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The story
A thread that started with the simple question, “Is driving a kei car on the highway really that dangerous?” took off on 5ch’s Nandemo Jikkyo G (Live Commentary) board. Some posters brought up the fear of crosswinds on long bridges like the Seto Ohashi, or anxiety about aggressive tailgaters, while plenty of others shared firsthand experience saying things like “it’s totally fine solo” or “I’m even faster than trucks” — opinions on how dangerous it really is varied a lot from person to person. A particular highlight was the debate over whether turning off the AC really makes the car accelerate faster, with several people saying you can feel the difference on hills.
What people said
Big bridges like the Seto Ohashi are scary.
The question is what you do when some maniac comes at you.
Turbo model gets garbage mileage.
Cabin's way too loud with engine noise.
Do you even know what a coffin is?
Then again, in a kei car you might not even feel it when you go.
Too loud to listen to music, so all you can do is sing.
Your mileage tanks too, so what's the point?
Are you just gonna crawl along forever?
I drive a Porsche, and if I floor it around 140-160 km/h I still get about 11 km/L, and I get to my destination faster too.
it actually moves fine on the highway.
It keeps accelerating even past 100 km/h, and you can cruise at around 120 km/h.
But still, don't try anything that reckless.
Just stick to the driving lane with adaptive cruise control set to 90 km/h and let it drive for you.
Most importantly, it's way more relaxing!
The highway's full of kei cars.
I've never driven one myself, but they're everywhere out there.
There are definitely trucks these days doing like 95-100 km/h.
Why don't they ever get pulled over for that?
Felt like the wind was gonna blow me right into the sea.
I've heard the AC generally eats up about 3 horsepower.
Kei cars have such small engines that turning on the AC noticeably kills your speed.
On hills, forget about it — you're barely climbing.
Buy your safety with money.
You can easily die on the highway even without a kei car.
Sounds like you're speeding around thinking you're safe just because you're not in one, buddy.
Whoa, I thought that was a joke but it's for real.
You can tell on hills too, give it a try.
Really? I've driven an N-BOX and it barely accelerated past like 60 km/h.
Better than leasing an Alphard you can't actually afford on a residual-value loan.
Well yeah, of course a Mira or Alto can handle that.
With passengers, it's tough.
Even with all 4 seats full in summer with the AC blasting, you can still cruise at 140 km/h.
Though I only did that because it was a rental — in my own car I wouldn't want to go past 100 km/h.
I'm out here searching for a night like that.
Background and key points of this discussion
Kei cars are capped by displacement at 660cc and, under a voluntary industry agreement, at a maximum output of 64 horsepower — leaving much less margin relative to vehicle weight than standard cars. As a result, at highway speeds the power loss from running the AC (felt as a few horsepower), the lack of acceleration needed to pass in the overtaking lane, and instability on bridge sections exposed to crosswinds all tend to stand out. That said, there’s no legal restriction on kei cars using the highway, and some drivers say they can cruise faster than trucks — so how dangerous it feels varies a lot depending on the specific car, how many people are on board, and the stretch of road being driven. The thread surfaced a real difference in experience — “fine solo, tough with a full car” — along with the point that “it’s not the kei car itself that’s dangerous, it’s the highway itself,” so this isn’t simply a case of kei car = danger.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Is driving a kei car on the highway really that dangerous?“
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