Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks • Hacker News Board

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#361

Post by fooker » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 2:57 AM UTC

pigsty wrote: post #241

nostromo wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't necessarily regulatory capture or protectionism. Half of all cars sold in the US are imported. Toyota, a Japanese company, is the most popular brand of car sold in the US. So, yes, you can import cars all you want, they just need to follow US safety and emissions standards. These cars do not meet those requirements, so you can't import them. If you didn't block them as imports, we'd have lots of people jus…

The interesting thing is Japanese companies generally manufacture cars they sell in America entirely in America, while “American” car companies manufacture their huge polluting machines in Mexico and maybe add one final part in the US so they can claim some work is done in the US. Japanese cars in the US aren’t imported while US cars are.

What are you talking about?

The vast majority of japanese brand cars are manufacturered in Japan and imported in the US.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#362

Post by fooker » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 3:03 AM UTC

Glawen wrote: post #156

moltar wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can still find plenty of amazing vehicles, in great condition in the South of Europe. The weather there is great and cars don’t deteriorate as much. I see plenty of Toyotas and Hondas from pre 97 models. They still cost around 3-4 K EUR probably because they are such an easy maintenance that they will still drive for another decade and that’s priced in.

It is just cargo cult. The value of these old Toyota and Honda makes no sense. I was looking to buy an old Toyota because of the hype on internet, but there are not a lot of them being in Europe, and 70% of them had an engine issue (threads holding head gasket were missing, common issue on aluminium engine). At one point, I pondered buying a Toyota previa with this head gasket issue for 3K and planed to repair it mys…

Yep, the post pandemic cars from Toyota and Honda especially have been having terrible quality and QA issues.

I've seen a new 2023 4runner with weird panel gaps, unnecessarily stiff handling (compared to a 2020 model), and sunroof motors stopped working after rain.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#363

Post by intrasight » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 3:04 AM UTC

KennyBlanken wrote: post #297

eduction wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can import new tiny cars and drive them all you want on a farm or private grounds, you just can’t take them on roads if they don’t meat road safety standards. Even the advocate highlighted in this article (Economist) admits his would probably be a “death trap” on a busy highway. Maybe the US should create separate standards for city streets and roads with low speed limits, that could be a good way to bring down v…

> You can import new tiny cars and drive them all you want on a farm or private grounds, you just can’t take them on roads if they don’t meat road safety standards. If they don't pass emissions, they cannot be legally imported. It doesn't matter whether you want to use them on private property; that private property is still within the US, and subject to EPA regs. People think the same thing about not having to regis…

Not true as it depends on the state. Perhaps your state cops will do that, but mine will not. In PA you can import such vehicles for off-road use as long as they are modified to have a maximum speed of 25mph. In MD, it's up to local jurisdictions.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#364

Post by fooker » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 3:05 AM UTC

KennyBlanken wrote: post #297

eduction wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can import new tiny cars and drive them all you want on a farm or private grounds, you just can’t take them on roads if they don’t meat road safety standards. Even the advocate highlighted in this article (Economist) admits his would probably be a “death trap” on a busy highway. Maybe the US should create separate standards for city streets and roads with low speed limits, that could be a good way to bring down v…

> You can import new tiny cars and drive them all you want on a farm or private grounds, you just can’t take them on roads if they don’t meat road safety standards. If they don't pass emissions, they cannot be legally imported. It doesn't matter whether you want to use them on private property; that private property is still within the US, and subject to EPA regs. People think the same thing about not having to regis…

> State environmental cops

This is not an issue for most of the states where people actually own ATVs, snowmobiles and land to use those in.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#365

Post by worthless-trash » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 3:05 AM UTC

nyx wrote: post #29

The 25-year import rule here, which bans Americans from importing vehicles from other countries unless they're 25+ years old, is just awful for those of us who would be interested in driving small, efficient foreign cars. It would be great to live completely car-free, but absent major changes to how we plan our cities, it's just a sad reality that cars are a necessary ingredient to life in the vast majority of Americ…

Doesn't sound like freedom.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#366

Post by crazyjncsu » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 3:07 AM UTC

markdown wrote: post #359

crazyjncsu wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m Jake from the article. The trucks have all just gone through auction and have inspection reports. Mine I bought for $2k was grade 3.5 and what I’d consider pristine for a 25 year old truck. The Japanese are pretty trustworthy people to do business with, and they build great vehicles. One thing the author left out was the fascination I had with the whole process. Watching auctions, assignment to a ship, tracking i…

From a quick Google, these all seem to be cars from the 90s. Did you see any fpr sale that are less than a decade old?

