It was only a matter of time: Mitsuoka have finally succumbed to the long-running SUV pandemic, which has spread to the top-end sports and luxury marques of late. Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin – everyone that’s anyone is now at it. At this point, it’d be easier to list the ones who don’t have an SUV in their lineup. Let’s see here: Ferrari, Koenigsegg, Lancia, Lotus, MacLaren, Morgan and… er… is that it?
Until a couple weeks ago, because I hadn’t really kept my eye on the plastichrome ball, I’d have added Mitsuoka to that list. But it turns out I had missed a crucial communiqué from the smallest Japanese carmaker (or should that be the biggest Japanese kit-maker?) dating back to almost exactly a year ago, on 26 November 2020, that announced the launch of the Buddy. Please forgive me, CC! This particular earthquake did not register on my personal Richter scale at the time. Mea culpa.
The world was obviously ready and willing to welcome the first Mitsuoka-badged SUV, as it allegedly took only four days for the firm to fill their order books till 2023. It does help that the Buddy’s production numbers will be extremely limited. They announced only 50 units for 2021 and 150 units for 2022. So there ought to be 50 of these in circulation (at best) at the present time, which explains why this is the first one I’ve come across.
As per nearly all Mitsuoka models, the Buddy is essentially a tarted-up regular production car, in this case the Toyota RAV4. As luck would have it, CC’s own Jim Klein reviewed the current model Toyota RAV4 earlier this year, so we can compare and contrast that standard version to the Mitsuoka. The Buddy pretty much mirrors the JDM RAV4’s underpinnings, to wit: either two- or all-wheel-drive, and either a plain 2-litre (171hp) or a hybrid 2.5 litre (178hp) DOHC 4-cyl.
Weirdly, the fact that our feature car has chromed door handles means it’s AWD; 2WD cars have body-colour ones. MRSP for this big Buddy starts at ¥4.7m and can reach ¥5.9m (US$45k-57k), so we’re talking about getting one RAV4 for the price of two, here. Seems that’s the sort of deal some folks just cannot pass up. One born every minute maybe not, but 50 to 150 year? Yeah, that’ll work.
I was pretty sure that the Buddy’s owner was eyeballing me from afar, so I skipped the interior pic. Here’s something Mitsuoka shot themselves instead. As far as I can tell, the dash is 100% stock Toyota; the seat cushions, on the other hand, look a bit “special,” in every possible sense of the word.
I guess they saw that, even in Japan, Chevy K5s were becoming the hipster conveyance de rigeur, as that’s what that front end is meant to evoke. And if that’s the case (kind of) for the front end, what, pray tell, is that rear end supposed to have drawn its inspiration from? I’m getting a faint Cadillac vibe (and certainly no hints of classic Suburban / Blazer), but that’s about it.
After the 2018 Rock Star, this is the second Mitsuoka in a row to attempt something in a more American vein, when the company made their name (and still make a lot of their bottom line) on British-inspired retro designs. The Rock Star, which kind of mish-mashes a C2 Corvette and a Miata, is an exciting proposition. I only caught a glimpse of one, but I really hope to catch one curbside and in vivo someday. Our Buddy here, on the other hand, is just another cookie-cutter SUV. And the bespoke Buddy bits of bling are nowhere near outrageous enough to be eye-catching. It’s a Meh-Tsuoka from me, I’m afraid.
The Rav4’s front end was overstyled hideousness, this is a welcome improvement. I like the small detail touches they did, like the faux chrome bumpers,
Ooh, that’s rough. Buddy’s not a bad name but Bubba might be better. For the back I’m getting a lot of first generation Jeep Compass vibes somehow, also not great. It’s a great find though with the front its best angle. For that price though I think I’d just find the world’s nicest K5. Or a slightly less nice one as well as a RAV4.
A new slant on the old Chevy C10 Square Body truck grill?
Agree…on first sight, I thought it was an Asia version of a Chevrolet SUV.
To me, it looks better than what’s on the current Chevy dealer lots in North America.
You beat me to it. Chevy all the way and I do think the grill is good looking.
Yes, a much more pleasing and attractive grill look than the current Chevy Trucks.
…And ’66 Impala front fenders.
Shoulda just sold that front clip back to Chevy and scrapped the rest…
The front screams Chevy, but the rear has a generic ’60s / ’70s American station wagon vibe.
1966 Mercury Colony Park……
The wood grain panel on the back of the Mercury would look and feel at home on the Buddy…call it the Kingswood edition…
Interesting missmash of styling cues chevy pickup at the front evolving into Im not sure by the time you reach the back, its definitely an improvement on Toyotas effort that it began as, Im sure Ill see one in traffic in the near future or on a fresh import car lot.
I think that it is a sad day when another company can build a better looking Chevrolet than Chevrolet.
