I’m a glutton, and a glutton for punishment. I’m larger than most men, at around six-feet-four-inches tall and weighing between 260 and 280 pounds depending on the time of day, moon phase, and proximity to the nearest good buffet.
And yet, I love small cars.
I own, and once daily-drove, an early Miata. Mind you, I carved foam out of the seat and equipped it with a smaller steering wheel so I could steer without removal of my legs or other sensitive bits — but I do fit. My win-the-lottery wish list has just as many four-cylinder cars as bigger-engined vehicles combined.
So, when looking at models that are becoming eligible for import under the 25-year-rule, naturally, I looked East.
Since we no longer have the pleasure of seeing new Suzuki cars on these shores, I figured that brand would be a great place to start my Kei quest. I considered the Alto Works RS/R — with all-wheel drive and a turbocharger stuffed into a tiny hatch — but the theoretically infinite headroom offered by a convertible is attractive. Thus, today’s 1992 Suzuki Cappuccino.
With classic front engine, rear-drive proportions, shrunk down by tax regulations, the Cappuccino is an attractive roadster. For the equivalent of $5,900 plus transport costs, it’s reasonably priced, too. There are dozens of these for sale on Goo-Net-Exchange, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few of these appear stateside. Have any of our readers used this site to import a car?
Yes, I’m aware I’m a year too early for import on this particular Cappuccino; there are some 1991 models available, but this one looked better to me. It’s not like I have the cash right now anyhow.
I don’t know how Kei cars like this Cappuccino would work in the US. It would be great as a city car, certainly, but long highway slogs would be exhausting on driver and machine. Furthermore, I have serious reservations about actually squeezing myself into this thing.
After all, a proper American version would be a Trenta half caff, extra foam soy Latte, and that doesn’t fit on this Cappuccino’s trunk lid in any legible font.
First the 205, and now this! I find it really interesting to see the reactions to these cars on an American car site.
Very rare in the UK – only 1100 cars imported from 1993-95.
Great little cars, with a crazy 650cc turbo three cylinder engine.
strange little car, it manages to look so wrong and so right at the same time, if you serious about inporting a car from Japan Doug would be you go to source as he has written about importing a GTR from Japan last year and to keep it in the TTAC family Thomas can go check out the car for you, I think he is still in Japan.
Hate to crush your dreams, but the Cappucino is a size smaller than the Miata again. I looked at it way back when they imported a few in the Netherlands, and was shocked at the minute size of it.
The original Lotus Elan was 10 inches shorter than the first generation Miata. The first generation Austin Healey Sprite (bugeye) was 18 inches shorter than the Miata. The bugeye was actually quite roomy inside.
I’m 6’2″ and weigh in at around 230 and am fairly comfortable behind the wheel of a MG Midget which is roughly the size of a Cappucino or its competitor the Daihatsu Copen. I would not mind either of them as a weekend roadster though the Copen will have to wait a few more years to meet the 25 year rule.
If you’re going with early 90’s kei convertible, you better BEAT it.
http://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/HONDA/BEAT/700070738130150913001/index.html
Great, now I’ll have Michael Jackson stuck in my head all morning.
Better MJ than the “Ding dong the witch is dead” JB left us with yesterday.
http://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/FORD/BRONCO/700020301030141228001/index.html
Lol, what a Japanese weirdo you’d have to be to have this over there.
That would be Mark if he lived in Japan.
Oh Mark Steven-San
http://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/FORD/CROWN_VICTORIA/700050423830150502001/index.html
How about a NYC Police Interceptor Crown Vic!
How did they get it with all equipment still intact! No way that’s street legal over there.
Welp, my productive day is completely shot…
goo net all day
http://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/FORD/EXCURSION/700020421130151222002/index.html
Whoa, clean Excursions at good prices. I see an opportunity here.
Those are CLEEEEEEEEEEEAN Excursions on that site.
Also:
http://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/FORD/FORD_F-250/700115705530150113002/index.html
Sweet Baby Japanese Jesus!
WHY NO HAVE DIS in America!
Imagine the dignity as you drive around America in your Century, complete with formality doilies.
http://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/TOYOTA/CENTURY/0120160201C4001113011/index.html
Here’s one of those JDM Infiniti Q45s:
http://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/NISSAN/INFINITI_Q45/700115718220110303057/index.html
Nope JDM Q45 doesn’t exist. Ask journalists.
Loving all the Japanese switch markings on that Century!
They’re there because it’s traditional!
That, and there’s no universal pictogram for “lower the rear window a crack so your boss’s underlings can apologize to him”.
I figure they’re the same sort of weirdo who would have a turbodiesel Jimny on this side of the Pacific.
