The Mazda Carol was a “Kei car,” which meant it was uber-small because the roads in Japan are so crowded. It was produced in several forms through the balance of the 20th Century but was never exported to the U.S. Somehow this right-hand-drive 1996 example managed to make it stateside and looks to be in great overall condition. Located in Tiffin, Ohio, this something of a novelty is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $7,000.
Mazda was in the Kei car market from 1962 to 1970 and then exited the space for 18 years. When they got back into the game in 1989, they brought back the Carol nameplate from yesteryear. But it was marketed under the Autozam brand instead until 1998. The seller’s example is from the third generation (1995-98) and uses a 657cc, 3-cylinder engine to move the tiny vehicle down the road.
Carols came with either front or all-wheel drive, and we’re told the seller’s edition has an automatic transmission (CVT?). It’s only traveled 33,000 miles and surprisingly has air conditioning, which likely draws from what little power the car produces on its own. But it’s said to be a good driver with no issues with the body. The tiny interior seems to be ship-shape and comes with Bluetooth navigation. If you don’t have $7k to spare, the seller might take your classic car off your hands instead. Kudos to JDC for the cool tip!
Ha,ha,ha, you showed up in that? You’re braver than I thought( Millennium Falcon) Go ahead and laugh, funny boy, things keep escalating like they are, and every indication they will, be a lot more of these. I happened to have rented a small Kia a while back, and never again. It was the worst ride, even the Jeep was better. I suppose if we all drove in downtown Hong Kong, be a different story. In those typhoons, you always see these cars bobbing up and down in the water. I all but guarantee you, not ONE RAM pickup will be traded for one of these, not one! Cowboys ( and Cowgirls) would rather die than be seen in this. I hope I’m in the big truck stop in the sky when that happens.
The only reason we’re not driving this kind of car in the US is that Americans are so insecure and have to drive Rams and the like to compensate.
America also has these things called “Interstates”, you know, long stretches of roads that go on for miles at higher speeds. Americans like to drive the interstates. Tiny cars like this can barely navigate the speed limit for any length of time without blowing up. There’s your reason.
This kind of car was sold in the U.S. in the late 1960s – the Subaru 360 which had a 360cc 2-stroke air-cooled engine in the rear. I used to own both the sedan and van version.
From personal experience I can tell you that the reason we’re not driving this kind of car in the U.S. today is the desire to travel at more than 40-50 mph as well as wanting some interior room and comfort, plus at least some kind of minimal crash protection.
Insecure about what? Fill us in. Most of us use our trucks for legitimate purposes (4 horse trailer here…..).
I just drove a Kia EV9 from Santa Rosa, CA to Medford, OR for an out of state delivery.
I also drive those Ram pickups sometimes. I would almost rather drive anything other than the RAM.
America needs to have vehicles like this. Instead we’re going the wrong direction and our vehicles are getting bigger. You’d think gas was cheap and the air was clean the way Americans look at cars.
Want to drive one on the interstate? You first!
Yeah we are 50% idiots over here in ‘Merica. Alas: Small cars are dangerous here mainly because everyone keeps buying 4,000++lb trucks that get 16mpg downhill with a tail wind, and then they maybe use them as actual trucks once a year.
Well said.
The only thing that’s gonna teach em a lesson is another gas SHORTAGE with odd even lic plate sale days, horrendous lines & 5 gallon maximum.
Or, we are free to drive what we want to drive, if we can afford it!
This is a great little car if you accept it for what it truly is, and can live with its limitations. In the city and making local milk runs, you couldn’t beat a car like this.
Kudos to the commenters who have taken up sides in this biggeer-is/ain’t-better argument.
We Yanks seem to feel that driving is solely for the purpose of getting from A to B as quickly and effortlessly as possible. Well, just for kicks, let’s say that’s so.
But the car can be so much more. It can be FUN! The journey, without time constraints, can be an adventure in and of itself. When wife and I still had family in the NY/CT area, we used to travel from Central FL up there with Interstates only from central PA to CT. The rest was on either US or state highways. Sure, it took longer but we got to see a whale of a lot more than the rear end of other vehicles of various sizes traveling at speeds guaranteed to cause great bodily harm to either/both human or vehicle.
As for covering great distances at best possible speed, there are those things that go at great speeds far above the ground. Yeah, and you can snooze, read or watch a movie all the while!
As an aside, the instant Kei car has an engine of greater capacity than my first new car. It had 633cc and would run hundreds of miles at 60-65 mph (4-4.5K rpm) with no problem.
Sorry for the rant but I’ve been a really small car guy since I was introduced to a ’41 Crosley during “The Big One,” as Archie would say, WW2.
Wish we did get cars like that here. And Kei trucks to for that matter. I could honestly use a Kei truck for gardening
I believe you can get Kei trucks for use on private property. It’s not unusual to see them around.
Some of these Kei cars are pretty cool, some are also pretty strange. I for one like little cars and have owned several from the 1960s. NSU Prinz etc. Hope we do start selling cars like those here.
I can’t remember ever seeing a Mazda 3-cylinder engine. So I looked up the specs, and this generation of Mazda Carol used a Suzuki [F6A] 3-cylinder engine.