I did not, but I was only looking for 25 year old trucks as that is the age requirement for import.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#367

Post by Spooky23 » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 3:08 AM UTC

asciimov wrote: post #128

LinuxBender wrote: post #4

I've seriously contemplated getting one of these. Street legal, fuel efficient, simple, but when I started researching them I started to see a pattern. It's hard to find anyone in rural areas willing to work on them and not all mini trucks are equal. Some are not shipped correctly and have frame rust issues. There are YouTuber's that cover some of the models and the gotchas and things to inspect. I would never buy on…

I seriously miss compact trucks, like the Mazda B-series, Ford Courier, Ford Ranger (before it became a mid-size in 2019). These kinds of trucks might more to your liking. Sure they aren't as small and cute as the imports, but your local auto store can still get you parts for them. They are fun to drive, fairly fuel efficient, and are capable of hauling material from the home center. I learned to drive stick, and how…

I used to use an old Ford Ranger on a farm as a teen and it was a great truck. It was tough in its own way, easy to fix, and took alot of abuse. I rolled it once (not in it fortunately), and got it stuck in a stream. We dragged it out was a tractor, rolled it upright, waited for the carburetor to drain or something and got it back on the road.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#368

Post by worthless-trash » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 3:11 AM UTC

nostromo wrote: post #210

deelowe wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That rule ain't changing unfortunately. Regulatory capture is STRONG with automotive and the US sees it as a matter of national security (car makers would be pivoted to other ares in times of war).

This isn't necessarily regulatory capture or protectionism. Half of all cars sold in the US are imported. Toyota, a Japanese company, is the most popular brand of car sold in the US. So, yes, you can import cars all you want, they just need to follow US safety and emissions standards. These cars do not meet those requirements, so you can't import them. If you didn't block them as imports, we'd have lots of people jus…

> If you didn't block them as imports, we'd have > lots of people just go to Mexico and buy > highly-polluting vehicles to save money, and our > problem with smog in the border states would be > much worse.

In Australia there are a set of guidelines required for vehicle imports, they even outline pollution and safety requirements that must be met before it can be registered or driven on public roads.

On-road non import vehicles can also fail these tests and the car is not considered "road worthy".

If vehicles in the US need to be registered, why isnt this a valid solution ?

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#369

Post by freetime2 » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 3:13 AM UTC

fomine3 wrote: post #346

rtpg wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This made me realize why I see so many Kangoos in Japan, despite them not really being cheap here! A bit of a nicer version of a Kei truck, without being a full minivan!

Kangoo buyers in Japan also cares fashion. Japanese vans like Toyota Townace are too boring for them but Kangoo is cute.

Yup Kangoos are quite expensive in Japan. They start at JPY 3.8M [1]

The Toyota Sienta, which starts at JPY 2M, seems like a much better value for a passenger car - and I think they borrowed from the Kangoo's styling a bit for the latest iteration [2]. Or for business use a Town Ace, NV200, HiJet, etc.

[1] https://www.renault.jp/car_lineup/kangoo/gps/index.html

[2] https://toyota.jp/sienta/

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#370

Post by worthless-trash » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 3:15 AM UTC

upofadown wrote: post #284

nostromo wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't necessarily regulatory capture or protectionism. Half of all cars sold in the US are imported. Toyota, a Japanese company, is the most popular brand of car sold in the US. So, yes, you can import cars all you want, they just need to follow US safety and emissions standards. These cars do not meet those requirements, so you can't import them. If you didn't block them as imports, we'd have lots of people jus…

Toyota can't import trucks with such a small footprint. That would screw up their fuel efficiency metric. That could lead to fines from the US government. That is the primary issue here that prevents the sale of small trucks in the US. With the current regulations, it makes the most sense to sell trucks with the longest wheelbase and largest width.

Can you explain this a little more (I dont live in the US and a preliminary search is failing me).

It sounds as though the 'regulations' are preventing US consumers from having a choice in trucks, which.. kinda makes no sense from what I've seen in the wide range of oversized trucks in the US.