I’ve used Goo-Net to import a Mitsubishi Delica to Kenya a few years back. The’re a middleman between you and the used car dealers as well as the exporters. The listed price isn’t the final offer and they can attempt to negotiate a lower price for you, but don’t expect a Richard Rawlings beatdown on price. Once you’ve got your final price + shipping, they’ll tell you where to wire the money(I think they accept credit cards too) and take a few pictures of your new pride and joy before it’s put on a boat. Once it gets to your side it’s up to you to get it cleared through customs, but as long as you have a reputable company on your end to clear it through, it should be a smooth process.
No need to worry about the language barrier either, their staff’s English is as good as yours or mine. If you do plan on following through on the li’l Cappuccino, I’d definitely go through them.
They do bikes as well, and depending on where my next diplomatic assignment is, I already have plans on picking up a Honda CBR250RR from them so I can bring that back to the US. 250cc’s and a 16,000 RPM redline never sounded so good!
Are you at the US Embassy in Nairobi?
Not anymore. My tour ended last year.
I was at the Embassy last summer. My sister was working at the UN for four months and I visited her for about a week.
I hope you had the chance to go on a few safaris while you were there.
I did. I was able to go on safari in both Tsavo National Park East and West.
The lodge we stayed at was much nicer than my sister’s apartment in Nairobi.
Ahh Prelude pillarless sedan!
http://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/HONDA/ASCOT_INNOVA/700040022130151214002/index.html
Also I’m having this convertible all day long, instead. It’s importable now.
http://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/NISSAN/FIGARO/700040221530151201002/index.html
I’ll quit doing links, cause I could do JDM stuff all day.
I’m waiting for 2024 to get my cashmere yellow Subaru Impreza WRX STI sport wagon. Hopefully they still exist. Everyone seems to be cutting those cars in half to ship them over now. Depressing because all the shells here are in terrible shape.
Why are they cutting them in half?
They sell the front clip to people who want to do engine swaps. Makes it easier because you have the engine, gearbox, ecu, and any other misc parts you might need to make it work.
Thank you. It makes sense, but it also makes me sad. It’s effectively removing a sought after car from the road every time it’s done.
The cars that get cut are usually the higher-mile, less clean ones to begin with. The low-mile creampuffs are still intact. There was a tidal wave of ’90s Skyline and Silvia/180SX clips shipped into the US about a decade ago, as those cars aged out of the home market.
SR20DET swap all the JDM things!
It was going to be removed no matter what, unfortunately. The shaken (shah-ken) vehicle inspection system in Japan is very strict and as a result, with older cars it can become very expensive to keep it in compliance, to the point that it’s more economically feasible to just buy a new car instead. The lucky cars (SUV’s, pickups, and vans) find a new life in Africa. The rest just rot away in a junkyard.
If you really want to see sad, you should check out the WasabiCars, a YouTube channel created by an Australian expat living near Hiroshima.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSw4FENdCJc1guYzBFHUkXg
Seems like there are more SR20-powered 240SXs on CL these days than stock ones, along with the occasional CA or unfinished RB swap.
Truly there is little used car market in Japan after a couple years .
The cut in half then ship out thing has been going on for decades ~ some enterprising young Men on my block bought about 10 RHD Honda Civic halves about ten years ago and soon they had an all RHD local Car Club , they were careful with the VIN’s and all had California license tags and were driven daily .
RHD cars also get shipped to Jamaica where young Men who don’t know how to drive yet , wreck them almost immediately .
-Nate
“How did they get it with all equipment still intact! No way that’s street legal over there.”
Pretty easy , we just dump most of this stuff (Police car equipments) as scrap .
Could also be an ex Movie car too , the last time I was in NYC they didn’t have ‘ HIGHWAY PATROL ‘ stickers on their cruisers .
-Nate
I liked Suzuki. SX4s and GVs (and Kizashi) are usually watchlisted on my kijiji.
An SX4 would make a great winter vehicle.
You bet, an 07-09 JLX 5MT AWD version is something I would love to own. The things are really holding on to their value though.
Well, at least it ain’t French.
I have a Cappuccino here in New Zealand. It’s a neat little car and out-performs plenty of “faster” cars (0 – 60 in 7.8 seconds) Top speed is governed to 140km/h (85mph) but it gets there real quick and will cruise all day at 130 if you want. At the same time it is stupidly economical on fuel, which matters when 95RON is over $2 per litre. I love the thing!
in the mid-90s, i had a shizuoka-registered honda beat. cute as a button but kinda noisy and a bit uncomfortable. compared with the mazda mx5 i’d abandoned in california, the beat wasn’t the best handling machine. but it was fun to drive. eager to rev. best was the 400km run from hamamatsu to kanazawa on the hokuriku expressway in a torrential downpour. it handled overtaking lorries and artics with reasonable aplomb.