Greetings & Questions

[dap]

Lo all! Good to find board. Have been looking for mini, and need some advice. Seems plenty of expert help here.
Have read the posts on which is best, and seems to be personal taste. But what about dependability? Haven’t seen much on this subject. How do they hold up? Who makes the engine? Are they all one manufacture, or does each manufacture build their own engine, and trans? Any hold up better in the long run? Don't see many autos? Reason for this? Read that the lifters are made to work, and therefore have been worked harder than the standard P.U. Have any of you found this to be the case?
I am in the Dayton Ohio area, and am looking for a dealer in my area, with little success. Anyone help? And lastly (for now) why are most of the imports WHITE? Don't the Japanese know about color? How do I get one that is red? Or something? Without repainting? All help would be appreciated, and look forward to hearing more from all of you. Thanks.

[Wolfman]

Lo all! Good to find board. Have been looking for mini, and need some advice. Seems plenty of expert help here.
Have read the posts on which is best, and seems to be personal taste. But what about dependability? Haven’t seen much on this subject. How do they hold up? Who makes the engine? Are they all one manufacture, or does each manufacture build their own engine, and trans? Any hold up better in the long run? Don't see many autos? Reason for this? Read that the lifters are made to work, and therefore have been worked harder than the standard P.U. Have any of you found this to be the case?
I am in the Dayton Ohio area, and am looking for a dealer in my area, with little success. Anyone help? And lastly (for now) why are most of the imports WHITE? Don't the Japanese know about color? How do I get one that is red? Or something? Without repainting? All help would be appreciated, and look forward to hearing more from all of you. Thanks.

These trucks are built to a governemnt set of specifications. For that reason alone, you'll find alot of similarity between the various makes. I own a Daihatsu Hijet, and I'm happy with my truck, despite a trouble light that has me searching for the cause and fix. I've since sat in a Mitsubishi Minicab, and found the cab of these to be more roomy than the one I own. If you are tall, I would recommend sitting in an example of each one to decide which one you fit in better.

To my knowledge, the Mazda Scrum is a rebadge of a Suzuki Carry. Beyond that, the vehicles are built entirely by the company whose badge is on the product.

The Honda Acty, and Subaru Sambar are both rear engine trucks. The Subaru Sambar is also the only four cylinder truck in the group. All of the others are three cylinders. The rest of the trucks are mid engine layout.

Since every truck you are going to look at will be used, reliability will be more the result of how well maintained it was by the previous owner(s).

While I've heard of a few automatics here, I don't think you'll find them to be common, as they cannot be altered by the EPA to make them "legal" for import. Manual tranny trucks have a plate welded to the shift tower to only allow you to shift between first and reverse gears.

[abcminitrucks]

The only way to get red is to re-paint, unless someone in Japan decided to re-paint one and then it got exported....but as far as I know they do not paint them red at the factory...
Oh and everything Wolfman said is dead on.

[unclejemima]

Agreed, everything Wolfman said is right on the money.
In terms or reliability, its a ford vs chev vs dodge debate.
I've never really heard anything bad about the Honda's, but then again, i own one too, so would i say anything bad about it.
As for color, the honda's at least (its the only ones i've really looked into) i've seen the odd blue one, and thats about it. It was most probably re-painted by the owner. Its like any company truck/work truck. They only comes in one color, White!
I have heard rumor of autos, but they are only 3spd auto. Like Wolfman said, very few of the Autos will be kicking around the USA. I have seen some with A/C as well.
Agreed the reliability has a lot to do with how they are maintained, but for some reason i too have heard the lifter (dump box?) are worked harder as well, so a good example may be harder to find, not to say you cant find one. There is usually a premium on these vs the regular ones anyway, and a dump box can be fitted for approx $1500.
Best of luck,
-mark

[dap]

Thanks all, just what I wanted to hear. Now if I can find a dealer who has a Ford/Chevy/dodge/ for me to try in my area.
It seams the general opinion is it is at least as good to convert to dump, as it is to try to find good one. On the converted dump, i am assuming the bed sides stll fold down. To me this is one advantage over the factory with the solid side dump bed. What are your thoughts?
Thanks.