Microvan (KEI Van) Build Outs

I'm wondering if anyone has had an experience using a KEI van as a little climber van. There is a 1994 Suzuki Carry Van for sale in my neighborhood and I am thinking about buying it to do a mini build out and use it for climbing road trips. They are oh so cheap, but obviously they aren't well regarded for safety and I've seen mixed answers on the internet for how well they handle driving on the interstate and on dirt or snowy roads. Would love some input on if they are worth it and things I should look out for.

Not quite apples to apples but I had a 94 Hiace for a bit (~6 months). While the Hiace is obviously bigger, I think there are still some relevant aspects to owning JDM vans. I went into it with a mindset of wanting to build it out for climbing trips as well. The things that really got to me in the end were

- I'm in CA so getting plates for JDM vehicles is harder: Vermont is quite generous with their plates (nice enough to let me get plates there by mail).

- Lack of airbags/poor safety in collisions.

- Lack of mechanics that are willing to work on it/availability of parts (i.e. even for a window, it's not going to be trivial). If you know a shop in your area that works on JDM vans, then having a chat with them about it is definitely worth it. If no one in your area explicitly works on them, I would be really hesitant unless you're handy and willing to put in the time.

- Insurance can be tricky, so look into that ahead of time.

I ended up selling mine before building it out. For me, I wasn't able to dedicate the time and mental capacity to owning such a van, but I think for a certain time and place in life it would work. Not sure that I'd want to be hurtling down any freeway in that small of a van with modern cars looming around me. One other thing is you'll get a lot of comments and looks, which on one hand is a fun way to meet people; however, this also means any notion of stealth camping is out of the option and cops in certain states might pull you over for driving a grey market vehicle.

I guess in short, if I had a van for roadtrips, then I would go for something more subtle and "standard". I probably get more stressed about the previously mentioned items than most, so take it with a grain of salt. I still love the look of JDM vans, but wouldn't buy one if I went back in time. Hope this helps a bit. 

I had a friend in NZ who had built one out - he was a 6’ German engineer so it had lots of folding shelves etc… so it could be reconfigured quickly for sleeping/cooking/hanging out - definitely couldn’t do more than one thing at a time. Even then he was pretty squished in there.  I believe his was a Suzuki. Seemed not worth the hassle to me but he was stoked on it. 

If you’re in the US top speed and comfortable cruising speed would be the reason I’d never get one for road trips. One of my friends has a little Honda Kei truck and around town it’s awesome but the top speed is like 68, and above 55 the engine is absolutely screaming.  Might work if you’re only rolling country roads but I imagine it wouldn’t be fun when the speed limit is 80. 

There is a shop near me that converts Hi-Ace's into adventure vans.

I see several around town.

Aesthetically they are so much better looking than any Sprinter or similar tall white van.

4wd and diesel, made by Toyota, I'd expect these things to last many years.

I did a deep dive on these last year, hoping to get an unmodified one and turn it into the family adventure van. I decided against it.

-They have to be 25 years old to be imported. You cannot get a newer one legally

-The previously stated license and insurance issues

-They don't share parts with similarly aged Toyota's from the US, so you will end up ordering everything. Stockpiling frequent items seems wise. If something does need repair, you have the possibility of parking the van for an indeterminate amount of time while the parts ship. 

- I would hope a Hi-Ace can cruise at 75 but maybe it can't.

- The few available with ABS are late 90's era, nowhere near as good as modern. Same with airbags. Crash safety is a major concern.

- I would imagine that the one shop that specialized in these things here locally has a waiting list. I know that there is another shop in Portland too, that also has a waiting list. Seems like you'd need to be able to work on these yourself, once the parts showed up of course.

- What happens if I call AAA near Ouray, CO with a blown transmission, in the winter? Am I now looking at flying home and shipping the van? An annoying and expensive situation normally would be even more expensive and annoying.

On the plus side, they're low mileage and pretty cheap if you buy them direct from an importer.

More info on the Hiace:

At least with the 1KZTE engine (common in the early 90s), you can cruise comfortably at 75mph or more. Your fuel economy does drop off significantly though.

The mention about winter reminds me that Northern Japan uses salt on the roads in winter, so checking for rust issues is relevant especially if you know it comes from the north.

Not micro, but I had thought there would be more campers made from the small vans like the Ford Transit Connect, Ram Promaster City, Nissan NV200, etc.  The Chevy City Express was a twin of the NV200.  But you couldn't even get swivel seats for these vans.  The only one that seems to have a good camper is the Mercedes Metris, which is upright enough to have swivel seats and is  similar to the VW Eurovan that disappeared from the US after 2003.  But now they are all discontinued from the USA, by the end of the 2023 model year.

For those discussing the Hiace, please realize that it is NOT a Kei van. A Kei vehicle is tiny and cannot have displacement over 600 cc. The OP is asking about a Kei van. 

Frank Stein wrote:

For those discussing the Hiace, please realize that it is NOT a Kei van. A Kei vehicle is tiny and cannot have displacement over 600 cc. The OP is asking about a Kei van. 

KEI vs JDM is something car guys can argue about.

Repairability, cruising speed, insurance, legality, and crash safety are all common concerns on an import like these.

But yes, one is larger than the other.

Frank Stein wrote:

For those discussing the Hiace, please realize that it is NOT a Kei van. A Kei vehicle is tiny and cannot have displacement over 600 cc. The OP is asking about a Kei van. 

That was certainly clear to me, but you will run into most of the same issues with a KEI as a Hiace or other JDM vehicle, add to that issues with reduced power, size, etc. Sorry for any undesired thread drift.

tom donnelly wrote:

Not micro, but I had thought there would be more campers made from the small vans like the Ford Transit Connect, Ram Promaster City, Nissan NV200, etc.  The Chevy City Express was a twin of the NV200.  But you couldn't even get swivel seats for these vans.  The only one that seems to have a good camper is the Mercedes Metris, which is upright enough to have swivel seats and is  similar to the VW Eurovan that disappeared from the US after 2003.  But now they are all discontinued from the USA, by the end of the 2023 model year.

I have a NV200 and I'm pretty sure you can rig a swivel if you really wanted to with parts from Europe (even though the euro nv200's are slightly different). I decided it wasn't worth it. 

I chose the NV200 over a minivan because the smaller size was compatible with my parking situation in SF and the mileage is better for trips to Yosemite (it ended up being around 30mpg for these trips, but partially because the terrible noises the drivetrain makes encourages slow acceleration). Without these considerations, I think an old Toyota minivan is probably a better buy than either a NV200 sized van or a kei van. I'm not totally convinced the NV200 is safe or will be reliable long term. I keep it around because it was cheap to buy and insure and I like that it looks weird. 

My wife’s sister has a built-out NV200 with a pop-up roof. It is functional, reliable and she likes it. She did say that it gets pretty tight with her partner and their great pyrenees. 

Let’s see pics of these builds!

I strongly recommend against a Kei-class vehicle on North American roads. They have a very small engine and cannot maintain our common highways speeds, and additionally lack many modern safety features on contemporary vehicles here (which are not included in JP due to their special vehicle class, Kei).

My company owns two Suzuki mini trucks that E use as worksite vehicles, and can do small jobs on regular streets, but we use a flat-deck to transport them between sites.

If you want a small JDM vehicle, there are lots of options discussed above. I have an ‘02 Delica L400 that is a blast and gets me up and down many forest and logging roads for adventure climbing, and fits a lightweight IKEA bed without issue.