Two year old thread I know, but yes, they will run all day at 110-120 km/h. I see plenty running on the expressways, and they aren't holding anyone up. I'm the one running at 120-130 kph.

Hahaha. I get to drive a Kei van regularly. Until last year, the memsahib had a Sambar as one of her company vehicles. The body got pretty tired, and that one's gone, but it was a hoot to drive, and quite refined with the rear engine. The Sambar was replaced with a Daihatsu Hijet. Much newer but not as nice. All the…

I ran a Fulvia S3 for several years. You can forget about the FWD. That beast was an oversteer monster. The back end would snap out of line if you tried trail braking, but it was very light in the back and easy to catch.

Thats an E93A Anglia, known as the "perpendicular" style. 1172 sidevalve engine, 3 speed, 6 Volts and vacuum wipers. Produced from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Replaced by the 100E Anglia with -get-this- shell rather than run in bearings. Ford UK, finger on the pulse ;)

There is a range of engines with Lucas mechanical fuel injection (and Lucas ignition) which seemed to do OK. Ever heard of the Cosworth DFV and derivatives?

Last time I was in Thailand, I hired a 200cc motorcycle, large by local standards, and it was a Chinese brand. It was a generic Japanese clone and it rode quite nicely. But. The carburation wasn't right and it had a tendency to cut out at idle. Also the lights had a fault. I could get parking light or main beam, but…

It is 2-stoke Saab. Its a licenced or non-licenced copy, dunno about the legalities.

As others have stated, GM North America don't build cars which fit the market. About 40% of the market is for Kei cars, and no-one outside Japan makes those. We have two in the family fleet and they drive very nicely. They come fully equipped with all the bits and bobs which help to make driving painless. Both are…

Conversely, the best cartoon cars were drawn by Herge (Tintin). He had a great eye for engineering (ships, planes etc.), and his cars are superb.

I did have to show my immigration stuff in Japan, true. It's been a long time and a lot of beer has flowed under the bridge since I took out UK/Oz licences, so I can't remember. First motorcycle licence in 1968. Hmm. When the UK licence system was computerised in the 1970s, the system couldn't handle the load, so…

Can't see why not. No-one in the UK or Oz asked me about my immigration status when I applied for licences. Maybe things have changed. Any Canadians have an answer?

Getting a licence in Japan is only a problem if you are from the USA. That is because licenses are issued by States, not the Federal Government. If you have national licences like mine (UK and Oz), it's simply a matter of filling in the forms, paying the fee and passing an eye test. I transferred mine (manual car and…

"plagued with reliability issues..."

The rear engined car is an NSU Prinz. The "FIAT" is either a Lada (probably) or a Polski FIAT (possible).

I had an early 1200Ti Alfasud. It was my first "modern" car. It wasn't particularly fast, but it had an unburstable motor that loved to rev, with a 5 perfectly matched to exploit the revs. Brakes were excellent. It was quiet, refined, rode well and was super stable on fast sweepers. The Ti was a classic example where…

I had an early Alfasud 1200Ti. It was the first "modern" car I owned. It wasn't particularly fast, but I could average 70mph point to point from my home in Norfolk to college in Durham. The engine loved to rev, and is was matched to a delightful 5-speed that allowed you to extract the max. Steering, handling and…

I had an early Alfasud 1200Ti. It was the first "modern" car I owned. It wasn't particularly fast, but I could average 70mph point to point from my home in Norfolk to college in Durham. The engine loved to rev, and is was matched to a delightful 5-speed that allowed you to extract the max. Steering, handling and…

I had an early Alfasud 1200Ti. It was the first "modern" car I owned. It wasn't particularly fast, but I could average 70mph point to point from my home in Norfolk to college in Durham. The engine loved to rev, and is was matched to a delightful 5-speed that allowed you to extract the max. Steering, handling and…