabant parked on the street in downtown Redondo Beach. It had California plates with current tags. How they got that thing legal here I have no idea.
We have done the Figaro. I’ve yet to see a Century though. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-asian/curbside-classic-1991-nissan-figaro-more-anime-than-animal/
It might be in your interest to look into importation laws and the kinds of cars that can be imported, it’s a really interesting cluster of stupidity. In case is the Nissan Figaro — a highly sought-after car, but because of the years of its production and low-volume figures the chances of someone getting one without a markup makes it impossible to grab one without it being illegal or a ripoff. As for the Trabant… If you meant “Several years back” as maybe 5-10 I could understand the Trabant being in California. Some car collectors made a business in Southern California by importing Soviet-era cars and military vehicles in the early 2000s. Someone tried the same thing on the East Coast to less success… The main imports in either case were small cars and Soviet 4x4s. I can’t remember the name of the importer, but their work is easy to find on the internet. Reason I know all about this is because I one day hope to import a 1993 Suzuki Wagon R. Really all I have to do at this point is wait…
There used to be a Wagon R+ in my town – haven’t seen it for a few years now. The review in Wheels stated “Thank God there’s no R minus!” – don’t think they were too impressed.
When you’re expecting a 660CC motor to do the work of a 1,200 CC motor I’m quite surprised that you’d be allowed to write a review of whatever the motor was attached to. Then again most people try and claim that the Wagon R is supposed to be this amazing sporty minivan, when all it is is a tiny fuel-efficient tall-boy hatchback. R does not always meant flash, character, and performance, people. The R+ was basically an amenities package with power options and a list of creature comforts for those so inclined. Which I don’t like and don’t need, so the regular Wagon R is perfect for me. Aside from the non-standard steering position.
Hi Jon
Did you ever find a 93 wagon R? I ideally am looking for a parts car or a source for parts.
Thanks
Mark
Markgarner59@sympatico.ca
905 645-4115
David, when I read your article title, I thought of this Canadian Classic. A perfect song to play in this Honda…
If I remember correctly, the engine for the Beat is 1/2 of a Goldwing motorcycle engine (I can’t remember if it’s before or after the GW switched to a 6 cylinder design.)
As for half the cars produced being sold in the 1st year….there have been other cars on CC where the sales numbers fell almost as quickly, and I’m talking U.S. models.
As far as the Beat’s competitors: the British auto magazine CAR has tested at some point the Beat, Copen, Cappuccino, and AZ-1. The Copen was their LEAST favorite. They liked the Audi TT styling but the rest of the car was reviled as being pretty bad.
As a side note, just yesterday I saw a Daihatsu Charade 3 door scooting around a grocery store parking lot in northeastern Pennsylvania.
We have similar phenomenon here in Germany with first-generation Daihatsu Copen. Interestingly, Copen was semi-officially sold in Germany in right-hand-drive configuration for a year until the left-hand-drive version was at last offered in 2006.
One year to go…just one more year for US importation. In the meantime, I’ve wasted countless hours checking out the Japanese Classics website.
http://www.japaneseclassicsllc.com
(Warning: DON’T visit if you have ANY tasks to accomplish! The galleries are addicting!)
That headlight acting as part of the wheel arch/wheel well might be one of the dumbest setups ever, and it makes the car that much cheaper looking and rather ugly IMO. And that interior reeks of cheapness (design-wise atleast)
Each to their own though.
I’ve always kind of liked these. Tiny, sure, but not cute. More purposeful-looking, in fact.
I wonder how the Beat compares size-wise to an MG Midget?