+1
There are online images of the Buddy with painted steel wheels and dog dish hubcaps. If you could get it thru US regulations, I feel it would sell immediately, especially along the West coast.
Well to be fair to GM, Lexus has been building better looking Buicks than Buick since its inception in MY 1990 really. So, I’d like to say I’m surprised but I’m not.
I also remember all the hub-bub about the relaunched Pontiac GTO 15 years ago. When the media asked the design team why it didn’t look like a GTO the design team basically said “If the GTO continued to evolve, this is what it would have looked like.”
Now we know that is hogwash, because a Japanese company can take a Toyota RAV4 and make it look like an old school Blazer, then GM could have most certainly done a heck of a better job on that GTO than they did or at least farm the work out to Mitsuoka ala Cadillac Allante by Pininfarina.
Of course to add insult on top of injury, GM being GM ran “FWD” Pontiac Grand Prix shells in NASCAR from 1988-2003 and when Pontiac finally had a real RWD V8 coupe in the showroom for sale they naturally, PULLED OUT OF NASCAR.
But I digress…
The grille is obviously Chevy, but the overall shape of the front is ’57 Nash, complete with a hint of the door dips (which Nash called ‘Reveals’ as in cleavage.)
Ferrari’s SUV will be here in 2022.
I rather like this, but the grille could be more vertical instead of forward-leaning.
The forward leaning works for me, adds a Buick vibe. Maybe it just needs a stand-up hood ornament!
I see a 1966 Studebaker Cruiser in that front end.
A Chevy Astro front end on a RAV4 for twice the price? No thanks.
I really like this one, actually. It’s an improvement over its donor vehicle, which is somewhat rare for a Mitsuoka.
I don’t know how it works in Japan, but in the US typically these low-volume vehicles would use already DOT-accepted lighting from a major manufacturer, right? I could have sworn those rear tail lamps were from a late model Cadillac due to the overall shape and the wheat-grain vertical pattern detailing, but I couldn’t find an exact match (first thought was SRX, but those seem to have integrated backup lights.
The tail lights and reverse light is from the 2013-2017 Cadillac XTS. You’re welcome.
I just learned Astro cargo vans have different headlamps than the passenger version. Clearly Mitsuoka thinks the cargo van is the hipper of the two with those sealed beams.
The hideous front end of the 2022 RAV4 four makes me think it was inspired by the Samurai crab. Toyota would sell many more RAVs in the USA if they looked like the Mitsuoka!
If McLaren really ends up being bought by VWgroup my presumption is the very first thing they’ll do is make a SUV derived off the Tourag or Taycan or Cayane or whatever they’re called. Just a matter of time they all get body snatched, Ferrari’s already in the pipe for celebrity soccer moms to gobble up, but I for one welcome the 5000lb tech laden Lotus E SUV, I’m sure it’ll very fitting to the iconic Colin Chapman quote.
While I definitely see 80s Chevy C/K in the grille design, that forward lean looks like a real life Canyonero!
Yes! I also thought of the Canyonero!
Do they offer either an entry level trim or an extended length they call the Buddy L?
Each to their own, but a Range Rover Velar for me. Just works, visually. This doesn’t IMHO.
I think Dream Factory Blow did it better with their 67-72 Chevy nose on a Suzuki Wagon R
Here’s the pickup which looks even better
Hi slow_joe_crow
That isn’t a Suzuki Wagon R, but rather a Suzuki Lapin (HE21S)
Why do I like this? I’m glad to read that others do, too. I even like the font on the stick-on “Buddy” identification.
I’ll join with the prevailing opinions and admit that this isn’t actually too bad. Not beautiful, but I’ve definitely seen worse.
The RAV4 isn’t the sexiest SUV on the road to start with. I would have liked to have seen what they could have done if they had been given the more squared off GMC Acadia or Terrain as a starting point. Even the Toyota Highlander is more square. It’s tough starting with a hunched-back oval shape and then attempting to square it off. They did the best they could. Only so much lipstick can be applied to the pig before it has to take a trip to “Hillshire Farms.”
I’m quite liking that frontal styling. I drive a Chevrolet K10 of the model range this Mitsuoka is aping, so I’m of course going to approve, y’know! It also reminds me a bit of the 1979-80 Dodge pickups with quad lamps.
The rest of the styling from the A pillar back is fairly typical modern CUV, and inoffensive. The only question I have remaining is: how are they meeting rear lighting requirements? I don’t see turn signals or reverse lamps in the pictures shown…
The reverse light is in the center of the rear bumper. Some modern Cadillac have amber turn signals “hidden” in the red area of the lens. I’m not sure if the XTS lens had that feature or not? Google isn’t helping.
Ahh… I thought that center section was just a grab handle for the tailgate. Thanks for the info!
And yep. I was wondering if the amber turn signals were somehow concealed in that red lamp… have seen that before, but can’t remember where.
“The artist formerly known as Prince” called —
Wants his logo back.