RR of the Day: Toppo the morning, to ya
Mitsubishi Toppo
Alex Nunez is the resident Kei car fanatic here at Autoblog, so this RR of the Day selection goes out to him. It's a Mitsubishi Toppo, exact model year unknown, that was submitted by Flickr member Eddie Does Japan. Scanning Eddie's Flickr page (check out that first shot!) revealed that he's an American who is living in or has lived in Japan, and he obviously fell in love with these federally subsidized sub-sub-sub-compacts. For those who don't know the exact definition of what a kei car is, it's a car no less than 3.4 meters long, 1.48 meters wide, with an engine no larger in size than 660cc. The Japanese government gives tax breaks to these vehicles to encourage the purchase of smaller, more efficient vehicles.
The Toppo is a tall, MPV-like version of the Mitsubishi Minica, and this one appears to be a mid-to-late-'90s Q3 model. It's actually a predecessor to the Mitsubishi eK Wagon on which we posted yesterday.
Eddie's Toppo manages to move him around Japan with only 36 horsepower under hood, and everyone knows what kind of car is coming thanks to the mandated black-on-yellow license plate for Kei cars. Check out more pics of Eddie's Toppo after the jump.
If you'd like to see your own ride featured here, simply upload photos of your ride into our Flickr group. We select one image to highlight each week day, and on the weekend let you vote for a RR of the Week. Detailed instructions can be found after the jump.
Instructions for submitting to Autoblog's RR of the Day:
Create a Flickr account if you don't already have one. Search for and join the group called 'Autoblog RR of the Day'. Upload up to three photos of your ride to your own account at a size no larger than 450 pixels wide if possible and include as much information about it and yourself as possible. Click on each photo and just above the picture it will say "Send to group". Click that and select the Autoblog group. You're done, that's it!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rwdmtparkingonly 2:28PM (9/14/2006)
The passenger grab bar on the dash is hilarious.
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Eric L. 2:43PM (9/14/2006)
The checked seat covers make the car! I love it. Makes me think that whenever this little car moves, it also plays an ice cream truck song.
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Corey 2:49PM (9/14/2006)
"...it's a car no less than 3.4 meters long, 1.48 meters wide..."
You mean, "no more than..."
That's a quirky styling car.
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Hamud 3:01PM (9/14/2006)
We have many old VW Beattle here, they have that bar too, we call it something like "holly sh*t" because when you have to grab it there's something going really wrong and you probably may want to sh*t on your pants, heeheheh.
About the Mitsu, it takes the word "compact" to the edge, eheheheheh. Anyway, looks good.
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Ethan 3:07PM (9/14/2006)
So is it possible to sit in the back seat and drive this thing?
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Tim UF 3:19PM (9/14/2006)
i call the little grab handles above the doors (inside) of any car the oh sh*t handles also...
i guess anything thats sturdy enough to grab onto as a passenger in an emergency (or agressive) maneuver qualifies as an 'oh sh*t' grip point, hehe.
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rwdmtparkingonly 3:24PM (9/14/2006)
A lot of old sports cars had passenger grab bars, but .66 liters probably won't throw anyone back in thier seat. It has a spoiler on the roof so maybe the grab bar is just to keep up appearances inside. 3.4 meters is only 11.14 feet, that's not even a new Mini, and only a foot above the old one. These are cool though, it's impressive to see a fully functional auto squeezed into this space.
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SH 4:31PM (9/14/2006)
Canadians can import kei-cars, they just have to be over 15 years old.
Check some out here: http://www.japanoid.com/
(I'm not affiliated with the above site.)
I wish these were available in the US.
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rem83 4:33PM (9/14/2006)
As I understood it, the "passenger grab bar" was actually intended for the driver in convertibles, or anything with a weak roof. During a rollover, the driver could grab that bar/handle to keep his/her head down and away from the pavement. Under those circumstances, the passenger is screwed.
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cowboy bob 6:18PM (9/14/2006)
You guys talking about the passenger "grab bar" have it all wrong. That thing is really a push bar for the passenger to push against to get this thing going. It's the same as the two man bobsled, christ you guys are stupid.
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epp_b 11:19PM (9/14/2006)
["The passenger grab bar on the dash is hilarious."]
I'm guessing that's for when the car takes a corner at more than 3MPH. No car should ever be taller than it is wide.
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herbyccna 5:00AM (9/15/2006)
At least this thing is a automatic. In Europe you would have to shift a little piece of sh*t like this in congested cities with bumper to bumper traffic, cause they don't make kangoos or berlingos with automatics here. First gear, second gear, almost to third and then start all over again. The neverending agony of why Europe sucks.
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Glenn Laycock 1:18PM (9/16/2006)
Really cute -- and looks practical -- car.
It can't meet Canadian safety standards, can it?
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